composting fallen fruit apple, pear, peach, veges? good or bad?
greenhousekendra
13 years ago
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ericwi
13 years agowest_texas_peg
13 years agoRelated Discussions
Peach tree out of control, falling over from fruit...send help
Comments (27)Well, I did go crazy cutting little pears before seeing the last 2 posts and the fruits are now a foot apart. I don't know the varieties---it's one of those 3 type grafted trees from Raintree, as I only had room for one tree. (They did tell me which 3 types, but not which is which, so the information isn't very useful to me!) As a general rule, I err on the side of over-thinning to ensure good long-term growth and health---I'm really not sure what came over me with this little tree. I'm new at fruit-growing (I've been in my house for 5 years) but hope to be here forever, so I don't mind the possibility of losing out on some fruit to know I did the best for the tree. I really do appreciate all the discussion and advice from you pro's... Ann...See MorePlanting fruit trees in heavy clay in MD and apple/pear rootstock
Comments (20)Lind, I'm pretty sensitive to drainage because I've lost so many trees to it. A few years ago I got tired of pulling out dead trees, so I installed a field tile in most of the orchard area. It drains a lot of sub-surface water into a neighbor's pond. The tile stopped trees from dying but many trees still weren't thriving, so I've been slowly converting more trees to mounds. It's just what I have to do here. When I pull one out, I build a mound if I plan to go back w/ a peach. In my area, which may be different from MD, the soil stays wet from about Nov. thru June of the following year. It's the months of April, May, and June that the soggy soil does the trees in. In the past I've made my mounds out of regular native soil because it's free. This has worked very well for me. Below is an old photo I took this Spring. The tree directly to the left of my son was just starting it's second leaf/year. The tree in the mound on the right was also starting it's second leaf. However, the one on the right was not in a mound the first year and suffered stunting. So last fall, I dug it out, built a mound, and replanted. This picture was taken before either tree had put on any appreciable second leaf shoot growth. Both trees were the same size at purchase (bout 3/4"). My other trees in mounds perform similarly. Lately, I'm running out of places to dig, so I've been experimenting using wood chips as a base and putting soil on top as the growing medium. By the textbooks, this is a no no. But like I say, this is an experiment. This week I just got through building 10 more mounds for more trees. Rented a Dingo to build the mounds. Have 18 peach trees coming for next season, and have a mound for every one....See MoreThe Great Peach Saga
Comments (10)Today is better, although yesterday was rotten right down to bedtime. DGS slept till about 8pm (he's working nights at WMT) and then I had to practically follow him around to get him to do the things he needed to do so he could be ready to leave for work at 9:30. Then at about 9:30 he threw up. Of course you know the first thing that pops into my mind is that infection he has, although I know that DGS can throw up at the drop of a hat and has been that way since childhood. Fortunately he hadn't taken his pill yet. I never know quite what to do when someone's on medication and they throw it up. I knew a woman who ended up in the hospital because she had the flu and she was taking medication. Every time she threw up, she'd take her medication again. Apparently her body was absorbing some of each dose before each hurl and built up toxic levels in her blood stream. But anyway, I called him in sick at work and made him lie down after that episode. He drank some water and seemed to stabilize, and so took his pill, went to bed and we all slept, each with our doors closed because we didn't want any gifts from Pearl. She was allowed in to sleep and slept on the treadmill (I'm glad someone's getting the use of it!). This morning he got up and was fine, and talking about going to the canteen tonight before work. With the prices of groceries going up, this is an excellent time to diet! DH and I don't eat very much these days. I have a hard time cooking the right amount and we always have left-overs to finish up. Lately I've been just freezing bits and tads of things and it's gotten to the point where I simply MUST do something with it all. So we're on a left-overs marathon. Last night I made sausage gravy. I didn't make biscuits but I had some rolls I had made several days ago so we finished off all but one and DGS used the last one to make a sandwich for work. Since he didn't go, at least he has his lunch packed and waiting in the fridge for tonight. Today at lunch DH and I will eat the last two Runzas and DGS will probably sleep thru lunch as he's gone to take a nap so he can work all night tonight. But there's enough corn and black bean salad and a little bit of roast beef, so when he does get up he can make himself a couple of fajitas out of that. Yesterday afternoon I made another small batch of green tomato pickle relish and baked banana-coconut-black walnut muffins, using chopped bananas out of the freezer and frozen nuts from summer before last. The black walnuts last year were so small, I gathered them but they just weren't worth the work of cracking. The tree is out in the park. If someone doesn't go out there and gather the nuts, all the neighborhood kids pick them up and throw them at each other, at animals, and at windows. I had two muffins for breakfast this morning and they were pretty darn good. When I get the leftovers used up out of the kitchen freezer, I will go down to the big chest freezer. About every 6 months I take everything out, defrost the freezer and then pack stuff back in so I'll know where everything is. Then DH gradually moves things around in there till only he knows where anything is, and then I forget I've got a bag of green beans or a plastic coffee container full of cookie dough, etc. As I was moving things around in there yesterday, I did find a gallon bag of chopped green pepper that I didn't know I had, and a coffee container full of chocolate chip cookie dough. I know there's more stuff down there that needs to be used. So here's to a better day! And yes, that shirt you found most recently is the one I was thinking about, Dawn. Jessaka, I've seen those board supports and also someone here in town has built a 2x4 "frame" around their trees. I would think the boards would work better because you could move them where you needed them, and pack them away when the fruit was gone. The boards I've seen have V-shaped notches cut into them to hold the limb securely. The only thing is that they fall over easy when the wind blows. Maybe if they had something fastened to the bottom of the board, at right angles, that would take care of it. I think I'm going to put DH to work at making some of those after his knees are all well, for next year. That is, if we don't get a late frost next year....See MoreLOOKING for: Peach 'apple' sauce?
Comments (7)Yes, Linda, you've got the idea! Smoothies and ice cream, oh, yes... While waiting for ideas from the cooking mavens here I cut in half, pitted, and de-bad-spotted (?) maybe 40 of them. Since most have fallen off the tree there are a lot of bruised spots and I have to act fast as then they will spoil that much faster. But I did not think to skin them as generally I like the skins: but maybe not for this? Due to bruising and how very soft they are (not a shippable variety at ALL) they are hard to peel. They almost fall apart instead. I have an old-fashioned jelly colander somewhere, the one my grandmother used to make crabapple butter. It is cone shaped with holes along the sides, has a wooden cone to press inside, and you set it over a bowl. You cook the fruit (at least for crabapples you do), put a cup or so in the colander, and press the wooden pestle cone around until the juice is out but the skins are left inside. Would that be easier/better than just using a food processor? Especially if I can't peel them all?...See MoreUser
13 years agoericwi
13 years agocurt_grow
13 years agogreenhousekendra
13 years agosnoggerboy
13 years agosfallen2002
13 years agoKimmsr
13 years agoLloyd
13 years agocurt_grow
13 years agoemily06
13 years agoKimmsr
13 years agoLloyd
13 years agogreenhousekendra
13 years ago
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