Greg Myers

Ralph Sluder wrote:  i would trim both limbs back about 1/3 from tips. Then I would probably put a stick or something between them to allow them to grow apart a little.   On peaches you want to finish with a vase shaped, open centered tree.
That's how we do them around here in south Ga.  Looks like there growing nicely.

Thank you so much Ralph--I really appreciate the input. Without you I would have likely chopped off an entire one of those leads!

Bump. Would really appreciate some input.

I'm a learning gardener (I always will be a learning gardener but I'm only a few years into my journey).

The peach tree in the image was planted two years ago as a bare-root tree from StarkBros.

I know I need to do some pruning. From my understanding the narrow V between these two upwards shoots is going to be a problem in the future (a weak spot for splitting and disease, right?).

This tree and another peach tree are my big successes so far in dabbling with fruit trees, so I just want to ask some people who know more than I do to confirm I should indeed be pruning off one of the two sides of the V pictured.

I also believe I understand I should wait to make this cut until the buds start to open so it can heal over more quickly, correct?

Thanks a bunch!

A few years back I tried my hand at creating hugelkultur mounds. My buddy and I gathered a bunch of dead wood and cleared out some raggedy brush. We piled all this into a nice mound. I stuffed it full of dead leaves and such and then covered it in composted soil. Then *sob* I put plants in it. It looked great--for a month.

Unfortunately, time for things to settle is needed and I learned this the hard way. My precious dirt mostly just slid off my mounds and ended up along the bottom. My plants that were at the very edge (I did have the foresight to plant mostly on the perimeter) mostly survived but have struggled--likely because the local nitrogen is all tied up by the decomposing wood and leaves. Any plant not on the edge died. I ended up with skeletal mounds of sticks within a dirt wreath.

I gave this all a second try the next year. This time I did two things differently: a) I gave the mound a good year to settle--more like two years and I'm just now considering really planting anything in it; b) I tossed clay from other projects on top of the mound before adding good dirt. The clay seems to be helping keep the good dirt in place. While things settle holes open up and I either stuff some leaves or clay/dirt wherever this occurs. It hasn't looked as pretty as my initial mounds did to begin with but through two years it has held up vastly better.

Attached are pictures showing before, during, immediately after, and 3-years later for the first failed hugelkulture attempt. There's also a picture of the second attempt which is going significantly better.

Michelle Heath wrote:Greg, I'm hoping to take some elderberry cuttings soon.  I've had really good luck with rooting other soft and hardwood cuttings in a clear plastic tote with a lid in a shady spot in my backyard. I'm doing individual cuttings in clear plastic cups in which I've drilled a few drainage holes. The clear cups lets you see when the roots have formed and you vent the lid on the tote as needed.  I had an empty cup of soil and put a tomato sucker in it and had no wilting whatsoever and roots within a week.  Of course elderberries probably won't root as fast as tomatoes, but keeping conditions humid inside the tote is what really makes a difference.  

I'd love to see a picture of your setup.

I have a raised bed devoted to cuttings in my backyard. It's shaded with afternoon sun, mulched with straw, and has a soaker hose run for a bit each morning. It's working really well for currants, gooseberries, and grapes. My bush cherry cuttings didn't do so great once it got hot.

Thanks everyone--I'd had really good results mulching with rotting leaves previously. I got scared off of this tactic when I mulched with leaves from someone's curb and it killed several plants (probably herbicide). Hearing your advice reinforce what I'd had success with in the past really helped!

Thanks for all the advice folks! I think you're right: I should wait till they're dormant and grab some cuttings (the ground is like stone here as well right now).

Tj Jefferson wrote:In my experience ribes love love love wood chips. If you can get (really any) mulch they will love you. They are constantly making new roots so its no big deal how you planted them as long as they have some water and tilth to work with.

So, pretty much just toss some wood chips around the raspberry plants?

I wonder if they'd like the rotting straw or leaves I have...

I have a handful of young elderberry bushes growing in my yard and wanted to acquire some more.

The other day I spotted a big patch of wild elderberry bushes.

I'm considering digging up a few of the smaller starts and transplanting them into my yard.

I understand elderberry transplants normally do quite well if they are watered well.

My main question is whether disease is likely to be a problem. Or if the plants are unlikely to be as productive/tasty as the stock from nurseries.

I'd appreciate any knowledge you have to share!

I'm working my way through the litany of mistakes to learn to grow fruit trees. I've had some good beginners luck or I'm finally learning my way around plants in general better but I have a couple cherry trees that are struggling.
The trees were ordered bare-root from Stark Bros (I really like them).
I have three Stark Bro sweet cherry trees and one cherry tree from a local nursery in my yard.

Two of the bare-root trees were planted last spring in an area that had been sheet mulched the year before. There's about 10-12" of nice black dirt and then clay in that area.
Both of these trees put out some leaves before their leaves turned brown and crumbled off a month or two later. At the time it was hypothesized to be from our huge spring rains that year.
One of these trees kept a few leaves but the other showed less and less signs of life until this spring where it was clearly dead (no green in scratch tests, so I started "pruning" it down looking for green until I was convinced it was dead).
I replaced the dead tree this spring--the other tree came back and has a fair amount of leaves on it but still very little new growth (as in branches starting rather than just leaves poking out from the trunk).
The newly replaced tree had put out a few clumps of leaves but they have just recently turned brown and died (starting from the top of the tree).

In a separate location (but only some 20' away) I planted the other two cherry trees this spring (one from the local nursery, one bare-root from online). They are planted on a gradual hill. I dug their holes 2' deep and 30" wide and replaced all the clay with nice black dirt. These trees are doing well--lots of leaves with new branches forming.

I'm in zone 6, Michigan.
Also, possibly relevant, I planted two bare-root peach trees in the same general location and conditions as the first two cherry trees (the ones that are struggling). These peach trees are very happy.

Does anyone have any experience or advice here on what I'm doing wrong with the two struggling cherry trees?
My hypothesis is they're not getting enough drainage with the 1' of nice dirt on top of all the clay. Today I dug out the tree that's struggling the worst (the browning one) and dug its hole some 26" deep and replanted it there with black dirt.

Also, in general, is a bare-root tree signaling something when it only grows a few leaves on the trunk rather than putting out new branches?
...Better phrased, I suppose what I'm asking is what should I be doing when a tree does that--I have that other cherry tree doing this and a plum tree that's doing that same.

Thanks so much for any advice!