Blaise Waniewski

Kelly Hart wrote:
As for trying to eliminate the basic branching of the trunks, I think it is too late; trying to do this would be too traumatic for the tree, and make it vulnerable to diseases.

Thanks for the advice Kelly. Do you think there's a high risk of the branch splitting the trunk? Or is my fear overblown and just leave it be and maybe that will never happen?

Hey all--

This is my stella cherry tree. It's probably about 10 years old. It came in a "vase" shape with multiple branches off the main trunk, which was fine initially but now I have two problems:

1. I get lots of new growth growing inward each year that I inevitably prune away, due to lack of airflow and crossing of branches, often it's so vigorous I prune some away in summer and additional limbs in winter.

2. You can see bark accumulation between the trunk and these branches, which I'm worried will eventually cause the trunk to split.
Is it too late to make this right? I sort of wish I had one central leader due to the issues I'm having above. Should I leave it alone? Should I take prune away one of these acute angle branches yearly until I have a central leader? Or will removing multiple large branches be asking for illness in this tree?

Any advice is appreciated, thank you!

Kaarina Kreus wrote:I placed some stones around the tree trunk. Anything heavy works actually.

This is exactly what I do-- I actually confine the chicken run to my orchard but each tree has a small ring of bricks encircling it, protecting the developing roots. It works great to protect them and the chickens do a great job fertilizing the developing trees.

The circle of bricks is probably 2 feet in diameter but they don't go to the trouble of digging between the trunk and the circle of bricks, it's not enough space for the scratch and look what you dug up maneuver they like. I place them so the bricks radiate outward, the length of them pointing to the tree, sort of like flower petals. This allows the best coverage with the material.

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hans muster wrote:Don't cut down your girdled trees yet! Maybe you can save them by bridge grafting: Below a video showing the process with apples

Thanks for the suggestion, but it will be impossible. These are trees with probably 2 foot circumference at the base and they girdled down probably 2 feet in length. I wouldn't even be able to find any non-girdled root to bridge graft to. It really was catastrophic level of damage, very extensive.

I thought we had a peace treaty but recently the gophers completely girdled my beloved meyer lemon and decades old fig tree beyond recovery.

Does anyone have any pointers for effective use of these traps:
Victor Black Box Gopher Trap

I have had success in the past but recently on the hunt again and they keep getting backfilled with soil.

Should the entire hole be covered with something like cardboard so its dark all? Or should some light be visible at the end of the trap and just gentle cover other gaps where light could penetrate? Just not sure if I want light penetrating or to emulate their tunnel. Does anyone find bait to be helpful?

Thanks everyone,
Blaise

These are all up on a hill, I don't think it's possible for them to be flooded. And we have pretty warm nights during the summer. Did they ever show signs of drought stress during the summers when you watered less?

Hey Timothy--

I have drip irrigation for a small fruit trees orchard and they get watered once a week. Where the honey locusts are planted I don't have drip and I am trying to avoid it. I am not on site reliably during the hot summer months but I do have a lot of rain water and can try to get to them almost weekly. It may be logistically challenging but not impossible.

It's also my instinct to water new trees weekly during the summer. I was just hoping that maybe they were especially robust.

Hey everyone,

I just planted a few honey locust trees-- supposedly a thornless variant, we shall see.

They're planted in Northern California in Siskiou county where we have a Mediterranean climate with moderately hot, dry summers. Probably no rain fall from mid-May to late October most years.

How much water will they need their first year? I have heard they are pretty drought resistant but I imagine they will need some regular watering initially.

Thanks,
Blaise

Hey everyone,

I just planted 6 olive trees, each a couple years old, all supposedly cold hard to Zone 7. I am in zone 8 but this is beside the point.

I planted them mid-February to try to avoid the coldest temperatures this winter and let them establish. They're planted in Northern California in Siskiou county where we have a Mediterranean climate with moderately hot, dry summers. Probably no rain fall from mid-May to late October most years.

How much water will they need their first year? I don't have them on the drip and I am hoping they will get to a point where they need very little supplemental water. Any olive tree experts out there with experience?

Thanks,
Blaise

Hello everyone--

My small fruit tree orchard was ravaged by locusts this July. They defoliated most of the trees and some berry bushes and on some they stripped the bark off the newer growth near the top.  Thankfully they're all still alive. They have all regrown varying degrees of foliage over the last month. However, many are also sending up suckers from their base, some from short distances along the roots as well.

The common wisdom I was taught was that it's best to remove these. Some say right away-- while that may be true under ideal conditions I am inclined to not touch them until the dead of winter to avoid causing any further stress to these trees this season. Part of me wants to let the trees do their thing and keep pruning limited to dead branches. I am not sure if this should apply to suckers however. I also wonder if under an environment subject to the occasional ravaging by locusts and tree borers, additional growth of any kind may increase the odds of long-term survival. I realize letting the suckers go would create more of a bush than a tree but would it harm the tree health and would the suckers ultimately bear fruit?

Important to note that for most of my trees the root stock and the above ground growth share genetics. Most of these have been started from seed. They include apple, goumi, apricot, peach, sour cherry, quince and jujube.

Thanks for any insights,
Blaise