TLC for MiniRose (Daniele Kordana?). 3 Apr 24.

Here's the last of the three miniroses, which I think is Daniele Kordana.  It's done with a nice, long run on blooming.

After cleaning up and repotting.

So far I think this project, bare-rooting and planting in good quality potting soil, is right on target.  There are beginning flower buds on three of the five Sunmaid Kordana plants now.   Growth is excellent and they don't dry out suddenly on an almost daily basis like the originals did.  It's more like keeping normal vegetable starts watered.

Before dividing - the original plants.

First I cut off the flowers.  I cut back to a nice looking bud, mostly those two or three nodes below the flower.  I like to cut back so there are some buds for good low branching, but if some buds have started nice growth I keep some of those in place. 

The roots look fine.  Not too crowded and not a lot of winding around the container.

Instead of splitting the roots apart, this time I decided to wash off the soil by swirling the root mass around  in a basin of water.  I think that was more gentle on the roots.  The soil washed off easily with multiple swirlings.

I think it was easier then to separate the plants with minimal root damage.

I chose the most healthy looking plant for the largest container.  I'd like to keep that one as a specimen plant.  I planted the others as I did the Sunmaid Kordana roses, as in the first image.

I also gave each a label.

TLC For Fig Tree. Yellow Jacket Mitigation For Figs. 3 Apr 24.

First the yellow jackets.  They can destroy a fig crop overnight, and often do, if I don't bate and trap.  They send out scouts, who return to the nest with news of a feast.  Figs have to ripen on the trees - it's the only way to have sweet, flavorful figs.  Just when beginning to ripen, they find the figs and destroy them, eating from the inside out,  They are also vicious, and hazardous to be around.

I'm hoping that by beginning now, I can mitigate this year's yellow jacket invasion.  According to Oregon State Extension, Spring elimination of queens can greatly limit the population,

Today, I disassembled and cleaned the yellow jacket traps in the fig grove where I pruned and cleaned up yesterday.

The trees are coming out of dormancy.  Looking at my older blog posts, now is about the usual time.  Breba figs that overwintered are starting to grow, and tip growth is beginning.  Shown are White Sicilian, Carini, Petite negri, Lattarula, and LSU Tiger in that order.    (I should add, there has bern a lot of discussion on line about the true identity of figs that look identical to this variety, and that have the same leaves and growth habit.  There seem to be more fig hobbyists who consider it Violette de Bordeaux.  Also, the original seller is calling it that.  Going forward, that may be my name for it as well. )

Now some   TLC for that little, 2-Year old, Hardy Chicago tree in the same row.   The perennial grasses take over close to the trunk.  I imagine for such a tiny tree, that's inhibitory for growth.  I cleared what I could, then added a couple layers of cardboard.  It will decompose in a year or so.  Meanwhile, it will kill the grasses under it and maintain soil moisture.

The cardboard can catch wind like sails.  A good covering of tree chips will weigh down the cardboard.

I need to touch up a bit.  Some ground maintenance is needed, but basically that's it for a few months in this fig row.

This yellow jacket bait is good for 4 weeks, so does need replacement around 1 May.

Planting Caladium Tubers. 3 Apr 24.

 On a whim, I bought some caladium tubers.  They might be too tropical to grow nicely here.  I enjoy a challenge. 

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I decided to pre-plant in four inch pots.  If / when they grow, I can up-pot them.

Reading about them, I think they will benefit from being started on a warming mat.

Pruning Genetic Dwarf Peach Tree / Bushes. 2 April 24.

 Some years ago, I built a removable shelter for the genetic dwarf peach trees, to prevent Peach Leaf Curl disease.  If rain can be prevented from washing fungal spores into the buds from Nov through May, there is basically no leaf curl.  If not protected, the leaf curl can severely damage or destroy the crop, and destroy the tree.

Some varieties are tolerant to or resist the disease, but most do not.

Genetic dwarf peaches can be protected and it works wonderfully.   Regular peach trees grow too big to protect.  There are sprays, but why do I want to spray poisons on my peaches?

The larger of my two, Garden Gold, is beginning to outgrow its shelter.  Also, last year it made too many peaches, which was too much to manage and broke some branches.  So I pruned it today,

This is the Garden Gold peach tree after pruning today.

Now the branches are all at least a foot from the plastic shelter top and sides.

The much smaller one is El Dorado peach.  I don't know why it's smaller.  I think I need to built the shelter a bit taller this year.  It bloomed earlier and is done blooming.  I can tell yet if it set fruit.  Today,  mostly I cut off dead branches, which were a lot.  I also opened up the center a bit.

Last fall, I used HVAC tape to hold hold-down strings for the plastic cover.  They worked until they didn't.  I think most of the branches were rain-protected well enough.  Here are some that were sticking out and exposed to rain.

I cut those off.    It will be a while before I know for certain about the rest of the tree.

I call these "tree" because peach trees are trees.  Size-wise, they are smaller than a Forsythia or Lilac bush, and a lot of rose bushes.  So which is it?

Pruning Asian Pear Trees For Access and Deer Avoidance.2 April 24.

With the Asian Pears in full bloom, I can see which branches are bearing and which are purely new vegetative growth that needs shortening.   The last two years have been major reshaping for these trees.  Here is the after photo, taken today.

The tree on the right came with the place, unknown variety.   I planted the one on the left in about 2012.   Both have multiple varieties of grafts.  Oddly, my best European pears cone from a branch that I grafted to this Asian pear tree.

Before photos.

Deer voraciously eat pear leaves, ruining the crop for those branches.  It's not enough to prune so that branches, now, are above favored browsing height - about six or seven feet.  As new growth, and especially fruit, form, and willowy branches droop to favored dear height.  Then they rip and pull and tear off those branches.  In addition, branches with heavy fruit set sometimes break under the weight of the fruit.

I can't use a ladder, so I need for fruit bearing branches to be within reach.  I shorten the branches so they don't droop too far. Also, for thinning fruit, about 75% or more need to be removed for earlier, sweeter, bigger, more disease free fruits.  If I can't reach them, I can't thin them.

I also cut out anything that is becoming tall and out of reach, remove crossing branches, and clear out some of the inside branches for an open center.

My guess is that today I removed about 50% or more of the blooming branches and about 90% of the nonbearing vegetative shoots from last year's growth. 

If every cluster that remains, produces one fruit, about four inches apart, it will mean more than we can eat, can, and give away.