Planting Yates American Persimmon. 1.17.15

Yates Persimmon from Burnt Ridge Nursery.  1.17.15

Persimmon Roots in Tree Pot.  1.17.15

Yates Persimmon.  1.17.15

 Yesterday there was a box by the garage door.  This"Yates" persimmon sapling was in the box.

Things like this keep me going through the winter.  I've been looking forward to planting this tree.

It's a nice size, about 2 foot tall.  When I emailed Burnt Ridge Nursery to ask about them, they said their few remaining specimens were 1 to 2 foot.  Nice it's at the high end of that range.

In the bottomless, side-ridged narrow tree pot, the roots grew straight downward.  None were winding around.  I read that persimmons are difficult to transplant due to lack of a lot of fibrous roots.  This method of growing saplings is said to result in a much more transplantable specimen.  Even so, small specimens are more likely to result in success, so it's hard to find very big persimmon trees to plant.

Persimmons have black roots.  This was no exception.

Planted, and in wire cage.  More protection will be needed - I should prune some of the lower branches and fit a hardware cloth sleeve over the tree.  But it's raining and raining and raining, so I went inside.

Not good to plant trees in the rain.  I wanted to get it into the ground as quickly as possible, so compromised.  The fill soil was not too clumpy, and I think it is OK.

Yates is also call Juhl.  This variety is reported as, no male needed to produce fruit (parthenocarpic), much as many of the Asian persimmons are.  Also fairly large, and early. 

I think I'm nostalgic for some of the natural aspects of my growing up in Southern Illinois.  Pawpaws, American Linden, and now American Persimmon. 

One more photo added 1.18.15.  I pruned the side branches to a single whip.  Minimal loss of stored carbohydrates by doing that now, before sap flows up from roots.  The lower branches would need pruning to make a single leader.  I tied it upright.  I surrounded with hardware cloth for vole protection.  I surrounded with a larger cage for deer protection.  I think persimmons need neither, but prefer not to take a chance on an anomalous or taste-testing herbivore.  The newspaper mulch is crumpled so it won't lie flat and form a barrier.  It looks bad but there is no one but me to see it.  In Spring, it will be covered with a  nicer looking grass clipping mulch.  

Yates Persimmon, pruned, protected  1.18.15

Image from Vintageprintable.com

Fig Cuttings. 1.17.15

Celeste Fig Cuttings.  1.11.15

Celeste Fig Cutting.  1.11.15

Celeste Fig Cutting.  1.11.15

 This is a progress note on fig cuttings.

I started the Celeste and LSU Gold, about the first of Jan.  The photos for those were taken on about 1.11.15.

The Lattarula I started a few days later.

This is how I like to start fig trees.  It is more involved than necessary.  This approach appeals to me, because I like to observe every little growth along the way.  I think they grow faster this way.  I think I get a head start of a year in growth, overall, by starting them now.  Some fig hobbyists complain about gnats and mold.  I have never had those problems with this method.  On the other hand, I have also stuck many fig sticks into the garden soil, and had them take and grow, with no effort or coddling at all. 

1.  I like to start with fig sticks a little thicker than a pencil, and about that long.  Smaller or thicker will work, but this size seems to have the most vigor.  Thicker cuttings may not have buds for top growth.  Thinner cuttings may not have the stored carbohydrates to nourish root growth prior to leaf growth.

2.  I cut off the top.  They can grow with the apical bud, but my observations lead me to think, the apical bud is a little inhibitory on root initiation.  So I cut the top.  It's my habit to cut the top at an angle, and the bottom flat across.  Most hobbyists do that, so it's easy to tell the top from the bottom.

3.  I like to clean the cuttings  by scrubbing lightly, with a plastic vegetable brush, with some dish detergent, in running water.  That removes most of the likely mold and mildew spores.

4.  I use a sharp knife to make a vertical incision through the bark, into the wood, on the lower end of the cutting.  The incision exposes the cambium layer, which is sort of stem cell tissue for root formation.  I've grown many cuttings without incising them, but I find the roots often form from that tissue, faster than from the sides of the stem.  They also sometimes form from the cambium at the cut base, and lenticels along the sides of the cutting..

5.  I use dip-and-grow rooting hormone, at a 5:1 dilution, for a few seconds.  Again, this is not necessary.  I did not use rooting hormone for my first few years of starting figs.  Many writers state it is not necessary.  But, the cuttings I dip, root faster than the ones I don't dip.

6.  I wrap the cutting in wet paper towel.  The paper towels are almost-dripping wet or barely dripping wet.

7.  Then into plastic bags.  I blow in a little air, and close with a zip tie.

8.  I use a seed starting mat.  Other options for warming are top of refridgerator, or other warm place.  On the other hand, I've left cuttings on a bookshelf and they grew.  Just takes a bit longer.

8.  Every couple of days, I open the bag, inspect the cuttings, rinse under running water.  If any mildew is forming on the paper towel, I discard it and replace with new, wet paper towel. 

LSU Gold Fig Cutting.  1.11.15

9.  When roots begin to grow, about 1/4 inch to 1 inch long, I carefully plant them in a flower pot or plastic container, in wettened seed starting medium.  I put them into plastic bag again, and back onto the seed starting mat.

