This Bradford pear is singing this morning. It has never had fruit. The only reason I haven't cut it down is for a few days each spring.
Planted A Few Trees.
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Looks Awesome! It needs a pollinator. Almost any other pear tree will do. Maybe plant a Bartlett?
Bradford pears can bear fruit? I always thought they were fruitless, a variety designed for landscaping along city streets. We had a number of them years ago (no fruit) - they're not a strong tree once they get taller, and ours all toppled in a storm once they hit about two stories high. They sure are beautiful trees though.
we have a humongous very messy ornamental crabapple in our front yard that we keep for those few days of blossom ... and the deer and grouse that sometimes feed there. If it wasn’t for all those pretty pink flowers it would be gone
So I have an apple tree, two peach trees, three pecan trees, an apricot, many hazel nuts and cherry trees. I just ordered two more apples (red and golden), a peach, nectarine and a plum ( all self pollinating). I'm also getting some fungamill to treat the two peach trees I have for a leaf killing fungus which has not been killed by store bought organic sprays. In five or six years I really hope to have a wonderful fruit farm orchard.
We have the ornamental crab, two apple, a few haskap berry, some Saskatoons (if they survived the radical pruning and winter, a few raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and Oregon grape. We hope to be able to afford to fence this year because bear and deer love our fruit. No point in expanding before we can control the critters
We had some Saskatoons - not native, I just love the name.
Never could get them to fruit bearing age, the deer just love them too much.
@BugoutBob Do you mean “Mahonia aquifolium”. If so you have a wonderful medicine in your yard… It’s one of 200 or so species known as the “Berberines”. Good medicine for upper respiratory infections, colds and the flu and even better for G/I issues. I’m taking another berberine right now… yellow root-Xanthorhiza simplicissima.
Scratch the bark so you can see the cambium layer. It will be very yellow in color and have a distinctive scent.
that’s the one, it grows everywhere around here. Many of the locals make jam out of it@BugoutBob Do you mean “Mahonia aquifolium”. If so you have a wonderful medicine in your yard… It’s one of 200 or so species known as the “Berberines”. Good medicine for upper respiratory infections, colds and the flu and even better for G/I issues. I’m taking another berberine right now… yellow root-Xanthorhiza simplicissima.
Scratch the bark so you can see the cambium layer. It will be very yellow in color and have a distinctive scent.
Bob, how are your blackberries doing? I've been trying to get some started but no luck so far. I've been trying to grow a barrier hedge.
My blackberries go nuts, I had to thin them out this year, pretty much cut them back to the ground because it was getting unmanageable! I am sure they will come back thicker than ever. mine are the apache thornless ones, they are pretty large berries. I can only fit 7-8 berries in my cupped hand at most, have to use a large bucket when harvesting them.
They won't bear this year because I cut them back to the ground but next year they will most likely have a very large crop. I am going to plant another bed just for this purpose, cut one back each year and the other one can pull the load and vice versa. So after they bear I will cut them back to the ground. If you are going with a raised bed make sure the bed sides go down into the ground at least 6" or they will crawl out, they spread like madness which is a good thing. Also any where the growth touches the ground they plant roots and spread in multiple directions from those as well.
They won't bear this year because I cut them back to the ground but next year they will most likely have a very large crop. I am going to plant another bed just for this purpose, cut one back each year and the other one can pull the load and vice versa. So after they bear I will cut them back to the ground. If you are going with a raised bed make sure the bed sides go down into the ground at least 6" or they will crawl out, they spread like madness which is a good thing. Also any where the growth touches the ground they plant roots and spread in multiple directions from those as well.
@Caribou too soon to tell about the blackberries, we just put them in last year. Raspberries are prolific here. Blackberries grow into jungles on the coast but are an open question mark here. With last year being Canada’s 150th anniversary one of the local groups was giving away food plants in celebration so we added the blackberries. A few people in the area say they do well but time will tell
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Just curious. Have you tried copper? I use it. I've only had my trees a year but so far so good. I use this
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They say the Bonide is organic as well http://www.bonide.com/products/garden-naturals/view/811/liquid-copper-conc
Well, for near $20 I'm hoping the fungicide I'm getting from Stark kills the crap out of the fungus.
