Growing Fruit - Latest posts

The sand here is frozen solid in winter, but so is the soil. I would cut a garbage bag into a flat sheet. I would poke a hole in the middle of the sheet to slip over the tree. Then I would pour sand over the bag so that I could recover and remove the sand in spring.

Today I picked almost all of the Rochas and most of the Seckels and some Honeysweets. When I started picking Dabney, I found that almost all were too ripe and very soft. None had fallen, and since it is a graft fairly high on a tree, I was not aware it was ready to pick. I was only able to save 5 fruit. I’ll post pictures tomorrow. I also found a few Beierschmitt pears that h...

Sand conducts heat quickly

“Wet” sand conducts heat quickly. Guess what happens to sand in winter when rain falls and there is no heat to evaporate the water.

Thanks for the idea of burying the trees. Sand here is free for me

Sand conducts heat quickly and can freeze your trunk and roots during the winter, so be careful with that, maybe if you mulch on top for winter it will be good.

If it’s possible this coming winter is really like some scions, I want to collect some cold hardy varieties and try o make some crosses with fruit from warmer zones that we’d like to be more cold hardy! And red, sweet, not grainy, low maintenance, and flavorful are all great features!