Are any of you worried about tonight’s temps going down to the teens? My peach buds are concerned.
still 4ft. of snow here so nope!
Tug hill?
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Down here it’s a problem. If all I lose is cots and J. plums I’m OK with it.
I’m still plenty dormant here, so the cold temps aren’t an issue here.
Between two of the Finger Lakes, I think we’ll be fine. One apricot tree is further along than any other tree in the orchard, and I think it isn’t too far along.
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Alan, are you expecting to lose all of them? I don’t think mine are far enough along to be a complete loss.
Most of my apricots look like this, which I think is called “Calyx Red”. One of them has the slightest hint of white. We could get just under the 10% kill of 22F a few times, but not close to the 90% kill of 9F.
I’m not sure exactly where the Japanese plums and pluots would fall on the freeze damage charts. Most of the ones I’ve seen only have Euro plums, which could have different thresholds. I’m not sure if this qualifies as “tight cluster” or “first white”. I suspect I’ll get some thinning and could end up with a sparse fruit-load.
I could also get a bit of thinning on some of the Asian pears, but I don’t think it will be too bad.
I made sure to turn off the heat pumps last night (oil backup), as they pull warmth into the house and exhaust cold air. That cold air can then run downhill across the driveway and through some of the trees (particularly pluots). It might only be a few degrees, but there is no sense in being the straw which breaks this years harvest.
Current forecast has 19F, 21F, and 25F for my town. I’ve got some apricots in neighboring towns (figured I’d try at some other sites, given the high apricot mortality level I’ve seen) as well, which forecast 21F, 21F, and 25F. The trees in other towns are only 2nd year, but all seem to have at least a few flowers and are decent sized for second year trees (good trees from ACN and Granpa’s Orchard which grew well last year).
Everything is quite dormant here still. We were down to snow leftover from plowing and snow in parts of the woods. Just a couple inches this a.m. but a low of 7F.
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In a couple of days cut some flowers open and see if there is browning on the interior. The chart is the chart but when the flowers show brown they are toast.
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I’m looking at 18 here tonight, despite my best attempts to will the forecast higher. My peach tree has a lot of buds that are a bit past swollen bud stage, so I’m thinking it will thin the buds mostly. Surprisingly, my apricots are not as far along. There’s a couple of buds at calyx red on one branch, but the rest are just starting to swell. I’ll see what happens.
Correction: the forecast is now for 17 degrees. It’s a good thing we usually run 3-4 degrees warmer than forecast at my spot.
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This is one of the advantages of living/growing near the mighty Atlantic. This is a mix of barnyard waste and seafood/seaweed compost, delivered by a local today (you can see the bits of clam and lobster shell). Provides many missing micronutrients to the orchard/garden.
Anyone else taking advantage of the fishing/seafood industry in our region?
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if the gas wasnt so high id drive down your way to get some of that. what they get per yard for it?
The price has gone up a bit this year (as has everything) but I paid $50 a yard delivered.
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In normal soil the only nutrient that usually produces a measurable response in trees is N, but we gardeners are like mothers always trying to get an edge for our children. I believe the main contribution of compost is simply the organic matter that creates both available water and encourages well draining soil- this from someone who in his youth gathered seaweed and dead fish from the shore to enhance the compost I made. Of course, it also assures a wide range of nutrients and cation exchange including slow release N that peaks in the summer months when fruit growers don’t want too much of it (fall and early spring feeding serves the fruit- later feeding, leaves and wood).
Now I make compost from food waste for my veg garden- I buy commercial compost by the yard for my business because I like to top plots with a big wheel barrow of it below the same of wood mulch when I install trees from my nursery- this increases the chance of even neglected trees to thrive. The compost is usually made from yard waste and woodchips at a local yard- the price went up to above $30 last year delivered- the yard makes money at both ends, charging landscapers and arborists for dumping their waste in their yard.
I believe that for the most part, barring contaminants, compost is compost and that micronutrients in normal soils are usually enough to provide optimum growth- I worry more about them in potting mixes, but for that I rely on Osmocote.
I also believe that fruit trees provide the best fruit when grown in relatively lean soils- in the humid region too much available water reduces brix. In mowed turf I only mulch trees while they are establishing unless they are inadequately vigorous, even with added N. Mulch soon becomes compost and annual mulching tends to create excessive vigor in fruit trees after about 8-10 years. Once they are established I let the bi-weekly mowed grass reach their trunks as long as I continue to get moderate growth. Moderate growth is the goldilocks affect orchard keepers seek.
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i want it mostly for the shell content to increase the bacteria that eats it in my soil. a few years ago i put some crab meal around all my plants and since then i havent seen any junebug larvae in the soils around them. most of it would go into my raised beds for growing veggies. i find the more micros in there help them taste their best. put some river silt and worm castings in there last spring and all my plants were a dark green and delicious. ive been planting ground covers , allums and herbs to absorb some of the nutrients from mulching every spring around my trees/ bushes. once they all fill it in ill stop mulching as it wont be needed to keep out the weeds.
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I get all those same results just by using my home made compost and urine. In my business I see scores of kitchen gardens and they are never as productive as my own- although I’m sure there are plenty that exist.
People love to share their anecdotal observations and I always feel compelled to try to keep this forum science oriented, which isn’t very popular, but I’ve been doing this stuff full time for most of my 70 years and have seen so many versions of magic dust come and go.
Everyone has their anecdotes, but I wish they’d try to do a simple control experiment before they treated them as facts.
its has worked for me for the last 25 years so that’s scientific enough for me. proof is in my plants. compost is hard to come by in my environment because its so cold so we use whatever we can get. i try and stay away from using just synthetic fertilizers unless i need a quick correction. if it works for you awesome. every place grows differently with different challenges.
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I was only suggesting that it is hard to know exactly what that goes into a compost is creating beneficial response because any good compost works wonders and you might be able to spend less than $50 a yard to get great results. Maybe not where you are, but in other New York and New England areas. In my area we have so many trees dying and being chipped that anything related to that can be a bargain- there are also many towns that compost leaves and grass clippings and provide the product free for town residents. As far as I’m concerned, most all of it is black gold. .
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wish we had those resources here. it takes my chic manure 2 years to be able to break down enough to add to the soil. i add some urine occasionally to help it along but its a process.
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Checking in from Ithaca, NY! Glad to see the warming temps and all the plants & trees waking up!
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