Not everything is rosy here on the farm.
We had a very hard winter and spring weather wise.
Let's back up to summer 2014.
Last year the orchard produced a bumper crop of fruit.
All the trees were strong, healthy and heavily laden with beautiful fruit.
Breathtaking amounts of fruit.
HOLY MOLY amounts of fruit.
Breathtaking amounts of fruit.
HOLY MOLY amounts of fruit.
Just look at the photos of fruit on the trees last summer...
Branches sagging with baseball size juicy peaches.
Sweet apricots filled the trees.
Crazy amounts of plums.
I didn't get picture but the cherries were just as heavy.
We were simply too busy eating picking to take a picture.
We harvested what we could handle and let the birds and bees enjoy the rest.
(I'll do another post on the harvest later!)
Unfortunately, winter came earlier than normal and it was cold. Very cold.
Did I mention early?
Some of the trees hadn't even finished dropping leaves before it froze. HARD.
Hoar frost covered everything.
Around the middle of March the area turned nice and warm for a few weeks.
Too warm.
Too warm.
The trees started to bloom a month earlier than normal. Not. Good.
You see where this is going, right?
The worst case scenario happened, of course.
The worst case scenario happened, of course.
It froze in the middle of April killing most of the buds, both leaf and flower.
Nearly every orchard in the area was affected, losing whole trees and branches on others.
We lost an apple tree that was small, and a plum tree that wasn't (over 12 ft tall and 15 years old).
This is the plum tree last year in May on the left...
...and in late April, on the right after the plum next to it blossomed.
This is the plum tree last year in May on the left...
...and in late April, on the right after the plum next to it blossomed.
RIP plum tree.
I'm glad I saved 8 quarts of juice from your fruit for jelly.
All three peach trees lost about half their branches.
I'm hoping some miracle will occur and the branches will
spring to life and begin to leaf out.
The orchard trees have very little fruit set, but I'm thankful for what we do have.
It will be all the sweeter when we harvest this summer.
Though not officially part of the orchard, one of our willows in the backyard looks
battered and worn after both the early and late cold snaps.
I'm plying the tree with a product called Thrive by Zamzows
hoping beyond hope we can save the poor thing.
hoping beyond hope we can save the poor thing.
It is not looking good yet, but the Thrive has taken care of the sickly yellow color.
I'll post again if the tree begins to recover.
We need to decide what to plant to replace the plum and apple.
The man thinks he wants two more apple trees, and I've considered pears.
I'm taking votes. Let me know which way we should go in the comments below!
Thanks for stopping by to see what is happening on the farm!
*As a disclaimer, I am not being compensated for mentioning Thrive nor sponsored by Zamzows. I bought the product on my own and am giving it a go, along with a prayer that we don't have to remove this tree. That would really stink.