Swelling Flower Buds. Hollywood Plum and "Son of Oregon Curl Free" Peach. 2.16.19

Flower Buds, Hollywood Plum Tree. 2.16.19

These are in the chicken and duck yard.  The Hollywood Plum tree was grown from cuttings taken about 5 years ago, I think.  The tree is covered with swelling buds now.

The peach tree was grown from a peach pit, from an Oregon Curl Free peach tree.  That tree died of canker.  This tree is also 4 or 5 years old.  Last year were the first flowers, no fruits.  It could be a dud, but I hope not.  No evidence at all for any leaf curl.   No canker yet, either.  This tree grew fast. If it bears nice fruits, I want to give it a name that honors those who were here before, possibly a word in the Cowlitz language.

These blooms could be killed by a late freeze.   However, they seem to produce, every year.   Wait and see.

Flower Buds, Peach Tree Grown From Oregon Curl Free.  2.16.19

Fresh Fruit. 7.30.15

King Figs.  7.28.15

Petite Negri Figs.  7.28.15

Hollywood Plums, Oregon Curl Free Peaches, figs, Pristine Apples.  7.30.15

Bloom Time. Oregon Curl Free Peach. 3.10.15

Bloom Time for Oregon Curl Free Peach.  3.10.15

Last night aspirated the oral chemo.  Rough.  One day at a time.  This is Oregon Curl Free peach in bloom.  It's interesting to compare to the genetic dwarf peaches, which have larger, more vivid pink flowers, packed close together.  I don't know if these will bear this year.  They are reported not to need a pollinizer, but I did use the paintbrush yesterday to transfer pollen from genetic dwarf varieties to these flowers.

Can't go to Battleground today, but the photos are good for me to muse over. 

Fall in the Orchard. 11.8.14

North Side of Orchard.  11.8.14

Wild Plum Seedling.  2 years old.  11.7.14

Buddleia Windbreak West of Orchard.  11.8.14

Fig Row, South of House.  11.8.14

 Some views of mini orchard spread around the yard.  This is end of the 3rd summer here at Battleground, so many of the trees have had 2 full years to acclimate and grow.

Pawpaws were planted the first summer.  Never having grown them, and read about difficult to get started and slow to grow, I'm pleased they have done this well.  The smallest is Rebecca's Gold, about one foot tall.  NC-1 is the largest, about 4 foot tall.  Sunflower, about 3 foot tall.  I'm also pleased about the persimmons.  Nikita's Gift was so tiny I wondered if it would grow.  Now, sturdy and looking promising for future years, although  only about 4 foot tall.  Saijo is about 8 foot.  I did give  them - and the paw paws, organic nitrogen this Spring.

Peaches - Oregon Curl Free about 9 foot tall.  Charlotte about 8 foot tall.  Indian Free about 3 foot tall.  Q-1-8 in it's first year, grew rapidly, 5 foot tall.  The only one of the 3 older trees to have bad leaf curl was Charlotte.  That was also the only one to have peaches - only 2 - this is only the 2nd year old for these.

 Wild Plums, the largest seedling is about 8 foot tall.  This is 3rd year from seed, the first being in container.   There are 3, only one in a prime location for sun and with protection.  Deer eat up to about 4 feet, but the top looks very good.

Other plums, Stanley didn't bear but is very large now, mature looking tree.  Has spurs with promise for flowers.  Satsuma died.  Replaced with cutting-grown Hollywood, 1 foot tall 1st year from cutting.  Toka was best tasting, 3 plums. 7 foot tall.  Methley, no plums, growth now 5 foot tall.  NOIDs already on property, the smallest / deer mangled fully recovered and above the usual deer browsing height; the largest had only about 4 plums.  Now both with multiple bud grafts of other varieties. 

Cherries, lots of deer browsing.  Very discouraging.  The sweet cherries and tart cherries need better protection.  Sweet cherries did establish well, now about 5 foot tall.  Central leads are good, branches browsed to within the narrow cages I installed on these.   Montmorency did very well when I got the deer fence in, 8 foot tall and lush.   I can buy more fencing if I use the truck to commute this week.  North Star and Almaden Duke unprotected browsed nearly to death, we'll see what happens next year.  Both have some bud grafts that are looking tenuous, we'll see.

