Monthly Archives: January 2016

bare root plants, edibles, fruit trees

Bare Root Fruit Trees- What, When and Why?

Autumnalis flowering cherry blooming in January
Autumnalis flowering cherry blooming in January

I have an Autumnalis flowering cherry tree that blooms year round. The last blooming cycle started in late November and it’s still blooming now despite heavy rains. This tree came into my life 20 years ago as a bare root tree. We’re old friends. Now is the time to add ornamentals and edibles like fruit, nuts, berries and vegetables while they’re available in bare root form. They are easy to plant, economical and establish quickly.

Every year there are more fruit tree varieties available in bare root including delicious time honored heirloom varieties as well as modern favorites. It?ll be hard for me to decide which ones I?ll recommend for edible gardens I design this year.

Several years ago Orin Martin, the manager, master orchardist, horticulturalist and

Apple variety
Apple variety

teacher extraordinaire at UCSC Alan Chadwick garden visited a group of fellow landscape designers bringing with him a bag of his favorite apples. As he cut slices of each for us to sample his highest praise went to Cox?s Orange Pippen, Golden Delicious, American Golden Russet, McIntosh and Mutsu apples. Plant these varieties and you could be eating apples from August through October. Did you know that at one time in American history russet apples were the most desired and wages were actually paid in cider made from russet apples?

Bare Root Fruit Trees in bins with sawdust
Bare Root Fruit Trees in bins with sawdust

If it’s peaches you crave, Renee of Mountain Feed & Farm Supply shared with me some peach leaf curl resistant varieties they carry. Listed by UC Integrated Integrated Pest Management Program they include Frost and the Q-1-8 white peach. The Frost is a medium-sized, freestone yellow peach with a delicious flavor. It has showy pink flowers in the spring. They ripen in July and require 700 hours of winter chill. The Q-1-8 peach ripens in July also. This white-fleshed, semi-freestone peach is sweet and juicy like Babcock and has showy blossoms in late spring. Peaches are self-fruitful and don’t require another peach to pollinize them.

What fruit tree varieties can you grow here in the mountains? Well, almost everything. Most of us get 700-900 chilling hours per winter. What does that mean? Well, many fruit trees, lilacs and peonies need a certain number of hours during dormancy where the temperature is 45 degrees or less. You can give the plant more chilling in the winter and that’s just fine but not less. Those in coastal Santa Cruz can grow Fuji apples as they require only 300 hours of chilling but not Red Delicious. We can grow both.

What if you don’t get full sun where you’d like to grow fruit trees? Apples, pluots and plums are good choices for an area that gets some sun- at least 5 hours- every day during the growing season. The ideal is full sun but these trees will still set and ripen some fruit in partially shaded conditions. With peaches, nectarines or apricots it’s a different story. These fruits need hot sun to develop sweet, tasty fruit. Too little sun and they will not deliver anything close to what you have in mind.

Shop for your plants in January or February while they are still dormant. Once leaves emerge or flower buds start to swell tree roots have already started growing. You want your tree to start developing new permanent roots in their final home. Stone fruits such as apricots, peaches,

Bartlett pear
Bartlett pear

plums and cherries are going to start waking up first so they are best put in the ground soon. Fruit trees like pears and apples wake up later so you can wait a bit longer to plant those varieties.

With this in mind be wary of spring sale bare root stock. Also trees in packages may have had their roots pruned to fit inside or the packaging material may have dried out or become soggy. Better to see the roots for yourself before you bring your new addition home.

When May rolls around I?ll be anxiously awaiting the first cherries, apricots and peaches. Then the early nectarines arrive, sweet and juicy followed by the plums that ripen next. Later in the summer apples, figs and pears make their debut as well as late ripening plums and peaches. With a little planning you can have fresh fruit 7 months of the year.

By growing your own fruit you?re not at the mercy of mechanical harvesters and shipping practices. You can grow fruit and harvest it when the time is right. Homegrown fruit is a world apart from agribusiness and much less expensive than the Farmer’s Market.

fragrant plants, fragrant vines, gardening tips, pruning roses, roses

?Pruning Roses- How, When & Why

 

Mixed rose bouquet
Mixed rose bouquet

In between storms I’m itching to get outside and do something in the garden. It’s too early to cut back the perennials as some frosty nights are sure to come our way between now and mid-March. But it’s just the right time to start pruning the roses. It’s best to prune your roses before they start leafing out or some of their energy will be wasted.

Last year, mine were looking just fine in January, thank you very much, so I thought I’d skip the pruning and removing last year’s leaves. Boy, what a mistake. Oh they looked great in January and February when there was no precipitation. Then some rain fell in March. I’m not kidding when I tell you that every single leaf got black spot and rust. My rose varieties are usually resistant to disease but they could not fight back against the fungal spores lurking in the soil just waiting to colonize those old leaves.

Yellow fragrant rose
Yellow fragrant rose

Roses give so much back I think they are worth the extra mulch and a little extra water to keep them producing those lovely blooms. There’s nothing quite as dramatic as a mixed bouquet of scented roses on the table.

I want my rose bushes to produce lots of roses on a compact shrub and not just a few exhibition size blooms so I prune my shrubs moderately. My goal is to keep the center of the plant open for good air circulation aiming for a vase-shaped bush with an open center. I’ll cut out canes that cross, saving the better of the two, prune spindly and diseased stems and dead wood. I’ll also prune canes that appear weak or broken. Healthy canes appear green or reddish while old and dying canes are brown. Then I’ll cut back the remaining stems by about third. When pruning cut canes at a 45-degree angle just above an outward facing leaf bud or a swelling on the cane. Slant the cut away from the bud to encourage growth outward. Clean pruners afterward to prevent the spread of disease and keep your pruners sharp to make clean cuts.

