Double Dog Farm orchard July 2013 (Pix Heavy )

[DoubleDogFarm]

Just some picture of this years fruit.

We had a bad Tent Caterpillar year. Second bad year in a row. Mild winters are not our friend. I will spray "Organic" if 2013 - 2014 winter is mild.

Marionberry


Butterfly bush ( Buddleia)


Aroniaberry


Heritage Raspberries


Desert King fig


Discovery Apple


Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus)


Methley Plum


Orcas pear


Shipova, (×Sorbopyrus auricularis) is a hybrid between the European Pear ( Pyrus communis) and the Common Whitebeam (Sorbus aria)


Shiro plum


Dan Bae pear


Shinseiki pear


Frost peach


Quince


Walnut


Sea-buckthorn


Eric

[applestar]

Looking good!

BTW -- "ORCAS pear" how appropriate for SanJuan Islands!

...I harvested two Pristine summer apples today

...picked the front two...

[DoubleDogFarm]

Pristine apple. I'll have to check into that one. Is it a storage or dessert apple.

Orcas pear, This pear was discovered on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands. It is well adapted to our climate.


Eric

[applestar]

Definitely not storage apple -- lucky if it stays good until September in the fridge. It doesn't have the complex depth of flavor that autumn apples do, but it's crisp, sweet and light without being watery. Definitely better than supermarket apples, that goes without saying.

It's disease resistant -- No spray regiment at all this year, but no sign of fireblight, cedar apple rust or ...what's the other one? Downy?/Powdery? mildew? (don't get that on any of my apples -- only on a mystery volunteer sapling). It does get black speck but that just scrubs off with a veg brush.

[ReptileAddiction]

That looks awesome!

[mattie g]

Fantastic stuff!

[j3707]

Nice!

Have any Medlar?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Nice!

Have any Medlar?

Not any longer. The voles chewed all the roots off last winter. Little Bastards! This Spring while walking the orchard, I notice the tree was leaning more than usual, I grabbed hold of the tree and it pulled right out of the ground. It was like a sharpened pencil. I've lost about half dozen trees to voles over the years.

Summer 2012




Medlar butter is good tasty stuff. I will be planting two new trees this Fall.

Eric

[j3707]

Bummer! Was it on a fruit tree rootstock?

I've heard hawthorn is a good rootstock for Medlar. I've got a couple common hawthorns at my place, If I can get my hands on Medlar scion wood by Spring, I'm going to do some grafting.

Hawthorn is a pretty tough tree, I wonder if it would hold up better against voles?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Bummer! Was it on a fruit tree rootstock?

I've heard hawthorn is a good rootstock for Medlar. I've got a couple common hawthorns at my place, If I can get my hands on Medlar scion wood by Spring, I'm going to do some grafting.

Hawthorn is a pretty tough tree, I wonder if it would hold up better against voles?

Breda Giant medlar was the variety I had. No mention of rootstock on the nursery invoice, so I would assume it was on its own roots.

My brother has a medlar. Maybe I will try grafting to hawthorn or my quince tree.

If I can get some extra scion what do have to trade. Also would you like to try grafting quince to your hawthorn.

Eric

[j3707]

You bet, Quince too, good idea.

If you're interested in trying Hawthorn for rootstock and don't have a source, I should be able to get some seeds for you this fall.

Do you have Brooks plum? It was a popular variety for Western Oregon orchards back in the day.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Don't need any Hawthorn thanks. They grow like weeds around here.

Sorry, No Brooks plum

Eric

[j3707]

Sorry, I could have been more clear...

I have Brooks plum, if you're interested in trading at some point. Got a few other plums and pears....feel free to PM me if you like.

Are those the native Hawthorns you have up there?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Sorry, I could have been more clear...

I have Brooks plum, if you're interested in trading at some point. Got a few other plums and pears....feel free to PM me if you like.

Are those the native Hawthorns you have up there?

We have non-native English hawthorn [Crataegus monogyna]

and native Black hawthorn (C. douglasii)

A trade, when trees are dormant, would be nice.

Eric

[sheeshshe]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm drool worthy!!!