https://www.starkbros.com/products/tools-and-supplies/pest-and-disease-controls/bonide-fung-onil-multi-purpose-fungicide?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ursa Consumer Acknowledge&utm_content=ursa Consumer Acknowledge+ID_bfd76b93-b21e-48d3-b044-f8f738923665&utm_source=campaign monitor&utm_term=a hrefhttpwwwstarkbroscomproductstools-and-suppliespest-and-disease-controlsbonide-fung-onil-multi-purpose-fungicide stylecolor738435text-decorationnone Bonide Fung-onil Multi-Purpose Fungicide 16 Ounce Concentrate
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I'm on a Fruit growing forum and a lot of the folks use the Bonide products. Let us know how it goes? I'm very interested and always looking at how to do things better or more effective,.......I hope it works well...:thumbs up:
Will do, but my fear at this point is our unseasonably warm weather we are getting in February. The maples are starting to bloom and I know we are sure to get more hard freezes before Spring is over. If the peaches start to bloom I'll be fruitless this year.
some buds on our apples with a couple of above freezing days, about 2 months too earlyWill do, but my fear at this point is our unseasonably warm weather we are getting in February. The maples are starting to bloom and I know we are sure to get more hard freezes before Spring is over. If the peaches start to bloom I'll be fruitless this year.
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Some friends had a place they loved in NM, had gardens everywhere, fruit trees, I don't know what all, lots of stuff! They had to sell to move for a job and found out later that the buyers tore out the trees, gardens, just about everything, even after saying they (buyers) loved the place so much! Why?!!
So, the earth is fortunate that things stayed mostly in place at your last property. Surely they could spare a little something from time to time...?
Will do, but my fear at this point is our unseasonably warm weather we are getting in February. The maples are starting to bloom and I know we are sure to get more hard freezes before Spring is over. If the peaches start to bloom I'll be fruitless this year.
Smudge pots… a big truck tire rim, any thing that will hold used motor oil for slow burning. Toss some hay in it every couple of hours. All you have to do is keep the temps in your peach orchard above 32 degrees, and more importantly keep humidity low to keep ice from forming on the blooms. Even on a very cold night, temps around 25, low humidity will save peaches. It’s the ice that kills blooms, it’s the humidity that is key. A smudge pot will keep ice from forming.
Are you on a hill? Temps in low hollows between hills often drop below 32 degrees. If you are on the top of a hill the average temp will be 3 to 4 degrees warmer than in a hollow, something to consider.
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I like it. A man who wants a solution. Yes @buildit all the above works. The orange growers here actually ice their stuff over and it keeps fruit warm until it gets back above freezing. I know that doesn't work for blooms. Just saying you don't have to accept losing everything. Good luck sir!
Well, you know Western Ohio, it's too windy in most situations for simple solutions to work. Even Lynds Apple Farm out past Gahanna loses crops because of the weather in Ohio despite all types of defenses at their facility.
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Worked through to about 2 pm. Got out to the property and planted 4 Tree Wisteria and watered that whole side of the land . Pecan, Mulberry, Paw Paw, crabapple, maples and Persimmon. I'll get up early tomorrow and plant my 4 new American Redbud and waterthe other side, Mulberry, Cherry, Peach, Apple, Pear, Fig, Plum, Blackberry, Almond, Hazelnut, Elderberry, Maples and Willows...... Then I mix a batch of copper and Need oil and spray. Late winter early spring is an awesome time of year. It's absolutely beautiful out right now and going to be very comfortably cool for what appears to be the next couple weeks. A bit of rain here and there. Perfect. Nothinglike our usual extremes! Lol......
My aunt and uncle had a rig set up like a number of parallel clothes lined, only a bit higher. Wisteria was planted at the corners and grew across the lines making something like an arbor. There was a table and a few chairs under it. We would sit and chat or eat a meal. It was a lovely area.
Wisteria is beautiful but also terribly invasive from what I hear. I seen one in Germany a few years ago that the trunk was near 18 inches and it was growing across the handrails of bridge about 300 feet long, luckily I was there in mid spring and it was incredibly pretty to see.
There are two species of wisteria.
Wisteria frutescens - American wisteria - a native species, not aggressive and rarely causes a problem.
Wisteria sinensis - Chinese wisteria - not native, an aggressive problem child, not a friendly plant.
Wisteria frutescens - American wisteria - a native species, not aggressive and rarely causes a problem.
Wisteria sinensis - Chinese wisteria - not native, an aggressive problem child, not a friendly plant.
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These are sinensis. That's why I bought piles to train them up. T-posts to keep them where I put them. And will prune them from the bottom up to make them trees. I does so happen the sinensis type are the better at flowering and get big and very beautiful. That's why I chose them. Nothing has to be any more invasive then you let them be. @Peanut yes aggressive. Problem child? I'm going to say only as much as you let them.
Do you have any running water so you can spray the trees down?
