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Well drat, we finally bought and planted the 2 Stella cherry trees we've been thinking about since last year. That was 2 weeks ago, which seemed to be after the last frost of the year. But now NC (zone 7b) is getting another freeze warning for tomorrow morning. (30-32 degrees F) I'm not 100% sure how old they are, I think like 1 year, they're about 2-3 feet tall and very skinny. I've already got mulch around the bases. It looks like it will only be tomorrow morning, then the temperature trends upwards again. Should I be worried? I also have 4 young blueberry bushes that I planted last week. A bit less worried about those because they're less expensive and I've already seen other blueberry bushes come back from worse. But these are our first trees.
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Apr 21, 2021 17:53
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 03:25 |
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As I mentioned not too long ago, I planted 2 Stella cherry trees in front of my house. This was a little more than a month ago. They arrived from Fast-Growing-Trees.com about 2-3 feet tall, with root balls and a few small branches with leaves on them. I planted them as similar as I could, in terms of soil and compost and stuff, though I do think one side (the "right side" for purposes of this discussion) loses a bit more water for whatever reason, possibly because it's more sloped. They are both kind of on a slope though. Now, one of them has had most of the leaves turn brown and dry out. I wasn't overly concerned about it at first, because they did come in boxes after all, so I figured the original leaves might not last. The one on the left had some of that too. However, now the one on the left seems to have healthy new growth, whereas the one on the right still just has those dead leaves and nothing else going on. We bought a 1-year warranty which I think will let us replace a dead tree, assuming we've cared for it properly, which I think we have based on the one that's doing fine. (Though to be honest, I may have been too conservative for fear of overwatering.) How long do you think I should let this go on before replacing the tree? I really don't want to if I don't have to, it's a huge pain. But if I do have to, I don't want to wait too long and end up missing the planting season. Here are some pictures. I was dumb and took yesterday's pictures after watering, so they'll look unusually moist... BEFORE: Right side  (Left side)  AFTER: Right side  (Left side) 
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May 18, 2021 11:15
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Solkanar512 posted:Yeah, that looks exactly like my dead peach tree from last year. So I've got mixed results to report. Near the base of the trunk I've got this, which looks promising maybe:  Higher up, around the middle, still on the trunk but parallel to the branches, it doesn't look so good:  (You may not even be able to tell where I cut, it's a little below the middle of the pictured section) Regardless of what I eventually decide, I'll definitely water the hell out of it for now.
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May 19, 2021 02:43
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Guess I'll probably get started on the process of replacing the Stella cherry tree. One other thing I forgot to ask about : the dying tree has this weird, hard reddish translucent glob on it. Any idea what that could be? It was near the little plastic wrap thing that came on it (like most trees/bushes, a little thing identifying it) so I almost thought somehow something from that got wet and dripped. But it's just this stationary glob staying there, for at least a few days now, maybe weeks. Could it just be some kind of sap? I don't believe the healthy tree has it but I keep forgetting to check.
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May 20, 2021 03:01
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Queen Victorian posted:Side note: when we planted our trees, which we got from a great local nursery that specializes in trees, they strongly recommended against staking because it discourages robust root system development - if the tree is getting knocked around by wind, it'll put down more and better roots to hold itself in place, but if it's propped up by staking, it won't need to do that and you get a less extensive root system. We were told to only stake if the tree was coming up crooked or otherwise wouldn't stay straight on its own. Interesting. Yeah I didn't think about it too hard, just thought I had to. Right now I'm weighing the pros and cons. One big pro is that it helps discourage the little ones from messing with them. (We also occasionally have deer and foxes wandering around, not sure if that matters.) I'll do some more research on it.
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May 20, 2021 13:48
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I finally pulled the trigger earlier this week and requested a replacement for my dying Stella cherry tree. They got it to me a lot quicker than expected: today. So I went ahead and fit replacing the tree into my schedule. Here's the replacement. Looking good. Fingers crossed that it stays that way.  Of course, as luck would have it... I finally saw some new growth on the bad tree! Very little, though. Just like, some buds low on the trunk. But it was enough to make me want to try planting it somewhere else, out of the way, just in case it survives. So I did that too. But I also did a little surgery. I basically kept doing the scratch test starting from the top and working my way down until I found green. Interestingly, it started getting green pretty much right below that weird oozing wound I mentioned earlier. Here's a cross section of it after I cut off the top branches, but still above the wound:  And after I cut a little further down:  Interesting. Well, I'll hope the best for this little guy, but in the meantime I have a nice new one to replace it. This one will sit in the corner of the backyard until it behaves... 
