At Least The 12th Lawn Thread

[Damage In Tolland]

2 minutes ago, dendrite said:

How'd it look July of 09? It looked like Ireland here.

No recollection. Are all your trees leafed out?

[dendrite]

2 hours ago, Damage In Tolland said:

No recollection. Are all your trees leafed out?

Most are in that small reddish stage. A few early species have small green leaves. It's been stunted for weeks, but starting to pick up after the last couple days of sun.

[BrianW]

We fully leafed out down on the shoreline. 

 

[CoastalWx]

We were on a roll to a nice leaf out until Early April I mean early  summer weather slowed things down considerably.

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, CoastalWx said:

We were on a roll to a nice leaf out until Early April I mean early  summer weather slowed things down considerably.

Suits me just fine.  Yesterday's 27 might've caused some damage if we'd had a bunch of earlier days in the 70s.  White ash, the most vulnerable to having new shoots fried, hasn't fully broken buds yet.

[CoastalWx]

6 minutes ago, tamarack said:

Suits me just fine.  Yesterday's 27 might've caused some damage if we'd had a bunch of earlier days in the 70s.  White ash, the most vulnerable to having new shoots fried, hasn't fully broken buds yet.

Still ahead of last year though by a fairly good amount. 

[dendrite]

2 ticks on me today. One was latched onto my neck this evening. Kill’em with fire.

[dendrite]

Good news on the ash tree front…

@BrianW

 

[DavisStraight]

3 hours ago, dendrite said:

2 ticks on me today. One was latched onto my neck this evening. Kill’em with fire.

Don't want fire on your neck, your chickens not eating them? Get some guinea hens.

[dendrite]

6 hours ago, DavisStraight said:

Don't want fire on your neck, your chickens not eating them? Get some guinea hens.

I haven’t been letting them out enough with the standing water out there. It’s all earthworms all the time (AEWATT) and they’ll eventually eat one with parasitic worms and drink out of a puddle with coccidia. They’re better off in the dry run during the day eating dried mealworms and fodder I grow for them.

[wxeyeNH]

Leaf Out is finally starting in my hood.  We had the warm spell awhile back and I was worried a freeze would get my apple trees.  Then everything slowed down to a crawl.  I really like my Nest Cam.  I can go back and look at prior dates.  Here are 2 pictures taken exactly 1 week apart.  930am May 2 and 930am May 9

[QCD17]

12 hours ago, dendrite said:

Good news on the ash tree front…

@BrianW

 

Wow, I didn't realize this was being done.  From what I'm reading, it looks like some ash trees create chemicals that are toxic to the EAB larvae, making them more resistant.  Now I guess we just have to wait for some large-scale growers to stock nurseries and arbor groups with this resistant stock.

[tamarack]

21 hours ago, QCD17 said:

Wow, I didn't realize this was being done.  From what I'm reading, it looks like some ash trees create chemicals that are toxic to the EAB larvae, making them more resistant.  Now I guess we just have to wait for some large-scale growers to stock nurseries and arbor groups with this resistant stock.

I've read reports that a fraction - not sure how significant - of white ash is tolerant of EAB.  It's by far the most abundant ash in Maine so that would be good news if the fraction is more than a couple percent.  Unfortunately, there's apparently little/no such tolerance in brown ash.

[dendrite]

56 minutes ago, tamarack said:

I've read reports that a fraction - not sure how significant - of white ash is tolerant of EAB.  It's by far the most abundant ash in Maine so that would be good news if the fraction is more than a couple percent.  Unfortunately, there's apparently little/no such tolerance in brown ash.

I know there's none native even close to here, but for giggles I bought some blue ash seed online and cold stratified it in the fridge this winter. We'll see if it germinates.

[dendrite]

On 4/7/2021 at 11:52 AM, dendrite said:

I have to use this with my chickens. 
https://coop-poop.com

Put 80lbs of this down on part of the lawn yesterday...10lb/1k sqft. Spread some into the fruit trees as well. We'll see how it goes.

[backedgeapproaching]

25 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Put 80lbs of this down on part of the lawn yesterday...10lb/1k sqft. Spread some into the fruit trees as well. We'll see how it goes.

Where did you pick this up? How much was a bag?  I see they have a list of stores, just curious about price. Don't think its carried anywhere around here. 

[wxeyeNH]

My front lawn looked great yesterday.   Last year was a struggle with drought.  Let's see how this year goes.  Missed just about all the rain last night.

[tamarack]

52 minutes ago, dendrite said:

I know there's none native even close to here, but for giggles I bought some blue ash seed online and cold stratified it in the fridge this winter. We'll see if it germinates.

IIRC, blue ash has shown significant tolerance for EAB, though far less than total tolerance - maybe 50% of trees.  

[dendrite]

1 hour ago, tamarack said:

IIRC, blue ash has shown significant tolerance for EAB, though far less than total tolerance - maybe 50% of trees.  

That was my reasoning for trying them. Maybe the bluish/black dye of the inner bark deters the EAB? My hunch says they probably just prefer green, white, brown ash and would gladly destroy the blue ones too if they wiped the other species out.

[dendrite]

We green. We flower. 

[tamarack]

2 hours ago, dendrite said:

We green. We flower. 

Haralred blossoms beginning to open.  Empire and Ultramac usually 4-5 days later.  That Haralred is showing thousands of blossom buds, its usual abundance and welcome after it had absolutely none (I looked very carefully) last year.  Guess it just needed a rest.

[dendrite]

On 5/10/2021 at 9:46 AM, backedgeapproaching said:

Where did you pick this up? How much was a bag?  I see they have a list of stores, just curious about price. Don't think its carried anywhere around here. 