Same goes for climbing roses. Cut out extra stems if there are too many and also cut back long established canes to the place where they are slightly thicker than a pencil. Then cut each side stem down to several inches. This will cause the cane to flower along its complete length for a beautiful spring display.

Bouquet of mixed roses
Bouquet of mixed roses

Heirlooms roses such as David Austin, other old antique garden roses, and floribunda roses require less pruning because their open look is part of their charm. Keep this in mind and prune lightly. Old garden roses that bloom once in the spring should be pruned after flowering.

I got off easy this year as one of my roses was pruned and de-leafed by a deer who got inside the fence one night but the others are getting pruned the right way and at the right time. I know those old leaves will spread fungus spores and possibly infect the new growth so I’ll patiently pluck them off.  If you have a huge climber this might not be possible and spraying with fungicide may be your only option if you’ve had disease problems in the past. Rake up the debris beneath the plant and discard to eliminate overwintering fungus spores. It?s a good idea to spray the bare plant, coating the trunk, branches and twigs and the surrounding soil with a combination organic horticultural oil to smother overwintering insect eggs and a dormant spray like lime-sulfur or copper soap to kill fungus spores. If you usually only have problems with black spot you can use a mixture of 1 teaspoon baking soda with a few drops of light horticultural oil in 1 quart water and spray every 7 to 10 days during the spring.

Pruning intimidates some gardeners but when you understand the reasons for making the cuts pruning becomes less daunting. The reasons to prune are for health, appearance and to control size.

Prune your roses throughout the growing season, too. Deadheading or cutting off spent flowers encourages plants to re-bloom. Every time you cut a rose bloom to bring it indoors or deadhead a fading rose prune the stem down to shape the plant at the same time. Prune to a spot that has at least 5 leaflets. Roses grow from the point where they are cut so consider the overall shape of the plant as you snip.

Don?t worry whether you?re pruning job is perfect. Roses are super forgiving and you can always trim them up again later. Roses are like redwoods -you can?t kill one- they?re the energizer bunnies of the plant world.

houseplants, indoor pollution

Houseplants Clean the Air in Winter

 

 

spathiphyllum
Spathiphyllum aka Peace LilySome of my houseplants look a little sad. They were forced to give up their regular place for the Christmas tree and table top decorations and the leaves are dusty and looking a bit droopy. Houseplants can absorb toxins from the air in your house. We spend more time indoors in the winter so that’s an important function. Let your houseplants work for you.

It’s amazing how many potential pollutants can be found in a home. For most of a winter day, our homes are closed tight with no windows or doors open to let out pollutants and let fresh air circulate. Toxins such as benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene can be released from furniture upholstery, carpets, cleaning products, paint, plastics and rubber. Carbon monoxide from the incomplete burning of wood and nitrogen oxides from cigarette smoke, vehicle exhaust and smog can also be present in indoor air.

Dracaena
Dracaena

Then there are airborne biological pollutants. These include bacteria, viruses, animal dander and dried cat saliva, house dust and pollen. House mites, the source of one of the most powerful biological allergens grow in damp warm environments. Mold and mildew grow in moist places like central heating systems and are just one more source of indoor pollution.

The first list of air-filtering plants was compiled by NASA as part of a clean air study published in 1989 which researched ways to clean the air in space stations. As well as absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, as all plants do, these plants also eliminated significant amounts of benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene. Other studies added to the list of chemical pollutants and the best plants to remove them.

Pothos
Pothos

NASA researchers suggest that the most efficient air cleaning occurs with at least one plant per 100 square feet. Even the microorganisms in potting soil remove some toxins. Yikes, who knew all that was going on right under our noses.

Some of the easiest houseplants to grow are some of the best to have in the home. Just about all the potted palms are good. Also rubber plant, dracaena ‘Janet Craig’, philodendron, boston fern, ficus, peace lily, Chinese evergreen, spider plant, liriope, snake plant, pothos, English ivy and phalaenopsis orchids are high on the list.

Sanseveria
Sanseveria

Caring for your houseplants in winter will keep them healthy. Remove dust which blocks light from getting to leaves. I use a moist cloth as it’s too much hassle to drag them to the shower.

Water just enough to keep the soil from going totally dry. Poke your finger into the soil. As a rule of thumb, if your plant is in a 4-6? pot let the soil dry half an inch down between waterings then water thoroughly with room temperature water. Don?t let the pot sit in a saucer with water for over an hour or the roots will rot. If your plant is in an 8-12? pot let the soil dry to 1-2? down before watering and if you have a bigger specimen the soil should be dry 2-3? down before watering. Don?t panic if this takes 2-3 wks before the soil has dried sufficiently for a plant in a big pot. A moisture meter is very helpful for your larger plants.

Fertilize less often. Some houseplant growers skip fertilizing in December and January starting up again with half strength fertilizer in mid-February. Think of your houseplants as essentially dormant in winter. They need fertilizer only when active growth resumes.

Here in the Santa Cruz mountains many of us live under trees that block available light during the winter and cloudy days can further lower the amount of light your plants receive. Move plants into the best light you have. To avoid unnecessary trauma, don?t repot a plant in winter. If you?ve acquired a new plant, it?s best to put it inside the next size pot for the time being and replant it when the growing season resumes in March or April. Most plants grow happily for years in the same pot and soil with proper fertilizing during the growing season.

Plain green leafy types do best when there?s less light. Schefflera, arboricola and philodendrons like heart-leafed, selloum and split-leafed, pothos, Chinese evergreen, peace lily and ferns look good even in dreary conditions. They come from the under-story of jungles and grow naturally in low-light areas. Don’t overwater and they’ll be happy.

I’m going to get more indoor plants for my own home and choose from those that filter the air best.