I just need to vent.
We had a brief but very violent storm on July 3. Early fireworks. Severe winds from the north, horizontal rain. The storm came quickly across the bay, interrupted me grilling burgers. Power went out for ~18 hours.
I was lucky that the damage wasn’t worse, but here’s one sad victim. This is (was) Golden Russet grafted by me on MM.111.
Do you think you might be able to stand it back up and support it ? Nice tree… with fruit on. Shame to loose it.
We had some serious wind here a month or so ago… my only casualty was a graft of Mohler persimmon… broke it clean off at the graft union.
TNHunter
Yes. I would break out the come along and try to winch it back up and cobble up support. Nice tree.
I would hook the truck up pull it back up and drive a few t posts around it. Oil pipe might be better if you have it.
Sooooo sad.
Definitely can be revived.
I am north of you in central MA. We did not get such strong wind.
Edited to correct a stupid autocorrect and also to add this pear’s graft was broken almost half way through. I have thought about digging it up off and on for years, but I think I am pretty proud of it for carrying on.
Definitely can be rerighted, But act fast! Once you have it upright, install a weak side brace and some ground ties to keep upright until its root system can reestablish. My mature Buckthorne did the same in a winter storm. I was lucky it was dormant. I jacked it back up, and installed a triangular 4” diameter brace pole anchored well in ground. Two years later it’s doing very well.
Dennis
Kent, Wa
Brace pole held by fence pots in concrete
It broke all the roots on one side and it may take a few years if ever to get them back. I sure would not want to lose such a nice tree.
It’s the weekend and I’m busy with friends, but I appreciate all the responses and will try to respond in more detail tomorrow. My initial assessment was similar to the one from @clarkinks, namely that the roots on the right side are shattered so I might be fighting the tide.
Also, note that we get frequent heavy winds so I have to consider whether the damaged roots will ever be able to support the tree in future storms. Again, I’d expect to be fighting the odds.
Somewhat randomly, this year I grafted 6 scions on MM.111 from varieties that have performed well for me – Stayman Winesap, Red Byrd Bitter, and Franklin. [These bigger trees are intended mainly for cider.] I didn’t have a place for the new grafts; grafting them was half insurance policy / half fantasy. But now I may just bite the bullet and replant using one of these.
The goods news is my 15 other semi-dwarf trees did not suffer any serious damage (though the crop was thinned a bit). Given these other trees plus some dwarfs, I’ll have no shortage of apples. But I will regret the loss of this Golden Russet.
p.s. Golden Russet wasn’t intended as a cider apple, but I really liked it for fresh eating. I think I may graft in next year on dwarfing rootstock, just to have some to eat.
Why is the plastic on the tree?
Are those pawpaws in the right of the photo?
jrd51, sorry you lost such nice looking Golden Russet tree.
Sorry to see this… I had a similar size apricot tree snap at the graft union last year. That was total loss, with no way to rescue it. The rootstock sprouted later in the season, and I grafted the sprouts this spring.
Hopefully you can stand it back up and brace it for a couple seasons.
There’s tree bags, a limb spreader, and a couple baling twine tie downs. The tree is tied to a bit of fence with 2 tposts. My pawpaws are way out of view, but there are some little goats in the background. (The two Boer does who did the deed were about 150 and 175 lbs, and the tree was about 5 years old at the time. I probably could have staked and pruned it better to make it grow straight, but I didn’t think it would live,)
Given that it’s an apple and they are very adapted to fall over and still survive, I would simply leave it laying over and prune it over the next couple of years to develop a new upright leader off the main trunk. It’ll end up being more sturdy that way vs. just trying to force it back upright.
I’d read in a couple cider books that people could still collect fruit off fallen trees… the laterals just became new leaders.
@jrd51 Joe, very sad to see your tree like this, hopefully you will be able to get it back up and save it.
