Strangeness In My Garden

Has anyone else noticed anything unusual with their plants this year? I have 8 apple trees, 2 of which are huge producers, but this year I got a total of 11 apples on 8 trees. My filbert tree has zero nuts, I have a spring lilly that has come up and done it's total routine again, in September. I also noticed my honeysuckles are starting to produce blossoms again. I have been here for 8 years and have noticed slight variations, but not like this.
Anyone else experiencing things like this?

spec

I don't have a garden, but there were far fewer wildflowers in my yard this year. I have a feeling it has something to do with the decline in bee population.

reply to post by erumisato

I was wondering about the bees too erumisato, but such a stark difference ? My apple trees are self pollinating so they are less dependent on the bees. We had an unusual spring this year(Oregon) with a few days of super cold weather and some unusual amounts and intensity of rainfall. Still though, the difference to me is major.
Thanks for the reply,
spec

Dude, it's the increase in co2 pollution obviously! ROFL

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


Certain varieties of apple trees need more "chilling hours" than other varieties.
The average number of cold hours below a certain temperature induces fruiting.
If the winter was warmer than usual, it is possible the varieties of apple trees you
have may need a greater number of "chilling hours"
There are over 500 varieties of apples, you may want to spend this fall and winter
reading up on the different nursery catalogs and subsidizing the trees you have now
with some different ones. This way, you should have some kind of apple crop if the
weather varies either too warm or too cold.
The poster who informed you about needing bees for pollination also has a valid point.
You said your apple trees are self-pollinating; all eight of them?

reply to post by Freedom of Thought


I have Macintosh, Braeburn, Granny Smith and Gala's. The 2 old ones are Gala and in 8 years they have never produced less than, I'd say 200 apples each. My buddy said it was the combination of 3 vary cold days and some hard rains that may have damages the blossoms. But coupled with the other anomalies, I am left scratching my head.
Thanks for the input FOT,

spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist

i have 2 cherry trees and strawberry plants i would not fill my 2 hands with what they produced this year.also a neighbour told me the same with her potatoes and other plants. i am in north sweden.

reply to post by speculativeoptimist
Do you know the rootstock they were grafted onto?
The better fruit nurseries have all kind of rootstock that they
graft the scions onto. Some rootstock is for wet, clay-type
soil, some for sandy, loam soil, etc.
Are they dwarf, semi-dwarf or standard?
Raintree Nursery should be around your region. Get a
catalog from them and read it. (If you call their toll-free number,
they still send them out for free, as far as I know)l
Also, Stark Brothers, and Miller Nurseries out of NY are the
other two best fruit tree nurseries in the United States.
I am assuming when the trees were planted, you dug the holes
deep and back-filled with compost and good dirt. And have con-
tinued to give these trees the nutritional requirements so they can
thrive.

reply to post by Freedom of Thought

Yes they have been well taken care of with mulch and fertilizer. I get my trees from One Green Earth, who has an exceptional reputation in the industry. I'm not sure about the root grafting or other variables you mention, but after 8 years of consistency to almost nada just doesn't seem to add up. Then the Filbert, lilies and honeysuckle lead me to believe something else is up.
Thanks again for the suggestions.

spec

Ive noticed that most of my veggies didn't grow, I think I grew 2 tomatoes, and 1 green pepper. I also think it may have something to do with the bees and pollination.

But I read somewhere that if you shake the plants, and flick them and then shake, they will begin to pollinate themselves. I did that to my tomatoes and now I have 3 more growing in.

Peace, NRE.

I hear ya.

I stopped saying such things last year. I was getting too many weird looks.

But - I swear - the sunlight falls completely differently in my yard than it ever has before in the five years I've lived in my house. Leaves fall earlier. Different things thrive than used to. I'm just sayiing.

I'll run and hide from Phage and OZ now.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver

Thanks for the tip NRE, maybe next year I will shake my apple and filbert trees.
Maybe you are right about the bees and there seems to be some consensus on that notion.

reply to post by kosmicjack

My leaves are turning later this year than normal. I know our analysis of several years for comparison is but a bleep on the big timescale but still, there are changes and then there are big changes and in my 8 years here, this is a first.

I'll run and hide from Phage and OZ now.

Hee hee, maybe we can avoid Phage if we don't bring the sun into the equation.
And Oz might miss us if we exclude any mention of sky/weather phenomenon causing these garden shennanigans.
But seriously, I welcome all opinions and would certainly appreciate their perspectives, as always.

Thanks,
spec

reply to post by kosmicjack


there is nothing strange about what your saying. i too have seen this going on in my back yard. to say im a lazy gardener is an understatement. but the weeds in my backyard are growing so thick there almost like trees. i mean they have a trunk at least 4 inches in diameter. i have never seen weeds ever get that big or tall before. might have to do with the location Au being in the southern hemisphere and the ozone hole and all that not sure what the cause is but plants are going through some changes. maybe the suns radiation is effecting their DNA i dont know whats causing it but something is going on.

Living in the midwest we have had a very hardy season, lots of rain has nelped alot and being farmers what else do we have to do but find ways to make things grow to their best.
I had 6 tomatoes plants and produced over 200 tomatoes, had 4 pepper plants and probably got 60 70 peppers off in total,

So no changes from the midwest okay I am in Nebraska and we have had good rains and less amount of tornadoes being tornado alley of the U.S.A.

two nites ago we had weather prediction call for 30% chance of rain, got a pea size hailstorm that covered the ground in 30 minutes, injuring some crops, but not anything that would prevent production. That or we know how to grow things better and more hardier

The last 3 days here in Oregon have been sunfilled and delightful. Numerous honey bees have shown up, but sadly, many of them are dying and falling to the ground. I wonder how far reaching that fungus that kills them is?
I hope nature serves up a remedy to this plight.

spec