A vote for patience! Not my strong suit, but I will try to rustle some of that up from deep down inside.
Meyer lemon potted tree. Although hardier than standard lemons, it’s can’t possibly survive zone 6b Winters. It’s of interest as it was pollinated by cold hardy trifoliate pollen. The pollen producing anthers were removed pre-dehisence, and all the seeds should be hybrids.
Meyer lemon is softer, slightly orange colored and sweeter than conventional lemons.
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Citrus trifoliata in bloom, unfortunately the flowers are seldom fragrant. Surprisingly, the flowers and flower buds tend to be hardier than most peach flowers.
When hybridized with conventional Citrus some fragrance is detectable in the progeny. When the F2 seedling generation is tested for cold hardiness, a very few will survive zone 6b Winters.
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Citrus trifoliata fruit in early December 2021. Established trees planted outdoors can survive Winter conditions as low as -20°F. The fruit can be utilized in marmalade when very ripe.
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I am just wondering whether anyone in these environs has seen much Marssonina this year…
Not for me… at least that I have identified. Trees are keeping leaves well for the most part.
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I sprayed Goldrush four times for MLB- mid June Immunox, mid July Immunox, mid August Immunox plus Captan; mid Sept Immunox plus Captan. It kept one Goldrush clean and the other about 70% clean.
Unsprayed summer apple Monark got hid hard, about 1/3 defoliated.
I see MLB starting on Sweet 16.
Unsprayed and clean so far: Belle de Boskoop and Keepsake.
I’m 78 and don’t plan on doing this backpack sprayer business next year. No Mas! as Roberto Duran? famously said, surrendering to another boxer. So I either have some nice firewood or I graft over but to what??? My Boskoop is a sterile triploid- I need no spray pollinators for it and to pollinate Keepsake.
MLB may be the final straw for me and apples
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Sorry about the difficulties w/ MLB. I haven’t seen any around here yet. I haven’t sprayed Immunox since late spring / early summer. That was for CAR.
I am suspicious that those farther south who got much more normal rains in the summer are seeing more of it. Last year I did not really see much MLB until the beginning of September. If that ends up being typical I imagine the biggest problem would be with the later ripening apples.
If you want a tough pollinator perhaps Enterprise would be of use? For me it was almost completely unaffected last year. Unaffected by CAR. Unaffected by MLB. Unaffected by scab. If it were not for the other trees I would think those afflictions figments of other folks imagination.
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I switched to a hand pull battery operated sprayer this year due to back issues. It is awesome in every way but price (several hundred bucks). If you are interested I can dig up the model. I am several years younger but it is clear I need to make the work easier for me if I am going to keep the orchard going.
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Photos of a Segentrange at 4 years of age. The fruits are in earliest stage of color change. Based on last year’s immature fruits, these should ripen to a good orange color by end of October/early November. By holding the fruit 2 weeks post harvest, the juice content should increase slightly.
This selection has survived out of doors during recent Winters. The fruit characteristics will be evaluated when the fruit ripens.
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Looking good, Kelby! I have a couple Nikita’s Gift grafts done this past spring that are doing well so far. Are those your Bari figs with the persimmons?
Yes, that’s Bari.
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Early May 2019: Surviving F2 Citrange seedlings in Winter trial following a late January low of -11.8°F. Several dozen survived out of an initial population of 20,000 seedlings. These were further propagated and field planted. One of these selected survivors has transitioned into fruiting stage at present.
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For those who just received the remnants of Ian:
Boy I am glad Ian is finally gone. No sun for what was it five days in a row?
I don’t think one storm is going to do in your roots, it takes longer and/or regular spells.
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Now you folks talking about our soil. Look back several years. Quite some old trees got toppled by the storms. Reason? Our top soil is so thin. Roots just stay in the top layers. Even those tap roots do not go very deep. It is very hard to break the hardpan soil layer.
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Ian dropped around 4" here over 5 days, which was nice. Lack of sun was weird!
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The soil is totally saturated, not bad heading into Winter. Time to coil up the garden hose!
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