The weather seems more variable in the last five years, and it’s hard to say if this is the exception or if this is the rule… Only time will tell.
I am bummed about my kiwis now, I am starting to wonder if they will be viable in the long run. I had a similar thing happen with my pomegranate attempts, I spent ten years trying and got half a dozen pomegranates in that period and decided it was time to give up. I’m not sure how long I have tried things before giving up, but ten years is a pretty good timeframe. Just make sure to have enough irons in the fire and some things will work out. My apples pears cherries peaches pawpaws and jujubes have managed to largely escape frosts every year. Even if I lost everything every 3-4 years that would be ok. If it was losing everything every other year though I think I would pack it in.
Anyway here’s to hoping this was an unlucky year and next year will be better. There isn’t really anything to do at this point, things will begin to re-sprout in a week or so.
There is really not much you can do but wait and see. This is the first really bad year I’ve seen here. There were lots of years where a little damage and small crop loss happened, but this year was a lot of damage and massive crop loss.
I had the same problem with extensive frost damage on my kiwis last night - patchwork of mostly crisped shoots with a few that looked OK, despite covering much of the plants with old sheets. Interesting that your IR thermometer shows a lot of variation in temps. It didn’t seem to make a difference whether branches were covered or not, unfortunately.
This is also my first year really paying attention as well, and from the looks of it we just got really unlucky! I am banking on “it can only go up from here”!
My latest bad news is my apricots did not do well. I forgot how it can take days for the damage to show there. The tops of the fruits are mush; the bottoms are all fine but that doesn’t help much. Like with the kiwis the fruits protected from above are fine, so I’ll get a small crop.
My mulberry is an odd beast now, the fruit didn’t get damaged and the small leaves are OK but all the bigger leaves are dead. I’m curious if the fruit will stay or not.
Oddly I’m seeing a lot of fried pawpaw leaves and flowers. First time for that. Also noticing a lot of apple & pear fruit set is missing to go along with the near total stone fruit loss. Persimmon and a few other things will be just fine though. Guess this year is going to be all about garden veggies. Taking all the forum members advice and waiting till May to plant them.
Be warned: the mosquitos have arrived. I got 10 bites stepping onto my deck for 5 minutes this evening. if you’re not a magnet you might not notice them for another week or two.
They’re perfectly coordinated with the spotted lantern fly nymphs that are now all over my citrus trees and everything.
So it looks like my cutie pie got some damage fruitlet wise from the frost we got. It took a few days to show up tho. A lot of the very tiny fruitlets now just fall off it you shake the branches a tiny bit. They also have some faint red color to them. Booo! Was hoping for a bumper crop ! The ones that were further along seem fine tho.
Try a salt gun. I’ll get one this year, but my brother has one and said it is very satisfying for lantern flies.
Also, did you notice any damage on your muscadines last year from them? They were all over but my vines were fine. It was actually good, I had friends and family w/o plants at their houses that had them all over the patio furniture. I barely saw any other than on my grapes.
Although there may not be a solution at the moment there is hope. Just like the Japanese Beetles it looks like they travel in waves and move on after a few years. I was covered in Lantern Fly a couple years ago and this year I have yet to see one. Same with the beetles. When they were here I did tons of internet searches on sprays and traps for Lantern Fly, but came up empty handed. In the end no matter what you do just like the beetles there are millions to replace them.
A lot of tick pressure already where i’m at. Got bit by a deer tick already. Just bought a bunch more permethrin treated clothes from InsectShield. Keeps the mosquitos off you too.
The salt gun does sound fun, but I’m wondering if that is better for when they are full sized adults. I’m not sure if it will damage the plants trying to take care of so many. I’ll definitely try the vacuum.
I didn’t see any damage, but I really saw the big numbers show up when they were adults and mostly closer to when they started laying eggs. I’m worried that if they are already all over the vines and are there for their full lifecycle they’ll have time to really stress my dines. Plus I’m not sure how much I’ll want to eat the grapes if they wind up covered with “dew”.
I’m hoping my local birds have developed a taste for them and I’ll see the numbers go down over the season, but right now there are just tons.
if you’re not a magnet you might not notice them for another week or two.
