I wrestled with reality for 36 years, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
I wrestled with reality for 36 years, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
Owner, Etta Place Cider
Chris Knipstein wrote:Apple trees do require a good bit of cold. Is the older tree the same variety? Different varieties can require different amounts of cold. This publication might help.
http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/filelibrary/5842/26069.pdf
You might also check the root flare of the trees. Is the first root(s) coming off the trunk right at the top of the ground? Can you see the trunk flare out before it goes into the ground? If not, carefully dig around the trunk and see how far down the first roots are. If the flare is buried even 2 or 3 inches it can affect the tree. The roots can do crazy things if the flare is buried, wrapping around the trunk, or each other strangling the main roots by girdling them or the main trunk. (Or if mulch has been piled up to deeply around the flare.) This is a really in depth publication on it, several pages in in talks more about the root flare being to deep.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/trees-shrubs/img/guide-stem-girdling-roots.pdf
I wrestled with reality for 36 years, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
Ann Torrence wrote:Kevin Hauser at Kuffle Creek Nursery is growing and propagating apples in Riverside, including Fuji, so it can be done in that climate, with careful varietal selection. Are the ones that are leafing out well different varieties than the ones that are slow?
Did you get a late freeze this year? That will definitely slow down a young tree. Check for girdling over the winter on the weak trees-animal gnawing around the base of the tree.
As for pruning, I think 4' is a bit much for those lower branches unless you support them on a trellis, which would be an entirely reasonable thing to do. Most dwarf trees will need support for their lifespan anyway, so you might as well live with it, taking corrective action probably isn't worth it.
Tree pruning is probably not best done by committee, LOL.
I wrestled with reality for 36 years, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
I wrestled with reality for 36 years, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
I wrestled with reality for 36 years, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
Fiesta Cranberry wrote:
Riverside is high desert, zone 9b. They actually get colder than we do here on the coast, zone 10b. We had NO frost at all this winter, let alone an actual freeze.
Owner, Etta Place Cider
Owner, Etta Place Cider
Ann Torrence wrote:And if the variety is a problem, what an opportunity for a group project on grafting over to something that works. Not much to be lost if you still have viable rootstock. We hosted a grafting party at our house in March, about 75% of the grafts seem to have taken, most done by first-timers, which is pretty rewarding all around.
I wrestled with reality for 36 years, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
Ann Torrence wrote:
Fiesta Cranberry wrote:
Riverside is high desert, zone 9b. They actually get colder than we do here on the coast, zone 10b. We had NO frost at all this winter, let alone an actual freeze.
Kevin's also working with a group in Uganda, so I think 10B is not out of the range of possibilities. Jack Spirko did one of his better podcasts interviewing Kevin. If it were me, I'd shoot Kevin an email...he has done a lot of community garden type projects so he'll feel your pain.
I wrestled with reality for 36 years, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
Fiesta Cranberry wrote:And my favorite, "Mulch is full of germs! I shoveld some and got pneumonia!"
Fiesta Cranberry wrote:
Ann Torrence wrote:
Fiesta Cranberry wrote:
Riverside is high desert, zone 9b. They actually get colder than we do here on the coast, zone 10b. We had NO frost at all this winter, let alone an actual freeze.
Kevin's also working with a group in Uganda, so I think 10B is not out of the range of possibilities. Jack Spirko did one of his better podcasts interviewing Kevin. If it were me, I'd shoot Kevin an email...he has done a lot of community garden type projects so he'll feel your pain.
Not a bad idea. I think Fuji was just a poor choice.
John Elliott wrote:
Fiesta Cranberry wrote:
Ann Torrence wrote:
Fiesta Cranberry wrote:
Riverside is high desert, zone 9b. They actually get colder than we do here on the coast, zone 10b. We had NO frost at all this winter, let alone an actual freeze.
Kevin's also working with a group in Uganda, so I think 10B is not out of the range of possibilities. Jack Spirko did one of his better podcasts interviewing Kevin. If it were me, I'd shoot Kevin an email...he has done a lot of community garden type projects so he'll feel your pain.
Not a bad idea. I think Fuji was just a poor choice.
Could be a victim of climate change. California missed out on the chill hours this last winter by having one of the warmest winters ever. I have a Fuji, and it is doing fine here in Georgia, we got well over a thousand chill hours this last winter and I have apples on it this year. The low chill apple varieties are Anna, Golden Dorsett, and Ein Shemer, which can get by on a couple hundred chill hours (total hours in the winter that were below 45F). You may want to check with the county Agricultural Extension and find out how many chill hours you had.
If it is still waiting for winter chill hours, the tree may give up and leaf out late (well into the summer) and just punt on trying to make any blossoms and fruit.
I wrestled with reality for 36 years, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
I wrestled with reality for 36 years, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
I wrestled with reality for 36 years, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
Lori Ziemba wrote: I wrote to the apple guy in Riverside, and he said that lack of chill is not the problem, that Fuji actually needs 0 chill hours. So I dug around the stem of the tree to see what I could see. What I found was that that graft was about 4" below surface level. I also found a huge gopher hole leading right up to the tree. I didn't see any actual chewing of the trunck, tho. I left the hole excavated to expose the graft, and i blocked up the gopher hole with rocks. I'm still not sure if this is the cause of the tree not leafing out.
Chris Knipstein wrote:
Lori Ziemba wrote: I wrote to the apple guy in Riverside, and he said that lack of chill is not the problem, that Fuji actually needs 0 chill hours. So I dug around the stem of the tree to see what I could see. What I found was that that graft was about 4" below surface level. I also found a huge gopher hole leading right up to the tree. I didn't see any actual chewing of the trunck, tho. I left the hole excavated to expose the graft, and i blocked up the gopher hole with rocks. I'm still not sure if this is the cause of the tree not leafing out.
With the graft being 4 inches below the surface, the root flare will be even deeper. The link I had above about it is a little long and talked more of the girdling roots caused by a buried root flare, this link might be better.
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Root-Flare-Management_vq484.htm
I wrestled with reality for 36 years, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
List of Bryant RedHawk's Epic Soil Series Threads We love visitors, that's why we live in a secluded cabin deep in the woods. "Buzzard's Roost (Asnikiye Heca) Farm." Promoting permaculture to save our planet.
Bryant RedHawk wrote:I suspect the lack of leaf out is due to the graft being so far below the surface. The proper depth for planting grafted trees leaves the graft around 2" above the soil surface. You will need to lift the tree this fall and then next year it will probably do better. Be sure to keep the soil dug out so the graft is not buried.
The gopher most likely is feasting on the tender roots not the trunk. It may be necessary to set a trap for that gopher.
I wrestled with reality for 36 years, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
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