10.  Once the leaves are bigger than a quarter, I usually take them out of the bags.  By that point, they can usually get by without the humid bag.

For cuttings in the garden, I just stick the fig sticks into the ground, preferably in a somewhat sheltered spot.  I had some that i thought were dead, and used them as row markers for vegetable seeds, and they grew.   The first year plants were very small, but in the second year they took off and grew nicely.

This year, I'm not starting many.  They are mainly for gifts.  I forgot to incise and dip the Lattarula cuttings, so they are growing without that boost.  Lattarula is usually so vigorous, it should do fine with no special effort.

Lattarula Fig Cutting.  1.17.15

Wrapped Fig Cutting.  1.17.15

Fig Cuttings in Bags.  1.17.15

Yamamoto Dendrobium Hybrid. 1.8.15

Yamamoto Dendrobium nobile hybrid.  1.8.15

This was unlabeled when I bought it, years ago.  Probably more than 5 years.  I think the variety is "Fancy Angel, Lycee".  Blooms intermittently, reliably, very nice.  I usually just water, sometimes some MG - Tomato at 1/4 tsp per gallon.

New Vision. 1.6.14

The big pupil should get back to normal in a vew days.  Behind it, not visible, is a new lens.   Now I can see to read, look at photos, graft, pollinate, type, write,look at bees and bugs,  and do a lot of other things that work better with 2 working eyes.  The right one was like looking through wax paper. 

Science and technology can be wonderful, sometimes.

Que in Pharrell Williams, "Happy".

More on Bagging Fruits for Protection. 1.1.15

This is my momentary obsession for gardening.  It will pass.  Something to read and learn during winter.  Meanwhile, some references.

oisat.org describes how to make fruit bags from newspapers.  I can see that working in dry climates, or summer fruit in dry summer areas, such as here.  "works well with melon, bitter gourd, mango, guava, star fruit, and banana" "...prevents insect pests, especially fruit flies, from finding and damaging the fruits. The bag provides physical protection from mechanical injuries (scars and scratches) and prevents female flies' laying activities, latex burns, and fungal spots on the fruits. Although laborious, it is cheaper, safer, easier to do, and gives you a more reliable estimate of your projected harvest."  They use  double layers of the newspapers and sew or stable them to make the bag.

Detailed discussion for various fruits, on Hawaiifruit.net.    They used manufactured bags of various types from Japan.   It's interesting, they note " For hundreds of years throughout most of Asia, farmers have been covering fruit with paper either to protect their appearance or to increase the time the fruit would be on the tree thus making it sweeter." and "This practice first came to Hawaii with the early Japanese immigrants and in the 1920’s Ohau farmers employed school children to wrap figs."  They describe their experiment showing of the first 100 bagged figs, 94 were harvested undamaged.  Six were damaged, thought due to rats.  Of 100 unbagged fruits, 86 were damaged beyond recognition by birds.  Because of the bird damage, insect damage was not possible to assess.  

The Hawaii article discussed multiple varieties of fruit.  The only ones I can grow from their list, are figs.

From rfcarchives.org.au, "In Japan where the average orchard is only two to three acres, bagging is an important cultural operation for fruits such as loquat, persimmon and nashi fruit (Asian pear). ...  bagging is undertaken to reduce the number of pesticide applications and to improve fruit appearance.. provides a major defence against fruit piercing moths ...makes po ssible the production of fruit of a very attractive blemish-free fruit with considerable eye appeal."  Some of the bags in Japan are impregnate with pesticide, something I won't do.  The article goes on to state bag are used for mangos in the Philippines.  Among the types of bags, newsprint was one type that worked well to dramatically reduce insect damage.  Plastic bags did not work well in their work with mangos.  On the same website, one writer used nylon bags made from old curtains, with successful protection of the fruit (1983).   

This article on pears, did not describe insect damage, but rather lack of negative changes in pears due to bagging.  "

Preharvest bagging of pear fruit (Pyrus communis L. ‘Doyenne du Comice') with micro‐perforated polyethylene bags c. 30 days after full bloom did not affect fruit size and weight, density, maturity, and flesh content of N, P, K, Ca, and Mg. Bagged fruit had a greener and lighter skin colour than non‐bagged fruit, whereas the development of blush on the sunny side was not different between treatments"

Apparently, bagging can also be beneficial for persimmons.  

What interests me here is that, in so many years of gardening, I haven't read about bagging fruits.  I'm sure the method will not benefit all fruits, in all climates, but it looks like it's worth testing for apples and a number of other fruits.  It's surprising the method has been around so long, and so widespread, and yet is not part of the general gardening knowledge here.

Edit:  Adding more articles.  In Sicily, in the province of Enna, peaches are bagged in parchment paper bags.    The resultant peaches are called "Pesca Settembrina".   A farmer came up with the bagging method in the 1960s to save peaches from the Mediterranian Fruit Fly.    Also "The pulp firmer and more acidic, due to the slow maturation, make it particularly suitable for the preparation of jams; are excellent in combination with the white meat which give it a special taste."... " The remedy comes a few years later: the parchment paper bag in which the fruits are wrapped 120-150 days before fully ripe peaches protects from pests, from the weather and avoid the excessive use of fertilizers from industrial sources."