What's happening today - 2018 edition

Have been looking for any Frost damage from a few frost days earlier this week. My figs leaves are all burnt and this is what’s left. Leave them? Cut them off? Will they still produce? All 3 are like this. Then this pathetic little peach. I pruned it down to nothing hoping to save it. It has got a few buds and working on leaves. Think it can be saved,? I fertilized. Tested soil it’s a 7 pH. Seems ok to me. Just maybe a weak tree? Thanks

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Moved the figs out for some sun

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They look good.

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Not bad for being inside all winter, I ate a ripe fig off of one of them about a month ago, was ok but not very sweet.

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How are your figs fully leafed out already of they haven’t been in the sun yet? Mine have been a to red in my garage all winter long and are a till fully dormant

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I sort of messed them up last fall. I failed to water them in September and they were in small pots. They completely dried out and all the leaves and figs dropped. I put them in a shady location and watered them and the leafed out a couple of weeks later. Since they had kind of went dormant I did not let them frost and drop their leaves. Instead I brought them into the house and put them in a sunny window. There are currently three figs on them and I am trying to acclimate them back to outdoos

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Maybe mine will be OK…We had a frost and mine were getting leaves and it killed all the leaves.

It will set them back, it also may delay fruiting, but they will live. I started the fig shuffle. I now have five that I put out as soon as it’s above freezing and take them in at night.I need to transfer about 4 more to bigger pots, too big to keep under lights, so I do the fig shuffle.
I have basil, rosemary, pomegranates, and ton’s of others I need to acclimate yet.
It’s way early here too, my back is in for a work out.

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I’m going to keep mine dormant in my garage for as long as possible. Two are in 20 gal grow bags so I’m not doing any shuffling with those.

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Yes my established plants are sleeping too, just newly rooted cuttings are going outside.

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My (outdoor) figs all look fried this year. For ten years they never died back but I’ve not had very good luck recently – if they die back this year thats 3 out of 4 in a row.

Have they gotten fruit ok?

When they didn’t die back I got fruit… I rarely get fruit the same year of dieback and even the year after is thin. It takes a couple years to get back to full production.

Went and picked my new orchard ladder up this morning. Liking it so far, very stable on my sloped ground

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They say to always try to keep the single leg uphill.

You are absolutely correct. I feel a little guilty because I have sometimes advocated for big box store trees, but I’ve also always tried to make it clear that you have a good chance of getting a mislabeled tree and that my situation is much different from most people here. I have plenty of space and a willingness to try lots of trees, so I honestly am not very upset if one of mine turns out to be a mislabeled. I’m sure that blows most peoples minds and they want to say I’m nuts. I COMPLETELY agree that if you have limited yard space and have spent a lot of time planning to get just the right tree for pollination or because you’ve fallen in love with a certain fruit, then spending years and valuable space to grow something that isn’t what you’d planned on is a major, major problem. I know I’m in the minority for even considering big box trees, but for me, I like getting to pick the best shaped, healthiest tree on the lot, I like that they are a lot larger and have a bigger root ball so they tend to live and take off faster than my bare roots (on average), I like getting them on sale after dormancy because unlike bare root trees, they seem to do fine if planted pretty much any time as long as you keep them watered. I also find a lot of unusual varieties at big box stores that I haven’t seen often or at all on-line. I also will admit I’ve had a higher % of mislabeled trees from big box stores than from on-line nurseries, but I have absolutely gotten mislabeled trees from several of the popular online nurseries too. Also, if you take Lowes out of the averaging, I’ve had less (as a %) mislabels from big box stores than online nurseries. But Lowes just destroys my numbers. In fact, to support @scottfsmith 's statement even more, I can honestly say that with Lowes, the odds of the tree being true to label is less than 50/50. And that is a sample size of probably 20 or so trees. Think about that…statistically, in my experience, if you see a tree at lowes with a label on it, then it is actually MORE likely than not that the tree is SOMETHING OTHER THAN WHAT IT IS LABELED. So if you really want to get a Belle of Georgia peach, you’d have a better chance if you bought one labeled “Redhaven” than if you bought one that said Belle of Georgia! How insane is that??? C R A Z Y. But please remember that only applies to Lowe’s and I’ve quite good results at other stores.

