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| This showed up in the mail today |
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| Also today. |
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| Believe it or not, there are six grafts of King David apple on this tree. All marked with orange yarn. Mrs ERJ gently asked when she would be getting her refrigerator back, so I am grafting what I can and NOT putting the extra scion back into the fridge for "just-in-case" situations. |
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| Looking due-south across the Hill Orchard from the pole barn. I have seen parking lots in West Virginia that were steeper than this...but in Michigan, this qualifies as a slope. |
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| In a semi-panorama, this is looking west, up the hill, from the same place. |
I hunted this property for many, many years. I believe that this much of it has not been mowed for at least ten years.
60 minutes grafting and picking up trash. 75 minutes mowing.
So far, it looks like we dodged the bullet on the frost-freeze last night. Time will tell.
Joe, why is that King David tree so bent and twisted?
ReplyDeleteMy best guess is to keep fruit low to ground come harvest.
The tree is a variety called "Hazen" that I am converting to King David. Hazen is a naturally dwarfing variety and you are right, the weight of the fruit bends the twigs downward.
DeleteThere is nothing wrong with Hazen except that it is an early apple. Early apples are great in short-season areas where later varieties will not ripen and they are OK next to a yard where you live where you will look at them every day. Early apples are a-swing-and-a-miss if you don't look at them every day because one day they are under-ripe and two days later they are all on the ground and swarmed with yellowjackets.
Free Range chickens love yellow jackets and ticks.
DeleteSNIP Ducks are opportunistic feeders and consume a wide variety of insects as part of their diet, including beetles, dragonflies, and other small invertebrates. Observations from backyard duck owners show that ducks will actively hunt yellow jackets, even digging up nests in the ground to consume them. They use the hard front part of their bills to crush the insects, which helps minimize the impact of stings in their mouths.
Raising Ducks
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While ducks can be stung, they generally tolerate it well and learn to handle the insects safely. This makes them effective natural pest controllers in gardens or yards where yellow jackets are present. Ducks’ insectivorous behavior not only provides them with protein but also helps reduce populations of stinging pests, benefiting humans and other animals in the area.
As an aside mixed pasture flocks also do an excellent job of eating and thus eliminating the parasitic worms and their eggs as so sheep, cattle and horses don't end up reinfecting themselves eating near their manure.
The farmer's footsteps are indeed the best fertilizer AND helps keep hawks and (around here) owls from eating your poultry.
Chicken tractors work with ducks also.