Vanessa Bell English Rose In Container. Also Silas Marner. 11 Aug 24.

 I think this would do better in a patio container, like the others.  Maybe it's not doing as well also because of being shaded by the peach tree.  It does face South.

Similar story for the newer Silas Marner rose.  It has a bit more competition.

I have two containers that I can use, to transfer them to the patio group.  Maybe late this fall.  I think they will do better there.

New Fig Trees From Air Layering, update. 11 Aug 24.

 Roots are starting to emerge from the bottoms of the pots that I planted the fig tree air layers in, 27 Jul.  Post here.

I think that shows they are settling in quickly.  I did give sone diluted general purpose fertilizer.  I move them into the garage on hot days.  Mostly they are West of the shed.

Pawpaws. 11 Aug 24.

 I was surprised to see these.   I did not hand pollinate this year.  The top graft has died for one and not looking great for the other.  So these are from the rootstocks.

My theory is that the top grafts eventually die off from delayed rejection, leaving offshoots to grow from the rootstocks.   The  rootstocks are seedlings from the varieties at the supplier nursery, so have so e potential to do OK.

Fresh Fruit Salad. 9 Aug 24.

 

The first peach of the year - Nanaimo .  Marketed at Peach Leaf Curl Resistant, but it does get the disease.  Seems less affected than others.

Hollywood Plum.

Carini Fig - the first one this year.  Richer flavor than I remembered,

Lattarula Fig - this year is giving some of the best so far -

Unknown Blueberry.

Triple Crown Blackberry.

Ozark Beauty Strawberrys, container grown, first year.

I'm quite happy with this harvest!

Another Fig Tree Air Layer. Petite Negri. 9 Aug 24.

 This tree is my favorite for flavor, but has erratic, often too-late production.  I don't recommend it here as an "only" tree.  But, the flavor is one of the very best.  So I grow it among the others. The name is "Petite negri" but I've seen it given other names, "Negronne", "Aubique petite" and others.  I never know what to call it.

Eventually I want to remove the fig trees, south of the house, to extend the wildfire mitigation zone.  The tree is too big for me to transplant.   Also, I moved it here from Vancouver in 2017.  It was hard work, and it took a few years to recover.  So I thought, if I can get a good air layer to work, then pamper the new tree, maybe it will establish faster than a moved tree anyway.

The air layer method was the same as for Lattarula, done at the same time.  Link here.   I did two for this tree.  I removed the smaller one, higher on the tree, about two few weeks ago.  It had minimal roots.  I don't think enough to establish a tree.  This one was an off-shoot at the bade of the tree.

So here's the "Burrito" air layer, with string removed.

It felt firm and hard, so I thought either the hot weather dried it out, or the air layer grew roots that dried it out.  Checking under the foil, the soil was packed with roots.  So I cut it off.

I worked fairly quickly.  I don't want it to dry out.  I cut off most of the plastic bag, being careful not to traumatize roots.

Just look at those roots!  Amazing!

I didn't attempt to remove plastic that was tightly bound in the root ball.

Now it's in a bucket of water for a few hours to rehydrate the soil and roots, before planting in potting soil to establish and recover.

Edit:  I didn't want it to soak too long, so I potted up my young new tree.  With a small root mass, it can fall over / uproot too easily, so I provided lots of support.

I cut of the top newest growth, about three inches.  This is where I like for them to start branching.  I didn't want it to wilt due to growing more than the roots can bring up water, until the roots are better established,

The soaking helped a lot to remove the remainder of the plastic bag.  I cut overhanging pieces, then gently eased out the pieces that were stuck in the middle.