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milehighgirl_gw

What are your losses this bizarre year?

milehighgirl
10 years ago

My losses are adding up. In April, here in Denver, we broke several records for cold. Today will be the second record broken for heat, just two months later. My plant losses are adding up. I brought out many plants from my garage and unburied plants in pots thinking the cold had surely passed. I was also unable to plant many new plants that arrived during record cold spells or blizzards. Now it looks as if all of Colorado is on fire again. Some of you are worried about too much rain and I wish it would land here instead.

5 grafted grape vines
1 pawpaw
1 Pink Lady apple
2 thornless boysenberries, arrived bare root
1 fruiting rose
1 jujube
2 American persimmons
1 peach, a gift from Scott:(

Comments (18)

  • canadianplant
    10 years ago

    Concidering what happened that isnt too bad (of course it sucks to loose anything, even some slight die back on branches :( )

    Be glad you arent up here, the airport recorded -37C, and a weeks worth in the -30C. To my surprise, I lost NO fruit plants at all, besides my vanessa grape. It was unprotected and didnt stand too much of a chance. On the other hand, right beside that, my Himrod survived under the snow line.

    to my surprise, my blueberries are doing phemononal this year, after 2 years of steady decline. Oddly enough milehigh, my boysenberries survived quite well, although they were buried under snow. Looks like Ill be getting some fruit from it this year..

    I will say, this year was painstakingly slow. Planting was a month behind and my tulips just dont wanna flower. Everything leafed out late, and my pears apples and plums all flowered at the same time (within a few days).

    At least with losses, we have more room for other plants!

  • marknmt
    10 years ago

    My Italian prune plum, which bore a few last year and had reached a nice size, took sick and died this year; it came out yesterday.

    Other than that I've had a late but healthy year. We could have gotten tomatoes in a few days ago but haven't had time until now, so they'll be iffy.

    Apples set well and I think I timed the spray well, but I'm seeing a lot of bird damage and a certain amount of denting from small hail. My few pears seem happy. Grafts took, and even a previously "failed" graft came back. My apricot on Marianna, grafted last summer, is really enthusiastic!

    Good luck to you for the rest of the summer, ay?

  • creekweb
    10 years ago

    I also lost an Italian prune plum which I had transplanted - it's the third one I've lost though never any other variety plum trees except my excellent Santa Rosa that I ran over with the car many years ago!

    Growing number of kaki persimmons to KSD - two definite though looks like it's going to be three.

    Two apples and a blueberry to rabbit damage - my fault for not protecting them properly, I don't blame the rabbits which are animals that I've learned to live peacefully with.

    Fig weed - wouldn't have thought such a thing existed until buying from a disreputable seller on ebay. This is a work in progress and a planned death for the plant.

    various grape vines that I had rooted last year and kept in pots didn't make it through the winter.

  • insteng
    10 years ago

    I didn't lose any trees but because of the strange weather most of them didn't make this year. We got a late freeze when everything was blooming and it got the blooms.

  • franktank232
    10 years ago

    3 apricots (2 very large trees)... a pear (fire blight)...i had a handful of chip buds that got burnt during a freeze we had and never came back... I've had excellent results with my container trees...its so nice to be able to move them in and out of the extreme weather..force them to flower early/etc..

  • fabaceae_native
    10 years ago

    The drought and fires are even worse here in NM I'm afraid.

    I've lost a nice apricot tree (due I think to hail last August combined with sudden hard freeze in fall), two or maybe three nice new grapevines, maybe a jujube, and some raspberry plants. A few others, such as my largest grapevine in which I have put a lot of hope, have started off really poorly this year. I very much hope we have a monsoon this summer.

  • olpea
    10 years ago

    In terms of plants, the big loss is some new plum trees. I didn't plant my plums or apples in terraces because they are generally fairly water tolerant. However, the ground has been so wet they never had a chance to grow roots. It was like they were sitting in a tub of water all spring long. Looks like I'll loose about 6 new plums and one new apple. This year and last year have been a terrible year to try to establish trees here. Too dry or too wet.

    I set out about 45 tomato plants and have had a terrible time with the slugs (because of the very wet weather) eating them off at the base. I've had to replant about 1/2 the tomatoes.

