February 2026—the Bare Root Month
Is it raining when you’re reading this? NOAA is predicting wet and slightly cooler weather ahead for us. We’ve had a relatively warm and dry winter so far. Since grass grows even in winter when the temperature is above 50 degrees, some folks have actually gotten out the lawn mower this month. Hopefully the poor skiers will see enough snow on the slopes.
But can spring be far away? Costco is selling their bare root fruit trees and the snow drops and early daffodils are blooming. It’s time to hit our local nurseries now for bare root plants such as strawberries and asparagus. Our excellent regional nurseries including Burnt Ridge, One Green World (Portland), Raintree and Restoring Eden have their large selections of bare root fruit trees available now too.
Those Costco trees are well grown and a good value, especially so if you plan to plant them in Central Washington. The cultivars may be more suited to that climate and the rootstocks more vigorous than you would prefer. Still you might find a gem in the bunch.
Perhaps you would like to be more involved. Two fruit related events are coming. First is the annual spring meeting of NW Fruit at the WSU Mt Vernon facility on March 14. A large collection of cultivars will be available as scionwood as well as rootstock for purchase. You now have the opportunity to graft your scion to the new rootstock, or experts will do so for you at a modest cost.
There will be informative talks as well starting at 9 am. If you stay the whole day do bring a sack lunch. Members of NW Fruit get free admittance. Non members pay $12 per person or may join then. Getting a membership may make good sense should you want to attend their fall program too. https://nwfruit.org/winter-field-day/
Just one week later on March 21 the Peninsula Fruit Club will hold their spring grafting show at the West Side Improvement Club in Bremerton. There will be a wide scionwood selection and informative talks. https://wcfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-PFC-Grafting-Flyer-Rev-1.jpg
To plant your new tree, dig a wide but shallow hole. Trees settle a bit after planting and you don’t want the scion to take root and become a full size tree. Don’t add any amendments to the hole. You want the roots to reach out rather than confine themselves to a small planting area.
Now on any dry day is a good time to inspect your apple trees for anthracnose. This fungal disease can develop circular dark reddish patches on limbs over winter. Before leaves obscure these infections, apply a coat of Vaseline on them. Check these areas again after leaf fall and reapply if needed. For more info on apple anthracnose and covering with Vaseline, see pages 7 to 17 of STFS USP newsletter 40 07 July 2022 available at: https://www.seattletreefruitsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/USP-40-07-2022-Jul.pdf
Grapes and kiwis may be pruned now. Currants and blueberries as well and of course pome fruit trees. Wait till late spring to prune those disease prone stone fruit.
Former STFS president Lori Brakken is embarking on a project to identify old fruit trees in our area. As well as fruit, flowers are helpful here. Should you know of an old unidentified fruit tree, stake it out to get a shot of the blossoms this spring. This project will be explained at the March 21 event in Mt. Vernon. https://www.seattletreefruitsociety.com/apples/apple-identification
January 2026, The Planning Month
According to NOAA our La Nina winter weather will persist with a bit more rainfall and a bit warmer temperatures than average. Sympathy to those holding season ski lift tickets. Meteorologists are anticipating an El Nino summer so fill those rain barrels while you can.
A new year offers the perspective of the previous year plus the blank slate of the next. Last spring, summer and fall were dry. Both cultivated and native plants were stressed. Tho our total precipitation is about the same, the concentration of rain in the winter months is gradually increasing.
What does this mean for our plants? Saturated soil during our wet months drives new roots up toward the soil surface and drowns deeper roots. Then during the dry months, these upper roots bake or at least are inhibited from performing well unless they get supplemental water. The solution is to water or to grow plants that can tolerate this stress.
One solution is provided in the book Grow a Little Fruit Tree by Ann Ralph. She suggests growing apples on M111 or similar vigorous rootstock which can forage far and wide for water in summer. To manage what can eventually become a big tree is to prune it twice a year, every year. The writer finds that re-reading this book each year before dormant pruning gets me off to a good start.
A variation of Ann’s theme for apples is to use an M111 rootstock and graft an interstem of a more dwarfing rootstock like EMLA 27 onto it. The following year graft on your desired cultivar. You won’t find these trees for sale because they require another year to grow and are uneconomical, but you can graft one up yourself.
A possible third solution for apples is using our native crab, Malus fusca, as a rootstock. These trees are found in soggy sites up and down the West Coast.
This time of year provides fruit catalogs in print and online. Maybe this is the year to plant a pineapple guava or a yuzu citrus? Restoring Eden Nursery in SeaTac sells some fruiting plants that challenge our winter temps, but maybe you live in a bit warmer microclimate? Or perhaps your home would allow a Meyer lemon in a big pot to spend the winter? Raintree Nursery is selling pomegranates but that’s really pushing it. Burnt Ridge and Northwoods nurseries also sell citrus and other exotics that temp the fruit grower.
Now is the perfect time to prune grapes and kiwis. Burying a foot long cutting vertically with the top inch above ground will produce a nicely rooted plant next fall—provided that you remember to keep it sufficiently watered until then. Prune pome fruit trees (apple, pear, quince) anytime the weather is expected to be dry for a day or two. Hold off on stone fruit until drier weather in late spring but do harvest any stone scionwood you wish to graft now while it’s still dormant.
