Lessons Learned

The plum tree broke right at the graft where the canker was when I tried to pull it out.  The roots of both the cherry and the plum trees were very deep already after less than a year in the ground.  It took a lot of patience and energy to get them back out of the ground but it had to be done.  In a way, it was a good opportunity to check out the soil and how the amendments to the clay were doing. I mixed it up better this time.

We decided to plant a pair of Mexicola avocados in the north west corner of the yard where the plum was.  According to things I read, including the  California Rare Fruit Growers Association page about avocados, you can plant two or three in one hole to save space and increase pollination. They also hate poor drainage

The person at the nursery suggested these two Mexicola type avocados, Stuart and Grande. These are pretty much the only Avocados I would try here as they are supposedly hardy to 18-24 degrees. I read on wikipedia that the record low of 16 degrees here was only recorded twice in the past century.  It has been regularly frosting here but temperatures are still in the 30s at night and 60s by day. Both avocado trees are labeled as being self-fertile, but you are generally supposed to get an A flower ype and a B flower type.  A little searching on the internets and I have found Mexicola Stuart and Grande listed as both A type, as both B type and as self fertile, so we shall see. For more on this, so I don't have to explain, see here.

 Still unsure about what to replace the cherry tree with.

Next time: Avocados and Satsuma Mandarins in the ground.

Prunus Problems

I didn't realize it had gotten so bad.  I noticed a little sap a while back, but did not realize I should be alarmed.  We have 2 trees in the prunus family, a cherry and a plum.  They both seem to have a pretty severe case of bacterial canker. I thought it was a borer at first, but they tend to make a mess down at the crown (just above the roots).  This starts at the graft and peels and oozes its way up the trunk.

It is really sad because the trees seem healthy otherwise but I am afraid their trunks are too small to withstand it.  Our friend Eva said we will probably need to destroy the trees and we read all kinds of scary things that lead us to believe we won't be able to plant any stone fruit.  No peaches, no apricots, no plums, no cherries.... I have found some resources that suggest copper spray may control it and that is spread by bacteria on the green leaves, not the cankers, but others say not so much and that the bacteria can live in the bark and become systemic.

If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.  Should I try to nurse these trees along or cut my losses and yank them out.  Should I risk planting again?  Maybe in the front yard?  My neighbors behind the back yard have plums.  I have not gotten a chance to look at their trees.

More Trees

One of the first things we did outside when we got this place was to plant fruit trees, since they take so long to start bearing serious amounts of fruit. Along the north fence of the back yard, we planted an Emerald Plum, a Hachiya Persimmon, a Stella Cherry and a Fuyu Persimmon.

We got all of those trees bare root at Harmony Farm Supply & Nursery in Sebastopol. It must have been January or February and the clay soil was extra mucky as we dug it out to fill it with mulch and compost for the trees.

In addition to these trees we also have planted pomegranate, grapefruit, lemons, yuzu, mandarins, blueberries and kumquats which we have picked up from various other excellent nurseries in our area. A few of them are actually producing fruit!

This weekend we went to Harmony to get something else, because they had their fruit trees at 20% off. It turned out it was also "customer appreciation day" and we got free tacos, free "vegan" fertilizer and some seed packets. Our lucky day! We wound up picking an asian pear and a dwarf orange tree. We just need to figure out where to put them now.

We also found out that the best time to get a greater selection of the bare root (much better value) trees was the second week in January.

I can't wait til January. Oh wait, the tomatoes aren't even ripe yet!
Next: Where are my tomatoes!