Thank you all!
I graft all apples to my own seedlings.

In China a large apple region is XIAN, some years ago the US was flooded with concentrated juice from there.
Most fruit's are exported, here, the mandarin's are in store already!. Do you have them in the US?

I was in XIAN, not for the apples, to see the buried terracotta warriors. I was totally impressed with what I've seen in China.
Also, they take trees very serious....
Sometimes too serious LOL
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A time of rest here again and giving nutrient to the trees....old manure.
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Oh wow, I'm extremely jealous. Especially of the cherries!

Wow... Those pictures are extremely nice!
Look forward to seeing more of your orchard in the coming season.

OMG, Konrad! What gorgeous photos!!! What a lovely, lovely place you have. My family is from Edmonton. You do indeed have a short growing season! When I used to complain to my mom about being cold in Vancouver, walking to school in the winter, she would just give me the "Edmonton" look (that's what my sister and I called it!!) So, we quit griping! Now I'm totally spoiled and live in S. California where if it gets below 40, we're in tears, lol!! And, your top photos of the coyotes are definitely coyotes, but that bottom pic is a wolf for sure. Very cool photos, keep them coming!!

Patty S.

Thank you all!
I was out pruning last weekend, still doing too much guess work,.. wish a pro could show me more then I know.
When the sun was out, it was warm enough to get rid of jacket and toque.

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This is showing the transition, rootstock [rough] and top graft, about 2 foot up, [smooth].
At the time of grafting this high, I didn't really know if it would be of any benefit, someone told me to graft high, but didn't say for what reason, it just happened I had large root stock, so allot were grafted high. After over 10 years or so, I see now, there is a huge benefit, these trees, [trunk] cope allot better with the weather, less or none splitting due to frost, warm/cold cycles.
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Several times I had a moose in....pruned most of the trees, this wasn't a real problem, worse, when they're grabbing onto ends and pull in the same time, causing ripping off branches, this hapend to at least 10 trees.

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This was the only time ever, I got a glimpse of a moose,...seems like a younger animal, eating on the choke-cherry tree.
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Had a camera in the bush and put some sunflower seeds down.

Deer Love...
Mom with her youngster, white-tail.
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Konrad, I swear if you posted 50 everyday I would take the time to view them. Your photos are beautiful and also an inspiration to a starting orchardist. Thank you.

I'll second Bruce's comments! Keep 'em coming! -Glenn

What Bruce said. Thanks Konrad, these are so fun to see, and your orchard is so lovely! That's a huge commitment is such a chilly place, I admire your tenacity. I know what it takes. I promise I will never complain about my weather to you!

Patty S.

I love this thread.

I would love to one day have some nice land to stretch out on. Eventually I plan on moving up to Oregon or Arizona or Nevada. Sadly California, although a beautiful place, has become such a headache for me. I have a nice home here in So Cal that is paid off but Ca is just becoming such a hard place to live. And looking at Konrads lovely place makes me want to go even more.

Great job on the photos Konrad!!

Thank you all!
I do understand,...how about move to Alaska, near the ocean, think there are some better temperate zones like 4 plus?
I know the winters are long but one's the spring / summer starts you can't beat it,...well, maybe mosquitoes? Especially here, Alberta has lots of sunshine,...sometimes too dry but I like it.
I'm blessed in the way that my dream was full filed.

This land about 6 acres, the orchard area I plowed all, the following year filled the low spots, old disc & racked with a chain link fencing material all season until smooth, so I can walk easily and zip fast with the mower cutting grass.

In the foreground,.. just sticking out of the snow are some Capilano Apricot seedlings.

From Feb.12, 2012
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Here is a before and after picture, it was the first time ever that I cut out the dead wood of the Evans cherry bushes this year.

From Oct.14, 2011

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From March 24, 2012

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Wow! Im sure they will love it! Please post some pics of your harvest and PRE harvest this year!

Konrad - you get apricots up there???

I was just thinking the same thing, ltilton! Wow. Konrad, we do love these photos. It is amazing up there, things grow at nuclear rates, like they've been injected with steroids. I think the plants just know there is a shorter time to get the job done. My mom used to talk about that, and how glorious summer was up there (minus the mosquitos, of course!) Love your photos, do you still have snow on the ground??

Patty S.

Thank you all...LOL Patty!

Now the day's are getting longer, at the peak,...getting dark around 11PM! All the snow has melted but we got twice since again ...a little left now. We can get snow in mid may!
Yes,.. plants, birds, bees and all wildlife are going into overdrive soon, [me too] with the longer daylight.

We can grow several apricots, in the odd years when the winter has been fairly mild and no spring blossom kill,...about one harvest in 4 to 5 year/average for me, in the city about every 2 or 3 years.

Below, [first picture] is a little tree called Capilano,.. the city of Edmonton planted some trees over 50 years ago along a freeway called Capilano, we think these were seedlings because all are a little different. Hope to get a picture when in bloom,...have a strong feeling that this year will be the year for fruit.

I grafted this to a plum seedling, fruited in the 3rd. season, I killed it after the transplant.
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Here is a write up from DNA gardens, [not in business anymore]

[I really don't know for sure if this was mine, there are 3 trees.]

