I got down to 17.0°F on morning of Dec 22, with a good bit of snow, and only 22.7°F in the February freeze. Temperatures aren’t much different, but I don’t think the wind was too bad here for either, I’m in a somewhat sheltered location for wind.
Yes, all of Adam’s varieties look horrible at my place.
The Chinatown tree and several others are much healthier looking. It might make sense to select for ones that will continue to stay healthy even with bad winter weather.
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I totally agree and have been hoping to learn from your experiences with the many you are growing.
You take the extra step of offering some protection, so that reduces the learning a little bit. But I’m very interested on your recommendations - and at some point scion wood if you are amenable. Also interested in your learnings regarding the Feijoa.
I winter planted my 4 New Zealand feijoa from One Green World, and the snow was brutal to them. I expect 1 to 3 of them to survive, but probably way behind what I’d have gotten from planting in spring 
For some reason they cut out the leader before selling. From the size of the cut, looks like half or more of the canopy. The remaining horizontal limbs got crushed to the ground with snow. I’d have preferred something vertical I could have staked.
These are also grafted, not own-rooted. So more fragile.
Seems like you’ve had some rough conditions at your place. You’re near Portland right? Are you in a particularly blustery area, exposed to those gorge winds? I was talking to Sam at One Green World and asking him about the impact those have on their outdoor citrus. Doesn’t seem to bother the yuzu or dunstan. The worst I’ve seen those was this last February when they had dropped about half their leaves. The yuzu doesn’t seem to mind it though because it bounces back every spring and is covered with ripe fruit by the end of summer. I don’t know if their dunstan makes fruit yet, but it was alive the last time I was there. I’m really excited to get my Prague Citsuma here soon.
Have those been out all winter? They look excellent! Every pic I’ve seen of the Seattle tree or its seedlings shows a very healthy looking specimen.
Recently, I discovered another very large loquat growing off of Wallace Road in west Salem. Last time I saw it was 2 weeks ago and it looks as robust as your trees and it’s pushing 15 feet or maybe taller.
There’s also a loquat about 10 feet tall on 17th street in central Salem that looked very healthy this February. The grower told my buddy that it has yielded some ripe fruit.
But then there’s the tree at my buddy’s house that looks really bad. It’s a seedling of some Florida tree so I don’t know the plant’s background is. Its leaves look yellowish and have big brown spots. Definitely not what I want my trees out front to look like during winter.
Recently started contributing at a CSA in Salem. They have two gigantic unheated greenhouses and in one there are a dozen meyer lemons trees. The lady who tends them told me she gets about 400 lemons a year from the trees. I think they need to be doing satsumas too.
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2 questions…
1)Is there a white or yellow nectarine that produces juicy sweet fruits in northwestern pnw area? I see hardired on NW Fruit (Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation) page but wonder if the fruits produced are actualy sweet n juicy or if it just met a minimum criteria since i read a few pnw people report unimpressive results from a few plums on their page.
2)For those who’ve grown beauty, methley, and shiro in the area and found them unimpressive, was this after using the appropriate fertilizers to enhance the soil?
They have been in the ground for two winters now, no protection. They got a little damage at 16°F last winter but none this winter with a low of 17°F. It looks like they are ready to grow a little faster this year than last year, at least their spring flush is more vigorous this year.
My yuzu dropped all of its leaves but had no stem damage. It’s just leafing out right now.
We had some unusually strong wind storms. Not in the gorge.
That’s great news. Ours are roughly the same age right? Because I noticed a more vigorous spring too. They are going crazy! I’m so stoked. So many people have no idea what they are. I tell them and they ask ‘are they related to a kumquat?’ The word does sound similar.
I have hardired and it gets curl really bad. No fruit set yet year 4. It completely defoliates then regrows its leaves “normal”.
Ditto for Canadian hardy red nectarine. Bad curl and full defoliate.
Atomic red nectarine does ok with the curl but blooms more than it set fruit for me. It seems decorative more than fruit. Despite what raintree says.
