Puttering. Training Young Fruit Trees. 12.29.14

Peach Variety Q-1-8 undergoing training.

 I puttered around a little and tied branches of young trees in the directions I went them to mature.  The other choices are, leave them alone, or prune off branches that grow in the wrong directions.

These were all growing together in a bunch.  I tied them to the deer fencing, bending branches to make a vase-shaped tree.  After one year, they can be untied.

I did the same for other trees, peaches, persimmons, pears, plums.  I did the same for apples, too.

It doesn't look like much.  The good training will make a big difference in a few years.

Some Images from Vintage Printable.com. 11.11.14

Vintage images of Daffodils.  source: vintageprintable.com

Browsing vintageprintable.com, online source of vintage, public domain images that are free to use.

I enjoy these old images.  They involve much more effort, artistry, skills of observation, talent, than any photo.

These images relate to recent plantings.  They demonstrate the continuity of gardening through the ages.

Fritillaria rubrum "Crown Imperial"  source vintageprintable.com

Toka Plum-Apricot Hybrid. 8.31.14

Toka Plum/Apricot.  8.31.14

Toka Plum/Apricot 8.31.14

Toka Plum/Apricot  8.31.14

This is the 3rd fruit from the Toka Plum/Apricot.  I planted this tree 2 years ago, a potted tree on close-out from Home Depot.  This is the 1st year it has borne any fruit - not bad, nice to have a taste - and there were 3 fruits.

It took some time to identify the origin of Toka.  It is listed most places as a plum, sometimes described as "bubblegum plum" due to the complex, very sweet flavor.  I wouldn't call it "bubblegum", but the flavor is delightful.

According to

Growing Fruit in the Upper Midwest (Google eBook)

by Don Gordon, copyright 1991, this plum was developed in 1911 at the University of South Dakota.   Toka is the Sioux Indian word for "Adversity".  I imagine that is because of the tree's hardiness.  Other plums with the same lineage are Kanga and Hanska.  The book describes this fruit as a cross of 'native plum' and 'Chinese apricot' - which makes it a distant relative of both European and Asian plums, in a category all its own.  Toka, on the other hand, was designed with more adverse climates in mind, has a much longer period of experience in the US, and is way beyond patent so can be used in grafting.

 

I happened on this fruit completely by accident.  I suppose I should refer to it as a plum, but based on the flavor and the lineage, American plum/Chinese apricot hybrid would be a better description.

 

Wow, it's good. 

 

Toka is considered an excellent pollenizer for Euro and Asian plums.  I wonder, then, if hybridization would result in other interesting, hardy fruit.

July Bud Grafting. 7.15.14

All that's needed for bud grafting.  Scion, knife, sharpener, pruning shears, tape.  7.15.14

Plum scion trimmed and ready.  7.14.15.

 Yesterday I did some more bud grafting.  This time I expect they will stay dormant until Spring.  Given the heat, I don't know if they will survive.

I took scion wood from Shiro Asian plum.  I grafted onto some small Hollywood Asian plum stock, grown from cuttings started last winter.  They have put out about 1 foot of growth.  I grafted onto the original, now 1-year-old, main stems.  It was awkward working in that location, and difficult in the heat, so after the second one, I gave up.  Now that I have done a number of bud grafts, they seem quite versatile and even those attempts might take.  They are very shaded in a tomato raised bed.

I also bud grafted a couple of Shiro onto other plum trees.

Elsewhere I've shown photos of the completed bud graft.  Here are the steps leading up to it.

My method is a little different from the books, because I am clumsy.  I make an incision to the wood, actually 5 incisions.  One on each side of the  bud, one across the top, and 2 at the bottom to make a point.  Then I peel the bud from the underlying wood.  With these plums, it works every time, and leaves a nice large patch of cambium for maximum cambial contact with the stock.

Bud "shield" ready for use.  7.15.14

Bud "shield" ready for use.  7.15.14

Shiro bud grafted onto Hollywood Plum Stock.  7.15.14

Bud Grafting. Progress Report. 6.15.14

Shiro plum, bud grafted onto unknown plum variety.  2 weeks after budding.  6.15.14tao

 I think several, if not all, of the bud grafts have taken.  From what I read, if the entire graft turns brown, that's a sign it did not take  It is normal for a petiole (leaf stem) to turn yellow and fall off, when a leaf is cut.  So if the graft takes, that happens with the bud graft too.  Some have fallen off.  This one shows the abscission layer nicely, with hyellow petiole and proximal to the graft, nice green bud wood and bark.  This one is in the shade, so less likely to dry out.  As I recall, I can wait a week or two before removing tape.

I may do some more bud grafting.  Some of the new wood still looks pretty green, might be better to wait for it to mature a bit more.