Parents: Unknown
Fruit habit: The lady of the closest house says it fruits every second year. Many people pick them. Size: 4 x 4.2 x . 3.6 cm
Shape: flattened ventrally; higher at shoulder
Suture: deep ending at beak
Stigma: small flattened beak
Color: very dark yellow with red blushes on exposed skin.
Aroma: good
Maturity: end of July
Texture: soft
Taste: juicy, very sweet
Uses: excellent dessert type
Stone: free
Thean Pheh remarks:

City of Edmonton could not determine whether it was a seedling or selection as it was planted in the 60's and the lile could not be traced. There were three apricot plants on the same buffer strip and each is completely different from the other in growth habit, fruit maturity, size, shape and taste leading me to think that they are open pollinated seedlings.

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This is called Westcot, [somebody else grew]
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A tree from around here, [not mine]
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this is really amazing, you photos are top quality and i am super happy to have found this thread. There is nothing more that i would like then to have the land to farm and more so the ability to farm the land like you do not to mention your amazing photography skills.

Thank you Gunnarm!

Think this was the worst ever I have seen, about 4 trees, moose pruned it first, now this about 2 weeks ago, moose had a good feast and coming back for more, seen tracks in nursery only about 2 day's old!

This is a Siberian Apricot,..been grafting over to plum, not a total loss, it needs more grafting.

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Done some Evans cherry sucker transplant...

Out of one clump I could divided into 7
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Pear's and Plums are flowering...
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Bumble bee on plum flowers
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My honey bees working them
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Apples are just about to open, this is a red flesh, called Red Wonder
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This is a Chokecherry, one of my seedlings, opens about 2 weeks earlier then the native choke cherry, I really love it as a bee tree.
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Wow Im in love with how well those tree's are growing! It must be the area??? Huh? Or is it the farmer??? Lol

Either way, picture perfect!

The picture of your graft on the march 23 post. What type of graft did you do. It's a very nice looking graft.

Thank you all!
>>It must be the area??? Huh? Or is it the farmer??? Lol Perhaps both?
Long day light has allot to do also.

>>What type of graft did you doBark graft,..see link

This Baltimore Oriole on a Trailman Crab Apple
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Here is a link that might be useful: Konrad's modified bark grafting

What a magnificent Baltimore Oriole. Fantastic Konrad! Mrs. G I love the birdies!

Thank you Mrs G!
These pictures from today, apples are back after they set out for 2 years due to a early deep freeze in 2009, some died.
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Hummingbird Moth on the Evans Cherry
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One of my proud seedling Ornamental Crab
Anybody interested in propagating it?

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konrad, you could work as a photographer for national geographic. the pic with the baltimor oriole is absolutely beautiful!
What variety of plum is in the pic with the bees? The blossoms are amazingly thick! The plums I have don't blossom like that!
This is a really great thread you started......and probably the longest one on garden web!

Thank you Glenn!
That's a Ivanovka Plum,..can't get it to pollinate properly because it blooms early and nothing else around near by, so I tried another branch from home to pollinate,..had a thread on this one, see link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bottle feeding..

Got a better shot on one Hummingbird Moth the next day on the Evans cherries,..rarely ever see these guys around, they jump around the flowers pretty good, using fast shutter speed is a must, especially if you want to freeze their wings motion to see more details. Those wings must go at least as fast like hummingbirds, maybe that's why it's named like this. Actually, they act a bit like hummers.

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Awesome pictures once again!I remember seeing these as a child, at first glance they look like miniature humming birds.I have not seen them in over 25 years.....come to think of it I haven't seen a lot of the different insects/birds that there were years ago.
I did a little google searching on that Ivanovka plum and they are from what I have read are an asian plum.There is no mention of it being a cross or anything.Makes sense as my asian plums bloom alot earlier than the euros.It seems like a very hardy asian at that because most of the asian plums seem to be rated mostly zone5 and higher.Hopefully my grafts take and I can test the pollination theory in a few years.

I saw my first hummingbird moths the other day, but they were much more drab than the one you photographed. I absolutely love your pictures- looking at them, somehow the air seems crisper, cleaner, and everything's a bit more peaceful. :) Thank you so much for sharing!

Thank you all!
Glenn, yes you're right,..I can send you more wood if needed.

Today was early honey harvest, the last two years I only done one's at the end of season. The orchard flowered good again this year, that makes a big difference, ..it will be some nice honey.

Sorry, I don't usually look like this, it was hot to our standards, when temperature hit's in the 30C. 86F. I take advantage, the extracting goes better.

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Can I buy your honey? Do you sell it? It looks beautiful. Mrs. G

Thank you Mrs. G
You could, but wouldn't be worth sending it to you.
I suggest checking out local bee keepers, honey you get is much better then store bought because some small bee keepers don't heat up the honey, therefore retaining flavors, enzymes, pollen etc.
Also, find out what honey you get, early honey is best I find, bees forage mostly in fruit flowers, later honey comes from clovers and other wild flowers which is nice too but stay away from one sided nectar source/honey which comes from large fields like canola etc.