  • marc5
    10 years ago

    I lost several hundred pawpaws that I started a year ago--lost to over-wintering. They were still in small propagation containers, on a concrete slab, surrounded by straw and covered with a tarp. I think there is just not enough thermal mass to a container with less than 25 cubic inches. The roots were moldy when I was potting them up this spring. I learned a good lesson, but very disappointing.

  • curtis
    10 years ago

    milehighgirl, how is that stuff you planted in Iowa doing?

  • DaveLindahl5432
    10 years ago

    Here in Minnesota we had a late spring and a hot summer with temps averaging about 15 degrees above normal. My trees and grapes are fine and the grapes are just starting to change only about a month later than usual. I hope they all come back next year.

  • ltilton
    10 years ago

    The no-name applesauce apple tree that started to die last year finally finished the job.

    The new Imperial Epineuse plum tree struggled with wet feet this floody spring, dropped its leaves, grew them back, then one morning just fell off the rootstock.

    Otherwise, it's been a really good year.

  • mrsg47
    10 years ago

    No losses of trees since hurricane Sandy. Lost some Caroline raspberries. Newly planted, waited to too long, my fault totally. Late spring frost, no peaches; that is a great sadness, as I now know what a tree ripened peach tastes like. I am spoiled for life!

    Italian plum produced its little heart out. Plums tasted great and so does the jam.. Ditto for my black currants this year.

    Very small apples, don't know why, but few were full size. Lost two bagged Mott's pink apples to a critter. Saved the third (only three) for myself! My other apples are still small but wont be ready till Oct.

    MIlehigh, everyone here seems to be talking about a great fruit year. The orchard gods didn't look kindly over my trees this year. But I can't wait till next year. Time to start fall weeding.

  • fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
    10 years ago

    I had a total loss on apples, pears, persimmon, and even jujube. One Jujube tree froze out in May. But all my effort paid off with some tasty outdoor grapes. They had smaller berries than greenhouse fruit but sweeter. I haven't watered the grapes since May which helps account for sweetness. 6.5 inches total rainfall since May has been all the grapes have needed.

  • bejay9_10
    10 years ago

    Looks like a Valencia orange is declining, after bearing profusely for almost 10 or more years. Never at a lack of nice orange juice in the morning.

    The juice is still fine, but the peeling looks almost burned and hard. Not sure what it is. The new growth looks fine, but the fruit doesn't mature to full size.

    On the bright side, the grapes produced well, except for a Chardonnay wine grape - which doesn't seem to like the foggy humidity. I'll give it another year - it is growing on an arbor that gets lots of heat and reflected heat as well.

    This is the first summer for good tomato growth. We are in the midst of a heat wave now - and they are thriving.

    Sooo - you lose some, win some.

    The persimmon produced maybe one or two, whereas last year it gave a good bounty.

    Go figure!

    bejay

  • franktank232
    10 years ago

    Squirrels continue to try to get my pluots... they've been hitting the fruit hard still. The birds did serious damage to the McIntosh...i'd say about 10% of the apples are toast. They just peck at one...then go get another one...so forth. Some of the macs are huge this year. Big tree/thinned hard. I opened this tree up a ton back in June (pruning) so i think the lack of leaves has left the fruit very easy to see/attack. The drought only adds to it.

    Good year overall, but everything has been late and its been super dry the last 60 days (like no rain)...everything is crusty and brown that doesn't get watered.

  • milehighgirl
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    At my aunt's house the one Indian Red Free that I thought wouldn't make it didn't. To be truthful the LE Cooke trees and berries were much poorer quality than the D Wilson's.

    A handful of cherries and rhubarb, that's all I've gotten from my fruiting plants. I had some mulberries, 1 peach, and 1 pear and they were taken by squirrels. My harvest this year has consisted of tomatoes and beans.

    We are having record heat this month and April was record cold.

    This year has just made me more determined to succeed and I'm trying to remove as many variables as possible with the least amount of money.

  • olpea
    10 years ago

    I'll update my post from above. I actually ended up losing 4 plums this year to the extremely wet spring. I'm not planting anymore plums unless they are in a raised planting, just like I do peaches. It's not worth the slow growth or dead trees.

  • aphahn
    10 years ago

    Didn't loose much except fruit to the spring freezes. In fact I gained something new, SWD. Would have rather lost a few trees :P

    Andy