Consider treating your pruning tools with a dip into isopropyl alcohol between each tree or vine. For instance, apples might harbor a latent virus or anthracnose which could be inadvertently spread from tree to tree.
We’re all conscious of rising carbon dioxide levels and climate change (not a hoax). But we might also conclude that CO2 is the enemy and we should devise ways to eliminate it. A new book, The Story of CO2 is the Story of Everything by Peter Brannen offers perspective. Life on Earth is carbon based and the source of that carbon happens to be CO2. Carbon dioxide is fundamental to how life works and the author does a great job of helping us to understand this. While he does excel at this he, alas, doesn’t offer solutions to our current dilemma except to just power thru and hope for the best. Perhaps his understanding of Homo sapiens is realistic tho and that’s the best we can do.
Beware of subclade K influenza for another month. It is not more severe but it is very contagious. A half hour outside each day in natural light is said to boost our immunity, just right for a little pruning.
December 2025, A La Niña
As this is written, in mid-December, the rain is coming down and the tv evening news shows flooded homes in Western Washington. A dry and warm November has been replaced with a warm series of atmospheric rivers originating near the Philippines. NOAA is predicting continued wet this winter and thankfully, cooler temperatures. Since it has been so warm, perhaps we should expect one or more real cold snaps to average things out.
They are also hinting that data may be indicating an El Niño coming next summer. Wouldn’t it be nice to store some of this precip for then? The predicted climate pattern of drier summers and wetter winters with the total precipitation remaining about the same appears to be holding.
Looking at the 10 day forecast may encourage us to curl up with a good book. A stroll thru 3rd Place Books brought the writer to a most useful little book: Do/ Maintain/ How to sharpen knives, scissors and garden tools by Gareth Heaton, published this year by The Do Book Co. in the UK. The author is a Yorkshireman who takes us by the hand. He even covers sharpening shovels.
A bigger tome and slightly mind blowing is The Genius of Trees—how trees mastered the elements and shaped the world by Harriet Rix. She approaches the world from the trees’ point of view and it’s quite revealing.
Do you still have leaves on your fruit trees? The writer sees a few left at the top of new growth of some apple trees. Will they finally fall before Christmas? Many perennial plants and spring flowering bulbs are putting on new growth. The coming cold weather should inhibit this growth and allow us to harvest dormant scionwood early next year should we wish to do any propagation.
Some of us had a problem with San Jose scale in apples this year. It’s not a new pest. The CWA commercial growers have been dealing with it since the late 1800s. These tiny insects do have natural enemies but can become a problem in warm summers or if sprays have killed off their natural controls. A very helpful article appeared in the December 2020 Urban Scion Post, available at the STFS website.
This month is a peach leaf curl spray month. Google “WSU Hortense” and “peach” for a list of effective fungicides. Or one could erect a rain cover over the tree.
Be sure to maintain a good one foot clear space around tree trunks to inhibit voles from gnawing the cambium right at the soil line. If you have rabbits, also consider a chicken wire barrier around the trunks.
Flu was a problem south of the equator in their winter and now Japan is having an epidemic of the K clade of influenza. Unfortunately, as is often the case, our current vaccine isn’t a very good match. Be sure to get enough sleep, plus research has shown that being outside in natural light for a half hour daily helps our immune system.
We hope that you weren’t affected by the terrible flooding this month. Apparently Stevens Pass will be closed for an extended period. The Seattle Times website has a list of helping organizations which would appreciate donations.
Wishing you good health and a good harvest in the coming year.
November 2025, the Wet Month
The cracks in the soil from our summer drought have filled and 10-day forecasts are now repetitive “showers” or “rain.” Statistically, November is our wettest month and Thanksgiving Week is often our wettest week. NOAA is predicting that our weak La Nina will persist into March with damp weather.
As this is written, in mid November, most stone fruits are now dormant but many apples and pears still carry half their leaves. Those leaves are nutrition for our trees when they decompose. It’s easy to make a big hoop from chicken wire and pile the leaves in. In two years the resulting leaf compost will be ready to spread over root zones in a 2” deep layer.
Be sure to inspect the base of each fruit tree trunk this time of year—is there a good foot of clear space around it? Voles and other wee beasties can do great damage in winter if they can access tree trunks under vegetative cover.
In spite of our November weather, this is the best time to install or move woody plants. Two rules: if moving an existing plant, dig its new hole first. And second, only do this when the air temperature is above freezing. Roots are not nearly as hardy as above ground plant parts.
Remember to get those spring bulbs you purchased into the ground soon. Somehow the writer always seems to find a bag or two in January. These bulbs may survive but for sure won’t bloom for a year. A square of 1” chicken wire well anchored over tulips and crocuses foils hungry squirrels. Look for green vinyl coated wire for longer service and appearance.
The gifting season will soon be here. Did you attend the excellent tool talk and pruning demo by Kenny Tuomi back in August? His handout of sources of pruning tools (Tuomi’s list of outfitters for the PNW fruit tree arborist) is a good start.
