Jon Richardson

Sorry, I didn't think to check the "bugs" forum. I'll try the milk jug technique suggested there. Apologies that my search-fu is so weak. I will study harder.

-Jon

Hi all,

I have 2 sour cherry trees on our little city lot; last year was their first year in bearing and they had lots of larvae -- cherry fruit fly, I believe -- in the cherries. Any suggestions for control? Running chickens under the trees would be cool but is not possible for us, at least in the next couple of years. There's an insecticide bait based on Spinosad that's approved for organic orchards, called GF-120 Naturalyte, I believe, but it only seems to be available in mass quantities. I'm up for any other ideas.

Thanks,
Jon

Thanks for the responses. I love a good experiment, so I think I'll plant some of the trees in one-foot-ish high mounds in the wet area and see how they do. We did get about eight inches of snow last Tuesday that all melted over the next few days, so maybe the water isn't normally so high. I'll put the rest of 'em in my backyard, move them next year, and I can compare and contrast.

I will put some forest soil in there, Brenda, and I'll mulch 'em up with some wood chips when I'm able.

Thanks! No, no wetland plants. I was surprised to see the water filling up my shovel holes 'cause the plants there look like ordinary lawn -- just coarse grass and the odd plantain. It's been a bit boggy all winter but I didn't figure it would be that wet. We have had a fair bit of water lately.

Maybe I'll try planting a couple of my trees in the slightly-less-soggy parts of the cleared area to see how they do this year, and keep the rest in my backyard. I'll use the tubs I have.

Hi all,

I've been lurking for a while but just joined tonight to ask this question about the best way to move young apple trees.

Here's the sittyation: we just closed on some land, and I got overenthusiastic and ordered 10 apple trees on standard rootstocks from Cummins Nursery. (Love Cummins, by the way.) I went to dig holes for them, and realized that in the area that's already cleared, where I planned to put them, the water table is about a foot below the surface. Oopsie. The moral of the story is obvious -- shouldn't have bought the trees 'till I knew the site better! -- but now I've got two hundred fifty dollars worth of bare-root apples with their buds beginning to swell, and no permanent place to put them this spring. Some quick online research tells me that I can probably plant them close together in our backyard this year, and move them next spring once I've either cleared some of the higher, dryer ground, or bermed up the wet part so that apples would have a chance there. But, what's the best way to set them up for the move? Should I just plant 'em in dirt, and dig up the biggest root ball I can in the winter? Or plant 'em in sunken nursery tubs? I have a few of those, though not for all 10 trees.

Thanks,

Jon Richardson
Indianapolis, IN
(used to be zone 5, now probably 6... a few more decades of climate change and we may be 8! )