Apple change of plan. Disease resistant, multigraft order. 1.19.14

Image source:  Wikimedia commons.

I emailed Raintree and requested a change of my order.  Initially I ordered a crab apple, Prairie Fire.  Later I found the same variety and bought it.  I thought I would let the order remain, for a second one of the same variety.  Then, eating some more apple pie, decided to change the order.

I emailed them and they were happy to oblige.

The replacement order is for a multigraft, disease resistant varieties on M106 rootstock.  M106 should result in a moderately vigorous tree roughly 10 feet tall.  Fine for my little orchard, especially with pruning.    Raintree says a bit bigger, 12 to 15 feet.  Either size is OK.  Probably no concern for planting pollinators, given it is multigraft.  Choices are 3 of...  Queen Cox, Belmac, Rubinette and / or Pristine.  One will be missing - their 3 in 1 are 4 in 1 that had one graft fail.   I did that with an Asian pear and am happy with that.

By going with disease resistant varieties, there should be less frustration in the future, and no need to spray.  At least, that's the plan.

Later, I could graft on other varieties.  This looks like a good start.

Anxious for the order to arrive.  Probably in a month.

Got the little Honeycrisp / M27 back into the ground.  This time it will have support - required for trees on M27 rootstock.  That was my mistake before.  The next question is what to graft onto the second stem.   This tree will probably only grow 5 or 6 feet tall.  This site lists Liberty as an option.  Easy, since we have a Liberty tree to supply scion.  Minnesota lists Jonagold among others.   I thought Jonagold was pollen sterile.  In fact, Spokane site states Jonagold is a nonpollinator.  Maybe graft on a Liberty scion, plus add another small M27 tree, such as Jonared.  Jonathan was my favorite, growing up in Illinois.


Next change - I ordered a dwarf Jonared from Starks.  I have not ordered from them before.  Jonared is a sport of Jonathan, redder skin.  Origin, Penashtin Washinton, 1934.   Jonathan originates 1864.  So this is a true heritage variety.  Not great in the disease-resistance department.  Parentage, seedling of Esopus Spitzenburg, which coincidentally is one of my grafts from last year.  Also the pollen parent of Karmijn de Sonnaville (1949), which I also have in the Vancouver yard.  Karmijn is also a self-sterile triploid, that can't pollinate others.

From Raintree on pollinizers - editing out the trees I don't have or haven't ordered this year.  Most should overlap.  I don't have data for Prairie Fire Crabapple, which should pollenize any of the listed varieties, if there is bloom time overlap.  From OrangePippenTrees.com - "The prolific blossom also makes most crab apples excellent pollinators for all other apple and cider-apple varieties - they typically produce five to ten times more pollen than a typical apple tree. The blossom is also usually more long-lasting than that of normal apples, and spans several of the mainstream apple flowering groups. Crab apples are naturally precocious and will often start producing blossom and fruit in their 2nd or 3rd years."

Early-Mid Season =  Pristine, Scarlet Sentinel, Liberty
Mid Season = Jonagold,  Golden Sentinel, Belmac,  Spitzenberg,, Karmijn
Mid-Late Season = Honeycrisp

Italic = self sterile, requires pollenizer and is not a pollenizer for others.

January Gardening. Move this here to there. 1.18.14

No photos today.

To get my mind off what is not mentioned here.....

We planted too much in the Vancouver yard.  It's been a jungle.  In 2012 I moved many trees and shrubs and perennials to the new Battleground place.

Today I moved a few more...

One Nandina.

Two small lilac bushes.  Several years ago, we planted a lilac hedge.  They were tiny.  Some are bigger, but some are too shaded and have too much competition, and are still small.  Today I moved those to Battleground.  More room, more sun, less competition.

I bought a Mock Orange, Philadelphus "Natchez" at Portland nursery.  They don't have much yet.  This was left over from last year.  So bigger than what will replace it there in a month or two, but more root bound.  I cut the roots as I usually do, before planting.  Philadelphus has a reputation as a bee forage plant.

I also dug up mini-dwarf Honeycrisp apple.  That tree (bush) broke off 2 years ago when I did not thin apples and they weighed down the tiny tree and broke it off.  I pruned off below the break.  Two new trunks developed, above the graft so stil Honeycrisp.  They grew nicely.  I plan to graft one trunk, maybe Jonagold.  The other will remain Honeycrisp.  Maybe I will graft something else and let it grow below the graft, for a 3-variety tree.   Undecided.

I also dug up volunteer lavenders, and dug out a half-barrel of Chinese chives.  They need regenerating.  I want to plant them tomorrow in a raised bed.

Almost forgot - took some cuttings from Hardy Chicago fig.  Started as usual with scrubbing, incision, dip-and-grow, moist paper towel in plastic bag, and a label.  Assuming they grow - experience says they will  - there will be one for Battleground, and several to give away.