This year saw an explosion of mini chain saws for gardeners. Stihl sells a ton of their 4” chain saw which also has an optional pole attachment for high cuts. These devices work well for small cuts (1”–2” diameter max) in tight places, but they still are chain saws with all the complications of tension, sharpening, chain lube, and cleaning after use of the big saws.
Consider the battery powered reciprocal saws now available. Maintenance of these devices is so much less, and they can do so much more. De Walt, Milwaukee and Ryobi brands are sold at local stores as well as on line and may be offered in Black Friday deals now. Their batteries may be used in other tools of the same brand.
Reciprocals are often used for demolition, cutting into nail-embedded dry wood, etc. Your clue is to buy blades designed for cutting green wood, often labelled “arbor” or “pruning.” Japanese saw brands such as Silky are excellent and available in lengths from 9” to 15” on line if not locally.
Do mind the batteries that power these tools. Batteries need to be removed from tools, charged to around 75% and stored indoors over winter.
We have much to be thankful for this year. Populated areas weren’t inundated with smoke from wild fires, neither the Seattle Fault nor the Big One stirred, our fruit trees produced most abundantly, Asian flu has not (yet) become contagious to humans, and Covid seems to be settling into just a seasonal scourge. Perhaps the weather will even permit a walk outside after Thanksgiving dinner?
October 2025 Harvest Moon
As this is written, in early October, one can look east in early evening and admire the beautiful harvest super moon. These occur when our moon is closest to Earth, a result of natural slight variations in orbits of both bodies. If you missed this one, know that we will have two more super moons this fall, the beaver super moon on November 4 and the cold super moon on December 4.
We’ve had another warm and dry year (4th warmest and 12th driest for entire state), and NOAA is quite confident that we’ll experience a La Nina winter. This implies perhaps a reversion to mean for precipitation (wet!), but also perhaps not an especially cold winter, not so good for snow pack.
Still, we might be able to actually observe the two upcoming super moons. For some reason the weather is often clear during a full moon. This phenomenon is strongest during the naturally dry summer months but the trend still slightly persists even in winter.
This month presents some outstanding weekend fruit events. First, the drive up I-5 to the WSU Mt. Vernon station is delightful this time of year. On October 11 NW Fruit puts on their annual fall event from 9 to 2:30. There are displays and talks. Tour the orchard and Master Gardner demo garden. Admission is charged if you are not a member. The town has great food including at the Coop. On the way home, note the Costco at Smokey Point for gas and many hardware items in the warehouse not found at our local Costcos.
Haven’t taken a ferry recently? Think about boarding the ferry at Fauntleroy for Vashon Island on October 18 to attend their fall fruit and nut show from 1-3 pm at the centrally located Land Trust building. Good restaurants abound in town.
Last but not least is the annual Peninsula Fruit Club show on October 25 in Bremerton from 10 am to 4 pm. You can tour Western Washington in a day: make an early start down I-5 to Tacoma, drive over the impressive Narrows bridge (toll free going west), follow highway 3 to the Bremerton show. Afterward note the retired Navy ships offshore and take the Bremerton ferry home; admire the Seattle skyline.
See Trent’s October 2 email for more details on each of these events.
Time to harvest mason bees. A half gallon cardboard juice or milk carton, stapled shut and stored on its side in a rodent-proof place outside is ideal. Refrigeration would be best, but we all have fruit also refrigerated now which off gasses ethylene. That is not good for bees.
Last call to plant cover crops. Should it still be dry, do water them in so they can germinate while the soil is somewhat warm.
Pity our Washington State commercial apple growers. Not only are they having a bumper harvest this year, but tariffing is causing some export headaches. Their crop quality is excellent which may help a tad, tho the quality of China’s apples has been increasing. Would you believe that China produces over ten times more apples than the US? Over 70% of that is of late varieties such as Fuji.
Here’s another amazing fact: beef yields the most money of all US agricultural production—more than fruit, grains, corn, soy, hogs or chickens. That’s sure a lot of burgers and boggles the brain, but the cattle industry is worried sick about a once-eradicated pest, the New World screwworm which has re-invaded Mexico. USDA is releasing 100 million sterilized flies a week into infested areas of Mexico in an effort to at least keep this pest south of our border.
Before the monsoon hits, do try to remove any fruit mummies hanging in trees. Even one can be a source of brown rot next year. And they’re so easy to miss. If the monsoon should be delayed, get some water at the roots of any fruit trees with cupped leaves, the classic sign of drought stress. Yes, rain will come but what’s going under ground is important for the future health of our trees now. Check out any rhodies too; their shallow roots often run out of water.
Last, now is the ideal time to control Himalayan blackberries. Cut them to about 4 inches above ground and immediately coat the cut end with weed killer.
September 2025, the Harvest Month
As this is written, in early September, we’ve just experienced another really dry summer. It was preceded by a dry spring. Last winter even had a number of sunny days, reducing the occurrence of SAD among us who tend to suffer during the Big Dark. NOAA has tentatively suggested that this winter might also be a la Nina in the November-February months. Let’s hope there’s more rain!
