I’ve got a few, using city compost killed a few grape vines, herbicides… one time i put to much organic fertilizer in my garden just because i wanted to get rid of it and that didn’t turn out well. let my mom babysit my indoor grow room while i was on vacation and she killed most of my plants…
Worst Mistake Finishing Concrete Steps & allowing Concrete water to leech near ( about +10ft) from the Mate to my Paw Paw Tree. Poisoning it. It died within a month . Best Mistake throwing Paw Paw & Peach seeds in what became a compost pile. The sprouts brought me close too a Dozen Paw Paw replacements for my Poisened Paw Paw Tree & Plenty of Peach Trees. Reignited an interest in hobby gardening & Starting / Reviving an old family orchard.
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Last summer I tried T-budding for the first time. I don’t remember what guide I read (it was in german) but the Guide said to only wrap the union below the bud and to cut off the bark above to bud.
I did it like instructed and because they weren’t fixated well enough, the buds rolled up and dried. But in some cases the bark below the bud is still healthy and living. So I know that I did everything right apart from the wrapping!
Oh well…At least now I know better…I hope this year I’ll get some takes…
Here is a cherry bud that I did with the same method that is still wrapped where the bud looks alive…
This picture is 9 days old. I really should go look if the bud is still alive and dormant…
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I think to some small degree they do, but it’s not significant, I have a few apple trees that are just not very vigorous, and I have left those low branches on a few years partly hoping they would come up a bit but mainly because theyjust are not doing well and I didn’t want to set them back by removing any growth until they get going …well unless I’m going to pull them out and start again with a new tree…I may as well come to terms with the fact that I’m not going to lie down on the ground to pick apples off those trees…I finally took all the lower growth off them…but the darned trees are only a couple feet tall after being in the ground …I don’t know 3 years? Im hoping they will take off this year.
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I do that with all my trees now right from day one…around here, my geese take a go at everything, and I have had to repeatedly prune off stuff that I didn’t want to and wouldn’t otherwise have pruned just to keep the tree free from disease and seal with pruning paint…then have to come back and prune off more until there was little left of the tree. Geese are so destructive, nevermind the rabbits and deer, borers and whatever else…They watch me with curiosity and although they have acres of weeds and twigs and other stuff to chew at, they always come over to investigate afterward and give a good chew at whatever I have been doing. I can’t even finish planting stuff and expect to go out the next day and stake or put protection without finding that the geese have gone straight for it when let out the next morning, before I got to it, or the racoons or skunks have dug up the roots overnight looking for that handful of fish bone meal I planted the trees with.
Hi Oepfeli,
its not only the wrapping that is wrong. Its easier to explain in german. Das gesamte “Augenschild” muss auf dem Holz liegen. Du hast unterhalb der Knospe zuviel von dem Schild belassen. Mache das Okulat unter der Knospe kürzer, schiebe dann das Okulat so tief in das T, dass die Knospe und etwas von dem Schild in dem unteren Schnitt liegen und somit auf dem Holz, nicht auf der Rinde. Dann kürzt du das überstehende Ende des Okulates durch einen nochmaligen Schnitt durch den oberen Schnitt des T so ein, dass das Augenschild mit dem oberen Schnitt des T endet. Im Endeffekt muss also das gesamte Augenschild in dem unteren senkrechten T-Schnitt liegen.
Beim Verbinden musst du darauf achten, die Knospe frei zu lassen. Sie ist durch die Rindenlappen der Unterlage ausreichend vor dem Austrocknen geschützt. Wenn ich sicher gehen will, mache ich gerne doch eine einfache Lage gedehntes Buddy-Tape über die Knospe, aber nur eine dünne Lage. Die durchbricht die wachsende Knospe.
Good luck
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Don’t know if this qualifies as Worst - or Best - Mistake.
But . . . it was a mistake to buy those two ‘lovely’ pears a few months ago - at Southern States. One is an Anjou and the other a Bartlett. Already have problems, it seems. I didn’t do my pear homework - and should never have picked those varieties.
(Another question is - ‘Why do they sell these problem varieties to home gardeners???’)
So . . . is there a way to ‘use’ the trees - by grafting something else to them? I’ve never done any successful grafting - and don’t know if I’m ready to take the plunge.
Or - Should I just ‘cut my losses’, say bye bye to the Anjou & Bartlett - and plant different varieties in the fall?
Thanks for the advice.
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Pear is the easiest to graft, a great choice for a first attempt. It’s often said if you get pear scion and root stock in the same room, you’ll have a successful union.