Kitchen Garden. 6.8.14

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In the kitchen garden.

A basket of ripe strawberries.  Photo not very good.  via ipad.

A Portugal Red chili pepper.  This is from the battleground raised bed.  Some of the other varieties have fruits beginning to form.

Zucchinis and other squashes have a growth spurt.  They got a dose of organic nitrogen boost today.

Potatoes are nice and green.  Ditto on the nitrogen, last time and not much.  They also got some slug pellets, organic type. 

Yesterday I cleared out the herbs and weeds around 2 caged fruit trees, both plums.  Then a layer of waste paper - food packaging and newspaper.  On top of that, grass clippings, to hold down the paper and hide it.  That will last until fall, I think.

Tomatoes are blooming.

Lots of snowpeas.

Fall Color - in Home Orchard and fruit garden.

Seijo Persimmon

 Some of the fruit trees and shrubs are showing great fall color.  They may be too young to know how they'll turn out.   The colors of these young trees and shrubs are beautiful.

I read elsewhere that persimmons have beautiful fall leaves.  The summer leaves are also handsome - shiny, green, tropical-looking.  Seijo has nice amber color.

I don't have the variety names for these blueberries.  They have various colors, from crimson to glowing amber.

Blueberries

Apricot seedling

Indian Blood Peach

The apricot seedling is a guess  It came with the place, unlabeled, and has not borne fruit.  It grew significantly this year - next year maybe I'll have a better idea.

Satsuma plum

Nikita's Gift Persimmin

Wild Plum Seedling

Indian Blood Peach - at this point is the only peach tree with colorful leaves.  The others are still green.

Satsuma plum had dark burgundy leaves, from late summer to now.  The mint is too big for this small tree - I should pull it out and opt for a smaller growing herb.

Nikita's Gift persimmon - even if there are no fruits, the fall color makes it worth having.  That is, if it grows into a nice tree.  Which may take a few years.

The wild plum seedling was one of the ones I started last year.  Of the others, one is dropping its leaves without much  of a show, and the other remains green.

Blueberry. Name unknown.

This does not include the Buffalo grape pictured earlier.  So far that variety is the only one in my yard with colorful fall leaves.

Planting a WIld Pulm Tree, grown from seed.

This wild plum tree was started from seed last summer.  It's now about 4 feet tall.  I'm impressed by the rapid growth.  I waited until I had a chance to build a deer cage, before planting it. 

This may need a pollinator.  I have 3 smaller specimens, started at the same time.  The plan is to plant at least one nearby.

I read that the leaves are a deer favorite.  So it is caged.

I don't know if these will serve as pollinators for my domesticated plums.  It's worth a try.

At this size, maybe it will bear in another season or two or three.  I would like that.


I like growing from seeds, for the genetic diversity and wondering what I will get.  I know they may or may not be good.  Since these are selections of wild plums, not hybrids, they may be more predictable compared to domesticated varieties.

 This photo is from last year, July 2012.  These are the plums.  The tree is down the street from me.  They are the size of a sweet cherry, but are sweeter, juicier, and have a plum flavor.

 After cleaning the seeds, I let them dry for a day.  Then cracked the hulls using a vice-grip.

 There isn't a lot of info about growing wild plums.  I based the hull-cracking method on some web info about other stone fruits.   I placed the naked seeds in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel, and refrigerated.  After about a month, they started to sprout and I planted them in potting soil.

Others were planted directly outside in potting soil.  Those grew more slowly, but they did grow.  They grew late summer 2012.  Not all of the seeds grew.  Maybe half.

This is the seedling late last summer.   I left them outside to overwinter.  No problem.

This Spring the trees grew rapidly.  I potted up as needed, in general purpose organic potting soil.  They've been at the Battleground place for about one month.

Fruit from the garden

Lattarula figs, Shiro plums, Blackberries

Mulberries

NoID Plum

Fresh fruit from the garden.  Lattarula figs, Shiro plums, wild Himalayan Blackberries.

Mulberry has a few remaining berries.

Unknown plum variety at the Battleground place.  Still very firm.  Next year maybe there will be more bees and more flowers on nearby pollinating varieties.

Crimson Pointe plums

 I've been waiting for the 4 plums on the "Crimson Pointe" ornamental plum to ripen.  Last week they were rock hard.  Today there were none on the tree.  I found 2 on the ground, rinsed them off, and ate them.  They were absolutely delicious - tasted like red wine.  Mildly sweet, mildly sour.  Perfect balance.  I just planted this tree last year.  It's not listed as an edible plum.  That's possibly because they fall off when ripe.  But those plums were so good.