I have a kriebiach nectarine (year 4) that is the only one that I would recommend so far. It has done good with little curl and no defoliation. It set a few fruit last year. Small tree small fruit. Too early to tell yet this year. But it flowered well and is looking just peachy…
If you try a peach the Salish summer is my winner. Frost and Oregon curl free get a touch or curl. My new Indian free peach has perfect leaves. But I would not base any assessment off the first year. The other peaches are on year 4.
I am generally hoping they outgrow the curl. That is what the guys at restoring Eden said. Even the curl resistant ones get curl until they get older as trees. My hw272 for example, gets the most improved grower award. Year 1,2,3 it was my worst at curl and defoliation. Almost died from it. This year (surprisingly) it is rivaling the frost and Oregon curl free for barely a touch of curl. It flowered heavy and looks like it set fruit. Crossing my toes and fingers…
I am on a salmon stream right off lake Washington so I don’t spray trees. They are parallel to the creek. Copper is oh so bad for fish. Shreds them. All the copepods and shrimp too. The leaves literally fall into the creek in the fall. If I was a lot or 2 back I would not sweat it. Sorry for the copper tangent.
I would say over all not a single one of my 4 nectarines is nearly as healthy as my 8 peaches. I am surprised by this.
Betty, hw272, frost, Salish summer, Oregon curl free, contender, veteran, and Indian free.
Hardired, kriebiach, atomic red, hardy red Canadian nectarine.
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Despite my protection, many loquats have lost ALL blossom buds. No fruit at all. I think they need protection when young. Or a great micro climate or both. Some varieties just seem better than others in terms of being able to hold fruit.
So far Shambala seems like a winner. Not because it flowers again in Spring (it really doesnt) But it has more fruit than any of my other trees.
One of my California discoveries is just putting out blossoms. In Spring now.
I think it is a freak occurrence and I dont think I can count on it every year.
Several of my feijoa lost leaves at the top – Not all the way thankfully.
It may be better to graft feijoa than buy from OGW or elsewhere if they do things like cut out the leader. They are quite easy to graft despite all the stories to the contrary.
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I’ve also found them easy to graft, but the wood is very brittle and splits easily, so I had trouble when I tried W&T. Cleft worked well as long as you cut the scion with a very long cut so you can push it deep in the cleft, which will split much further than you cut it. Nearly 100% takes doing it that way.
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When do you collect wood and when do you graft?
I did a bunch from Marta in March 2021, I believe those were collected in February, but down in Davis, CA, not locally. Had about 60-70% take. Those didn’t flower in 2022 but look like they have flower buds starting to swell now.
Last year, I only did scions from Larry’s tree, but all 5 grafts took, though 2 of them did not grow much and I ended up cutting them off since the other ones grew well. Those were grafted around the same time of year, either March or April, I’d have to look in the feijoa grafting thread to get the date. It looks like Larry’s grafts have flower buds just starting to swell now, too, though I’ll probably eat the flowers and not let them hold fruit until next year.
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You can collect wood year round and graft when temps are consistently above 70 or so.
Two of my January grafts are now starting to show green — getting ready to push. They were done with a heat pipe. All my Feijoa bushes are just starting to bud out.
One is Arhart — the earliest variety I know and another is Dens choice whose behavior this far north remains unknown.
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I don’t know if temperature matters too much, since I’ve had pretty good success grafting after the last hard freeze (but even before the last mild frost). All done outdoors and unprotected, though I did wrap them 100% in parafilm or buddy tape, not just the cut ends.
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First bolting casualty from bizarre jump in temps. Kale transplanted April 1st thinks the season is over. This often happens with brassicas when I try to get a jump on things!
Hoping broccoli and cabbage will hold tight.
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Yes, we have been having record breaking hot weather here as well. Almost seems like we skipped from winter, straight to summer.
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My stone fruits are in heaven. It is early enough that I am not freaking out too much. The only problem I have had are extra aphid outbreaks that I should be able to handle. I think that the many late freezes had more effect on this year’s crop. I may consider buying one of those landscaping blankets that are supposed to delay bud-break.
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