Thinking about a Sun Room. 1.11.14

Front Of House

Front Of House

This is the West-facing side of the house.  To the right is South, to the left is North.  The squarish window with 4 panes opens from the dining room.  I think that would be a good place for a sun room.  Replace that window with a patio door or french door.  The sunroom could be about 100 to 150 square feet.  Big enough for plants all around, for starting tomatoes and peppers, okra, figs....  flowers...  and overwintering cacti and orchids.    Maybe even overwinter a large chili pepper plant.  There might be room for the Meyer Lemon - currently bearing - and kumquat.  Wow - I just filled up the sunroom, and it's not even designed yet.

I was thinking greenhouse, but sunroom might contribute to solar heating in winter.  Or might not be efficient, but would be more protected than a greenhouse, and I could sit in the sunroom and ponder, putter, and stew.

There's a home remodeling show in portland in 2 weeks.  It would take my mind off the impending scan....

Plant Propagation Day. Lilacs, Nandina, Plums, Quince, Forsythia. 1.11.14

Lilac Sucker

Shovel Placement for Lilac Sucker

 More plant propagation.  I found suckers on 2 more lilac bushes.  So I removed those for propagation.

The method with the shovel, is to stand it vertically close to the parent shrub, between the parent and the sucker.  Make a rapid, firm slice into the soil.  Sometimes it takes more than one try.  That severs the connection, but leaves most of the sucker's roots intact.

I make the same type of slices around the sucker / baby bush, then slice under it.

Much of the root mass is probably from the old bush, and not connected to the baby bush.  That root matrix hold the soil together.  Removing it could damage the roots of the new bush, so I left the soil / root matrix in place.  It would be nice to see how many roots the baby bush has, but not required.  I'm sure there are some.

I also took prunings from Hollywood Plum, Shiro Plum, Pussy Willow - un known variety, Flowering Quince.  After removing side branches, I have a bundle of each to experiment with as hardwood cuttings.

Hardwood Cuttings and Lilac Starts

 It's a cloudy drizzly rainy day, so not much risk of drying out.

Then I wandered around the yard, looking for other starts.  I found two Nandina suckers - Heavenly Bamboo.  Pretty bush, bright red berries.  So I removed those.  Same method as lilac.  The suckers did not have much by way of roots, so I pruned the tops to avoid dehydrating the plants until the roots take.  Haven't done this with Nandina before.

Then planted the sucker / baby shrubs in vegetable raised bed.  They will have a few months to grow more roots, before top grown begins.

I treated the hardwood cuttings in a similar manner to the fig cutting prep - make an incision in the lower end, to expose cambium.  Dip in Dip-and-grow 1:5 dilution for 10 seconds.  Then used trowel to make slice into soil.

Lilac Starts and Nandina Starts

Quince Starts

Inserted the cuttings, firmed soil into place.

I don't know if there is even a remote chance for those plums and the quince to take root.  Nothing lost if they don't.

I also took a few forsythia prunings.  Those were inserted in soil without wounding or dip-and-grow.  Mainly because I didn't have any dip-and-grow remaining.  Should be OK.  Forsythia grows easily.

The pussy willows can just be stuck into the grown about 1 foot deep.  Ning did that last year when I was sick, and about 90% took root and grew.  Deer then ate some.  Others should take off and grow this year.  We'll have a hedge of pussy willow.

Carini Fig Cuttings. 1.11.14

Carini Fig Start

Carini Fig Cuttings, showing supplies

 The top photo is the start I removed from the Carini fig tree after the big freeze.  This was a small underground branch.  I haven't decided if it will grow or not.  Worth trying.  So far it has made no increase in size, appearing to be in suspended inanimation.

I think fresh cuttings are much more likely to succeed.  This time I won't make the same mistake twice.  One will go into garage for the winter.

Method-

1.  Wash the cuttings.
2.  Make incision about 2 cm long, shallow, with sharp knife, near base of cutting.  The incision exposes cambium, which is the "stem cell" layer that callouses and forms baby roots.  Not required, but looking at the effectiveness of root growth at incision, it helps a lot.
3.  Dip in Dip-and-grow at 1:5 dilution for 5 seconds.
4.  Wrap in paper towel, moistened with house-plant-food at 7 drops per gallon - the directions for house plants state 7 drops per quart.  That is for growing plants in soil.  I want just a trace.
5.  Place in plastic bag.  I like to blow in a little air.  Twist and clip.
6.  Now it goes onto seed starting mat, with a plastic container between the cutting bag and the mat.
7. Every 2 or 3 days, I open the bags, inspect, rinse the cuttings in plain water..  If there is a start of mold or mildew, I send the paper towel to compost and replace with a new moist paper towel.

Carini Fig Cuttings, ready to incubate.

8  When roots are about 1/2 to 1 inch long, I pot them up in seed starting medium.

Figs can be grown form cuttings stuck into the garden soil and ignored for a year.  This method gets me results much faster.  I can see the baby roots form, very rewarding.  I can trouble shoot problems, like mold.  There are no insects or gnats.  The head start gives me a year or more of growth, ahead of starting in the garden.

I really like this Carini.  If the outside tree is freeze-killed, one of these will replace it.  If not, one goes into container, and the others to give to people who would  like a really nice  fig start.