Aren’t grapes good this year? If you don’t grow grapes, perhaps think about planting a single vine of a juice grape that grows well in our maritime climate (important). It will probably not be seedless, and that’s OK. Simply eat your grapes outside and spit the seeds out, such fun.
Checkout your winter pear trees. If you see a couple pears on the ground, try picking a few fruit from the sunny side of the trees. If they release easily, pick all fruit right away and refrigerate for a month. This step is mandatory for quality winter pears. Summer pears benefit from a two to three week cooling period in a cool basement or the fridge as well.
This year it seems like all fruiting plants were ready to pick a week to 10 days early. With our warming temps, especially at night, evaporation was accelerated as well, and soil is now bone dry. Is yours also now essentially concrete? There’s an easy way to slowly increase the tilth of our glacial till soils: simply lay 2” of compost on the surface each fall. Eventual fall rains will enable earthworms to carry that organic matter into the soil profile, no digging required.
An alternative is to sow a cover crop such as crimson clover now. Do water it in so it will germinate soon and get good growth before the temperatures cool. This way is more work: dig the cover crop into your soil well before planting next spring. This usually means around mid March. A third tactic is to apply five or six inches wood chips to the surface. It slowly will decompose while allowing air to reach roots which is essential.
If you have friends or relatives in the eastern US you might have heard them complain about the invasion of spotted lantern fly. This insect is a plant hopper and much like aphids, excretes an unpleasant sticky frass everywhere starting in August. It is a terrible pest of grapes. In spite of best efforts, this insect is slowly expanding its range. Because it lays egg masses on any solid surface like a truck or rail car, entomologists expect it to show up here eventually. Let’s hope some effective control will be developed soon.
Another insect pest WSDA is fighting just over the hump in eastern WA is Japanese beetle. This insect has already established a toe hold in the Portland area. If you should observe skeletonized leaves on plants, look for this distinctive insect. Please notify WSDA if you do see them. If they can thrive in Portland, they will love our gardens too!
Do you know the apple grown most in our state? This year Gala is expected to yield 47 million bushels, followed by Red Delicious at 39 million. Cosmic Crisp is expected to come in sixth at 18 million bushels. The total harvest is estimated to be around 180 million boxes, a record. Our country ranks second to China in world apple production, followed by Turkey, then Poland.
Good news for chocolate lovers. Chocolate is a fermented food right up there with yogurt and sauerkraut. After the cacao pods are harvested, they are broken open, and the seeds along with any pulp clinging to them are stored for a week or two until fermented. They are then dried and ground into powder. Scientists have now learned why identical cultivars may taste so differently depending upon where they’re grown. It’s the particular mix of microorganisms doing the fermenting. They are now trying to learn how to produce that mix so we can all have excellent tasting chocolate.
May 2025, the Thinning Month
Have you been digging in the dirt lately? Notice how dry the soil is? We’re down several inches rainfall, just as fruit trees are beginning to develop fruit plus preparing to make new fruiting buds for next spring. Perhaps we should budget for some supplemental watering now, as well as during our normal summer dry period.
Will this rain deficit continue or will the weather gods compensate with a cool, damp summer? NOAA came out with their summer prediction on May 15. If they are correct, we will have a bit above average temperatures and a bit below average precipitation.
We can compensate for low precip by adding several inches of arborist wood chips or other airy mulch to the root areas of trees, keeping a foot clear around trunks. It’s a good idea to thin as soon as possible too, to keep trees from investing in growing fruit that will be removed. When thinning, remember where your best fruit is—at the top—so start there. Maybe you would want to remove all fruitlets by the time you get down to the mid canopy. The lowest tier is always the poorest quality so be sure to remove these.
Then the question becomes: install insect barriers or not? Most of us have decided barriers are the way to go, either throwing bee netting over the entire tree or installing individual barriers on fruit. The use of bee netting pioneered here by City Fruit is easiest if trees are well pruned and less than 8’ tall. Footies or plastic baggies open at the bottom work fairly well. Putting in a bit of time each day installing them after work provides solitude and makes it seem not quite the chore it becomes for a weekend.
Watch out for spittle bugs in the strawberries now. Squish individual bugs or give them a quick shot of water from a hose. Done repeatedly, this waters the berry patch and slows spittle bug activity.
Did you know that World Bee Day is May 20? (Not to be confused with World Honey Bee Day on August 16!) The date in May is to recognize all bee pollinators, not just honey bees. Dave Hunter of Crown Bees will host a Zoom program on May 20 to celebrate them. Go to the Crown Bee site for information.
Have you gotten your tomatoes in the ground? Time is running out to buy the economical 4” starts. This year might be a good time to get in the habit of growing tomatoes. Over 70% of tomatoes sold in this country come from Mexico and tariffs will be imposed on them starting July 15 (as of this writing). These subtropical plants naturally are cheaper to grow in Mexico tho CA, FL and some other southern states also grow them commercially.