Apples, this is first year for most.  Wondering if minidwarfs are a good idea.  The dwarfs - JonaRed - shipped from Starks, excellent growth, and multi-graft disease resistant, Rubinette, Pristine, and Queen Cox, shipped from Raintree, almost as good.  The columnar apples, planted at about 18 inches tall their first year, now about 3 foot tall, Golden Sentinel had one apple - very good, Scarlet Sentinel had none.  They are in cages.

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry and NOID Forsythia. 11.8.14

Figs, South of house, recovered from frost kill.  Sal's was not frost killed, now 4 foot.  Tiger, Carini, Smith all grew multi-trunks to 2 or 3 foot.  Petite Aubique, 18 inches, but sturdy.  I'm in process of installing gnaw-screens as leaves fall.  When colder, plan to add inverted trash can protectors for the young ones, and chicken wire or bird net to deter deer and rabbits, for Sal's.  Plan next year- replace the NOID with Lattarula from container, in Spring.  Maybe add one more to row, Dominick.   If any die back again maybe replace with Dominic instead of adding one more.

Buddleia hedge grew to 8 foot tall, for those in 2nd year - Blueberry and Peach Cobbler varieties.  They weren't all that attractive, but the windbreak will be useful.  That side is source of wind.  Honeycomb, in 2st year, grew about the same as the others did last year.  Anticipate pruning all back, so they can grow bushier and not over-tall.

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry, not in the 5 X 5 grid but nearby.   Now 8 foot tall.  Had some nice mulberries this year.  No dear browsing.  Most branches probably too tall.  It may be hard to install bird netting next year due to height, but I should try. 

Fruit Update. 8.10.14

Fruit Bowl 8/10/14

Mulberries, Green gage plums, Shiro Plums, Hollywood Plums, and the first of the Oregon Curl Free peaches.  My bowl runneth over.  There are also blackberries but I ate all of them.

Peach Leaf Curl. 4.29.14

Charlotte Peach

 This is Peach Leaf Curl Disease season in my area.  I have enough resistant peach varieties to make a comparison.

As of now, they all have peach leaf curl.  Charlotte seems to have the least, and looks like it will have a small bowl of peaches this year.  Oregon Curl Free has a bit more, and also looks like it will have some peaches.

Indian Free peach has a moderate amount of curl.  It didn't bloom, except for one flower that fell off.  I think

Charlotte Peach

Oregon Curl Free Peach

 As for the Genetic Dwarf peaches...  anyone who sells them in the Pacific NW is doing their customers a big disservice.  Photos are the varieties Garden Sun, Honeybabe, and Ponderosa.  They may make a comeback.  The peaches will need a lot of thinning.  It's too difficult to cover them to keep out rain, and spraying in the fall is difficult to time.  Rainy season starts before the leaves fall.  So they are going to get leaf curl each year, they look terrible and it has a big effect on peach production.  The only solution I can think of is treat them the way hobbyists treat fig trees.  Grow small, in containers, keeping them pruned small, root prune, and put them in garage or shed for the winter.  Bring them outside when they start to grow.  I might try that, maybe starting my own variety with seedlings.  I have 2 seedlings in the garden beds, so that is a start.  For what it's worth, one was in a covered bed, and has no curl.  The other was exposed, and does have curl.

The seedlings might take a long time to bear.  I don't know.  But, being on genetic dwarf rootstock, they might also stay smaller than if grafted on regular peach rootstock.

Not pictured, the Tri-lite Peach-Plum hybrid has as bad leaf curl as any of the others.  The susceptibility of the peaches dominates the resistance of the plums.  So it's not worth buying that one either.

Indian Free Peach

Garden Sun Dwarf Peach

 I suspect that none of the Zaiger hybrids will be curl resistant.  They are bred in California where the disease is not an issue.

Ponderosa Dwarf Peach

Honey Babe Dwarf Peach

Summary:

Less susceptible to peach leaf curl, but not immune:

Charlotte
Oregon Curl Free
Indian Free

Q-1-8 is in its first year.  There is no curl, but as a bare root tree it was probably stored in a barn, and not exposed to winter rains which are responsible for spreading the fungal spores.

Highly susceptible to peach leaf curl:
Tri-lite Peach-plum
Honey Babe Genetic Dwarf
Garden Sun Genetic Dwarf
Ponderosa Genetic Dwarf.

Potential alternative:
Raise in container, keep small by pruning and root pruning, and move container into shed for winter, similar to fig hobbyists in cold climates.  Or similar to my brugmansias and geraniums that I overwinter.