Wild Cherry and Wild Plum seeds

I found these with the other seeds.  I collected them in July.  There are also some plum seedlings that germinated earlier.  Might as well see what happens.  First, crack the nuts open, remove the seed.  Then place seed in moist paper towel, in zip lock back, in refrigerator for a couple of months.

Wild Cherry seeds. I tried cracking them open with pliers. Smashed the seeds. This worked, sort of. Then sanded a few for scarification only.

The pliers worked for the plum seeds, if I placed the seed into the open part of the pliers, not the flat part. Vice Grips work better but I don't have them here at home now. I would like a wild cherry, which I would prune aggressively to keep it small. The ones that provided these seeds, have a great flavor. If all of the wild plums grow, I don't know what I'll do with the trees. Something will come up.

Plum Seeds

These are the wild plum seeds I opened 2 months ago and placed into the fridge in a moist paper towel, sealed in a plastic ziplock sandwich bag. That was July 8th. So germination is about 3 1/2 months. One looks rotted. The other 2 are slightly moldy but growing. This was one week ago.

Here they are today. I planted them in seed starting soil. No problem from the mold. Seems like wrong time of year to be sprouting. Will grow in window.

Brief update

No pics today. Today we had 3 figs from the Sal's fig tree that I moved this summer to Battleground. The figs were slightly different from Hardy Chicago. A little "richer" however that is defined. More juicy. Skin was not as dark, but flesh had more red coloration. It's not a fair comparison - different location. I'm glad it survived the move even in the Summer and provided some figs. I planted some plum seeds, Hollywood plum, among the shallot rows. They are labeled. This way they can stratify over the winter. Just for fun. I planted some chinese chive seeds among the plants. That should help fill in the gaps, if they grow. Fall planting has the risk of not growing at all, or growing but the tiny plants not surviving the winter. If so, not much loss. I saved lots of seeds this year. I stuck daffodil bulbs in molehills. I read that moles don't like daffodils. I did that only where the mole(s) dug too close to my little fruit trees. Rain is postponed another week. Maybe it's going to become a desert here? Watered all of the new tree and shrub transplants, and the raised beds.

Transplanting a Plum and a Peach tree

Two more small trees.  The Stanley Plum was about 6 feet tall.  The Peach is about 4 feet tall.

I've been growing this Stanley plum for about 3 years. I had cut the top at 3 feet, then the branches at another foot, for scaffold branches. It had one plum this year. So I got a taste. I used the same method as with the ginkgo. I sliced vertically, then cut under the tree. I lifted it out, not pried it out. Interesting. This had been a balled and burlapped tree, in its original hard soil. That ball of soil remains, but the roots have extended from the ball. After wrapping in a large plastic sheet, I transported the tree to Battleground.

Here is the hole. The spot must be "perfect" for a tree. In exactly the spot I dug, there was a stump. No way to tell what kind of tree, fruit or evergreen or...? I don't think there's harm in planting in the same spot. The stump was very well rotted, and easy to remove. Even if the original tree had an infestation or disease, it should be gone now. Forgot to photograph the planted tree. Next time.

I did not dig as carefully for this peach. Too bad. Cut roots way, way too close. So I pruned branches back, removing about 2/3 of the top. Maybe I've killed it. The morning after planting, the leaves on the remaining branches were not wilted. How tough are these trees?

The Little Orchard

Here's how the little orchard is progressing. I've planted all 3 of the planned Paw Paws, the unplanned Toka and Satsuma Plums (from big box store on sale, nice looking trees), the 2 peaches from containers at home, a pie cherry (Montmorency) and the Petite negri fig that I grew from a cutting.

The Orchard

Montmorency Cherry.  I moved this last week, from my border at home.  It didn't seem to have a lot of roots.  The soil was dry.  I hadn't watered it all summer.  I dug as wide as I could, pruned lightly, rapped it, and moved to the little orchard.  The leaves did not wilt (good sign) but are now becoming yellow.  That suggests to me it is heading into dormancy, maybe a little early due to the trauma.  Or it may be heading into dead.  We'll know in the Spring.  It shouldn't be too big to move, under 6 ft tall. I've had it one or two years.

One of the Paw Paw trees. They appear to have held up well, despite my breaking a lot of rules. Not the least of which was planting them in mid summer.

Satsuma plum. Does it have red leaves? Or is that impending dormancy? Impending death? Mislabeled? I guess I'll know next Spring - it will grow, or not. And it will have red leaves, or not.

Peach. One of the supposedly leaf-curl resistant ones.  I plan to add one more Peach, probably the Indian Blood peach I have had for 2 seasons now.  It's still really small. I'm anxious to move the other trees that I planned to move, and plant some bare root trees in October. This is a bit of a forced lull now - I don't want to risk killing trees that I've nurtured for 2 or three years. So I'll await dormancy or near-dormancy.