Folks on Vashon Island have a leg up on tomato cultivar selection. A tomato researcher at the University of Florida has a summer home on the island and is interested in developing cultivars that do well in our maritime climate. This writer likes to at least buy ‘Early Girl’ and ‘Sunglo’ starts. Those tasty big beefsteak tomatoes and paste tomatoes are late and often shy bearers so look for any production from them as a late summer bonus.
A good book to get tomato wise is Grow Cook Eat (2nd ed.) by Portland-based writer Willi Galloway. Do know that there’s another book out there with a different perspective on all of this, The $64 Tomato by William Alexander.
Remember to bring your osmia nests inside by the first of June. Leaving them out longer just exposes them longer to their enemies, principally Houdini flies and monodontomerus wasps, to occasional jays and flickers. Store them hole side up so the developing larvae have access to their food. Wait until September to harvest the osmia cocoons.
April 2025 Showers
We’ve had a late spring but as this is written, the sun is out, tulips are in bloom, the lawn is (finally) growing, and the garden beckons. A bonus: starting April 16, the sun will set after 8 pm thru summer.
Have you deployed your mason bees? Pome fruits will soon bloom. Have those rambunctious kiwis and grapevines been pruned? It’s still possible to do so. Yes, the cut ends will bleed but they’ll recover. Just make a note to prune in February or March next year.
A sad note: Cloud Mountain Farm has announced that they will cease nursery sales as of May 25 this spring. This premium nursery was started by Tom and Cheryl Thornton and supplied us with quality selections of fruit trees for our maritime climate for nearly fifty years. The Thorntons retired from the nursery several years ago. Contracted food production will continue this year tho not the retail nursery.
Have you ever been to Cloud Mountain Farm? It’s not too late and sale prices abound. Go to their website to order or just take your chances and drive up; it’s a lovely drive. Perhaps the forsythia lining the roads will still be in bloom. They are situated on the west slope of Sumas Mountain in beautiful farm country. Observe the nearby raspberry farms and how these commercial growers train their vines for mechanical harvest. Eateries abound in nearby Lynden.
Now is a good time to scatter flower seeds in any bare patches. Pollinators would appreciate seeing annual phacelia, forget-me-nots and cosmos. These grow quickly. Perhaps you could tolerate a patch of dandelions in your landscape. Many pollinators like these cheerful flowers.
Do watch for spittlebugs in your strawberries now. Should one of these sucking insects feed on a virused plant, it will become a vector and spread disease everywhere it subsequently feeds. Individual spittlebugs can be squished of course, but a sharp spray from a garden hose will dislodge numerous bugs. Repeat as necessary.
If the strawberry patch looks a bit sparse this spring, there’s still time to purchase day neutral cultivars. You can get a nice harvest this year and probably next year too. Interestingly, commercial growers in CA grow these plants as annuals. It’s a good idea to feed these hard working plants half strength fertilizer every month during the growing season.
What do you plan to do about apple maggot and codling moth this year? Many of us are going the exclusion route—bee netting individual trees or applying footies or a similar barrier to individual fruit. Applying a good spray of Surround, a kaolin clay, at petal fall will deter these pests early in the season and buy time for defensive moves. Remember to remove fruit you do not plan to harvest to remove harborage of these pests. Thin, and thin again. Remember the best fruit develops in the upper tree canopy.
Alas, pear trellis rust seems to have no viable solution. The lovely Bradford pear street trees have mostly died as well as many fruit cultivars in folks’ yards. Removing the alternate host, most juniper cultivars, within at least hundred feet of pears will allow many pears to survive but that’s a big ask for the neighbors growing the seemingly ubiquitous and susceptible junipers in their yards. There are three species of juniper which are resistant to this rust: Juniperus communis, J. horizontalis and J. squamata. Some sites suggest that a copper spray at leaf drop and at bud break in spring will produce partial success.
Lastly, it’s not too late to continue spring pruning. Buds are mostly no longer dormant so scionwood can’t be used for grafting, but pruning trees is still a good idea if they escaped pruning earlier in February or March.
March 2025—Last Call for Bare Root
This is being written on the day of the Spring Equinox, March 21. It doesn’t feel like Spring! The apple buds haven’t started to swell, and lawns haven’t needed mowing. An above average temperature is predicted for next week, but only for a single day. In addition, we’re down around 4.5” average rainfall to date.
Still, we know spring weather will emerge soon; it always has. There may be some bare root offerings remaining at nurseries. Costco has their bare root fruit trees in stock. Local nurseries may still have bundles of bare root strawberries available. Gotta act fast, tho.
Another time sensitive task is to get our osmia bee housing cleaned and installed soonest. A few wild male osmia have already emerged. Do you also have pollen providing plants in bloom nearby? An old reliable is Pieris japonica with its attractive-to-bees blossoms and long bloom time. The early emerging bumblebee, Bombus mixtus, will also appreciate those blooms. Unheralded but very efficient pollinators include tiny flies which will come to those blooms too. Having an abundance and variety of blooms available has been found to increase, not decrease, pome fruit pollination.
Before our pome fruit trees leaf out is an excellent opportunity to inspect them for signs of apple anthracnose infection over winter. Treating them with a healthy dollop of Vaseline appears to provide control of this devastating fungus. Look for nickel-sized dark red spots on bark. It’s important to be especially vigilant for lesions higher in trees as rain dripping on them later when fruiting bodies are present will make the lower branches susceptible to infection.