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May 28, 2021 03:32
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So, my cherry trees from last year didn't work out, but I've decided to keep on truckin' with some fig trees, which look to be a bit more forgiving. I bought them around Arbor Day and planted them not long after. They came in basically these very rudimentary miniature pots. So far, so good. (Zone 7b on the cusp of 8a) This past Monday, though, there was a pretty vicious wind & rain storm. Actually knocked down a large pine tree on our property. One of my fig trees got pretty heavily drenched, and certainly survived, but it's been leaning over ever since. This has overall been a remarkably rainy/stormy week, culminating in today's tornado warning. Here are some before and after pics -- one from right before this week, and one today:   I've heard that it's generally not advised to stake trees unless absolutely necessary, since the roots tend to grow stronger under pressure from the wind. But do you think this might be an "absolutely necessary" case? I'm definitely a bit nervous about it getting knocked over. Although I do think the weather is finally going to calm down / dry out.
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May 28, 2022 01:27
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My Italian Honey Fig tree, planted a few months ago (young, nursery-potted, with some growth at the top), has started to sprout little green buds all along the bottom 1 foot or so. Should I be nipping these? My gut tells me Yes, but I want to make sure I'm not making a mistake.  Sorry, I didn't realize how blurry these pictures were when I took them, but I think you get the idea. (P.S. - I normally try not to stake, but this one is having a lot of trouble keeping its head up. I think the growth at the top is just a bit more vigorous than it was prepared for. I plan to remove the stakes whenever it's possible without the plant drooping.)
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Jun 21, 2022 15:30
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Arsenic Lupin posted:A tree cannot grow roots through burlap.  Well drat. This might be what killed my cherry trees last year. I don't have the instructions on hand right now, but I'm pretty sure they said to leave the burlap around the root ball. I'm normally pretty anal about following the instructions exactly, so I'd be shocked if they said to remove it and I just didn't.Oh well. Maybe it's just my destiny to have fig trees instead. Those are doing great so far, and unsurprisingly, no burlap.
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Jul 7, 2022 13:39
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I'm starting to get worried about the fig trees I planted right around this time last year. (Italian honey fig & Beer's black fig, NC zone 7b/8a). When ordered/planted last year they already had advanced root systems and were about 2-3' tall. They showed plenty of leafy growth (and even a tiny fruit) until mid-autumn. But now I'm still waiting to see anything -- at least up top. I am seeing shoots at the bottom of both plants, though. The first few times I nipped them off because I wanted growth up top instead. But now I'm thinking maybe there's an issue and I need to cut them back. I don't want them to be super bushy, though -- I was hoping for decently tall trunks. What's the best way to go about this?
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May 17, 2023 15:47
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Sir Lemming posted:I'm starting to get worried about the fig trees I planted right around this time last year. (Italian honey fig & Beer's black fig, NC zone 7b/8a). When ordered/planted last year they already had advanced root systems and were about 2-3' tall. They showed plenty of leafy growth (and even a tiny fruit) until mid-autumn. But now I'm still waiting to see anything -- at least up top. I am seeing shoots at the bottom of both plants, though. The first few times I nipped them off because I wanted growth up top instead. But now I'm thinking maybe there's an issue and I need to cut them back. I don't want them to be super bushy, though -- I was hoping for decently tall trunks. What's the best way to go about this? Just wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts on this -- I'm considering making some cuts today and don't want to accidentally kill the trees. I'm planning to do the "cut test" at the top of the trees and work my way down until I see green, then cut off whatever looks dead. To me this seems like the least risky way to address the situation. Is there anything I need to look out for? Pretty much everything else in my yard seems to be growing, as well as the aforementioned shoots on these trees, so it definitely seems like I need to do something. (I would provide pictures but basically you'd just see dead-lookin' trees.)
