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Do you think your trees will get enough chill hours, lol?
I think this year has had an amazing amt of chill hours…lots of time spent in the 30Fs the last few months… I really only worry about peaches/nectarines when the temps drop -10F or lower… i have some peach grafts out there that worry me a little.
Rabbits have been doing a ton of damage. I forgot to fence a tree and it’s toast. Luckily nothing major because i’ll hopefully get the rootstock to send out new shoots. The top is a goner unless i want to bridge graft. They also wiped out a bunch of apple rootstock i have out there. They leave the older trees alone unless they can get at the low hanging branches…
Had the same thing happen to me also. The crows were at him this pm, someone ran over him this morning!!
I’ve got to be evil because i smile whenever i see roadkill rabbits or squirrels 
Looks like more cold air coming mid week (single digit highs) and then another shot of cold air this weekend that should spread to the east coast and give those folks a nice chill.
Peter’s Honey fig-- showing some leg!
Very excited to get this variety of fig to root. A much sought after addition to my collection.
I am hoping it will do well in pot culture here. It has the potential to produce some beautiful brebas as well as main-crop figs.
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Very nice! Someday i would like to try figs.
The forecast looks horrible…although after this next shot it looks to change into a more mild pattern for some time.
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We had temps in the high 40’s today, Sun. below zero for high.
Looks like it’d be good for ice fishing. Brady
Ugly cold front heading towards Omaha. Sunday and Monday nights will drop to -8F.
Tony
Tony-
Get through this and it looks to turn very mild. GFS even shows a shot at 50F or better in the long range for Omaha.
http://wxweb.meteostar.com/sample/sample.shtml?text=koma
The whole country looks to turn mild to finish out Jan. I’m sure the polar air will be back in Feb.
Thanks Rob, 1-28-16 in the 50’s sounds nice.
Tony
Its grey sky territory here in New England. Newport, is cloudy and grey and quiet. Actually it is lovely, peaceful and calm. The wide boulevard is empty this time of year which is like a gigantic sigh of relief from summer tourists. It finally got down into the twenties, but back up into the forties during the day. We had our first light ‘dusting’ of snow two days ago and nothing since. I’ll finish putting up my netting (fencing) this weekend. So far, so good, but no snow. The chill hours are coming right along though, thats good. My trees seem to love a hard freeze.
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It is -5F right now. I hate to do anything outdoor today with this cold. I may just sit back and watch some Netflix and be a couch potato today.
Tony
-10F here right now… tonight shows -14F. The wind is also blowing pretty good. Looks like slow warm up is coming.
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Its a balmy January here at 13 with a low of 3 with a wind chill of -10. We will be back in the mid 40’s by the end of the week. This is very pleasant weather for Kansas. If its not in the negative numbers its no big deal to me.
I’m heading to my local legacy orchard today to talk about possibly buying some scions and general grafting/rootstock conversations. I’m sure I’ll be talking pruning as well. It’s ‘supposed’ to be a balmy -25 to -30 below with windchill at some point today. Good thing the apple barn is insulated as that should bring things into the 30-some degree range for chatting.
I’m debating doing a modified tall spindle setup with dwarf trees. (G41) I figure I need to stake them anyhow so why not just put the whole trellis wire setup in instead. I’m thinking a top wire at around 7 feet and pruning to keep it there.
I’m completely a hobbyist so I’m not really married to maximizing production so much as long term success for reliable fruit each year. My personal ‘orchard’ location is 20 minutes from home so it makes it harder to do a daily walk through on my own time.
I’ll start looking at my final rootstock order and planning scions tonight. We’ll see how THAT pans out.
Have you used G.41 yet? I’m thinking of ordering a bundle of it. In an email conversation, Alan Cummins recommended I use it for my pedestrian style orchard.
Used is a relative term. I tried my hand at grafting for the first time last year and tried a single G.41 and three G.202. One of the 202’s looked very promising and the bud off the graft started off nicely but then stopped and died. I presume latent energy in the scion kept it going. Another 202 started to take and was unceremoniously bit off by a squirrel or rabbit. (only to be left behind uneaten) The 3rd just sat there most of the summer and then around August kicked off a bud that grew about 4-5". I’m not clear if that is going to do better this year or what.
The G.41 graft didn’t take at all, but I put that more to my new skills than the rootstock. I T-budded several grafts this fall and we’ll see how they do in the spring. Simply reading through the various varieties, I’m finding the G.41 has most everything a person could want out of that family. (Other than needed staking which I really would rather not have to do, but it’s the nature of the beast)