All the dogwoods around here are wild, I guess. They’re in places no one would ever think of planting them. Those lilacs, azaleas and peonies are down by the old house. There’s also several rose and Rose of Sharon bushes, which haven’t bloomed yet.
My mom came and visited us a few weeks ago, and took lots of starts home with her. The car looked like a nursery with all those plants in the back seat! She loves her some flowers.
The trees are really starting to leaf out on the hillsides. That also means it’ll also be flush with new weeds and briars, too. Which means the emergence of snakes, too! Yay!
My cots have hit shuck split and I fear the PC, but right next to them is the cherry tree, still in full bloom, preventing me from spraying. Don’t know why it’s so late this year
My Balaton cherries finally hit full bloom today. Last trees to bloom this year, kind of odd.
Hoping for my first real crop off of them this year, lots of bee activity today.
This will be their 5th year in the ground here and I believe they are on Maheleb root stock(can’t find my planting records at the moment to confirm). Bought from Adams County.
Your going to be in cherry heaven. I am waiting for the to many cherry problem myself. Looks like your beating me and I’m sixth leaf. You have better sun for your trees though. Mine only get about six hours. Your orchard looks great. Nice to have all that room to space everything out. Do you have a plan to keep them from the birds yet, or are you hoping for the best. That would be a lot of nets. You might be able to fly a falcon kite from a pole to help scare them away.
I’m going to play it by ear. I don’t think netting will be an option for me due to the expense and the hassle of installing. I have a few rolls of scare tape on hand and I’m thinking of getting some plastic owl decoys and maybe some crow decoys. I really like those falcon kites but I am concerned as to how they will stand up to the winds I get here. Might try making one one to play around with.
I’m really hoping to outsmart the birds. Balatons, if left on the tree a week or so after they ripen, can sweeten up a good deal. Nothing like a sweet cherry but sweet enough for me to eat out of hand and they are fantastic dried. They also make an outstanding wine!
Unless you can find robotic drone owls that spit fire…i’d skip those plastic ones… I tried one once…years ago…it did nothing. It might have attracted birds
I got some scare tape that i’ll try this year…but i still plan on netting any cherries i have.
I use the silver/red tape and find that if you get it up before the fruit ripens it does work for me. I put about a dozen 2 foot pieces per 8 foot tall tree and find that I get a lot of flash as breeze moves tape around. It is not 100% but does work pretty good, trick is to get it up before birds get a taste of the fruit.