Kroger is my favorite big box seller because 1) they all come from Freedom Tree Farms- a good company lots of people here have had good experience with, 2) They are usually quite small so you get to start pruning and shaping them before they get off to a bad start, 3) They only cost $12.99 here (sounds like they are $2 higher further north), 4) They definitely have a lot of varieties I’ve never seen anywhere else. @subdood_ky_z6b and @Blueberry ; Don’t give up yet on finding some great trees at Kroger this year. The way it works at the 4 Krogers near me is that they bring one small load very early in the spring, and some Krogers don’t get any on the early delivery. Then sometime around the first week of April they bring a second, larger delivery to all the Krogers. This load usually includes blueberries and muscadines along with some unusual things like olives or pluots (both of which are pretty rare).

So, true to my style, I’ve made this way, way too long. I just wanted to say that while I’ve overall been quite happy with my big box purchases, it isn’t for everyone and it can be problematic if you are dead set on a specific tree (as most people are). If you just want a nice apple or plum or peach and won’t be devastated if you end up with a different variety, I think there are lots of positive reasons to consider BB trees- though I know most folks here don’t agree (we’re all still friends though!).

BTW…(Bob and others) While mentioned walmart trees being $17. Just wanted to point out that in my area, if you look really close, for the last 2 years they have several fruit trees for $9.99! They are sprinkled in with others and you almost have to check each tag to find them. I got a green gauge that way…of course even the best online nurseries sell all kinds of things as green gage! hah

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Oddly enough I get way more mix ups at Walmart and fewer at Lowe’s. The trees from Lowe’s usually are supplied from a nearby tree farm that may be as but more reputable.

I’m like you though I have lots of space and I really don’t mind getting a mislabeled EXCEPT when it needs a pollinator and I don’t have a clue which way to go…

katy

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My first tree in the ground this season. Honey drippin pear from gurneys in my home orchard.

This is michigan blow sand before it dries out for the year, 4 bags of manure/compost, aluminum window screen for protection. It was still dormant…

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That is interesting that you say that. Walmart is my second worse offender but I think I’ve just been lucky. I’ve actually seen leafed out trees at walmart where you could tell it was an apple and it had cherry tag on it! haha. At least Lowe’s gets the right species! And just this weekend I saw some Wal-Mart trees that had a store label that said one thing, and a few still had the original nursery label and the two didn’t match!

I appreciate you saying I’m not the only one that doesn’t completely loose my mind if I get a mislabel. As I’ve said, if a person had very limited space and was very set on a certain variety, or as you said if you really needed a pollinator for an existing tree, then I completely get that and understand why variety is so critical to most people. But as someone who just loves growing almost any and all fruit, and as someone who-when I get a mislabel surprise I just enjoy it and then buy the one I wanted - I know I’m in the minority.

But make no mistake, I’ve got mislabeled trees from almost every company I’ve bought from, so if people think they are immune just because they pay a lot more for a tree and buy from a more reputable on-line nursery, they may be mistaken.

BTW, Kate (or is it Kathryn now…just noticed the new name on your profile) did you get any more jujubes this year? I was sort of on Hiatus when everyone was talking about what they ordered. I’ve still just got my honey jar and sugar cane. Yours did about twice as good as mine the first year but I was still happy.

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I’ll tell you what is happening today…I think I discovered something awful about 50 feet away from my orchard/plum trees. I need you guys to tell me if it is what I fear it is:

So, I’m walking by a large wild cherry tree (Black Cherry) that is on the side of my house and which I rarely pay attention to, when I suddenly notice several very large, very awful looking cankers on it. So doctors, let’s here the prognosis…is this the dreaded Black Knot that so many people, especially @scottfsmith has been warning me will likely hit my plums (and other fruits)? Is the same fungus that affects this wild cherry the one that can damage and destroy plums and other fruit trees? I suspect you’ll suggest cutting this guy down, but man that will be a big job and I have to wonder if it isn’t too late anyway. Any comments ?

My own google research makes me think this may not be black knot, but I still need other opinions!