Got blueberries? Right now, rake around the base of each bush and apply an inch of compost to reduce and maybe eliminate mummy berry infection. This is a yearly task and is really effective.
Did you hear that WSU has named another new apple? WA 38 was named Cosmic Crisp and has proven to be a successful introduction. The name was trademarked rather than patented because that enables the name to receive protection for that apple as long as WSU maintains it. This procedure was also used in the naming of WA 64 as “Sunflare”. Kind of a nice name, isn’t it? It will become available in stores in 2029.
If you bake or like an egg over easy for breakfast, you certainly have become sensitized to egg prices. A fun read is What the Chicken Knows by Sy Montgomery. Those of us who have kept chickens will nod knowingly here and there. Perhaps a flock of Bantams is in your future? Do be aware of coyotes and especially raccoons and build accordingly.
Every February bee hives from across our whole country are transported to CA for the almond bloom. After that, these hives are transported to many fruit growing areas for later blooms. Bee losses last winter by commercial beekeepers were terrible, averaging about 60%. Commercial folks always have some loss, around 15-30% at most, but these losses are simply unsustainable. The why is unknown—pathogens and insecticide exposure are being studied—but remaining Dept. of Ag scientists are concentrating on avian flu now. Pollination of blueberries and apples by commercial hives will be stretched this year.
This month marks the fifth anniversary of our country’s recognition of the Covid-19 pandemic. The first (or maybe second) case of this novel virus in this country was observed January 2020 in a man from Snohomish Co. who had returned from a visit to Wuhan, China. A terrible outbreak of the disease at a choir practice in Mt. Vernon, WA was needed to persuade experts that the disease was propagated by aerosols, not from contaminated surfaces. We lost over 1.2 million people, not all of them elderly.
January 2025, Winter Pruning Month
Beware the east wind! As this is written, in early January, LA suburbs are burning. A strong Santa Ana wind is blowing burning embers onto homes both modest and (very) expensive and onto bone dry vegetation. Those of us who were impacted by our bomb cyclone of November 19 can relate. Actually we dodged a bullet here last November. The center of the storm never approached our coastline closer than 380 miles offshore. Imagine the wind here if it had come even 100 or 200 miles closer.
Our Dept. of Natural Resources is using the California fire storm as an opportunity to remind us west siders of our potential risk of a similar fate. We too can have high air pressure develop in EWA and flow at high velocity westward over our mountains to fill low pressure over the ocean. We too can have very dry vegetation which can ignite and put embers into the air. As EWA air is forced upward over the Cascades, it becomes even drier and then is heated as it is compressed and descends into our lowlands, fanning any flames. Bottom line: our west side could become a fire storm too under the right circumstances, and we should remember that.
Did you receive enough books last Christmas? If not, Citrus, a World History by David Mabberley might be of interest. Dr. Mabberley, now in England, was at the UW’s Center for Urban Horticulture in the early two thousands and co-wrote The Story of the Apple published in 2006. (The same authors published The Extraordinary Story of the Apple in 2020.)
If you were hoping to learn more about serviceberry, know that The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Kimmerer is actually more a philosophical book on economics in general and the gift economy of some indigenous tribes in particular. Mango: a Global History by Kirker and Newman is a delightful little book about this messy-to-eat fruit.
It’s winter pruning time for grapes, kiwis and pome fruit trees any time the temperature is above freezing and precipitation is holding off for a day or two. The rule of thumb is to not remove more than a third of a fruit tree canopy per year. This means that winter pruning is an annual task. Sometimes apples in particular can be infected with anthracnose but not be noticed. Our pruners can introduce this serious disease to uninfected trees so sanitation is encouraged. Clean pruners and dip into a container of isopropyl alcohol between trees.
While we like to postpone pruning of stone fruit until warmer and drier weather in late spring, now is the best time to harvest stone fruit scionwood. These trees tend to lose dormancy earlier than pome fruit, and you want your scionwood to be fully dormant for good grafting success.
If you like to eat, you surely have noticed the effect that avian flu has had on egg prices. A recent story carried the unhappy news that cocoa production in West Africa, around half the world production, has declined by 50% due to a tree killer called cocoa swollen shoot virus disease. It is spread there by mealy bugs which are farmed by ants. So far the only control is to quickly remove infected trees and to space new trees far enough apart that they don’t touch, so that mealy bugs can’t just step from one tree to another.
It remains to be seen how our country’s new immigration policies will affect food production, but perhaps we should consider growing some produce in addition to fruit this year. Do make note of any rabbits in your area and screen them out. The writer has found green vinyl coated chicken wire fencing easy to use and effective. Remember to maintain that barrier 100% of the time. Watch bunnies are ready to take advantage of even a 15 minute lapse of barriers. A local author’s book, Cool Season Gardener by Bill Thorness is a great introduction to year round veggie gardening in our area.
Do you feed hummers in the winter? Some mahonias (now berberis) such as the Arthur Menzies hybrid are blooming now. Anna’s hummers are really attracted to these cheerful blossoms. Early emerging osmia will come to these flowers too and to the slightly later blooming Pieris japonica.
