I worried about creating a “Midwest” regional thread because culturally that definition is all over the place. I was raised with the rancher/west vs farmer/east dichotomy. I think of eastern Colorado as being included in the High Plains region and “ranch” leaning on the cultural spectrum.
I titled this thread “upper” Midwest hoping to include the states in the northern part of this region as we likely have more in common temperature-wise than folks in areas further south. It looks like eastern CO does share some hardiness zones with us, so I can add it to the list above if desired.
Hopefully folks understand the dilemma here. Are we truly a regional thread with the amount of area included in discussion? In a way, yes… in other ways, it gets kinda debatable… I guess we’ll see how the conversation evolves.
That’s definitely how it feels. Some of the suburbs are still fairly warm, but yes… once you far enough out (e.g. Owatonna) things seem to level out again. It’s impressive what an impact all that infrastructure and human activity can have, though.
That is how I thought of Colorado too. I thought of places like Colorado and Wyoming as midwest and places like Illinois, Michigan and Montana as farm country. That is the issue. What defines midwest.
@elivings1 I eventually remembered a regional term I couldn’t think of last night. Inter-Mountain West is another geographic region I attribute with your area but I don’t think it is necessarily a cultural one. I really have no idea where CO falls culturally; I guess if you folks consider yourselves Midwestern down there, I can’t really debate that!
For the purposes of this thread I was trying to focus on states considered “upper midwest” geographically who have shared climate, hardiness zone, precipitation, soil characteristics, etc. I suppose the idea was with a smaller area we are more likely to be able to visit one another/connect in person, too.
I agree! That could probably be a separate regional forum in its own right. I can’t speak for WI or MI as easily, but in my experience MN is quite impressive in the diversity of biomes it includes.
Haha yeah I completely understand what you mean. I grew up in NW Iowa and the climate is pretty much the same as Eastern SD. Winter is actually somewhat enjoyable now.
Funny you say that. I met my wife at SDSU (she’s from WI) and she used to call it the “grey season”
I’m sure you’re probably right, unless someone local took some to save…
Well, Google Maps seems to still suggest it is there and under SDSU ownership. Pics are dated Nov 2021. I don’t know many people still in Brookings/at SDSU and it might be a few months before I’m out that way to see what’s up. I think my cousin was going to try to acquire some apple scions, but I think he said he was getting them from the collection at McCrory Gardens instead.
Whereabouts in NW Iowa? I have family from that area, I think most have left now. I’ve always meant to explore the Loess Hills more!
I do like the title Great Lake states for MI, WI and MN, but still think that the northern part of Michigan fits well with your thread and should be separated from the lower region of Michigan. I also think of Colorado as part of the Intermountain West (the region where I grew up), rather than the Midwest. The Rocky Mountain region, including Colorado, tends to have drier weather patterns, in my mind, and so I think would have different issues than much of what I consider the Midwest.
Grafting newbie question - 5a Midwest - this is my first year grafting and I still can’t figure out when to go out and graft additional varieties onto preexisting trees. We’re still going above/below freezing, mostly going below 32 at night then back above during the day. Is it still too soon to graft apples/pears? What should I be waiting/looking for?
I’m in 6a/5b southeast MI. I talked to the locals and they told me when sap is strongest. Varies for tree species. They said right around when they begin to flower. Others say temps but it doesn’t get warm here till July. My success rate increased when I tried it. Success also depended on what I was grafting. I don’t grow apples but heard they can be grafted even earlier. I have no advice on apples.to offer. I grow stone fruit and a few other fruit trees. I tried grafting green wood in the fall. I had very little success but did have some takes. A tree was dying it was an emergency. Worth trying for that reason. I did save a couple cultivars. Budding would be better.
You can graft dormant apple scionwood to outdoor trees when the bark is slipping and “the leaves are the size of a squirrel’s ear,” according to a buddy of mine. I believe orchardists, particularly the old folks, delight in these nebulous “standards” that defy direct measurements because trying to apply such guidelines really just begs the question.
My weather was looking somewhat similar so I threw out some pear scions just to see what happens. I have a few backups if these don’t take so I can always try again!
My tree orders are starting to arrive! My Frostbite on Bud 118 is tiny and the Black Oxford has had a weird heading cut done already. I’m training these espalier so I hope I have enough room to make another at 18".
This is my fruit tree order for this year – all are apples unless noted. Whatever doesn’t fit on espalier in my back yard will be taken over to the community garden a few blocks from my house. The stone fruit I’d like to do UFO but the husband may disagree. Kerr is on dwarfing rootstock, I’ll likely put it in the front yard. I also have a Milo Gibson whip I brought over from the old house.