Thoughts.
Next year, buy one for the container treatment.
This year, try to pot up the two seedling trees so I can get them started, but it may be a long path and who knows if I will live that long.

One additional thought.  Deer seem to stay away from most of the peach trees.  They do take some bites out of Indian Free.

Home Orchard. Progress Report. 2.16.14

Newly moved Karmijn de Sonneville Apple

 As far as I know, this is the last of the movable trees from the Vancouver yard  This is Karmijn de Sonneville apple on M27 rootstock.  From the top, it looks like there might be a large root mass.  Digging it, the rootstock is small, one shovel deep if that.  M27 keeps the tree very small, 5 or 6 foot, and is easy to topple over.  So it always needs a stake for support.   I planted close to the Honeycrisp, also on M27.

I doubt this tree will miss a beat.  Digging, it seemed to have no root damage at all.  I lost one or two buds at most.

It needs a fence.  I can make one in 20 minutes and install today.

Peaches and plums have swelling buds.  It's too early but nothing I can do about it.

First pink, buds of Oregon Curl Free PEach

First Pink.  Buds of Toka Plum

 Charlotte peach.  The same for Q18 and Indian Free.  The fuzzy buds have been visible, with a touch of pink, for a month.  The weather is unpredictable.  If I had more energy and time, I might construct covers for the trees to reduce freeze risk.  But I don't.  So time will tell.

Same for the plums. Toka and Methley are showing a lot of pink.  Less for Satsuma.  None for the European plums.

First Pink. Buds of Methley Plum

New Trees progress report.

Cherry "Almaden Duke"

Jujube "Li"

 Here is the progress report for new trees planted 2012 - 2013.  Most, but not all, are fruit trees.  They are young.  Not all are pictured here.  They are in no particular order.

Duke Cherry "Almaden Duke".  Now 6 ft tall.  Growth this year, 6".  Transplant from Vancouver yard last fall.

Ginkgo seedling from Illinois.  My dad's collected seed, tree is the smallest of the 3 I grew.  6ft tall, growth 0 inches.  There were tufts of new growth from each node, but no stem extension.  Leaves remain green so far.

Madrone.  New planting this fall.  6 ft tall.

Sweet Cherry "Vandelay".  New bare root from Raintree, started late this winter, before my surgery.  3'8" of which 2" is new.

Sweet Cherry Sweetheart.  As for Vandelay.  3'10" of which  1'2" is new.  Bloomed after planting, no fruit.

"Greenspire" Linden, South side of yard near house.  6'6" of which 1'6" is new. 

 Jujube "Li".  Planted as container plant last fall.  about 1 ft tall, of which 6" is new.

Pawpaw "NC-1".  All pawpaws were planted summer 2012.  2'7" of which 7" is new.

Pawpaw "NC-1"

Pawpaw "Rebecca's gold".  This tree was eaten by an animal, leaving only about 3".  It grew to 1ft 7" tall, 3 stems.

Pie Cherry "North Star".  Planted as container tree from Lowes, late Spring.  This tree is 5'4".  Growth occurred before I planted it, about 1 ft was new.  This tree had cherries when I bought it.

Pie Cherry "Montmorency".  6'3".  I moved this from Vancouver last summer.  18" of the growth was this year.  This tree bore cherries this year.

Wild Plums - grown from seeds summer / fall 2012.  Tallest is 4'3", next is 3', and smallest is 2'.

Peach "Indian Blood".    Now 4' tall, of which 1ft 4 inches is new.

Persimmon "Seijo".  Now 4'10", of which 15"  is new.  This was bare root planted this year, from Raintree.  The growth was nice, but there is a wound on the north side, narrow, extending much of the old stem.  The wound is about a mm wide.  I don't know what that bodes for next year.

Pawpaw "Rebecca's Gold"

 Persimmin "Nikita's Gift".  2'6" of which 2" is new.  Small but survived the first year.  Persimmons are considered difficult to start, but making it through the first year is encouraging. 

Peach "Charlotte"

Peach "Oregon Curl-Free"

 Peach "Charlotte".   6ft total, of which 2'2" is new.  Fast starting tree.  Moved from Vancouver last summer, started from bare root Spring 2012 as container tree.