You pay more from the local guy but it's worth every peny because the small scale bee keeper does mostly all by hand, also cleaner with no bees at all in honey when extracting,...I couldn't believe some of the videos I've seen on U tube, bees being extracted=bee guts in the honey!

The reason for processing plant heating the honey is to process it fast and efficient. They have large stock piles of honey in large drums, most crystallized at the time of processing. All honey gets heated up [pasteurized] filtered and filled. That's why store bought honey stay's liquid for a long time.

Here is a picture from outside, honey frame with bees on it, mostly clover, light honey, you see how the wax was gently pealed away in the middle with a decapping fork.

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Some years ago a bee keeper put honey on he's swollen knee, he said the swelling went down.
I did this today to my wife on her swollen foot, not sure what's causing this, it comes and goes but seems it gets worse, we thought that it was gout but doctor test was negative.
We'll see what honey does. So when goggled on this I found...

Here is a link that might be useful: A spoonful of honey helps the swelling go down

Peach Plum
Have the first small crop, [ripe] plum of the season at home, got this one for about 10 years now but pollination seems to be the trouble, just a light fruit set, ..it does live up to its name, a beautiful large plum.

I have had some success keeping the rabbits off of our blueberry shrubs, during the winter months, by spraying with Plantskydd. This is a liquid repellent made from fermented blood-so it smells bad, and you will want to stay upwind when applying this to any trees or shrubs. It is supposed to work against deer, elk, and moose. Given the size of your operation, you might have to figure out how to make your own repellent.

beautiful plums Konrad!how big are they? can you do a size comparison when you pick them?
Glenn

I have to say, this is my favorite thread on all of GW. Thanks, Konrad. And, your honey looks awesome. I buy my guy's local honey right down the street from me. It is so light a delicious, we just love it. I use it in my coffee, tea, cornbread, in my cereal. It is the best honey I've ever had. Most likely a combination of citrus and our California sage scrub. So good. And the peach plums are so lovely, I've not heard of them. Like to know more about this variety. I probably can't grow it down here, but they sound delicious.

Patty S.

Thank you all!
Here a comparison with a penny and a PTITSIN Plum in a bowl.

Excellent growing season with lots of heat and the right amount of moisture pushed the picking ahead to this last weekend on the Evans cherries. Wasp have been very, very bad and ruined allot, some loss to birds.

Several trees were nicely loaded.

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Butterfly getting the sugar fix!
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Who knew that Eden was in Alberta? Great photos as usual. Look like a very good cherry crop.
Most of us probably walked by some glorious site today ourselves and failed to actually see them. I can here someone saying "What are you looking at? It's just a bug on an apple tree."

OMG konrad! is that normal for Evans to be so loaded with fruit?If so, I can hardly wait until my Evans come into fruition!

Gorgeous, Konrad! I planted an Evans this year. I am not holding my breath I'll get any fruit, but thought I'd give it a try. Love the photos, I always get excited when I see this thread come up to the top, again! I wish my mom were still around to see all you grow up near her home town. She would be amazed.

Patty S.

LOL Bruce, I guess you're right.

Glenn,...you bet! Not so much out in the country here but som trees are like this, sheltered in town it's a common thing. I would think a perfect cherry for a sheltered zone 3, zone 4 should be just ideal, zone 5 and up might get a bit warm but I think you should still have cherries, not sure if loaded like this.

You can also experiment with other root stock, this picture is Evans on pin cherry, nicely loaded, flowered a little later, the cherries are still on but deer have eaten most on the bottom branches, I put on a trail camera,...they might be back, if so, I'll post later. The cherries are slightly smaller but I find sweeter.

Picture from July 2, Evans on pin cherry.
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I spend some time this weekend picking the early apples, Norland, Harcourt, some Trailman Crab and Carrol.

The bright red one's are Norland, light color one's are Norkent, others are Sept. Ruby

Norland, in full sun can get marbled,..they get juiced tomorrow.
Best early apple but not a keeper when left on this long.

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The last Evans Cherry picture, [green] was coming along nicely and getting ripe about 2 weeks after the others when one day it got almost completely stripped by deer and broke some branches.
When I put the camera near they didn't come close anymore. It was a mom with her young.

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Apple season has drawn all kind's of other animals, ..I found out that porcupine love apples, they can eat allot! Figured I don't clean up the ground so perhaps then they don't climb the tree,...not so here! They're like us, thinking that the apples are better on the tree.

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I might have to set a trap and relocate him before winter, I don't want to see this anymore...
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I was surprised to capture a fox the first time.

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Strategically placed apple pile!
Great photos Konrad, the most interesting animals around my area are rare Fisher Cats and Skunks!

-Eric
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Thanks so much for all of these beautiful photos. This is also my favorite post on all of garden web.
Very inspirational to us all.

Thank you all!
missed one of my favored shot..
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Greengage plums are getting ready,..only the second decant crop, the mild last winter was easy on the fruit buds.

It's funny, when they turn yellow they really stick out,...I wasn't expecting this many.

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