Friday, January 1, 2010

Dormant Care

Today, we pruned the roses, grape vine,  and espalier fruit trees, cleaned the beds around those pruned darlings, and sprayed dormant oil to protect from nasty insects and diseases.  The trees were planted about a year ago. 

DSC_0248_143 January 12, 2009 (planted)

There wasn’t any bounty from the trees this year.  2009 was the year to train the trees in espalier fashion.  There were 5 peaches, 3 apples, and a few bunches of grapes (Most were donated to the birds – those terrorists.) was the only fruit sampled from these new plants.  So far, so good.   Here’s how everything looked today, January 1, 2010:DSC_1347_2741 DSC_1351_2745 Santa Rosa Plum

DSC_1352_2746 O’Henry Peach

DSC_1353_2747 Granny Smith Apple

DSC_1354_2748 Red Flame Grape

DSC_1355_2749Warren Pear

DSC_1356_2750  Fantasia Nectarine

DSC_1357_2751 Blenheim Apricot

I’m pleased to report many earthworms in each of the tree beds.  There were also cutworms, cabbage loopers, cabbageworms, and earwigs (aka earrywigs).  We have lost many trees to borers in the past.  Hopefully this dormant maintenance will help cut down on the population of the destructive insects and any nasty diseases.

Let the year begin.  Happy 2010!

Note:  Second dormant oil application was on January 31, 2009, Sunday.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed the information. Thank you.

Lisa Paul said...

Happy New Year to you. And thanks for the reminder that I need to get up to Sonoma and take care of my fruit trees. Luckily the vines have all been trimmed and tied.