Working at the Farm - Took a few I-Phone Pics

[Native Hunter]

Great grafting Job Native! It's hard to imagine those old dried out looking twigs have been transformed into such beautifully growing new "branches". It looks like fun and maybe next season I'll give it a try. By then Chummer will have the grafting down pat and he'll maybe train me a little.

Dave, I will admit that I am surprised at how well they did. It is sometimes so hard to get great looking scions from old, mature trees, but you chose them exceptionally well.

I probably grafted over 30 of your scions, and not a single failure. I've said it before, but I really appreciate those. They will add so much diversity to my tree planting.

 

[dgallow]

Place looks great as usual...looks like lots of fruit!

Glad to see the remedy worked on berries. They can overtake rangeland if one is not careful. Did they area spray or spot spray. What was the mix?

Congrats on the shoot and thanks for sending pics....top tier as usual!

 

[Native Hunter]

Place looks great as usual...looks like lots of fruit!

Glad to see the remedy worked on berries. They can overtake rangeland if one is not careful. Did they area spray or spot spray. What was the mix?

Congrats on the shoot and thanks for sending pics....top tier as usual!

Thanks Doug.

We did area spraying and the land hadn't been mowed since this time last year. The blackberry was in the flowering stage at the time. We used 1.5 quarts of Remedy Ultra to the acre, and added 1.0 quarts of MSO (metholated seed oil) to the acre.

I also had one area of the field that had some sweet gums that were already head high since being mowed last year. They had turned a dark purple color that last time I looked at them, so it looks like they are going to die too. Some of the blackberry briers still had some green on the leaves and stems after 10 days, but they continue to look sicker and sicker each time I check them.

I will take some pictures on Saturday to give you an idea of how the spraying is progressing.

 

[Chainsaw]

Dave, I will admit that I am surprised at how well they did. It is sometimes so hard to get great looking scions from old, mature trees, but you chose them exceptionally well.

I probably grafted over 30 of your scions, and not a single failure. I've said it before, but I really appreciate those. They will add so much diversity to my tree planting.

You are very welcome Steve, I'm happy to read about the scions taking and hope they add to your already grand fruit selection favorably.
On picking scions, honestly no effort was made to choose this one or that one. Scions were simply gathered from different favorite trees by cutting the only ones reachable with an eight ft. ladder. So no special selection was done--maybe the cold weather coupled with being cut and immediately placed in the Ziplock bag and then quickly into the extra cold "beer and cider" refrigerator for storage helped keep them workable. I have no clue about it. It was fun to do and I hope the deer like the new flavors.

 

[Native Hunter]

I stopped by my gate on the way home from work this afternoon and took some pics of the briers.

Spraying was roughly 17 days ago - slow death but looks sure to me.





Dogdoc persimmon grafts - I looked at 8 of them and 5 looked this good.



Sometimes nurseries make mistakes. I bought this tree as a dolgo crab a few years ago. No Way - apples are already larger than mature dolgos. Not sure what it is but looks pretty nice - only showing a few minor CAR spots on leaves and no FB.



I like this top work graft - a small crabapple seedling that I changed to a known crabapple that I really like.



And everyone's favorite tree - Apple Encounters of the Third Kind - All 14 grafts on this tree have now taken and making leaves.

 

[dogghr]

Native, do you by chance have a laboratory in you basement and perhaps known in a previous life as Dr Frankenstein? Pretty cool grafts. And scary.

 

[Weasel]

Looking great NH. So much fruit growing and its not even June yet! I won't see that for a while. Plots look healthy!

 

[Native Hunter]

Native, do you by chance have a laboratory in you basement and perhaps known in a previous life as Dr Frankenstein? Pretty cool grafts. And scary.

Yes sir I do. That's where I created this perfect little no spray apple tree.

After I patent this, I'm going to give you some free ones to set with those Goldens of yours.

 

[dogghr]

Yes sir I do. That's where I created this perfect little no spray apple tree.

After I patent this, I'm going to give you some free ones to set with those Goldens of yours.

Awesome. You are my idol. Seriously those look great, can't believe some of you guys have apples that size already. I'll catch up.

 

[dogdoc]

Was that a grafted dolgo you purchased or a dolgo seedling?

Those Okie persimmons are looking good.

