I took a stroll through the home orchard yesterday. Everything is still fully dormant here near St. Paul. Any little sprigs poking through the wire fencing have been pruned by the deer. Had an inch or two of snow last night, but I don’t think it will stay around long. Sun is out now, breezy. .
I’ve been looking at mine every day when I get home taking the dog for a walk. The peaches are starting to swell and the apples are getting silver tips. The rest of my trees are still tight. I have fruit trees in the garage in pots. Its nice to know they are safe from freeze, but if it stays warm to much they will want to wake up to. I’ll just have to shuffle them.
‘Pea Soup’ fog in Newport today; I stopped at Easton’s beach to take this picture for you all, and then my Snow Drops!
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We had that then some good wind with tornado threats, and heavy rain. Winds gusting to 56 mph now getting cold with snow showers tonight!
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I got my order from Vaughn Nursery today. Nice sized Challenger, Intrepid, and Carolina Gold peaches. They had to stuff the trees into the 4’ box. They seem to have good roots too. What a good value.
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Just curious to what your PH came back at? I would guess 5.5-6.0.
Zack, I had 7 plots tested, and 5 of them came back with a pH of 4.9-5.1! Very surprised to see them that acidic. So, my blueberry plot won’t need too much acidifying with it being 4.9.
But those same 5 plots have low calcium (all under 800 ppm), low potassium (all under 250), but good magnesium and fair phosphorus levels. So, those plots will need some amendments, including some lime. The tomato plot had Ca at 716ppm, so that might explain the blossom end rot I had on my 'mater’s last year.
The two other plots both have good P, K, Mg, and Ca levels. Their pH are 5.6 and 6.3. Might need a bit of N, but otherwise pretty good shape.
Like I mentioned earlier, a very well spent $3 per report.
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Wow, that’s a good PH for Blues!! Maybe you are sitting on an old Pine Wood stand.
I pulled these out of the fridge to take inventory and remind me what scions I’ve already collected and what I need to get this weekend. Grafting takes lots of work, time, and patience…but it sure is fun!
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I don’t know why it’s so low. The five low pH plots are higher up on our hillside than the other two. All that I know of them, according to my wife, is that it was cleared land decades ago. Judging by the woods behind it, they prob were hardwoods like oak, birch, sycamore, etc. We don’t really have a lot of pines or spruces on the property.
Doesn’t mean that there weren’t pines before. I’ll ask my wife if she knows anything about it. If it wasn’t pines, why would the soil be so acidic?
Now the plots lowest on the hill have the higher pH. But one was a plot that she said was used a lot for gardening in years past, so there might be some residual nutrients left. I don’t know how long they stay in the soil. Its P levels are way high, over 500ppm, the next closest plot reads about 170. What would be the cause of high soil phosphorus?
The other high pH plot was a horse pasture, very rich and fine soil, virtually rock free.
The pasture shows a 5.1, and is the poorest nutrient wise. But, nothing’s been grown out there prob for ten years except maybe grass for hay. I do know it can get thick with briars and weeds!
Also, my main apple plot reads low in P, K, Ca and its pH is 5.0. So, looks like I’m going need to hit it with some 10-10-10 soon. Plus it looks like it’s going to need some lime as well. That might explain why my peaches looked puny after one year. The apples did pretty good, tho. maybe they do better in poorer, acidic soils?
And, to end this novel, I noticed that there wasn’t any N levels shown. Is that normal for such a report?
The End.
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I seem to recall that acidic clay based soils were one of the major soil types in the SE. Never having lived there I have no personal experience with it, but perhaps your soil is of that type or a relative.
You going to be busy!
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Before reading your text I saw the picture and I wondered why you were collecting prison shanks. Haha
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Ha, when I saw them I first thought they were minnows or some such…
Went to Home Depot today. They had fruit trees out already. $24.95 each any variety. Bigger ones $39.95. Not much selection. 3-4 varieties of each fruit. Spring must be around the corner 
I guess my wrapping technique is more unusual than I thought based on all the strange guesses about what was in the photo. I actually wrap my scion in damp newspaper, the put them in one of those plastic bags you get at the produce section of grocery stores, then tape it closed with blue painters tape. I put one label inside and write it again on the outside (nothing more frustrating than having a label fall off, get smeared, etc). I’ve never had any problems with mold and my scion always looks good after 4-8 weeks in fridge.
BTW…I bought several rolls of those plastic produce bags at a flea market. They’re the handiest things in the world! Hope I can find a new source when I run out.
Well if you put lime, better test the pH as it may go way up! A much better way would be to use gypsum which will increase calcium and will only slightly raise pH.
Here since I need to add acid, which will change carbonates to gypsum, so I never need to add calcium. When I run out of rain water I treat the city water, hence the calcium which is added to all city water.
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@subdood_ky_z6b did your tests come back with recommended remediation levels? Mine did when I had this done some time back. If I remember correctly there was a level of dolomite per 100 sq ft.
So I get a message from Bay Laurel that my nectarine will be here on Tuesday - WAY before I expected it. So I look at the weathr report and, yes, more rain. More mud.
This is why I wish nurseries would sell trees for fall planting.
Well. Trees aren’t dormant enough in the fall to ship as bareroot?? And, in many parts of the country, they’d not be well enough established to survive a freeze if planted in the fall? Here in S. California, Fall is a great time to plant trees, and just about everything in your landscape. But, those trees would come in pots with roots and soil. So, the price would be prohibitive, and for us in California (and a few other states), we’d be relegated to California growers, since our pest restrictions are so stringent. But, at least you’re not getting an Arctic Express coming in, so rain and mud aren’t too awfully bad. You can always heel the trees in for a bit, until the weather is more cooperative for you 
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