thanks - i’ll wait until late in feb or march.
Last week I found a dead tree on our land, most probably a plum tree. It must have died last summer as there are still some dead leaves attached. The tree is completely covered with small knobs on all the buds. Does anyone know what disease this might be? And most importantly, should I be worried that it can spread to my other fruit trees?
The rootstock has sent out root suckers and those look healthy.
Maybe witches broom of some kind?
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I have a couple apricots on krymsk86 which is a peach/plum hybrid rootstock and it is pretty disease resistant and the apricots are growing well. You could try it.
However if root knot nematodes are what did your other apricots in you might try nemaguard- though it is susceptible to other things.
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I looked it up, but it doesn’t look like witch’s broom. There are no branches sprouting out like wild, it’s just hard, tumor-like growth on all the buds throughout the whole tree.
Plum Bud Gall Mite (Acalitus phloeocoptes
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I had never heard of it, but that must be it. Thanks! I burnt the whole tree already. I will keep an eye on my other trees for signs of infection.
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I havent heard or seen any information regarding Steven Edholm’s (Skill Cult) apple scion sales this winter. Does anyone have any information, did I miss it?
I don’t think you missed it. Last year, he had auctions started in the second week of February; early access on his web store in the third week of February; and open access on his web store in the fourth week of February. I’m sure it’s very dependent on weather, supply, and his schedule, but if history is a good indicator, I’d expect he will put out some info in the next two weeks or so.
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It hasn’t happened yet; are you on his email list? Sales open to Patreon members first, then open access. Newest and scarcest scion wood is usually on Figbid.
I’m on the email list, and I had thought the sale was earlier in the past but it sounds like I’m right on time and I’ll just keep an eye out.
Skillcults auctions have started on Figbid. No new releases due to lack of scion wood.
Anyone know/have of a good pea/bean desheller? Or a melon/pumpkin seed dehusker? Trying to make processing a little easier.
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I’ve never used one personally, but I’ve seen people using pea/bean deshellers with a handcrank (presumably could connect a drill to some of them) and two silicone rollers on YouTube with table mounted ones. Looked like an easy 10x speed improvement over what I was doing manually two or three years ago when I grew a lot of peas/beans.
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I saw a multi-tool for cracking melon, squash, and cucumber seeds at a asian store one time. I thought about buying it but didn’t. Wish I had, because I never saw it again. (Haven’t bothered to look it up though, because I don’t actually need it!)
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Aside from the Red Astrachan and Gravenstein, are there any that may have been grown in the NC that bloom about 3-4 weeks ahead of a Golden D? I’ve just harvested a scion from a very old tree that will be blooming very early. It’s near breaking cluster. It’s a spur variety with very large buds at silver tip. No point at the end of the bud. Very boxy looking.
Josh @ Landis Legacy Farm shows how to make a homemade pea sheller, two videos on it:
40V Brushless 15 In. String Trimmer with Smart Load™ Kit | LT4832C
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Question for the experienced growers:
Does burying the root flare by 1-2 inches really affect the life of trees such as Prunus (Plums and peaches), pears, jujube, Asian persimmons on virginiana, etc?
I am reading some planting guides that word it as if you were killing the tree long-term, and I have planted my trees with the flare slightly below grade before.
Thanks everyone. You are awesome
Doubtful it is going to kill it. Lots of people have buried a bare root tree to deep. If it were killing the trees you would be reading about it on here. Plus people often mulch around them which effectively does the same thing. Some people bury them deep on purpose to get the scion to sprout root.
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I buried a couple inches of a peach tree trunk in mulch. Just yesterday, I was cleaning up in the yard and realized how deep it was. I raked the mulch away and found it had been attacked by borers 
. It also just looked too moist near the trunk.
I don’t know about other reasons you might not want to bury a tree too deep but I now have at least one.
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