Rosalind
Deeply Rooted
The recent hard freeze we had finally put ALL the trees into dormancy. My peach trees were really adamant about keeping their leaves until earlier this week. This seems unusual to me, I thought they'd drop their leaves first, but no--the cherries went first, then the apples and pears, then the peaches and plums. My plum trees still have some frozen green leaves all wilted and clinging to the branch tips.
Today's chore: Prune a bit and re-shape the branches to be properly spreading and not rubbing each other. This involves complicated structures with sticks and wire, as several of the buggers want to be columnar and I want them to be goblets. Then spray thoroughly with two coats of dormant oil. Then wrap in burlap and rake leaves around the roots. Today's weather: High 29F, low 16F.
On the plus side, examining them I can see some have set tons of flower buds for spring. I'm not sure how to explain that I know they are for flowers and not leaves--it has to do with the shape, leaf buds tend to be pointy.
Edited to add: In the event that you do not have someone to help you hold the burlap in place while you tie everything down with twine on a windy day, hair clips work great. Another bit of advice, when wearing thermal undies, overalls, fleece pullover, arm warmers, mittens, parka and work boots, hot caffeinated drinks and a hot cup of tea with just a splash of apple brandy are not good beverage choices. Something less diuretic is better...
Today's chore: Prune a bit and re-shape the branches to be properly spreading and not rubbing each other. This involves complicated structures with sticks and wire, as several of the buggers want to be columnar and I want them to be goblets. Then spray thoroughly with two coats of dormant oil. Then wrap in burlap and rake leaves around the roots. Today's weather: High 29F, low 16F.
On the plus side, examining them I can see some have set tons of flower buds for spring. I'm not sure how to explain that I know they are for flowers and not leaves--it has to do with the shape, leaf buds tend to be pointy.
Edited to add: In the event that you do not have someone to help you hold the burlap in place while you tie everything down with twine on a windy day, hair clips work great. Another bit of advice, when wearing thermal undies, overalls, fleece pullover, arm warmers, mittens, parka and work boots, hot caffeinated drinks and a hot cup of tea with just a splash of apple brandy are not good beverage choices. Something less diuretic is better...
