What's happening today 2020

No wonder; mine is only in a 5 gallon pot. It needs an upgrade. Limited overwintering space has me being cheap with pot sizes. Only the best figs go in anything bigger than 5 gallons.

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My daughter just baked some Rainbow bagels for me after doing the yard work. She probably asked for some money!

I am loaded it with cream cheese.

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This is to eat right? It’s sweet or salty? It looks great, congratulations! :smile:

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Tasted like fresh bake normal bagel but the thick layer of Philadelphia cream cheese on top is the bomb!

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Ken Coates posted a follow up on a Cherry Orchard he top worked in 2014 on his YouTube channel (All About Grafting). I really enjoy his video’s.

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I moved my Elderberries and Blueberries out of my nursery bed into a bed right next to it. I’ll probably extend my electric fence around them too. I didn’t have a bed ready for them last spring when I got them from Nourse. Incredible root structure on the Elderberries for just one year, they were tiny when I got them. I have some extra room left over, but I may need it for this years grafts. No power or well down here, so I have to haul water.

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How depressing is this on May 8th

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I read the US east coast is in for snow and cold arctic blast. I expect Covid lack of imports plus lack of east coast fruits this year to drive up prices.

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Pretty depressing… The stuff isn’t any fun if it shows up when it is supposed to and is really disappointing if it shows up when it is not supposed to.

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This is about the hardest freeze I can remember during a bloom period. Going to be a lot of lost fruit after this one. It was all I could do to get my dog to walk in the grass this morning. Was so frozen it was crunchy and his paws did not like it.

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We froze up good last night here in Michigan too. I have 3/8" of ice in my barrels!

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Here in the Banana Belt of the North (Spokane, WA) it is 76°F & calm.

Lord Lambourne, Otterson, Glockenapfel, Ananas, Empire & about 6 of the 15 WSU Heritage Orchard grafts are showing life today.
Many others look shriveled now, after looking plump when cut in February and at grafting. We had an unusual cold snap last year: 16°F low the morning of 29 October. Freeze injury was evident on the whips of my Maiden Blush (about 3" of tip) and especially Twenty Ounce (about 15"). I’ll need to chip-bud Twenty Ounce for WSU this summer. I lost another (something not on both WSU & my radar) grafted last year, dead to the stock. Many scions might have had happy twigwood but frozen-to- death buds. So it seems.
Hope I can get strong cuttings of those WSU candidates that succumbed for budding later in the year.

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I took the tarps off my strawbs, they appear to be okay. They’re calling for 37 tonight, so I’m going to take a chance and not cover them, hope I don’t get burned.

Just got done weeding, fertilizing and mulching my tart cherry bushes and gooseberries. Looks a lot better now-

Juliet cherry, well over 6ft now.

Romeo cherry, not quite as big, maybe 3ft, but still hanging in there.

Poorman gooseberry.

Jeanne gooseberry.

Oregon Champion gooseberry, a huge plant now.

With some fruit buds.

Our first strawberry of the year, an almost ripe Earliglow.

This is a small waterfall that runs into the drainage culvert that goes under the road next to our driveway. Lots of water has fallen the last few weeks.

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Got a couple of discounted peach trees at Lowe’s today. Spent a long time researching what they had for what will grow in my area.
:joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy:

So I SUPPOSEDLY bought Ranger and Southern Pearl. Both are on the list for what grows well in Texas. How many years you think it will take to a what I really got? I really wanted the Contender but I was a bit scared of the chill hours needed. Who knows…maybe I got one anyway!! (Both trees still have the nursery label…local nursery supplies both the trees).

My question is… these trees are not pruned at all much less to open vase. Should I wait until winter to prune them or make a cut on the central leader now? One of them has a small peach on it…kinda hate to cut off an indicator of what variety it might really be. They both stand almost 6 foot after planting.

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Cut the central leader now … The only thing that would change my mind is if you are experiencing a drought that might stress the tree. I would put a light dose of 10-10-10 around the tree. In Virginia you will still get additional growth cutting now and 10-10-10 will help.

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I always cut mine the first year and still get lots of new growth. I really think you should cut it now, so you’ll have this year to start shaping it instead of having to cut almost everything it puts on this year off this winter. Cut it pretty hard (like back to 3 feet or so). potted trees, in my experience, adapt to a pretty hard central leader cut back when planted more than bare root trees do. THe other good news is they also fruit sooner, in my experience. I think you’ll get enough fruit to find out what you got within 3 years and its not out of the question that you could let a fruit or two hang and ripen NEXT YEAR! Also, in my experience- and I do big box trees more than most- if the nursery tags are still on them you have a much better chance of them being true to label. Its when all the trees have those shinny new Lowes ID labels that I always get burned! Good luck!

OH…even potted trees experience enough transplant shock that I’m willing to bet that one peach will fall off when you plant the tree- even if you don’t prune it. That has been my experience every time I’ve planted a tree with fruit on it. Sorry.

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I pruned mine. I took 3/4 of it off to four small scaffolds on the sides. All the rest was growing straight up for two feet. I wanted to cut the trunk while it was still small and didn’t put all that energy into what would come off anyway. Now it can spend it in the right growth areas and heal over.

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Took my kids to pick mulberries at a tree that is growing at my office in town. They had a ball

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hopefully my 3 mulberries produce a lot for me once they’re grown. no one grows them here as the typical varieties were never hardy enough to be grown my zone. i have a lot of memories of the family picking wild berries and nuts growing up and i used to bring my kids out to get them as well. you are raising future fruit growers now. good job!

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I got a bit more than half of the new Elderberry and Blueberry bed mulched with wood chips. Finally stopped when the temp dipped below 40 and the wind and rain picked up.

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