It’s time to get gas powered mowers and chippers serviced with little wait time. Hopefully parts will be in stock too. The consensus on lithium-ion batteries seems to be to charge them to no more than 80% for winter storage. Do bring them into the house for winter.
July 2024
June was cool and a tad damp. July has transitioned into the dog days of summer. Where did this odd term come from? One story is that ancient astronomers noticed that weather turned hot and sticky as soon as Sirius, the “dog star,” could be seen in the sky just before sunrise, sometime in early July in our current calendar. It’s the brightest star visible to us and keeps Orion, the hunter, company in cold night skies. Ancients thought that perhaps this bright star added to the heat from the Sun in summer.
As this is written, in mid July, our hottest day so far has been 98° on July 9 but daily temperatures have been continually above 80°. (Not to complain: Las Vegas experienced seven continuous days of 115° in early July.) These conditions are perfect for sucking moisture out of plants and surrounding soil. Most plants in our gardens prefer temperatures between 59° and 86° F. Temperatures above 90° for more than a few days will cause many plants to slow their growth and become stressed.
Tomatoes may flower but not develop fruit. Many fruits from apples to raspberries to zucchinis will develop sun scald. One way to mitigate this effect is to mind the forecasts. If a heat wave is predicted, water deeply before it arrives. Weather forecasts are getting very accurate for a week ahead now. Keeping raspberries and blackberries well watered starting with bloom also helps the vines to produce good leaf cover, sheltering much fruit from being cooked on the vine.
Remember back to June 28, 2021 when our temp reached 108° during that heat dome? As well as keeping plants hydrated, we can help cool them during extreme events by simply spraying water on foliage during the hottest time of day. Throwing netting loosely over them or spraying with Surround® also helps. Surround is increasingly used by commercial growers to mitigate heat events.
It’s also a good idea to postpone many garden activities during heat waves such as transplanting, pruning, fertilizing and spraying. Weeding, alas, never stops! A shallow bowl filled with water and some exposed pebbles, changed daily, will aid honey bees and small birds access moisture. It may help keep towhees out of the raspberry patch. Growers in CWA learned that leaving an emitter dripping into a water bucket keeps coyotes from mauling watermelons. Maybe make a note for next summer to plant a few sunflowers to provide summer nectar. Sunflowers are deeply rooted and can handle hot and dry. Lavender is another tough summer bloomer attractive to pollinators.
Watch for that dull green look on leaves. That plus cupped or rolled leaves is a quiet sigh of drought stress. If you’ve transitioned to drip irrigation, check those emitters periodically. Roots are so concentrated in a narrow plume under an emitter that plants may die if that water stops coming.
The traditional time to prune cherry trees is right after harvest. What to do if it’s already hot? One strategy is to deeply water prior to pruning and water deeply again right afterward as well. Cherries are good about telling us their water status. Cupped leaves mean “please water now.”
It’s an ill wind that blows no good, and you’ve noticed that SWD is not too numerous in the berry crops now. They prefer cool and damp, not hot and dry. Unfortunately these tiny flies can quickly increase population when conditions become more favorable for them. Another missing in action pest is stink bugs. Their reduction might be due to the very cold temperatures we experienced last January which also took out a number of marginally hardy plants.
The last two weeks of July are the time to visit our local nurseries to purchase winter veggie starts (the time to seed our own starts was the first two weeks). If weather continues hot, erect old shingles or other temporary shelter to shield each new plant from direct sunlight until their roots take hold. NOAA has been confident that a strong La Niña is coming, so these transplants may do very well later in cooler weather.
2024 June
As this is written, on June 15, heavy rain is pounding the roof. This gift from the sky is much appreciated. We need to adapt to increasing evaporation rates, which are primarily due to increasing night temperatures, by monitoring soil moisture and watering as needed. An easy way to do this is simply to dig up a shovelful of soil, then water deeply if necessary.
Of course we always have a summer drought in July and August when supplemental water will be needed for new trees and trees on the most dwarfing rootstocks. There is a physiological reason to keep on top of soil moisture too. Fruit is not only rapidly increasing in size now, but trees are also setting up fruiting buds for next year.
In contrast to warmth, the middle of last January was cold, very cold for several days. So cold that some plants we have grown for many years didn’t survive. Folks pushing the hardiness envelope lost olive trees. Yes, USDA did push our hardiness zone up a notch recently, but our polar jet stream is weakening and occasionally forms loops reaching far south from the pole. If these loops form during cold weather months we can expect sustained, unusually cold weather. Our defense might be to keep a supply of old blankets or even a string or two of old 7W Christmas tree lights on hand.
A June chore is to check the base of trees for suckers. A thicket can form seemingly overnite. Rip them out if possible or prune with a dedicated lopper that you don’t mind getting into dirt. Your mason bees are safely stored inside now, aren’t they? One way to keep on top of codling moths is to remove every single fruit that is not protected.
