Kathy,
Think positive. Last year @clarkinks, showed us pics of his pear blossoms and fruit in the snow. He did not lose many (if my memory serves me right).
OMG dont show me that. I am slowly taking over our back yard with my orchard and every year tell myself–no more, this is it! Same this year, and then I ordered sauzee swirl, white lady, another white peach I cant remember, and a 4 in 1 asian pear which will come in March. I dug the holes preemptively just to get a feel where they will be. That will take me close to 50. Argh! I think I’m crazy. Had I known more about grafting, I would have certainly decreased the number of trees and grafted desired scions to the same. I lost a Fuji to an over zealous deer who basically scraped the entire top off the tree. I dug it up, but it would have been a good grafting stock and future frankentree had I known better at the time.
Well, sorry to be enablers to you and @Poncho65! I suppose eventually you will eventually run out of room in your yard and that will put an end to the craziness, yes?
I have 29 trees in ground, and 6 more potted apples that will go in the ground this spring. More than enough to deal with. And a couple dozen berry plants, and a strawberry patch to boot. Oddly enough, my wife has asked me to order some more strawberries this year. I try to get out and my wife pulled me back in…
Yuo aren’t an enabler just an informer I have bought from plenty of places like that and before I plant anything my tree count is already close to if not over 50! I get sidetracked everytime I count and forget to write down an exact number (I may not really want to know) I have about 25 rootstocks ordered and 15 or more apple sprouts potted and ready for grafting and plenty of scions waiting for them to leaf out… When it is all said and done I will have close to 100 in the ground! Of course that will depend on how many grafts take and how well they transfer and overwinter this Fall and Winter…
I’m fast behind you at 47. I justify more by moving misc trees that arent doing as well to random places around the yard, and use the new spot for a new tree. I had a terrible peach borer issue on my belle of georgia peach, and used that to justify buying another “just in case.” After removing all the mushy wood and scraping back to clean wood, I plastered it with solid neem to discourage further damage. Its been 4-5 months and the neem is still as solid as the day I put it on. I’m hoping to save the tree which yielded an almost endless amount of white unblemished peaches.
Looks ok now, but I have heard that it can take several years for a tree death on a big tree. I couldnt believe it because I was out there every day collecting peaches, and did not see the fras at the bottom or the widespread mush just under the bark. She looks terribly wounded now, but still strong. Buds are at silver and moving to green. I thinned 75% on that tree and still had over a hundred. Cant let a tree like that die!
While putting away garbage & recycling cans today, I visited all the little apple trees. Hunt Russet is already swelling buds; the only one. This is typical, although it takes it twice as long as the others to actually open.
Some of the ground is still frozen. I hope to soon get raspberry vines and spreading roots torn out the ground near Hunt, & compost/mulch it out 4 feet, so it gains size this year. Lord willing, I’ll graft Hunt to another this spring: need more of its fruit and scions to spread to you all!