My agway and aubuchon have it for $16/40lb bag. 10lbs/1ksqft normal app and 20lbs/1ksqft for a heavy app.

[dendrite]

30 minutes ago, tamarack said:

Haralred blossoms beginning to open.  Empire and Ultramac usually 4-5 days later.  That Haralred is showing thousands of blossom buds, its usual abundance and welcome after it had absolutely none (I looked very carefully) last year.  Guess it just needed a rest.

My potted honeycrisp is starting to open. The deer got a few of the early blossoms, but there's a handful of them remaining. I don't have a pollinator for it out back yet so I'm going to move the pot out front under the crabapple this weekend and then I'll plant the honeycrisp in its planned location. Empire is a pretty good pollinator for it...how do you like it? I know it's fairly disease resistant so I've considered getting one of those. The local Agway has a few nice ones already pruned the way I would do it so I considered going that route. The other one I considered was a crimson crisp.

3 of my 4 pawpaws are beginning to leaf out so they survived the winter. The KSU-Atwood isn't looking too healthy. There's a couple of nodes above the graft that may have life left in it, but I'm not too confident. If it's completely dead above the graft I'll just rip it out and replant with another 1 of the 5 I have arriving on Thursday.

[tamarack]

18 minutes ago, dendrite said:

My potted honeycrisp is starting to open. The deer got a few of the early blossoms, but there's a handful of them remaining. I don't have a pollinator for it out back yet so I'm going to move the pot out front under the crabapple this weekend and then I'll plant the honeycrisp in its planned location. Empire is a pretty good pollinator for it...how do you like it? I know it's fairly disease resistant so I've considered getting one of those. The local Agway has a few nice ones already pruned the way I would do it so I considered going that route. The other one I considered was a crimson crisp.

3 of my 4 pawpaws are beginning to leaf out so they survived the winter. The KSU-Atwood isn't looking too healthy. There's a couple of nodes above the graft that may have life left in it, but I'm not too confident. If it's completely dead above the graft I'll just rip it out and replant with another 1 of the 5 I have arriving on Thursday.

Of my 3 apple trees the Empire is poorest at converting blossoms to fruit - was also the last to begin flowering despite being the biggest of the three.  Its (rare) fruit is very good and the one scabby little apple from there was the year's entire 3-tree crop last year.  The Ultramac alternates between good-not-bumper crops and near nothing (last year) and the fruit is excellent.  The Haralred was planted in 1999, a year after the other two, and has been the most severely pruned including removal of one of 2 equal forks about 10 years ago.  I thought sacrificing half the tree was better than a paste-bomb split; April 2020 would've been a candidate, or perhaps the super crop of 2017 would've done it.  The fruit is harder and a bit more tart than the Ultramac and takes a morning or two in the upper 20s to rein in that tartness.  I've occasionally stuck some tree spikes into the ground, but apart from pruning have done no other culturing - no bug/scab/disease treatments.  Most apples have some minor defects but they don't affect the flavor and the worst end up as applesauce or apple butter.

[Damage In Tolland]

On 5/10/2021 at 10:07 AM, wxeyeNH said:

My front lawn looked great yesterday.   Last year was a struggle with drought.  Let's see how this year goes.  Missed just about all the rain last night.

Looks like leaf out 

[Cold Miser]

On 5/7/2021 at 5:45 PM, Damage In Tolland said:

First mowing of the season.  Always 2-3 weeks behind valleys, coasts . May 20 is best looking lawn date. After that they go downhill 

All of that work for one day in May?

lol.

[DavisStraight]

4 hours ago, tamarack said:

Of my 3 apple trees the Empire is poorest at converting blossoms to fruit - was also the last to begin flowering despite being the biggest of the three.  Its (rare) fruit is very good and the one scabby little apple from there was the year's entire 3-tree crop last year.  The Ultramac alternates between good-not-bumper crops and near nothing (last year) and the fruit is excellent.  The Haralred was planted in 1999, a year after the other two, and has been the most severely pruned including removal of one of 2 equal forks about 10 years ago.  I thought sacrificing half the tree was better than a paste-bomb split; April 2020 would've been a candidate, or perhaps the super crop of 2017 would've done it.  The fruit is harder and a bit more tart than the Ultramac and takes a morning or two in the upper 20s to rein in that tartness.  I've occasionally stuck some tree spikes into the ground, but apart from pruning have done no other culturing - no bug/scab/disease treatments.  Most apples have some minor defects but they don't affect the flavor and the worst end up as applesauce or apple butter.

I got two apples last year on my Delicious tree, the deer got both of them so I'm not sure how good they are, I expect more this year and I'll have to beat the deer to them this time.

[DavisStraight]

On 5/10/2021 at 10:07 AM, wxeyeNH said:

My front lawn looked great yesterday.   Last year was a struggle with drought.  Let's see how this year goes.  Missed just about all the rain last night.

You have an awesome spot, nice yard to sit outside and enjoy the view.

[DavisStraight]

I think I'm going to love this new fertilizer by Scott, triple action, gets rid of dandys, clover and crabgrass, was a bit expensive but you get what you pay for, it's pretty much killed all of the above and my lawn's looking like Kevin's, and I didn't even use Lesco. 

 

Scotts® Turf Builder® Triple Action - Scotts

[tunafish]

4 hours ago, DavisStraight said:

I think I'm going to love this new fertilizer by Scott, triple action, gets rid of dandys, clover and crabgrass, was a bit expensive but you get what you pay for, it's pretty much killed all of the above and my lawn's looking like Kevin's, and I didn't even use Lesco. 

 

Scotts® Turf Builder® Triple Action - Scotts

Sounds great for pollinators, too.