Last weekend got my trees from the NRD and got them planted last weekend, 20 manchurian apricot & and 25 black cherry. And as of last Wednesday a 3 stemmed river birch is residing where the dying spruce was. Roots were terribly bound up in the pot and I’m sure it suffered a lot of shock, not looking great right now but it’s only been 4 days.
Got eight new fruit trees planted today (6 apple and 2 cherry). That gives me 16 total in the ground with one peach tree left to go. I think it's a good use of the wasted space under the power line easement. All the trees are dwarf, and the tally is (4) Granny Smith, (4) Red Delicious, (4) Golden Delicious, (2) Plum, and (2) Cherry. The 6 apple trees I planted two years ago and the 2 plum I planted last fall are all doing well so fingers crossed the 8 new trees will take.
All the black walnuts I potted up didn't over-winter. I probably should have heeled them in somewhere. Pots above ground can get a bit too cold. Deer ate my mystery apple tree seedlings.
Bummer. Some sources I looked up suggested drilling a small hole in the walnut shell first to assist them in sprouting. I didn’t do that with mine, just planted them about 3-4” under the surface. I had about a 40% germination rate here all said and done. I also read that sometimes they might sprout two years out, and that the hot/cold cycles helps a little.
I just ordered a couple Black Locust trees. I asked my folks if I could plant a couple trees. I promised my mom they will be flowering trees, and she says "Ohhh...." and her eyes got big. She doesn't know I have alteriar motives. Te he...
Another selling point is that the flowers smell phenomenal. They’re edible too - I tried a few yesterday. They taste a lot like sweet peas. I’ve heard some people use them to make mead or other fermented beverages as well…
All of these trees appear to be doing well. All the hardwoods are leafing out & the pines are all showing new growth. The damm deer killed one Pear & my Peach tree. I will have to get some cages for everything for the fall/winter.
The one I started indoors back in February is doing well in the fencerow. I think the squirrels dug up all the seeds I planted outside, so I'm going to start more from seed this week and leave them in protected pots until fall.
We have an infinite supply of tree rats here. I must've planted sunflowers 3-4 times this year (so far). They sniff em out and dig them up within hours. I had a large pot of acorns that sprouted a dozen small seedlings. Hardware cloth over it to keep the critters away. The stems grew through the hardware cloth so I was going to cut the cloth when the time came to transplant them. I don't have to worry about it now because last week the squirrels chomped off every single seedling. It's war now. The only thing I'll leave alone are the songbirds.
Thus ended the 2022 black walnut experiment. This is how you turn a conservationist like myself into a cold blooded killer. What chomps off a tree seedling and doesn’t even eat it? 100% done now. Everything that comes into my yard that’s not under federal protection is getting shot from here on in.
This one was up on my deck too. That sad thing is I chose to plant black walnuts specifically FOR the squirrels. Because that’s who I am. At first I was thinking these creatures are just out here trying to survive. Seeing as how they killed ALL my oak seedlings this year and now every single black walnut, I see they’re not trying to survive. They’re obviously asking to be taken out of the game. I can accommodate them in that pursuit.
