Dividing and Replanting Rhubarb Divisions. 3.17.2021

 There is a big rhubarb plant a the front of the house.  For all I know, it's 20 or 30 years old.  I think it would be happier if I divide it and fill in that area with new soil, so it isn't so crowded.  Plus, it's not necessarily the best location for a rhubarb plant.  I wanted the divisions in a new location, so they will be harvestible in a year or two.  This is the reddest, sweetest rhubarb I have had, and I don't know the name.

When I dug what I thought was one division, it fell apart into two.  So I planted them separately.  They seem to have pretty good roots.  I planted them in one of the apple mini orchards, where I think they will get enough light.  If they are in the way or don't thrive, I can move them this fall.

Grafting Apples and other Fruits. 3.14.2021

 Yesterday I grafted a few scion.  For the miniature trees, after reading about the old variety "Winter Banana" not being that good, I grafted Fuji Beni Shogun to replace it.  So now, that minitree will be Bud-9 rootstock, Winter Banana interstock, with the Fuji Beni Shogun as the top.  I also grafted Rubinette to make the third and, possibly fourth, tier of Zestar.   The Zestar is rather vigorous, so I think that will do well.  This puts the Rubinette into a location where I can pamper it.

I also grafted some wild black cherry onto the North Star pie cherry tree.  That got knocked over by a falling maple, but there are some graftable branches.  Last summer I tried budding that same black cherry onto that same pie cherry tree, and they didn't take.  But that was 2020 and that year sucked for countless reasons, so maybe it was just 2020 and not the grafts.  

I want to remove the Granite Beauty and, if there is a graftable stub, replace with Jonared which is the base tree for that.  I can also replace Keepsake and Priscilla, which are nothing special.  That will make that a mostly - Jonared tree.

I have been thinking about cutting back on varieties, and decreasing the number of multigrafts.   On the other hand, last winter before I decided that, I ordered some scion from Fedco.  Which came yesterday, so now I need to make some decisions.

So what do I do now?

Since ordering these, I actually replaced another tree with Honeycrisp, for Espalier.  So that scion is redundant.  I might stick it onto something else, if there is a space.

Otterson - reportedly the reddest of red flesh, but more for adding color to cider or sauce or pie, than eating.  Will not need a whole tree.  Add to something else.

Gala - I like Gala.  It's modern,  a very good variety.   I have two extra Bud-9 Rootstocks from last year.  I'll graft Gala onto one of those.

Opalescent - a very good heritage apple.  Use the other spare Bud-9 for this one.

William's Pride - replace something else with this modern, disease resistant variety.

Duchess of Oldenberg - replace Baldwin with Duchess.

Hovey is a winter pear - I can graft onto another pear tree.

So:  removing Winter Banana, Baldwin, Priscilla, Keepsake, Granite Beauty.  Converting Jonared + 4 into Jonared + 1 (Porter).  (Long term, when mini Porter is bearing, remove that from Jonared which will then be all Jonared).  Making 3 minitrees, one already done (Fuji Beni Shogun).  New upper tiers on two or three Espaliers. 

This is a lot of grafting.  We'll see how far I get.

Is There Something Wrong with the Seed Starting Mix? Ropotting Seedlings. 3.13.2021

 I've been noticing that the peppers and eggplants seem to be failing to thrive.   About a week ago, I repotted some of the larger ones into new potting soil, and they have grown quickly and more healthy looking.  So yesterday, I repotted all of the eggplants and most of the peppers.  I need to find more containers in order to repot more.

Pepper that I repotted about a week ago.

Eggplant that I repotted about a week ago.

Here are some that I repotted last night.  Note that the color is not true because the photo is taken with them under LEDs.  Here are some that I repotted last night.  Note that the color is not true because the photo is taken with them under LEDs.

Vegetable Seedlings 3.12.2021

 Most of the veggie seedlings are doing quite well.  When they are moved up from the tiny six-packs in seed starting medium, up to 4 inch pots with potting soil, they seem to get jump started.  So that is the next step, especially eggplants and peppers.

Individual six pack.  

Chinese Chives

Regular Chives.

Tomatoes and Basil.  Basil has been thinned.

Lettuce.  After thinning.

Potatoes, Clancey Hybrid.

Celery, after thinning.

Marigolds and Tomatoes from seeds I saved last fall.

Apple Seedings. 3.12.2021

 It's interesting comparing the seedlings.  All three are from the apple that resulted from Redlove™ Calypso™ X Golden Sentinel™.  (I think the nomenclature is seed parent X pollen parent.  In this case, Calypso™ was the seed parent).  

Seedling #1.  First to germinate.  Leaves with quite a lot of red coloration.  By far the tallest so far.

Seedling #2.  Second to germinate.  Almost as tall as Seedling #1.  Leaves mostly green but with red veins and stem.

Seedling #3.  Quite a bit behind the other two in germinating.  Almost as red as Seedling #1.  Interstems seem much shorter.  Is that because there is more sun now, compared to when Seedling #1 germinated?  Or, is that because Seedling #3 has naturally shorter internodes, as expected for a columnar growth habit?

It's interesting to speculate.  #1 might be taller because of a lighting issue when it started growing beyond the cotyledons.  Being later, #3 may not have had that problem.   In the future, for brevity, I'll refer to these as CalGo#1, CalGo#2, CalGo#3.  These have grown 4 internodes in their first month.  They will be pampered and coddled.  If they can do that for the next 6 months, they could be 24 internodes, which might be enough to know.  If they get some momentum and speed up, maybe they could get up to a graftable size by the end of the year. Wishful thinking.

I'd like to try some more crosses this year, mainly the Redlove™ Era™ X a columnar. Era™ because I think it's sweeter but has as red flesh as Calypso™.  Top choice for columnar would be North Pole, the largest apples, sweetest fruit so far among those in my yard, vs. TastyRed™ which has red skin, reportedly disease resistant, but I haven't tasted them yet.  Alternatively, aim for a sweeter red flesh using Jonagold, my sweetest apple (but is there a problem using a triploid?), Gravenstein (ditto), Beni Shogun Fuji (not doing that well for me and I haven't tasted one, but Fuji are quite sweet).  I probably can't grow them all out, but maybe make the crosses, first priority being red flesh X columnar, then whatever I want to try, see what takes and what grows.  This will depend on multiple things, such as weather, blooming times, and me.