Here's what's left of my 'Red Horn' tree after last nights winds!
myermike_1micha
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I was trying to see if this one would flower so I decided to leave it outside for as long as I could. Well little did I realize that although it is very warm for this time of the year, the winds are vicious also.
Many lost electricity and trees were blown over. Here is what is left of my original Red Horn tree but do not fret, I started this one out with a little 1 inch sized cutting piece a few years back, so now I can have dozens of them and the mother tree should fill out just fine...Broken into a zillion pieces
What is use to look like
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socks
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agomyermike_1micha
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoRelated Discussions
Darnit, wind and rain flattened my garden last night
Comments (12)Hey FBB: Don't feel bad, it happens to me to a varying extent every year. My extols me to hill the corn every year. She thinks that it will produce more prop roots thereby minimizing the lodging. I agree with her about causing greater prop root formation but, still I get blowdown. The reasons I don't like hilling: 1) it is alot of physical work 2) it doesn't seem to stop the lodging 3) I have to flatten the hills back out in the fall (more work). However, this year, in order to reduce the labor I used my tiller to loosen about an inch of soil on both sides of each row and hilled the plants with the easy to move soil. It made hills about 8" tall around the plants. We had 3" of rain wind and pea sized hail Monday evening over a 2 hour period and my corn is still standing. HURRAY! I'm looking forward to picking standing like a homo sapiens rather than a gorilla this year. There may be another benefit to hilling. For the 1st time ever, I have corn root worms. Having the extra roots that formed from hilling may have saved me from serious losses from the worm s the plants may have grew new roots faster than the worms could kill them. About 5% of my plants fell over and shriveled which is how I discovered the (very late in the season) worms....See MoreHopefully, another possible casualty saved! My 'Red Horn Tree'
Comments (11)Chris: Great point! It's my fault, realistically speaking, and I blamed a better than average mix on the decline of my plants instead of bringing then in sooner than I did. My good friend has great success with that mix being better than most sold on the market, and in fact they grew wonderful in his care along with all his other beautiful plants. They grew wonderful in that mix under my care too, that is until the cold rains and lack of sun arrived, red flags I ingnored. They probably would not have declined if I had not left them in an enviroment that never gave them a chance to dry out. The gritty mix I use would of been more forgiving, but at some point one has to take responsibility and not blame a mix that is very close to what I use anyway, as you noticed and in this case Josh. Always learning I guess. Mike...See MoreCold here 12* last night.
Comments (11)Martin, I know that 22 degrees is not cold by your standards. However, it is pretty cold for us here in zone 9. At least your winter temperatures stays cold and doesn't vary quite as much as ours. Here our winter time temperatures can vary from cold to hot.....and can go thru several such warm/cool cycles during the winter. Because of this temperature cycling, our in-ground trees cannot go as deeply dormant as yours. Our "fluctuating" winter temperatures is really tough on some fruit trees. I know that I am going against all conventional wisdom of when to plant fig trees in the ground. But I live in zone 9 where the temperatures do not stay below freezing for very long.....at least in most years. There is a BIG BIG advantage to getting fig Starts into the ground ASAP. They will produce figs at least a year earlier than if I waited to plant the containerized tree the following season as is the conventional practice. Since I do my own rooting, I can choose the optimum time to root my sticks for in ground planting. Also, I already know that my Starts will not have RKN.....so I take advantage of all of these special conditions. The reason why I have adapted this approach to planting a hardened-off Start right away in the ground is because the new tree should develop a very good,spreading root system much faster. Starts planted in the ground ASAP do not have enough time for the roots to encircle the pot or form a root ball like they would if left in the pot/container until the following year. I planted quite a few other fig Starts ASAP in early Spring and some have grown extremely well through the Summer. Those young trees developed sufficiently large enough where I did not feel the need to provide any winter protection for them. I'll find out for sure in the Spring if my hunch was right. We only get a couple of freezes per year in my area so I want to take advantage of that fact. It is no trouble at all for me to get out the bricks and 5 gallons buckets when we do have a freeze in the forecast. I would not recommend this approach to in-ground planting in lower climate zones.....however, I'm highly confident that this strategy will work quite well for zones 9 and 10.....I'll know for sure next spring. I am very pleased with the results that I have seen thus far. Dan...See MoreBrrr! Everything Here Froze Last Night
