Gardening/Maintenance Thread

[mac5155]

Oh, no, they're cutting the trees down entirely, which is what I wanted all along. That's just how far they got. There's no direction where they could cut them down without removing all of the branches first.

As an aside, does anyone on here want some wood? Loading and hauling not included. The branches have been going into one of those huge chippers, but anything too large to be chipped will be cut into chunks and left in my yard. I don't have a fireplace, so I'm thinking a "free unsplit firewood" post on Nextdoor might be in my near future.

I would be on it but I think you're a bit far - north of the city right? It looks like maple. You should have no problem getting rid of it for free. Especially if it's cut up already.

[Shyster]

Not too far north. I'm in Ross Township, near West View. The trees are all maples. Two are silver maples, and I believe the third is a Norway maple.

They were back today, but still aren't finished. Tree 1 is limbless but the trunk is still standing. Trees 2 and 3 are both about 75% limbless. They didn't show up until later in the morning, so I think they were working somewhere else before they came back to my house. My understanding is that the trunks will be cut into chunks and left in my yard. It would certainly need additional splitting to be firewood sized.

[Shyster]

The trees are all finally down. Took the trimmers five full days of work. This was just two of the three trees:



The third was smaller and was, err, "branchier" so that more of it was able to fit in the chipper.



They did manage to smash the outdoor post lantern that's next to my driveway by accidentally dropping a log on it (I heard a *thump* *crash* *tinkle* from outside this morning), but replacing that is a trivial expense compared to the thousands of dollars it would have cost me to pay a tree company to take down these three trees. With branches over both my house and over the power lines, and two large trees that I figure were both over 60' high, I'm thinking this would have run me at least $5,000, and maybe closer to $10,000.

[dodint]

Congrats.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

They aren't going to pay for the outdoor post lanten?

[Shyster]

Some ads on Facebook and Nextdoor took care of the majority of the wood. There were four big chunks left that no one took. Each of them was maybe two feet in diameter and more than a foot thick, so I can see why no one took them. The paper I signed with Duquesne Light said that wood would be left in "handling lengths," but some of the pieces they left would only have been handleable by the Incredible Hulk.

My brother a couple years ago bought a set of splitting wedges, ax, and maul from a company in Sweden (Gränsfors), so I borrowed his setup to deal with the remaining wood. Got two of them split into quarters, which I can actually pick up. Holy crap, splitting wood is a workout. Haven't done that since I was a teenager. Will probably do the other two chunks next weekend.

[RonnieFranchise]

We planted a couple of peach trees maybe 7 years ago and they are kicking ass this year. A week or two and they'll be ready. This is the first year we've really been successful with them. Last year we got a late freeze and no peaches. The year before we had an issue with peach scab and while it was safe to eat them you had to peel or cut out the scab and it just wasn't appetizing. I kept them sprayed for pests and fungus this year, and thinned the branches (counterintuitively if you pick the smaller ones in the spring so the ones left are several inches apart, you get fewer peaches but they're nicer).

One of our two apple trees (honeycrisp) is having its first good year also, our other one, which we forget what kind it is, has a few but it's maybe a year away. Kept those sprayed and thinned as well.

[robbiestoupe]

Good work, Franchise. We had a peach tree when we moved in, but we were unsuccessful in removing the scab. The grape vine nearby also had the same problem, so we got rid of both. Someday I'd like to plant some fruit trees, but first I have to convince the missus to cut down some of the other 35 trees we have on our property.

Garden this year did OK. Biggest successes are the green beans and pumpkins. Pumpkins basically took over the garden, we'll probably end up with 6-10 good sized ones this year. They would be perfect for jack-o-lanterns for the kids, but they may ripen too early. Not sure how long I can keep them on the vine before they start to rot.

[King Colby]

I'm having a surprisingly good year too considering how dry may and June were and how hot July was. I focused a lot more on pest and disease prevention and its paying off. I think it's because I spent a lot of time last fall getting organized and had no major garden projects this year, just maintenance.

[RonnieFranchise]

I don't know how orchards with hundreds of fruit trees keep up. I suppose they have equipment that makes it efficient. These four trees have been a couple hours of work a couple days a month to keep sprayed, pruned and thinned. And I hate getting on the stepladder in the yard. It looks flat but it ain't.

[robbiestoupe]

Orchards have machines. I actually interviewed for a job that would have been designing robot tomato harvesters. Farming isn't quite there yet with fully robotic harvesting equipment, but the ones I saw for apples basically wrap a net around the tree, while an arm extends and shakes it.

Pruning and thinning is another story, not sure how that's done other than manually. Some day we should be able to program a robot to prune and thin, maybe in 5-10 years.