 

[Native Hunter]

Awesome. You are my idol. Seriously those look great, can't believe some of you guys have apples that size already. I'll catch up.

Okay, I'm going to tell the truth about that apple tree.

A few years ago I bought some cheap apple trees from a guy - varieties unknown. Some of them ended up being those pea sized crabs that I'm now grafting, but there were also a few good ones.

This particular tree I gave to my FIL. It looked like a seedling to me. He planted it in his yard and it grew but never flowered in 5 years. Two years ago was when the new road thing started and we moved a bunch of trees with a backhoe - this tree was one of them.

This year it flowered for the first time, and the whole tree is loaded with those pretty little apples. He has a tree about 15 feet from it that has FB really bad, but this tree never had a bit. Also, it seems to be impervious to CAR.

So, we don't know what it is, but are excited about how it looks. I don't remember a graft and can't see evidence of one. It might be a seedling, which would be a new variety. We will be watching it. One thing I noticed about the tree is that the leaves are like leather. That's what makes it resist CAR so well. I've noticed that in a few other CAR resistant apples I grow.

 

[Native Hunter]

Was that a grafted dolgo you purchased or a dolgo seedling?

Those Okie persimmons are looking good.

Todd, I'm pretty sure it was a grafted tree. I've only bought Dolgos from two places, but I can't remember which one of those places it came from. I thought I was buying grafted Dolgos from each place. It was likely just a tagging issue. If it turns out to be a decent DR apple, I will be happy with it.

I'm excited about the persimmons taking so well. Do you still recommend removing tape at 2 months after the leaves appear?

 

[dogghr]

Interesting you say that about the leaves. They had me a little perplexed at how tough they looked and I almost didn't use the term apple in my post cause I thot maybe they weren't apples. Fig you had developed some mutated apple/persimmon/ pear hybrid in you laboratory. LOL.

 

[Native Hunter]

Interesting you say that about the leaves. They had me a little perplexed at how tough they looked and I almost didn't use the term apple in my post cause I thot maybe they weren't apples. Fig you had developed some mutated apple/persimmon/ pear hybrid in you laboratory. LOL.

I have but those are forbidden pictures...

 

[Native Hunter]

A few more and I'm done for a while.

A few plot pics:









You guys are probably getting tired of my dead briers, but they make me happy.



A dogdoc persimmon from last year. This one was in a low sheltered place and didn't get broken by the July 16 wind storm.





My first big crop of Southern Crabapple.



A better pic of the The Mutant Ninja Dolgo I posted pic of earlier.



The NH Jungle. Enter at your own risk.



My new friend. I cut this limb off and laid it on the ground and he never moved.



My first Sawtooths.



My first small Kinnard's Choice crop.



And a few blueberries for good measure.



Wind storm two nights ago broke off my Jap Persimmon.



Plenty of little nuts.




And big nuts on the way.






Pears.



A little unexpected beauty in the pine thicket.



That's it for a few days. Happy holiday!

 

[Triple C]

Native...If I was a deer or any other critter I'd want to hang out on your place! You got it going on in a good way. Always enjoy catching up on your thread.

 

[Weasel]

Outstanding NH. There will be plenty of goodies for those big Kentucky bruisers.

 

[dogghr]

I'm pretty sure when I die and open my eyes in heaven, that I'll find out I'm at your place Native. Not a problem.

 

[Native Hunter]

I'm pretty sure when I die and open my eyes in heaven, that I'll find out I'm at your place Native. Not a problem.

dogghr, I can't complete with Heaven, but we are somewhere over the rainbow - or maybe at the end of it.

 

[dogdoc]

Todd, I'm pretty sure it was a grafted tree. I've only bought Dolgos from two places, but I can't remember which one of those places it came from. I thought I was buying grafted Dolgos from each place. It was likely just a tagging issue. If it turns out to be a decent DR apple, I will be happy with it.

I'm excited about the persimmons taking so well. Do you still recommend removing tape at 2 months after the leaves appear?

No, not on my persimmons. I only remove the tape 2 months after the first leaf appears on my pear and apple seedlings I keep in pots at home. With my persimmon bark grafts I don't remove them until the tree goes dormant. Heck, I've found persimmons that I forgot i grafted the following spring with the tape still holding and no girdling issues at all. So leave the tape on all summer.