Today at "The Farm"

Still don't have a name for the 2 Acres in Battleground. I planted the final Paw Paw tree. The others have weathered their transplanting and are essentially unchanged from their planting appearance. The big leaves tend to catch the wind, and are a bit torn from that. Hybridizers take heed: The big leaves are an issue. The Paw Paw might do better with smaller leaves. I saw some much larger Paw Paws at a local nursery - no variety name. I assume they are seedlings. They also had persimmons the same way. Life is too short to waste on no-name varieties unless you have room for multiple trees. So I passed on those. I've been wanting to plant a shade tree. It's in honor of my birthday which is coming up. I figure a shade tree sequesters more CO2 than the fruit trees, so counts for more of a "thank you" to the world for supplying me with oxygen, and climate, and nutrition. I found some sale trees at a big box store. They look fairly decent - not much the worse for sitting in the lot for the summer. I chose a red-leaf maple to serve as my "Birthday Tree".

OK, I also chose a couple of their close-out fruit trees.

An Asian Pear (Hosui, a russeted type) to serve as a pollinator for the Asian Pear already on the property, and which had one - only one - yellow fruit, non-russeted. Not knowing the variety, by choosing one with a different appearing fruit, it should serve as pollinator. I think. Monrovia describes Hosui as drought resistant and heat tolerant - so once established should not need a lot of watering. The tree is a bit misshapen, but that is OK, it will either give it character, or pruning and training will change that.

Toka Plum, from Grandpa's Orchard, identical to the pic from Fedco. The site claims "This fruit was introduced in 1911 by Dr. N.E. Hansen at the South Dakota Experiment Station as a hybrid of the Japanese and European types" but I read elsewhere it is a hybrid of an "apricot plum" with an "American plum".

OK, I bought 2 Asian plums. The first was Satsuma. I saw a couple of other varieties, and wanting a pollinator and something different from the first choice, came home and googled on pollinators for Satsuma. Toka is listed as a pollenizer for Satsuma, on the Burnt Ridge Nursery site. Toka is also listed as self fertile. Seems like a reasonable pair, so now I have then both. Not all sites agree about these as a pollinizing pair, it is confusing.

I might plant at least some of these trees tomorrow and through the weekend. I don't know if I have the energy to plant 4 trees on one day. I've done it before, so maybe.

Hollywood Plums

A good crop of tree ripened plums - enough to share with friends and coworkers, who loved them. Grocery store plums are hard and sour. The tree-ripened plums are tender, juicy, sweet, and so flavorful!

Baby Plum Tree

This looks to me like a plum seedling. I planted seeds in this pot in June. No expectations as to germination. These were not pits that I removed seeds from - separate batch - an the seeds were mailed to me from a friend in Georgia. They are a wild, native yellow plum. I'm surprised it did not need stratification, and I don't know how to manage it through the winter, but shouldn't be too difficult. That's assuming it's really a plum and not a weed. Does look plum-like.

Shiro Plums. Great harvest!

This Spring I wondered if there would be any plums. That was due to frost, and I read that Shiro needs a pollinator other than the Hollywood plum that is nearby. I was wrong. This is plenty for me to eat all I can, and share lots at work. Shiro ripens all plums in about 2 or 3 weeks, so no reason to have more than this.

These are the juiciest, sweetest plums I have ever eaten. Not huge size, but that's OK. They are a clingstone plum, so a little messy to eat. But so good.

Bakyard Orchard Walkabout

Midsummer, the yard and backyard orchard is jungle-like in greenery.

On the left Illinois Everbearing mulberry. This is year #3. Not many mulberries yet, but the ones I get are incredibly good.

Container gardens, tomatoes, beans, onions, peppers.

Left to right, pole beans, King fig, Sal's fig (in white pot), Bonanza miniature peach (2 peaches this year - leaf curl disease again), and some branches of Lattarua fig.  The Sal's will move to the Battleground place soon.

The purple leaf tree is Hollywood plum.  The plums are still firm but getting closer.  On the far left, one of the ginkgos I grew from a seed, now about 10 feet tall.  Half as tall as the one the same age, in the back yard.  The difference is likely the benefit of watering, improved soil, lots of dog "product" over 10 years in the back yard.  The mulch is made from prunings I took from the cherry trees.

The grass is brown for the summer.  It will grow back.  Apple on the right is Jonagold.

Charlie standing by Liberty Apple.

The yellow fruits are Shiro plum. We've eaten a few. This week they should be in full juiciness and sweetness.

Today I noticed the summer figs starting to soften. Maybe a week away? This is variety "Petite negri", red inside, blue-black outside. My favorite.