[DoubleDogFarm]

Hang in there Sheila, you are only a few years away. Circle your trees with cardboard and a deep mulch.



Eric

[sheeshshe]

I just got some grass clippings from my neighbor. I think I needed it for the trees, is that right? I couldn't remember what it was suggested for, I just noticed that they were about to toss a huge pile into the woods! I'm sure I could get some from their woods pile too, if I need it we don't really have grass here as I'm sure you could guess not much of it!

[applestar]

Eric has a whole orchard of those -- Cardboard+mulch.

Compost/composted manure, spoiled hay, etc. in fall and in spring.

It doesn't have to be grass -- it can be leaves, hay, straw, cut weeds (but it's a question of how much weed seeds are mixed in) -- it harder to get them weed seed free later in the season.

[sheeshshe]

could I toss things like rotten apples on there too? like at the end of the year where the orchard we go to, we can get whatever is left over. would that help them at all?

[applestar]

Strictly speaking, you want to avoid putting spoiled fruits under fruit trees.

Ideally, what you want to do is use vegetables under fruit trees and fruits under vegetables. This is supposed to help keep pests and diseases that may be in the decomposing remains from re-infesting/re-infecting.

If you have a large orchard as well as vegetable garden, I understand it's best to keep separate compost piles and use the compost made from veg garden waste for the orchard and compost made from the orchard waste in the vegetable garden.

If you can make hot compost, then this wouldn't be an issue.

...Oh wait, isn,t this...? ...sorry Eric, we've gone OT in your thread...

[DoubleDogFarm]

Please continue

Eric

[sheeshshe]

oops, yes sorry!


that makes sense about fruits and veggies. I thought of the fruits only because the orchards leave their apples under the trees to replenish the soil/

[sheeshshe]

Hang in there Sheila, you are only a few years away. Circle your trees with cardboard and a deep mulch.



Eric

my neighbor and I go out trees together at the same time. hers are fruiting this year. her apple trees are huge. lots of apples on one of the trees. what we noticed is, she has two rows of trees. the trees next to her driveway are all nice and big and healthy looking and producing stuff nicely. as the trees get closer to the woods, they get smaller and smaller, to where the closest ones are, there are barely any branches on them. she's going to try lime as well.

[applestar]

https://www.kuow.org/post/scientists-pee ... tree-roots

[DoubleDogFarm]

Roots, We are Borg

Ideally, a range of 6.0 to 7.5 is optimal for orchards; however, excellent orchards occur on soils ranging in pH from 5.0 to 8.0. In general, the availability of micronutrients is lower in alkaline soils. Nutrients such as iron and zinc may not be in a form available to plants. In contrast, phosphorus may become limiting in acid soils. Also, in acid soils, aluminum can become available. It is not a nutrient and is toxic to plants in high concentrations. At pH 6 and higher, very little aluminum is in solution.

Additionally, soil pH affects the abundance of microorganisms. Bacteria are generally more prevalent in alkaline soils and fungi dominate in acidic soils. This is important because microbes are responsible for the cycling of nutrients. The most diverse and numerous populations are found in near-neutral soils. Furthermore, soil pH influences pathogenic microbes, and growers can adjust pH to manage some plant diseases.

Nutritional problems associated with low pH (<5.0)
bark measles of Delicious apple

manganese (Mn) toxicity

calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) deficiencies

restricted root growth or regeneration due to aluminum (Al) toxicity

reduced availability of P

reduced efficiency of N and K use and poor response to N and K fertilizers

bark necrosis

stunted growth

High pH values may also lead to nutritional problems.
The availability of many micronutrients (Mn, Cu, Zn, and B for example) decrease as soil pH increases.

https://soils.tfrec.wsu.edu/webnutrition ... soilpH.htm

Eric

[sheeshshe]

that is neat about the roots. a lot to think about!

Ok, so what about putting crushed oyster shells down around the trees? it would last longer term than putting down lime, and I could layer it with the cardboard and grass clippings??

[DoubleDogFarm]

Oyster, crushed lime stone, but I like the convenience of bagged lime.

My weekly routine. Cardboard on Monday and a load of horse manure hay on Tuesday evening.





Sheila, To bad you don't own a truck.

Eric