The thing I'm most amazed about with farmers is weed control. I know they all use some kind of pesticide/fungicide/weed control, but I do wonder how organic farms get away with it. No way they're out there pulling weeds, it must be that the weed control they use is less toxic. But organic isn't chemical free, that's for sure.

[mac5155]

One of our two apple trees (honeycrisp) is having its first good year also, our other one, which we forget what kind it is, has a few but it's maybe a year away. Kept those sprayed and thinned as well.

I have to start thinning mine out. This year we have the most apples on but they're all small. Last year we didn't have but 3-4 apples. This year there are probably 30-40 but they're all golf ball sized. How do you prune and what do you use to spray? I have one honeycrisp and one golden delicious.

[RonnieFranchise]

So, I used the Bonide Orchard Spray because it addresses both the fungus (scab) that hit the peaches and the pests that hit the apples. Seemed to work but the apples have a month or two to go. It's concentrated so you need a garden sprayer.

As far as pruning, I haven't done much for the apples, jut when they grow in a bunch, you're supposed to only leave the most desirable apple and remove the others. It hurt carrying buckets of apples out but the ones that are left will be much better for it.



For the peaches, you're supposed to prune to make the tree in more of a "Y" shape to get the sun into the middle of the tree. My honeycrisp apple tree is kind of a mess tbh.

[tifosi77]

Anyone ever use one of those greenhouse/anti-pest covers for an elevated table/bed garden? We're at the tail of a 20-day heat wave, and everything in my 48"x18" table garden has more or less wilted. I want to completely redo the thing (had some mint naturally germinate into the bed last summer, and the root network is out of control), and I'd like to add a cover this time. I thought it was in a nice shady spot when I placed it, but 20 days of triple digit heat hasn't really helped.

[NTP66]

After battling the overflowing plants and flowers in my wife’s garden, she finally decided to take action and buy metal fencing. I installed it today, and things are much cleaner. I’ll remove it in the fall to straighten it out a little better.

[LITT]

we bought some rose trees 2 months ago. when we bought them, the guy at the nursery asked if we have deer. i said yep and he gave me some deer spray. i said we have about 10 other rose bushes and the deer havent toucehd them in 7 years. as soon as we planted these two trees all of my roses were completely decimated within 2 days.

i think i got sold roses with a curse on them, but the spray he gave me does seem to work pretty well

[NTP66]

Got a quote for $1500 to trim our chestnut tree, so I think I'm going to take this time to just do it, as I have been putting it off for years. Tired of picking up dead branches after every storm, and they're going to scalp the 'ball' at the top which should also help with our incoming solar panels.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

Got a quote for $1500 to trim our chestnut tree, so I think I'm going to take this time to just do it, as I have been putting it off for years. Tired of picking up dead branches after every storm, and they're going to scalp the 'ball' at the top which should also help with our incoming solar panels.

Do you get edible chestnuts from your tree?

[NTP66]

Got a quote for $1500 to trim our chestnut tree, so I think I'm going to take this time to just do it, as I have been putting it off for years. Tired of picking up dead branches after every storm, and they're going to scalp the 'ball' at the top which should also help with our incoming solar panels.

Do you get edible chestnuts from your tree?

We do, though they’re a little on the sour side. The squirrels seem to enjoy them quite a bit.

[NTP66]

They made quick work of the tree trimming, and cleaned up way more than I expected them to. Every chestnut on the ground was removed. I was talking to the owner about our chestnut and he was asking how they tasted. I told him that it was a bit sour for me, but to take as many as he wanted. I think he’s going to try doing what I suggested, roasting them in red wine. Maybe he’ll like them more than I did.

I did notice that the tree that really needs trimmed is my neighbor’s, actuallly. Confirming with my solar guy that his estimates take into account shade from that one, and if so, I won’t bother doing anything more. If not, I’ll probably ask them if it’s okay that we trim the very top. It’s pretty overgrown, and they’ve taken down numerous trees over the years.

[NTP66]

One of our friends gave my wife a small strawberry plant from their garden, and it did basically nothing all summer long. Started showing signs of life a few weeks ago, and yesterday we picked the first of two strawberries. Wife said it was delicious, and we picked the second today. I’d love to see more than two produced in the future.

[blackjack68]

Strawberries in our northeast climate can produce fruit twice a year in Spring and Fall. Love getting fall berries.

[NTP66]

Just finished getting the first round of leaves and chestnut shells to the curb for Wednesday’s pickup. I hate fall.

[count2infinity]

Is it better to leave grass long into the winter or do one last buzz before I put the mower away for winter?

[NTP66]

One last buzz, for sure. Less chance of a disease, etc.