Comments (12)Dawn I plan on doing a end of the year wrap up post and also post some plans for next years garden in a separate thread before too long. The main reason for the change is the drought and no real sign of it changing. We just finished year 4 of this drought cycle. And those of you who just experienced year 1 of one can hopefully understand why I've finally decided it may last a few more years and time for me to adjust my growing methods and varieties some. Setting records every year it seems. The kind you don't like to set. There are some other reasons for the changes also. Like you mentioned it is hard to fairly judge anything during the last 4 years here. Many of the varieties that didn't set a thing all summer were just loaded when I pulled them this week before the Wed night frost. Had bushels of green tomatoes. More than I expected. The hail also made judging anything fairly difficult. Because I had several loaded plants that were wiped out by the hail and then the intense heat set in. I'm sure that I will give in and try more new to me and give more a second chance than I plan on. But my intentions are to plant those varieties that have proved they can somewhat handle the extreme conditions we've had. Also I plan to start planting a few seeds in the next few weeks and experimenting with grafting techniques and hopefully get at least one method perfected enough I don't kill them all when I do it next year. Then will grow some grafted plants next year. My plans are to grow several hybrids that have done well along with some of the proven op/heirlooms. My plan was to take vacation in October and finish my big greenhouse frame and then set out early in it after starting plants early in the lean to and grow in containers in it this next summer. Due to work I wasn't able to take vacation during Oct. Taking some in 2 weeks. Hopefully weather will allow me to work on it during my time off. My plan it too cover the sides with polycarbonate. Then to cover at least the south top and the top of both ends with plastic early and replace with shade cloth later in the season. Hopefully this will eliminate some of the pest borne disease issues I've experienced and also with the shade I can get better growth during the hot spells. Although nothing will help if we have the extreme heat again. I tried a greenhouse variety outside this year that showed promise that I will grow again. I have 4 plants in the lean to. Not really what I had planned to put in there. But the ones that ended up in containers late and were the best of the 8 container plants at the time I moved them in. Two weeks later I was tempted to do some changing but didn't. I have Ambrosia Red Cherry, Beduoin, Goliath hybrid and Big Cheef. All have continued to set since I've moved them. I think the fans blowing in there along with me brushing them every day has helped. I'm looking forward to tasting Beduoin soon. It is a large pear shaped black tomato. In the 3-6 ounce range. The grower who sent it too me said it has always won the taste tests at the farmers markets he attends. So to summarize my plans are similar to what you stated earlier. To grow varieties I feel will have the best chance in an extreme drought year. To start several early and then to plant another planting later for the fall. But even with planting early and going to the bigger house if I can get it finished I don't plan to carry as many big plants through the heat and drought of summer. I will try if the spring weather allows to grow an early garden and a later version and to slack off during the summer heat. The late garden I planted this year did very well. If the heat would of slacked off 7-10 days earlier I would of had a bumper late tomato crop. This year just seemed to have one hardship after another. I had some late disease issues that hit certain areas but nothing major. Jay...See Moremyermike_1micha
6 years agomyermike_1micha
6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
Chris (6a in MA)
6 years ago
rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
nanzjade z5 MA
6 years agoDid the pot break? Did ya repot it yet or waiting for Spring? Perhaps a slightly larger pot would be good, looks a bit snug and weight on the bottom could help it not tip over again.
My old tricolor is in a recovery stage now too, as my orange kitty is a brute and knocked off many branches over time. I repotted it this past Spring and Glen suggested this larger size pot for it to help it to grow. (The former tricolor pot was like the pot on the left, but an inch or so higher). Bigger pot now also helps with less cat bumps.
myermike_1micha
6 years agoChris (6a in MA)
6 years agonanzjade z5 MA
6 years ago
greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
6 years agomyermike_1micha
6 years agomyermike_1micha
6 years agonanzjade z5 MA
6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
Photo Synthesis
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agomyermike_1micha
6 years agonanzjade z5 MA
6 years ago
Lan_UK
6 years ago
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