Hi All,

Well Google Maps finally updated the satellite image of the field my trees are growing in.  And here it is:



So it is a little hard to see the trees.  I seem to remember the previous image being more clear... oh well.   This image was taken in late March/early April.  Some of the mulch rings are much more evident because they were newly planted.  I've designated the rows by the white lines (just under where the tree is located).  The yellow dots are fig trees, the orange dots are other fruit trees, the two red dots are pear trees which hand not been planted when the image was taken, and the blue dots are holes which are prepped but don't have trees in, yet.  The black dots are dead trees.  The two rectangular(ish) boxes are propagation areas.  The bottom one is 2010 cuttings the top one is 2011 cuttings.  And the white circle indicates where six pomegranates and a pear tree are growing.  To the west of the circle are several peach trees and another fig tree.

Follow the white lines from left to right:
Top Row: Black Mission, Black Mission, empty, 278-128(deceased), Black Mission NL (deceased), Golden Celeste, LSU Purple.
Second Row: Sicilian Black (originated from J. Robin, still hasn't shown signs of life this year), BM-VS, Unknown (from Moyer Tree Farm in San Antonio), Armenian, Aldo (Leon's variety), Golden Celeste, Native Black, Osborne Prolific
Third Row: Verdal Longue, Sanford (from Fannick's in San Antonio), Sanford, King (deceased), Unknown (probably Brunswick)
Next is the propagation areas
Forth Row: Apricot-Early Golden, Peach-Dixie Land, Peach-LaFeliciana, Plum-Santa Rosa, Plum-Methley (deceased) Nectarine-Red Gold, Asian Pear-20th Century, Asian Pear-Shinko
Fifth Row: Pear-Ayers, Pear-Warren, Apricot-Blenheim (deceased), Apricot-Royal (deceased), Peach-Florida King (deceased), Plum-Morris (deceased), Nectarine-Surecrop (deceased), Asian Pear-Chojuro

Most of the fruit trees in row 4&5 I received bare-rooted and had broken dormancy.  The apricots were already blooming in the box.  I felt lucky to have so many survive.  The ones which didn't survive I'm planning on replacing with the same varieties this November/December.

~james

Pretty cool stuff James. Is that a metal roof I see on your place?

yeah very cool image james!

Hi James,

Bill,  This is my bother's house.  He built it with as much recycled/overstocked material as he could find.  It is a commercial, metal roof.  The panels are about 16" wide.  The roofer wasn't too happy about using it for dormers, but they did a great job.

theman, As I mentioned, most of the fruit trees arrived with bare roots and leaves.  Most were already in trouble when I received them.  Some of them I planted hoping the rootstock would survive and I could graft new tops on at the beginning of next season. 

Hi Cecil,  This is Granger, TX.  I'm only about 40 miles northeast of Austin, but the environment is very different.  The fruit trees in the 4&5 rows were not planted last year.  I am not planning on providing them protection this year.  The fig trees did not receive protection last year and I ended up with 100% of my trees being damaged to the ground. 

I think you were in the same boat as I was last year.  Before, our first freeze (25F), we hadn't really had a cold day to speak of.  My trees were still green with leaf when the cold came.  Most of the damage was done that night by the combination of cold and wind.  The other problem with trying to protect the trees here is the two weeks of 70ish degree weather between the couple of days of cold.

For this year, I have started collecting 55g plastic barrels (5&15g for the 1st years) to drop over the top of the trees when the weather is cold.  I think they will trap some heat inside of them, but I am mainly looking for protection from the wind.  Maybe the next pic from space will show bright blue dots all over the field.

Thanks James,

It sounds like there might be a pretty good story behind "I spent a week there one night"...

I'm open to other suggestions for overwintering.  Since we go from 80 degrees to freezing back to 80 degrees within a couple of days, I was looking for something that would go on and come off easily and quickly.

I have some newly planted (3-011) whips that I was considering using some PVC pipe

I seem to remember someone mentioning the pipe insulation held in moisture resulting in damage to the tree where the wood and foam met.  If you can find some cardboard tube (maybe carpet roll cores) it might be a better fit than the insulation.  Also, you might want to check with your municipality.  I saw some 6 or 8 inch plastic drainage pipe being installed in Houston once.  There were several 3-5' section of pipe that were sitting in what seemed to be a trash pile.  I wish I had thought to ask about them then.

Thanks James,