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Post by nhmountains on May 16, 2019 14:46:06 GMT -6
My Early Gold and Ure pears are now looking not so awesome. I fear root damage from gophers may be the reason. Bastards Court Pendu Plat is still at silver tip. If they bloom, it will be in June I bet I’d give up on apples if I had to deal with both gophers and bear. Thankfully I only have bear
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Post by smsmith on May 16, 2019 15:33:14 GMT -6
My Early Gold and Ure pears are now looking not so awesome. I fear root damage from gophers may be the reason. Bastards Court Pendu Plat is still at silver tip. If they bloom, it will be in June I bet I’d give up on apples if I had to deal with both gophers and bear. Thankfully I only have bear I was planting, putting down lumite, caging, and watering new grafts today and realized just how much work goes into my orchards. Good thing I usually enjoy it. I did lose a 3rd leaf Altai Mountain to pocket gophers. Bastards bit it off below ground. Thankfully I have another one grafted and growing. That variety isn't exactly easy to find. I'm hoping Art has one in case I need to get a scion in the future.
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Post by Sandbur on May 17, 2019 5:02:19 GMT -6
I’d give up on apples if I had to deal with both gophers and bear. Thankfully I only have bear I was planting, putting down lumite, caging, and watering new grafts today and realized just how much work goes into my orchards. Good thing I usually enjoy it. I did lose a 3rd leaf Altai Mountain to pocket gophers. Bastards bit it off below ground. Thankfully I have another one grafted and growing. That variety isn't exactly easy to find. I'm hoping Art has one in case I need to get a scion in the future. It looks like mine made the winter, but growth is very slow. Once I know it is alive, I will take off the nurse limb. It probably stole from it all last year. It is on swamp crab in this cluster.
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Post by smsmith on May 17, 2019 6:09:40 GMT -6
The Altai Mtn. that the gophers got here was growing pretty well. The one they didn't get (yet anyway) was much slower.
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Post by Sandbur on May 17, 2019 6:38:11 GMT -6
The Altai Mtn. that the gophers got here was growing pretty well. The one they didn't get (yet anyway) was much slower. They must know how to pick the best!
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Post by Sandbur on May 17, 2019 6:41:56 GMT -6
I’d give up on apples if I had to deal with both gophers and bear. Thankfully I only have bear I was planting, putting down lumite, caging, and watering new grafts today and realized just how much work goes into my orchards. Good thing I usually enjoy it. I did lose a 3rd leaf Altai Mountain to pocket gophers. Bastards bit it off below ground. Thankfully I have another one grafted and growing. That variety isn't exactly easy to find. I'm hoping Art has one in case I need to get a scion in the future. Speaking of work, I am wondering how to manage these. Gophers should not get to them until drier weather. The topsoil I added is lighter than the native soil and the dolgo rootstocks reach down to just into the native soil. I am thinking of the donut shape with card board around them and maybe a few blocks of wood to funnel water down towards the tree. That might reduce washing of the outer edges of the mound. I did plant in areas with less Reed canary. Any suggestions are appreciated.
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Post by smsmith on May 17, 2019 7:00:28 GMT -6
I was planting, putting down lumite, caging, and watering new grafts today and realized just how much work goes into my orchards. Good thing I usually enjoy it. I did lose a 3rd leaf Altai Mountain to pocket gophers. Bastards bit it off below ground. Thankfully I have another one grafted and growing. That variety isn't exactly easy to find. I'm hoping Art has one in case I need to get a scion in the future. Speaking of work, I am wondering how to manage these. Gophers should not get to them until drier weather. The topsoil I added is lighter than the native soil and the dolgo rootstocks reach down to just into the native soil. I am thinking of the donut shape with card board around them and maybe a few blocks of wood to funnel water down towards the tree. That might reduce washing of the outer edges of the mound. I did plant in areas with less Reed canary. Any suggestions are appreciated. Do you mean your new grafts? Those planted in mounds? I'm assuming you packed the mound soil down as hard as you could with something? If it was me, I'd be covering the mounds with lumite (or whatever woven polypro landscape cloth you want). I'm not sure what you mean by blocks of wood to funnel water to the tree.
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Post by Sandbur on May 17, 2019 8:47:30 GMT -6
I didn’t pack it and should have . Good suggestion.
I put blocks of wood on top of the cardboard to hold it in place. Blocks near the tree tip the cardboard towards the tree.
I will put some fabric between the cardboard.
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Post by Sandbur on May 17, 2019 8:52:05 GMT -6
Will this Khazik apple outgrow the flowering crab limb?
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Post by smsmith on May 17, 2019 9:36:55 GMT -6
Will this Khazik apple outgrow the flowering crab limb? It may. It will likely depend on what flowering crab variety and what Kazak apple is growing on it. Matching vigor of varieties while topworking is kind of difficult (but important for long term viability)
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Post by Sandbur on May 17, 2019 19:12:39 GMT -6
Speaking of work, I am wondering how to manage these. Gophers should not get to them until drier weather. The topsoil I added is lighter than the native soil and the dolgo rootstocks reach down to just into the native soil. I am thinking of the donut shape with card board around them and maybe a few blocks of wood to funnel water down towards the tree. That might reduce washing of the outer edges of the mound. I did plant in areas with less Reed canary. Any suggestions are appreciated. Do you mean your new grafts? Those planted in mounds? I'm assuming you packed the mound soil down as hard as you could with something? If it was me, I'd be covering the mounds with lumite (or whatever woven polypro landscape cloth you want). I'm not sure what you mean by blocks of wood to funnel water to the tree. I quickly packed with about 190 pounds per square foot. Thanks for the tip!
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Post by benmnwi on May 17, 2019 21:48:39 GMT -6
i thought I would show art my homemade free limb spreaders that I cut from adjacent junk trees. I also took a couple pictures of wild plums in bloom next to my orchards. I marked a few of the more hidden ones with orange marking tape so I could clear out the completion next winter. Thick shrub rub thickets are hard to come by down here, so I've been spending a lot of time killing buckthorn in areas with plums, hazelnuts and dogwood. It has really made a difference and I plan to continue this in following years.
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Post by smallchunk on May 18, 2019 21:42:46 GMT -6
Took a quick walk through my trees this evening. Man, I hope these two days don’t screw me! A ton of my trees are flowering this year. Franklin Frostbite Macintosh Red Baron (I’ll pluck these) Pristine NY Bonkers Enterprise
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Post by Sandbur on May 19, 2019 4:27:38 GMT -6
Took a quick walk through my trees this evening. Man, I hope these two days don’t screw me! A ton of my trees are flowering this year. Franklin Frostbite Macintosh Red Baron (I’ll pluck these) Pristine NY Bonkers Enterprise We have a prediction of 34 for tomorrow. If true, I will probably have 30. One grafted limb of pear is blooming. Also a plum rootstock and the Nankings. Other apples are very close to bloom. Yesterday afternoon, I saw a few wild crabs in bloom in the Becker area which is about 49 miles south of here.
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Post by Sandbur on May 19, 2019 5:27:00 GMT -6
Took a quick walk through my trees this evening. Man, I hope these two days don’t screw me! A ton of my trees are flowering this year. Franklin Frostbite Macintosh Red Baron (I’ll pluck these) Pristine NY Bonkers Enterprise We have a prediction of 34 for tomorrow. If true, I will probably have 30. One grafted limb of pear is blooming. Also a plum rootstock and the Nankings. Other apples are very close to bloom. Yesterday afternoon, I saw a few wild crabs in bloom in the Becker area which is about 49 miles south of here. Should have said 40 miles. Wild plum rootstock.
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