What's Happening Today 2021

Galina,
I feel you pain.

I am also in physical pain on top of that. We are moving 5 cubic yards of composted horse manure from our driveway to the backyard. This way, our neighbors will still speak to us.

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Lots of work, but so worth it! You will have more fruit and vegetables than you know what to do with!

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After a night that dipped to ~24F, a few things are certainly showing it. Others that should have been harmed though, fingers crossed but they don’t look so bad… Yet?

Montmorency Cherry, it certainly got the fruitlets which were the farthest along.

Strawberries I thought would have been one of the most temperature sensitive. This is a raised bad basically in a swampy area, surrounded by a lot of water, perhaps that helped?

Plum

Some Apple leaves have a bit of discoloration

Prime Ark Freedom

Hopefully most of the Blueberries will be OK

Peaches I assumed would have no chance but these are still holding tight

Same for at least a decent quantity of Apples

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Looks very similar to my trees. I was surprised my uncovered strawberries did fine too.

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I feel bad for the losses of some fruit. Hope enough of them have survived.

Last year, we had freeze during bloom time. Certain varieties of peaches had the fruit buds wiped out. So had several J plums. I thought my cherries were all right because they set fruit abundantly. Unfortunately, after a few weeks, they sized up a bit and fell off in droves. Delayed effect of freeze kill I was told.

It was the first time I experienced delayed damage from freeze or hard frost, about 3 weeks delay.

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My Pakistan mulberries are fried from a late frost a week ago. Too bad for me and the birds.

Tony

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Strawberries have always been the most vulnerable for me

Making progress on fencing the orchard site, and hope to move some trees out of the nursery bed soon:




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Came home today and the wind had blown 5 trays of jujube seeds (360) off my tables and upside down on the landscape fabric. None of the seeds had come up yet but they were in all stages of germination and drying out!!! 🥲🥲

I found most of them and just stuck them in large trays (without individual cells), spread them out the best I could, and made sure they were covered with potting mix. I hope the little fellows have a good sense of direction and will pop on up like they are supposed to… some were just about ready to break out of the soil.

We learn by some costly mistakes!

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Sorry to hear that. Are these seeds with shells on?

I have a cup full of jujube seeds from last year. I wonder if it is too late to crack the shells and try to sprout those seeds.

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They were cracked rootstock seeds. I hope the come up okay. I kind think they will. As I picked them up I dropped them in water and the roots seemed to plump up pretty quick.

I would crack the pits and plant the seeds. I bet they would be okay. If they don’t germinate you haven’t lost anything. Some cultivar seeds germinate better than others and I think rootstock seeds are the least reliable. Some pits do not have seeds at all. Li does not produce seeds. Chico and Redlands #4 does not produce seeds. There may be others that don’t.

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Thanks. I only keep Honey Jar pits as I heard that it is more reliable in having seeds.

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Apricots splitting their shucks now. I never expected to have apricots this year

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Mines too. Do you spray anything for PC or other pests?

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I do, but every year I have to wait till the apples have dropped their blooms, as I foolishly planted the cots next to the Gala tree.

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My apricot tree died last year. I have branches grafted in peach and plum that blooms every year but seldom set fruit. It seems this year is the year to start a good habit of these graftings.

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Here is an idea for you on the strawberries!

Don’t give up hope, there is always a way to make it go if you are creative enough! I have (I think 15?) apple bench grafts that I swore I’d have room for when I bought them. It turns out I don’t, but instead I am planning to espalier all of them along my future fence line. The pears I have will “suffer” the same fate to make more room for persimmons and pawpaws!

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From yesterday…I’ve got some serious peach pruning ahead of me. I’m not sure why more people in Maine don’t grow peaches…we’ve gotten fruit every year since the first ones went in the ground in 2012.


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I’d imagine it’s because you are so far north that they stick to apples? I know it can be pretty mild after the hard winters though! Maybe you are just very lucky…

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Today I thinned my fruit on my trees. The miracle is - that I had something to actually THIN ! Had a big ole’ bucket by the time I finished. I got tired of standing out there . . . so I sat under each tree - in a chair! :smile:

Learned that Indian Free peaches don’t need much thinning. They seem to set fruit in an ‘already thinned’ pattern! Anyone else have this experience? On the other hand - the Redhaven was loaded! And, oddly enough - the nectarines looked the most blemish-free. ?

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