Extreme Pruning of Lavender Bush. 15 Aug 24.

 Still doing rehab of the border.

When I first planted the border, I moved some lavender plants there that had been in a wildflower meadow.  I don't know the cultivar.  They survived and grew, but during the past two years I was unable to care for the border.  It was taken over, mainly by thistles.

Two of those lavender plants survived but were so scraggly and woody, I didn't think they could be rehabilitated.  So I cut them off.

That was a week ago.  Today I noticed there were multiple buds growing from the bases.

Will they survive?  I don't know.  All of the web info I could find, says they can't cone back if cut down to old wood.  Maybe they will grow.   I mulched around them and gave some diluted fertilizer.  They still have about three months to grow, before frost.

An Experiment: Will Girdling Speed Up Fall Fig Ripening? 14 Aug 24.

 I recall a rule of thumb, it takes about 100 days for a fig bud to ripen into a full fledge, ripe fig.  So from now, that would be about 14 Nov.

It's possible weather will be good until then.  It's also possible, and more likely, there will chill and rain.  Those conditions cause ripening figs to mold, and we lost the crop.

My biggest disappointments for fall ripening are Brunswick, Petite negri, and Smith.  They are all excellent figs, but ripen so late that a get very few before they mold from the rain and chill.

I decided to do some experiments.  

First, girdling.  I noticed that the Petite negri air layer grew about four feet above the girdling.  That tree grows very slowly, about a foot to 18 inches a year.  I wondered about that.  The leaves are also much larger.  I think the difference is due to the fact that the leaves, which are the trees solar collectors,  make carbohydrates that transport to the roots.  Girdling removes the phloem layer, and stops that transport.  So the carbohydrates remain in the stem, and in the case of the air layer,  make top growth and new roots.

There are also hormonal effects that I don't know.

For fig production, the effect might be similar.  Except instead of producing top growth and more leaves, or roots, the carbohydrates go into the growing figs.  Possibly, removing the growing tip, would also help.  I do that anyway.  And removing any tiny fig buds that don't have time to grow and ripen,

First step.  Removing a strip of bark (girdling).  I used a single edge razor blade, and pushed it into the bark.  Then around, sort of like a copper pipe cutter.  Then must peel off that section of bark.

I did this on Brunswick fig.  Also Petite negri.  There was a fork, somI left one side without girdling, for a comparison.

I don't know if this will cause the inner wood to dry out too much.  I wrapped tape on some.  Most, I just tried to remove a narrow strip of bark to minimize potential drying effect. 

I also tipped the ends to remove the growing tips, and removed the fig buds above the fairly large figs.  To do that, I just bent the buds until they snapped off.

Below, snapping the growing tip.

Below, snapping of fig buds.

Will all of this help?  Time will tell.

I did this for Petite negri, Smith, and mostly Brunswick.

This experiment suggests it might work, but I don't have any good details, so had to make it up as I went along.

reference

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.