I have been going over my apple taste test of the 20+ variety we tried last year. Of those we easily have a dozen or more we want to grow. All the orchards in my state grow the same 8 to 12 apples so we had go drive 4 hours away. But it was worth it.
I am starting to line up the plants in order of harvest to make it easier to pick. What i learned is some people are afraid to try new things and some of the heirloom apples are delicious.
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I finally made my pilgrimage to the Mecca of fruits here in California, aka @Stan’s orchard 
He probably has more trees in pots waiting to be planted/grafted than my whole backyard + frontyard!
He gave me a tour and by the time we were done, we couldn’t believe we spent around a couple of hours talking about different varieties, rootstocks, ripening season, taste, etc. This is the infamous CandyCot seedling row (Apricot Heaven indeed!)
and a great collection of Feijoas dotted everywhere
Sorry, I couldn’t get all his pomegranates in one shot 
He couldn’t be more nice with his time, showing me his irrigation setup, giving a demo of cleft grafting and offering feedback on my technique. Hope I get some decent success this season with all the cuttings!
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THAT is an orchard!
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You are lucky to live within a driving distance to an experienced grower like Stan. I’d love to visit his orchard, too, but during a harvest season 
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How cool!
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@mamuang I’m sure I’ll find a reason to do that too! Unfortunately for him, I already have his address and know when his fruits will ripen 
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Snow fence has kept deer out of my nursery bed after my solar electric fence failed to do so. At least the damage has been stopped, but they sure did a job on my trees before I discovered this. Guess I’ll see in spring what the full damage is.
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Hmm, didn’t answer your questions directly. Sorry about that. If you get some cylinder around that sucker and put sawdust (not walnut) or shavings a couple inches deep, you could begin a root stock right there. maybe in time for spring, but probably not until later summer. and yes, you could cut several other lengths of it and start 'em as I described earlier.
BTW, M7 is notorious for pushing root suckers.
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You know, I used to have upwards of 10 or more apple trees on M7 root. Now down to Granny Smith, Fuji and Braeburn. These were planted in 1991. I simply don’t recall having removed more than 2 or 3 root suckers per tree in 29 years per each tree. I don’t call that a ‘problem’. But, they do end up leaning a bit…almost all of them do. And they are slow to bear, as is the M111. The MM106 is better in that regard, but you need good loam soil that drains.
G890 is probably the ‘go to’ to replace M7. And B118 is my choice over M111 in all future grafting I do in this 75-90% standard tree size. M111 may live well under many conditions, but if it takes as long as seedling roots and the crops are shy, then the typical homeowner doesn’t need M111.
I was just starting to like G30…but apparently they re phasing it out at Cummins Nursery in favor of others that are easier to propagate.
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It was in the low 60s today, so thought I’d get some work done on the trees. Ended up weeding 3 pluots, 2 peaches and an apple. Also got some trunks wrapped, and new caging set up on a couple of them. Plus, got some branches pulled/tied down to help with the structure on the stone fruit trees.
Still got four apples and two peaches to do, and that will do it for my trees.
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It almost made it into the 60’s here today. Played hooky from work and spent the day in the orchard/garden. Got a few hours of pruning in, cleaned up the garden some and got all my seed starting supplies together. Good day overall! Now I will plan out the garden and order the rest of my seeds while enjoying a glass or three of homemade plum wine. 
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Karen here, in southeastern VA. Severe thunderstorm warnings. 60 mph winds reported. Hail. One day it’s 70 degrees. The next day 40. Crazy crazy wind out there right now! Just lost our power . . . so will have to post this when it is restored.
I have succumbed to Spring Fever and just hit BUY on a website - to buy 6 more pomegranate plants. I think I have lost my mind . . . LOL. 
But . . . the pomegranates I ordered are all varieties I have wanted to ‘try’ here in VA, and just couldn’t find them, the last time I ordered.
As I have reported, I have about 20 already . . . and so far, have only lost one.
There are a couple of varieties, which are doing well, but I’ve been planning to dig up and replace . . . because they are much too thorny and I risk bleeding to death each time I try to prune them! So, they are going!
Here are the ones I ordered today. Will keep everyone posted!
Please respond, if you have any of these . . . and let me know about your experiences with them . . . or any comments you have about these varieties.
The list from the Alabama Pomegranate Association is so informative about each variety - (much more so than the nurseries that sell them.) I cross reference to select - and ended up with these. All from Planting Justice / Rolling River.
Sumbar / Surh Anor / Sweet / Kazaki / Sirenevyi / Sogdiana
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Potting up 8 Ronde de Bordeaux fig sticks I cut back in November. Root growth was absolutely incredible. This year I stuck the pot of dirt in a protected area on the side of the house. Unreal. The mild winter must be the reason. No failures while being neglected(just nature and its water). I’m not sure if I love figs more for their flavor or the ease of propagation! I probably have 10 or so more various other varieties crammed in another pot.
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At this time of year I feel like I need to hire a professional orchard cleaner to do the work of getting rid of dead tomato vines, apple tree prunes and similar stuff. Yep, work that I don’t like.
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dig a shallow trench. fill it then top with soil and plant on it.
All of the almond trees are in bloom as are the Mimosa trees. The Mimosa is the south of France answer to our forsythia. The bright yellow is always a welcome sight. The flowers are cut and sold in the local outdoor markets, and everyone flocks to buy them and bring them indoors. Lovely, delicate fragrance. Spring is on the way! All trees are in tight green bud. But then again, many trees never lost their leaves. All fruit trees did. Olive trees do not.
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Do you have a problem with deer, rutting against your apples trees?
I think that they may have done some serious damage to mine. Other than putting heavy stakes around the tree trunks, so they cannot get their antlers near the tree, without getting stuck (!) - I’m not sure what to do to keep the deer away. Any ideas? thanks. - Karen
oops . . . I just saw that @AndySmith posted about his fence. That wouldn’t work for me - because of the mowing problem it would present. But, maybe I can figure something out.
We have a 7 foot polypropolene deer fence around all of our trees. It is hung with cable ties to t-posts. It is a PAIN to maintain due to our winter weather. Snow, ice and wind can tear it and bring entire sections down (like during our recent ice storm). It is very affordable however compared to other more permanent options.
We do have deer that break through the fencing but they never do any damage to the trees as they are just traveling through and most likely did not see the fence. Our orchards have a road on one side and the woods on the other so it is highly traveled by deer.
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My trees around the house are surrounded by 4’-5’ tall welded wire cages approx 5’ in diameter. I heavily mulch with wood chips past the diameter of the cage so I’m mowing around the mulch, and don’t have to remove cages. For a 5’ wide cage I cut a length of fencing 15 3/4’ long (call it 16’). I buy 100’ rolls of fencing at tractor supply. At the orchard site where the nursery bed is I plan to put in a 6’ multi-strand solar electric fence with a better system than I have currently.