Whoa. I had no idea this forum post was updated. Carolyn, Definitely not looking for rot problems. The problem with getting recommendations for my region is that I have not found a reliable source yet - they just say "plums" and "apples" grow well here. I called my county's extension office and the guy was nice enough to email me some informative things but they didn't exactly answer my question about what is specifically known to grow well. Just now, I found an article online that says Frontier and Ozark Premier can be grown in the Southeast. On the other hand, Stark Bros. says Ozark Premier is "the best choice for the Ohio Valley and the Northeast, as well as the Midwest". So I've stayed in a state of flux and just used this forum mainly to see what people's experience with different varieties has actually been. At the time of this posting, I'd decided on Shiro and Satsuma. I want to get them from the same place and I want them the same size roughly so I've had a time locating a source. In the meantime, I've been trying to learn as much as I can and trying to see if there is a better choice to start with than what I have determined.

Uncharted- but there are lots of charts! Thank you Fruitnut for your experience and Ace as well. My J. plums still look absolutely beautiful as the cool weather we're having now is extending the bloom. I shall see this as a hopeful sign. Maybe the charts are precise in terms of the temperature the buds or flowers receive while I only get a reading where the sensor is. Common sense says duration has to be a factor as well. I still haven't pruned a few of my plum trees and will leave them alone until I am sure that all the fruit isn't on the tips of highest branches, which I would otherwise remove. Won't hurt to prune them late anyway- if it slows them a bit it won't matter. I haven't touched my peaches so I guess I'll wait on them as well. The problem with this strategy is that it wasn't really a still convection freeze and there was some breeze stirring things up. I hope to write and read stories of successful harvests in the months ahead from all of us who suffered this round of untimely frost. Good luck.

So far we win the prize.....and it is not a prize I want to win. Nineteen degrees here and I suspect my onions are probably dead even though I covered them up with hay quickly last night as I was leaving to take dinner to the firefighters. I didn't cover up anything else but all my tender seedlings and potted plants were either in the house or in the well-insulated barn/garage. I hope to carry the plants back out at mid-morning after it warms up, but whether or not I manage to depends on the fire activity. Before I can spend time gardening, gotta run outside and feed all the animals, and then make a run to Sam's in Sherman to get several dozen cases of water and Gatorade and tons of food. It is taking a lot to keep our firefighters, now in their 8th day on this brushfire, fed and well-hydrated. Mitch, usually potatoes will regrow from the tubers even if all the foliage is blackened and frozen. After last year's late freeze in May, it took mine at least 2 weeks to put out any new growth though, so you may have to wait a while to see the recovery. I hope all the plants that were covered up made it through the cold in everyone's yards the last couple of nights. Jay, if y'all are "late" with the corn that far north, imagine how my "old farmer" buddies who normally plant corn in March are feeling now.....everyone's going nuts! Now that a rapid warm-up is expected, let the planting games begin! Scott, I'm not optimistic either. Know I'll lose the remaining fruit at 19 degrees. The native pecan trees haven't leafed out yet, but I bet they will soon. I'm ready to plant anytime after today but the ongoing wildfire issues will dictate my schedule, unfortunately. I'm running out of creative cooking ideas for large crowds, too! On the other hand, hungry firefighters will eat anything you cook for them. Yesterday, I made 15-bean soup, cornbread muffins and mixed berry cobbler. Today I am so tired that they may get hot dogs and chips. :) I think one of the other wives is going to make chicken spaghetti today in anticipation of the FFs needing to be fed tonight, so that takes some of the workload off of me. So far, our evil little fire has burned an area almost 6 miles long and 4 miles wide, but we've only lost a couple of houses and a few outbuildings. I need for these wildfires to stop so I can get back to my gardening. At least with a hard frost on the ground, we shouldn't have fire issues until the morning sun burns the frost off the grass. Dawn

Ahh - New plant disease. LOL I almost did the same thing, but not with peppers. I have a newly planted salad bed that I stuck a few of my transplants into and planted seed in the rest. A few days later, I could see little green things all over it. Well some of the lettuces had started to come up and were teeny, tiny, but the rest was something blowing in from the neighbors tree. It was bright green and in tiny little pieces. Thanks for the pepper info. I was hoping that they would be a small plant, but was afraid they would not be. I think there are going to be some crowded plants in my garden this year. I wish seed companies would put the size of the fruit or other edible part of the plant AND the 'average' size of the plant on seed packages. It would certainly make planning easier.....and I HATE, HATE, HATE generic seed packages. If it weren't for the internet we probably wouldn't know what we were planting. LOL Actually I don't mind the Thompson and Morgan method of a generic package inside the 'picture pack'. I think the foil pack may also protect for a little longer. It looks like a good business decision to me since you don't have to use colored and expensive printing to print packs for things that never make it to the shelf. Just stuff the pack as your inventory needs require. With the date stamped on the inside pack only, you could use the same outside pack for years, but only pay printing costs for the ones you really sell or display. I think maybe the Brits got it right on that one. LOL I had two tomato plants outside last night. One was in a container and covered with a milk jug with the cap off and the bottom cut out. I slid it under a glass top table for the night, and the other was in the center of a huge container with a window across the top. The window didn't cover the top of the pot, but did help to shield the plant a little. Everything here looks good but it still feels cool at 48 degrees. I need to go pull my 'tomato wagons' out into the sun. Just as I was typing this the temp jumped to 50 so I guess the peppers get to come out also. We're walking, walking, walking. I need to go move a few more from their tiny blocks to a pot. I'm almost done with that task, but I am getting some pepper seed in the mail this week and I know I will have to plant a few of those. Do I need them? No, of course not, but they will be pretty in the garden. LOL