I always wondered about those auctions. We have a state surplus property auction where the state sells anything state departments don’t need anymore. Much like you described, everything tends to go for equal or more than you could buy it on craigs list or a pawn shop. I guess in today’s world where it is easy for anyone to find out about such auctions and the value of things, there aren’t going to be any big steals anymore!
Our little earthquake was upgraded to a 2.6, so that helps explain the boom so many heard 
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We saw two for N.C., both 2.6’s. How far from the epicenter are you?
Finishing the top working of my plums! What a job! Love my Felco small handsaw, just the perfect size for the job and sooo sharp!
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Pictures, Mrs. G?
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I did some substantial pruning on my multigraft mulberry today, with the goal of shortening it so I can easily pick the fruit… I removed the equivalent of a small tree from the top of the very first successful graft I ever made (three years ago, with duct tape). I get a real kick out of seeing how much that little stick has grown.
I also grafted a few sticks from elsewhere in the yard to it, mostly to test if this a good time to do mulberry grafting. Usually I wait until I see green.
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Yes, the orchard is now loaded with huge branches! There are good reasons for not attending to all of this sooner. I have to seal the big cuts today. Will take pics!
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15 miles. It was really close to the surface. It was the one in Archdale, NC. Our mountains are more used to it, like the other 2.6.
I felt the one along the east coast in 2012 much better. But that’s how I knew this was an earthquake! This one had the boom, which was new
Yeah, I just cut the canes down to the ground. Some of them were about an inch thick. I should try to pull them up by the roots before things start greening up.
We had a 2.7 in Warrensburg, NY in 2013, probably 60 miles away as the crow flies from where we are in Cold Brook. I had never experienced one having lived in upstate NY all my life, and I couldn’t figure out what was happening at first. Records show that one was 6 miles deep.
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Never gamble with the government, they always have marked deck 
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Yeah, that’s about when they were ready here at the orchard we visit. I remember how huge they were, and thinking they couldn’t taste that good, but they were very tasty for their size and being an early apple. One of them would make a meal.
I thought they tasted better than Gala, but I’m not a big fan of that variety. To me there’s a lot of better tasting varieties. I prefer my apples to have tart and sweet together, like Goldrush, probably my favorite.
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I checked them out again today, as I’ve been very occupied with non fruit issues lately, and saw even more leaves missing. I’ll take your word for it, but it’s very aggravating seeing them there basically leafless now. Hope we get some berries off them despite this setback.
Guess I’d better get my patch prepared for the new plants. Need to till and fertilize it a bit.
I cover mine with netting when they fruit - maybe you need to cover the leaves
I’m thinning my pear fruit as my apples start to bloom. I will start bagging my pears as they get about dime size. Hope to be finished bagging the pears before the apples get into full bloom. This is my first year to get a heavy bloom on the asian pears. Wow they set fruit as thick as dog hair making it hard to determing the king fruit (Korean Giant).
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To me, pears do not really have a king fruit in a cluster like apples. I just choose the one that looks best and its stem is in the right position (in addirtion to being damage free).
If you think KG set fruit thickly, wait until you see 20th Century fruit cluster. A KG’s cluster carries 5-7 fruitlets. 20th carries almost 10 per cluster.
Sometimes, I take whole clusters out when there are a lot on a branch.
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Pears do not have a king fruit like apples, so I do the same thing you do Mam, I pluck off all of the weak looking pollinated tiny pears!
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Thanks I feel better. Now I will thin and not be so concerned with my choice.
I’ve learned to check their stems, too. Sometimes, after I thinned a cluster down to one or two best looking fruitlets, I found out that the stems were half munched off by some leaf rollers!!!
As you can tell that I had too much time in my hand or more accurately a touch of OCD 
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