Peach seedling and Grape "Price"

Peach "Oregon Curl Free".  Total 4'5" of which 3'7" is new.  Same issues as for "Charlotte"

Pawpaw "Sunflower"

Pie Cherry "Surefire"

Apple "Red Sentinel"  2'4" tall and "Golden Sentinel" 2'4" tall.  Minimal added height this year.  These were planted last summer.  The rootstock may be super-dwarfing. 

Linden "Greenspire" in front yard.  This was the first of the Lindens.  9"  tall of which 1" is new. 

Peach Seedling 8" - unknown parentage, suspect genetic dwarf.  Volunteer in vegetable bed, which was treated with compost.  If it develops leaf curl, I don't plan to keep it  The "Price" grape 8" was a cutting from my vines at home.

American Linden "Redmond"  5 ft tall, 4" is new.  This was container tree planted last winter.

Pear "Rescue"  4 ft tall, 9" is new, and pear "Orca, 4 ft, 9" is new.  Both bare root trees from Raintree, planted late winter 2013.

Apple "Spitzenberg" 3" of new growth on 6" of rootstock.  This was new graft, grown from new graft early Spring and given TLC with fertigation; Apple "Sutton's Beauty" 1'6" of new growth on 6" rootstock, same situation.

Chinese Haw "Red Sun", 4'8" of which 1" is new.   Bare root from "One Green World" nursery planted last fall. 

Plum "Stanley"

Sweet Cherry "Sweetheart"

Plum "Toka"

Mulberry "Illinois Everbearing", 6'4" tall, of which 11'1" is new this year.  Moved from Vancouver yard last fall.

Plum "Stanley" 7'6" of which about 2' is new.  Moved from Vancouver last year.

Plum "Toka" 5'10" tall, of which 1'4" is new and plum "Satsuma" 5'6" of which 3" is new, both bought as potted trees last summer on sale at Home Depot.

The Sourwood I planted in Sept, is 7'8" tall.

I've started applying a layer of compost around each tree.  Ran out, more expected with another truckload of compost this week.

Fruit Trees. Mini Orchard.

Almaden Duke Cherry

Jujube in bee yard

Jujube in orchard

 Almaden Duke Cherry, I moved last summer.  At the time I wondered if it would survive, due to wilting.  Growing nicely.  Only a couple of cherries now.  That may be due to the late frost, which caused a lot of damage to other trees and vines.

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry

North Star Cherry

Sunflower Paw Paw

NC1 Paw Paw

Oregon Curl Free Peach

Indian Blood Peach

Charlotte Peach

Chinese Haw Red Sun

Seijo Persimmon

 Jujube.  I forget which of the two this is.  One is Li and the other is Coco.  From One Free World last summer.  Both are late to start, but now growing.  They have a lot of growing ahead before they amount to anything.   Not a good recommendation for the source.  Planted last fall.

Nikita's Gift Persimmin

One jujube is in the bee  yard, the other in the little orchard.  This fall the other may also be in the bee yard, to provide room for another plum or peach.







Illinois Everbearing Mulberry.  Whatever frost damage was there, it's recovered.  Soon it will need a bird net.

North Star Pie Cherry.  Thanks to the rainy week, it didn't lose a leaf or wilt after planting.  From Lowes.

Sunflower and NC1 Paw Paws.  growing nicely.  They seem to leaf out later than most other trees, about the same time as the jujubes and mulberry.

Oregon Curl Free Peach.  This little tree won't have peaches this year.  It is one of the least affected I've seen as far as Leaf Curl is concerned.  From One Green World last year.  So far, not very vigorous.  There is a summer ahead for growth.  Might make up for lost time.

Indian Blood Peach.  Minimal leaf curl.  Much less than most of the others.  This year I hope it recovers from the damage I did transplanting it from vancouver.  I lost most of the roots when I dug it up.  Surprised it survived.  Can't be disappointed at it for not having peaches this year - just survive and grow.  From Raintree.

Charlotte peach.  Supposed to be curl resistant. It's not.  Or not very.  What a mess.  I will need to research replacements.  I don't want to get stuck with another susceptible peach tree.  It's making a comeback with new growth.   Give it another year to see what happens.

Chinese Haw.  Growing nicely.  From One Green World.  Bare root planted last fall.

Seijo Persimmon and Nikita's Gift Persimmon.  Both growing nicely.  Bare root, planted this spring.  From Raintree.  They will need extra water all summer, because persimmons are said to have inadequate roots to support their tops, for the first year.