Something I have heard mentioned for keeping mold off of cold treated seeds in a fridge is putting a tiny straw (like from a WD40 spray bottle, but clean) in the bag seal. Essentially creating an air leak but a tiny one with a long entrance path to hopefully reduce entry of organisms. I am currently trying this with some seeds, its been a few weeks and so far so good with the seeds I am treating.
I would think that this same thing might work with scions and rootstocks kept in a fridge or cellar, but have not tried it. Just passing it on for those that might want to experiment.
I stopped using paper towels for that reason…I think it’s a common sentiment. You will see people recommend dunking scions in a very dilute bleach solution or other things. The moisture issue is really about keeping the scion from drying out more than keeping it moist. Might wanna experiment with that.
Not a question:
I was part of a large pear scion collection event at the NCGR-CORV this week and I’ll say that I’m not sure there were any pear buds that hadn’t changed at all from dormant…some were already just pre-bloom (I doubt if any of those will be shipped). Scions should be in the mail soon. We in W. Oregon are at least a month ahead with some aspects of orcharding.
I’ve read that it takes an approximate number of leaves to provide for a piece of fruit,growing on a tree.
Let’s say,on a branch,there is only fruit and no leaves,but a nearby one has only leaves.Will these be enough for those fruit,if the ratio of leaves to fruit is met?bb
I grow a number of them and have so far tasted my Centennial and Chestnut crabs. Both are great. Centennial is a small tree, so pick your rootstock accordingly. I get a little CAR around here, but neither has had enough for me to spray for it. No signs of fire blight at this point and I think both are reasonably resistant. I also grow Kerr, Calloway and Dolgo. I’ve eaten Calloway and it is pretty good, but a bit small. I think I’ll save those for jelly. The others the deer and squirrels keep getting. But they are all growing okay with no spraying. I bag my fruit instead of spraying, but without that I’d need to spray at least for insect pests.
Right off the top of my head I wold say yes. It is okay. As long as the fruit to leaves ration is okay for the entire tree. If I am wrong on this please someone else chime in.
Question! I have a Bramley’s Seedling and was told it would need two apples to provide pollen. I got Hunge and Reverend Morgan on a recommendation. All these trees are getting old enough to bloom this year. My Hunge has something wrong at the rootstock. It looks to me like a lawn mower injury gone terribly wrong but of course the lawn mower operator disagrees with this diagnosis. Anyway the bark is peeling off and I don’t know why the branches and buds still look so good. Anyway I thought of maybe grafting a branch of Hunge onto the Bramley’s. I have other apples too that might work for pollination but I really don’t want to lose the Hunge. Now…my buds are swelling and getting velvety on at least some of my trees. Is it too late for me to cut scion from my Hunge tree to graft?
This just occurred to me after dark tonight so I really haven’t looked at the advancement of the buds to this end but I do remember that I thought they looked like they are advancing to spring.
I’d say go ahead and cut the Hunge. Should work fine. I think Bramley is a sterile triploid so you need at least two other varieties.
Do you protect your trunks from “Southwest Injury?” That’s sun damage in winter to the south or southwest side of bark that isn’t painted white or protected with a white spiral trunk wrap. That could be the mysterious damage. I paint all my trunks up to 2 or 3 feet with interior white latex paint. Can you cut off the bark damage with sharp knife? Is there any healthy trunk remaining?
That may be what it is and no I haven’t painted or wrapped them. There is some bark left on the east side of the tree but the damage is bad. All the upper wood and branches look good.
The bark is just peeling off. We have had no winter to speak of this year. Got down to 19-20 for one night but has been in mid to high 20’s a few nights. Basically no cold weather!!
I would take a very sharp knife and cut a clean, sharp, uniform edge on the wound, cutting back to good bark. Hold the blade perpendicular to the bark (versus holding it flat to the bark and shaving the perimeter. Then remove any bad bark back to the sharp perimeter. That may be as clear as mud. If bark on North side is also damaged then it’s probably not sun injury.
I’ll look at it better tomorrow. I also have King David, Goldrush, and Honeycrisp so I’m not sure if they would pick up pollination requirements but I really would like to save the Hunge. I haven’t grafted apples but heard they are easy so I’m going to try it. Will check out the trunk.
The pollination requirement is mostly about bloom time. Most apples require mates, Tripolids like Bramley’s and GranySmiths absolutly require mates. But they are unable to return the favor, which is why you need 3.King David, Goldrush, and Honeycrisp are all dipoloid if they boom at the same time the your good.
This may be true, but what are the practical implications. Are you going to start counting leaves in the midst of thinning the crop? I don’t think so. I do think this is the sort of nostrum that some gnarly old orchardist would dish out to a newby when asked for the umpteenth time, “How do you know how much to thin?” It goes along with all the snide answers to, “What’s your favorite apple?” Tony Dembski told me something of that sort when I asked.
Actually,I think @alan wrote about this in an earlier post.
Your scenario about counting fruit is a little different than what I’m trying to answer about one branch compensating for another’s lack.
Thinning a crop,for the sake of ease and time management,is usually done by approximating the space between individual fruits.bb
My Montmorency Cherry is dead.
Planted in 2015, unknown rootstock from Stark Bros. It died last summer. I was gone for awhile, when I came home it was completely dead. It had been looking bad, leaves started to curl inward and turn yellow before I left. I thought is was maybe due to all the rain, too much water. It was planted on a mound, but it wasn’t raised up very high, 6-10" or so, by about 4’ wide.
I started to dig it out today, my new one should be here in 3 to 4 weeks.
My plan was to build a much bigger mound for the new tree in the same place.
What, if any, soil-born disease issues might cause a problem for the new tree?
Later in the summer I found cherry leaf spot on my Romeo and Carmine Jewel bush cherries. Now I wonder if my Monty had that and died from it, and I totally missed it, didn’t recognize it for what it was.
If cherry leaf spot IS or could be to blame, would planting in the same spot be a death sentence to the next tree?
I know there have been similar quesitons - “should I plant in the same place as the tree that died” - but I couldn’t located them! So I apologize for any redundancy!!
Thanks for any advice/input!!!