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Don’t forget the soft lights, Sinatra, and a little wine …
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Caveat Emptor applies to so many things, especially buying pear and apple trees. It’s so rare to find a vendor warning about disease flaws.
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My biggest mistake was not doing research before I got into the hobby and learning the ins and outs of each type of fruit. I started slowly with a Santa Rosa plum and a blueberry bush. Both thrived in pots and produced for me. I then went and bought a very(!) expensive miracle berry bush and decided to put it and the blueberry into the ground. I did no research and knew nothing about acid loving plants, so in short, both bushes died over an extended period of time.
I’ve since learned and tend to obsess over the various varieties before settling on one.
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Wow carot, thank you very much for this explanation. While I knew that I was too high up with the bud I didn’t really know what the problem was. In hindsight it’s so obvious! Thank you for the tip to make a second cut through the upper cut of the T, that’s really clever.
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What problems are these pears causing or having?
I have both (z5b upstate NY) and I have not had any … yet
Mike
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Fireblight would eat those two in short order here.
I see Bartlett at the big box stores here and just shake my head… but, then, I think… either they’re counting on most folks not ‘sticking with it’ long enough to notice the tree dying…or, it’s probably a Kieffer, with the Bartlett tag affixed, and they’re expecting the general public not to know the difference.
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Leaves are curling and shriveling. Almost immediately - as they emerge.
I tried to order another pear - but everyone’s stock was low. And, no one local has anything decent. Next time around . . . . . 
But - I’ll take @AndySmith’s word for it - that ‘pears are easy’ . . . and maybe I can create a Frankenpear 
out of both of them! When is ‘too late’ to graft?
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@PomGranny Cummins Nursery a few good pears in stock this instant, act fast though:https://shop.cumminsnursery.com/shop/pear-trees
when i first started, i assumed my horrible clay rocky soil needed a lot of amendments and i nearly killed everything by over fertilizing. then i thought i could grow apples in my horrible clay and killed 2 over 4 yrs. before realizing i had to grow stuff in raised beds or mounds for drainage.
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@moose71 Same here.
BIG MISTAKE #2. (Which really should be moved to the #1 position!) I fertilized with the wrong ‘stuff’ and ended up with way too much nitrogen for most things. We have acid soil, here. But - I find that even with the acidity - many acid loving plants still want more. I was using too much nitrogen-rich fertilizer . . . and not enough of things like HollyTone.
I had my soil tested last year, but I question the accuracy. They wanted a sample from each area - mixed. I don’t see how that helps each individual bed, if they differ. ? This year I am just winging it, based on my average results from last year. We did have many more tomatoes, since I cut back on the nitrogen. And no blossom end rot - since I worked in oyster shell.
This year I spent a lot of time and effort amending my raised beds and am growing things in pots that I haven’t before. I only put in about 10 tomato plants and a few cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, and one mound of squash, each year. So - it’s doable.
Half of my tomato plants are going into 10 gal fabric pots. The soil in those is a mixture that all came from ‘new’ materials. Nothing from old pots. Got the ‘recipe’ from a YouTube guy. All kinds of stuff in the concoction! Bone meal. Blood meal. Peat. Vermiculite. Oyster shell . . . . and more. 
I’ll be so curious to see how they do. _
And won’t commit BIG MISTAKE #3 . . . which is - putting 2 seedlings in one pot. I will control myself - and will only put one plant per pot. 
@hambone
Steve, I checked out Cummins. I think I’ll wait till the fall - or late winter - to pick two new pears. Cummins offers a lot of standard sized trees - and I lean toward the semi-dwarf. Plus I didn’t want to make an impulsive decision again! and choose a variety without doing my homework.
Thanks for the tip, though! I’ll check Cummins’ stock in the fall, when they are not so ‘sold out’.
@Lucky_P
You know . . . it makes me wonder . . . why DO they offer such difficult varieties to the general public? Is it that much harder - or costly - to sell trees that people will probably have more success with? Maybe it comes down to that ‘good old American sales-at-any-cost driven market’. After all . . . If the homeowner puts in a tree that dies . . . he’ll have to buy another one! Also - everyone has heard of Bartlett and Anjou. We can buy terrible specimens of those in any supermarket.
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I have composted mine for years not so much on purpose but City wouldnt let me have 2 trash accounts so trash at office couldnt have anything thAt would rot. At the farm I raised hogs and Dumped produce for years strategically. Between manure & that The soil will grow nearly anything well. Just not sure where to put the now 13 trees Ive grown from seed. I enjoy Horses & animal husbandry but I can think of a lot cheaper feed than Sappling Peach & paw paw trees lol.
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i always put 2 seeds in one pot but cull the weakest of the 2.
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