Anyone know what the plant is?
It’s in an area with a bunch of plums and pawpaws, so I’m wondering if it fruits?
A close up. No leaves for a few weeks still.
It’s in an area with a bunch of plums and pawpaws, so I’m wondering if it fruits?
A close up. No leaves for a few weeks still.
Aww! Sympathy, sympathy. (But be careful with that hobbling - just 'cause you can might not mean you should! You want it to heal correctly for the many years of spraying and grafting to come!)
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I’ve planted some fruit trees in extremely poor soil (mostly sand and clay, fill from construction). What soil amendments/fertilizers would y’all recommend I add, if I had to prioritize?
Prioritize: organic matter, nitrogen, balanced fertilizers
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Sorry to hear about your injury. I am well aware about the boot you are wearing. I have had to wear one twice, so far. It was months and months worth of wearing. You get used to it but still it can be a little awkward to wear and move around with. It was the worst when wearing it to bed.
I hope you heal up quickly and get through this faster than it seems like. Every day is a day closer to not having to wear it.
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I get a 6 cubic yard load of compost from the local farm cooperative a couple times a year. It’s a lot of money all at once, and delivery is $85, but a lot less than bagged in the long run. I also get organic fruit tree fertilizer from there, AND I mix up oyster shell, bonemeal, and greensand AND I spray periodically with a diluted urine, liquid calcium, and fish sometimes, but I think that’s as much about deer and neighbor deterrence than about soil amending.
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Thank you, Mike. I don’'t have to wear it to bed . . . thank goodness. And sometimes after hours of having it on, I have to take it off - because it feels like it’s doing more damage than good. And if it isn’t one thing, it’s another! My knee on my opposite leg is feeling really stressed - because it’s hard to figure out which shoe to wear to keep my legs ‘on an even keel’.
If all goes well . . . I have 6 more weeks. 
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Mulch heavily with wood chips. That’s priority #1, in my opinion.
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You can buy a leveler to put over your shoe on the other foot to build it up to the level of the orthopedic boot. It seems I got mine online, but you might find one at Walmart, too. It’s a rubber sole with some adjustable straps that go over your shoe. If you walk around in that boot without leveling the other foot, you could end up with back problems.
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Karen, you are not looking for sympathy, you show case your creativity 
. Speedy recovery 
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graft question
my partner’s bad plant decision a while ago was two sand cherry bushes. they taste disgusting at every stage, to me, and are growing in a pretty good spot for picking and growing.
can I graft cherry to them- sweet, sour, Rainier? any kind of cherry? I’ve got a few cherry scions but my dwarf cherry tree order was cancelled, so I’ll have no place to put those grafts I think, unless they can go on these. I have peach, apricot and a single nectarine going so maybe one of those can take these scion?
if not, what will grow on there as a graft? I have two plums already, so I’d rather not do more of those.
because my partner gets one choice a year I can’t just tear the things out, but I can top work or graft as much as I like. I’ve been searching and reading old threads that mention sand cherries (prunus basenji? Benji? besseyi! thanks evil Paul) but can’t find a good answer.
I don’t know anything about sand cherries; but since they are in the Prunus genus, it wouldn’t hurt to try grafting all of your scions on them, unless someone else comes up with a better idea.
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They’re Prunus besseyi. There’s some info in the grafting compatibility thread.
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all I can find there is reference to putting plum on it.
I may not be seeing any reference to grafting other cherries, like I may be missing something but I see no reference to it, only to grafting them over to plums
I posted my question to that thread, will fit better! I thought it was a much older thread than it is
Sand Cherry and Nanking Cherry are more closely related to plums than actual sweet or sour cherries I believe.
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Is there a thread or article regarding pear graft compatibility? I am looking to start a multi-variety tree from an existing kieffer pear.
Kiefer should be compatible with both European and Asian pear.
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My wife scored three plum and a nectarine tree from Kroger for $25 each. In May, I’ll have to plant them in a way the deer won’t destroy them. I’m not interested in building cages, but I do have extra 5 foot tree tubes laying around.
Question is, should I have any reservations about pruning off all branching below 5 feet so they fit in the tubes? That’d probably be lopping off about 50% of the leaf area on most of these.
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If you don’t prune it the deer will do it for you. I usually prune off all that lower stuff. Should be fine. Don’t forget those trees will be a foot or so shorter after you get them in the ground.
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2 questions:
- I cut a scion off a Starking pear branch on a multi-variety pear of mine. The center of the scion was dark brown, surrounded by healthy green tissue. I vaguely remember something about when cutting out some fireblight in an apple that you should cut back below where you see dark centers on limbs. So, is my scion ok, or likely infected? The tree has shown no signs of fb, and Starking is supposed to be resistant.
- I ordered some Krymysk 1 rootstock to graft peaches onto, maybe trying chip grafts. It is already pushing buds, however, as are my peaches where I’d like to cut scions. So, my plan is to graft scions pretty high on the rootstock… if they don’t take, I can chip graft later this season and place lower on the rootstock. Thoughts?
Thanks as always, Paul