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May 20, 2023 16:20
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Welp, I went ahead and did the cut test on my 2 fig trees and unfortunately it does look like they've died down to just above the base. I'm still not sure why this happened -- it wasn't a harsh winter by any means, and pretty much everything else has survived just fine. I guess I'll just take my chances on the shoots and cut the rest away. I'm guessing this is below a graft point, so I'll probably just give up any hopes of actually getting fruit from these. If they just become trees at all, I'll be happy.     Meanwhile, my mature Bartlett pear tree in the backyard seems like it's decided not to give us pears for the first time in 6 years, so I guess it's just gonna be that kind of year! Still tons of new growth... Just no pears. 
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May 22, 2023 17:43
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Figs root incredibly easily so they may be rooted cuttings and not grafted? I don't know much about commercial practice there though. Is there any evidence of something girdling the main stem? Honestly I'm just parroting something I saw on Google. I have no specific reason to think they're grafted.
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May 22, 2023 19:19
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Sir Lemming posted:Welp, I went ahead and did the cut test on my 2 fig trees and unfortunately it does look like they've died down to just above the base. I'm still not sure why this happened -- it wasn't a harsh winter by any means, and pretty much everything else has survived just fine. I guess I'll just take my chances on the shoots and cut the rest away. Following up on this from months ago, I'm happy to report that after cutting them down to just a few inches, the fig trees both grew to a very respectable height (at least 5 feet) and even produced some figs! I'll just have to protect them better this winter. I wish I'd taken pictures right before our first frost happened a few weeks ago, but I'm still proud of how tall they got.  
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Nov 17, 2023 23:12
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I've ordered frost protection bags for my fig trees (I couldn't find good ones in-store) but we're gonna get some pretty nasty temperatures before they arrive. I did buy mulch. Is it advisable to water and mulch, or just mulch? NC Zone 8B, supposed to get down to 20°F overnight. In all likelihood they've been hit with one or two frosts already, but I'm just trying to do whatever I can.
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Nov 28, 2023 13:37
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Thanks -- I'm also thinking, just for a day or two would plastic garbage bags be so bad? I know long-term that can develop fungus or something, but just until the real frost covers arrive.
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Nov 28, 2023 17:16
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:If you mean edible figs like Brown Turkey or w/e, mine have been fine down to 18F no problem. Indoor figs might not be. Yeah unfortunately the early frost may have happened already. It was in October when I was just randomly sick for like the whole month and I couldn't be bothered to prepare. Leaves already dropped but I'm not sure how natural it was. Last winter they got hit pretty bad even though I didn't think it would be an issue. I had to cut them almost all the way back this year because they were mostly dead. Of course I would hope they're a little stronger now.
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Nov 28, 2023 20:36
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Speaking of fig trees, I just had to cut mine back to just a few inches above the ground, for the second year in a row. They bounced back pretty great last time, but like, I really hope I don't have to do this every year. I do want them to actually be, like, trees at some point. I had actually forgotten until looking at my own post history that we had an early frost in November that I was unable to prepare for. I covered them during winter, but maybe that was enough to do them in. I dunno. Hoping for the best next year.
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Apr 9, 2024 03:49
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So, about that "scratch test". Once I've determined that a tree has pretty much fully died back to the base, and I've cut it down to where I'm seeing bright green under the outer bark layer... Where should I be expecting it to regrow from? I've cut back my fig trees again to where they're basically a small stubby trunk (but noticeably thicker than they used to be) and there are shoots coming up from a few inches below the cut. Am I basically starting over, growing a whole new trunk from one of the shoots? Is the old trunk going to do anything? Fortunately since these are figs I don't think they're grafted, so the new growth should be solid. Hoping my new peach and apple trees fare better though. If those die down to the roots next winter that'll be a real problem. (So far they're looking great though.)
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Apr 18, 2024 17:12
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I planted this peach tree not too long ago, purchased online. It was already pretty nicely grown, it's gotten a few more leaves at this point. It also has a pretty significant shoot coming from the bottom. I'm trying not to do too much pruning since this is the first year, but I definitely won't want this little guy to grow long-term. Should I do anything about it or just let it do whatever it wants until winter? 
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May 6, 2024 21:17
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 03:25 |
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Discussion Quorum posted:I would nip that sucker coming from the bottom, especially if it is coming from the rootstock (hard to see the graft union in your pic). Personally I would leave the other lower branches for now to encourage the trunk to thicken up a bit. Thanks. I was pretty sure I wanted to but I needed a sanity check first. I tend to err on the side of doing too much to save the plant.
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May 7, 2024 03:03
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