And then there are the share croppers. They seem to be multiplying in number and species. Netting seems to work best against feathered and winged pests. Visit our demo orchard at Magnuson Park to see examples of netted trees. Keeping squirrels at bay is a formidable task for those living in cities. These rodents not only have strong teeth but also excellent memories. If they had success last year, they will be back. A sharp 45° cut in a stem tells you that rabbits are present. Fencing can exclude them; plastic coated chicken wire works well. Only tall fencing can exclude deer. The writer has no solution for raccoons.
Doesn’t it seem like we have a day, week or month for something (or many things) now? The week of June 17-23 is Pollinator Week. In honor of that OSU has a comprehensive, free, online publication EM 9426 on our many wasps, many of which are actually pollinators. It was a work of love by some grad students.
Speaking of wasps, we haven’t heard anything recently about the northern giant hornets aka murder hornets. Let’s hope that WSDA was successful in eliminating this invasive, Vespa mandarinia, from our state.
With the commercial success of WA 38, Cosmic Crisp apple, a cross between Honeycrisp and Enterprise, WSU is now in the process of naming WA 64, a cross between Honeycrisp and Pink Lady. WA 64 is a tad smaller and should be less susceptible to bitter pit. Their online contest ended in May, and the thousands of entries will be whittled down to four and then one later this year.
Have your relatives in the east commented on the emergence of both 13-year brood XIX and 17-year brood XIII cicadas going on now? In some areas of Illinois including the capitol, both broods are emerging in one area—and are they loud! Our country is home to about 150 cicada species but only 7 species are known to live for multiple years underground before emerging. How they keep track of when to emerge and why they have this life cycle is a puzzle. These two broods will not emerge the same year again until 2245.
March 2024—Last Call for Bare Root
As this is written, on the ides of March, the weather forecast for the coming weekend is outstanding—unseasonably warm and clear. We are getting a temporary reprieve from a cold spring. Tho we are still in a weakening El Niño pattern, NOAA is already hinting that our coming winter will be a strong La Niña. Skiers and boarders may rejoice after this skimpy snow season.
The coming possibly record breaking warmth should remind us to get our mason bee nest blocks or tubes ready outside. If there remain any native osmia out there, they might be attracted to your housing and provide a bit of genetic diversity to your colony. You will want to set out the cocoons in your fridge about a week or so before apples and pears bloom. There is a ton of good information online about how to manage mason bees. Bee Diverse (BC), Crown Bees (Woodinville) and RentMasonBees (Bothell) as well as the 98 page free download “How to Manage the Blue Orchard Bee” courtesy of USDA. The latter is especially helpful in identifying pests of these hard working little bees.
Speaking of bees, the entire honey bee industry in this country is in turmoil. It is dependent upon supplying hives to almond growers in CA and then dispersing them to other areas in the country needing pollination services. But almond acreage in CA is declining due to overproduction, loss of the Chinese market for unshelled nuts and increasing cost of water. This means that Washington growers may have to scramble to get enough hives transported from CA to WA for their Central Washington apple crop. Who knew they were so interdependent?
Any time we get a break from cold and wet presents an opportunity to finish all our spring pruning chores before plants break dormancy. Some plants are already blooming. Pieris japonica’s flowers are a lifeline for too early emerging bees. Forsythia and Cornus mas welcome spring with their cheerful yellow flowers. The UW has their webcam monitoring the bloom of the 90 year old Yoshino cherry trees in Red Square. Their peak bloom is predicted to be about March 22 this year. Japanese refer to the flowers of these ornamental cherry trees as sakura, and their bloom each year is a big event in that country.
Do take time to check out your apple trees for sign of apple anthracnose strikes over winter while the trees are still bare. Anthracnose at this early stage looks like nickel-sized dark red spots on bark. A good daub of petroleum jelly on them seems to inhibit progression of this fungal disease. Check again in fall and reapply if necessary. This is a disease you want to be on top of because it can spread to other trees and can be a killer of young trees.
If you grow blueberries an annual spring chore is raking around each bush to dislodge the tiny mushrooms that sporulate and infect the blueberry blooms, causing mummy berry. Add a shallow layer of compost or other mulch around the bushes to smother any you might have missed. Fungicides are ineffective here but this cultural practice yields good control, provided we remember to do it each spring.
The Snohomish County Fruit Society will hold their large scionwood and rootstock sale on March 30 from 10:30 to 1:00 at the Rosehill Community Center conveniently located off I-5 in Mukilteo. Time to try grafting? It’s a skill that is rewarding and improves with practice. For that matter, our region is blessed with great regional fruit nurseries offering huge, tempting selections: Burnt Ridge, Cloud Mountain, One Green World, Raintree, Restoring Eden among others.
In requiem: each spring many of us made a trip or more to a destination nursery in Woodinville, Molbak’s. More of us went each December to admire their spectacular poinsettia display. This quality operation was sunk by a “partnership” with an outside land developer which became toxic. Let’s cherish and patronize our remaining good nurseries and thank the Molbak family for their 67 years of excellent execution.
Check out Jan 2024 and earlier editions of STFS Newsletter – Urban Scion Post (USP) for many more installations of Marilyn’s Words.
Thanks, Marilyn.