How'd it go today?

[sotc]

My orchard ladders are to big for that little job, didn't wanna throw em in and outta the truck.
Brian is correct, if you look at this pile of logs you will see a big, long wound on several of them. The S.W. exposure is pretty rough on new installs here.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Sunscald? Really?

What did the trees do about sunscald before we came along???

 

[Cobleskill]

The bark blistered off.

 

[sotc]

They grew branches to the ground, didn't graft themselves 6' above grade, thrived in the zones that suited them, died in the zones that were too harsh, etc

 

[brendonv]

They were sheltered by their peers, and probably didn't have parking lot full of asphalt around them.

 

[Cobleskill]

I planted some Black Walnuts 20 years ago. One sunscalded. It wasn't out in the open and I hadn't cut any lower limbs off. They were trees I bought from New York State and the bark didn't really furrow up like the local ones do. Different strain?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Ahh, now I'm getting it. Cool.

 

[SkwerI]

I don't think the root cause is necessarily the sun, but rather the outer trunk drying out enough to die back but not killing the tree completely. Getting baked by the sun with inadequate roots and lack of moisture will do it, but it can also happen without direct sun on the trunk.

 

[sotc]

Once the bark toughens/thickens up, say a couple years or so, then they dont need the protection. You see some of those logs never recovered because decay set in and/or borers along with the summer heat

 

[MasterBlaster]

The TreeHouse = EDUCATION!

 

[SoonerFan]

How do I get my diploma???

 

[sotc]

The TreeHouse = EDUCATION!

No doubt! I have learned lots

 

[Al Smith]

It could be that whatever tree that is is kind of like a paw paw in that it's an under canopy plant like a hosta . Some of Mrs. Smiths' tropicals which spend 9 months per year indoors are like that .They can't take direct sun very well .

Some ferns are like that also which is why you almost never see them unless they are in a mature woods setting .

 

[Dave Shepard]

You are also dealing with transplant shock, and the fact that the tree is not always planted in the same orientation that it grew in at the nursery.

 

[sotc]

Haha, yeah, they are probably dizzy by now

 

[FJR]

Sunscald is from the sun expanding the cold bark in the winter. Cold nights contraction, hot sun rays expansion. Do it over and over again and you have cracked and soon to be decayed bark.

 

[Old Monkey]

After you freeze a frog, you have to heat him back up gradually or his cells will burst.

 

[Al Smith]

Well can't say as I've ever seen a frozen frog come back to life but I did see a big snapping turtle revive .No kidding ,I dug the thing out of a cattle watering trough and it was hard as a nail .Sat the thing in front of a pot bellied stove with Gomer Nickles on watch drinkng hard cider and damned if it didn't thaw out .Good thing the turtle was slow because old Gomer was drunk as a skunk and old brer turtle would have bit him else wise .

 

[Dave Shepard]

 

[Al Smith]

Old Gomer was a hoot, about 85 years old at the time .The old salt sailed in the "great white fleet " all around the world .He told stories and had a tat of a navy star on the back of one hand but often would forget which one .

He'd sit fresh made cider out back of the shop his son had about late October so the old woman wouldn't see it .Then totter off about mid Jan when it froze and the alcohol would float to the top .Prop his feet up to the pot bellied stoves which they fired usng rubber battery cases and was hotter than the dickens .Get drunk as a skunk, fall asleep and burn the soles off a dozen pairs of rubber boots during the course of the winter . Old hot foot Gomer,quite a guy .

 

[sotc]

Sunscald is from the sun expanding the cold bark in the winter. Cold nights contraction, hot sun rays expansion. Do it over and over again and you have cracked and soon to be decayed bark.

We don't really get that kinda cold here, pure, intense heat is usualy the case here

 

[Al Smith]

Yesterday went pretty good .Wifeys son and lady friend visited . Chef Al cooked steaks on the grill .Fact is a couple are left over so it's steak and eggs in short order .Cooked eggs as opposed to the "nog" additive types .

 

[MasterBlaster]

Skip them yolks!!!

 

[Al Smith]

Oh Lawdy doing that is like leaving the rum outta the nog . I doubt I eat a half dozen eggs a month .

 

[MasterBlaster]

Actually, you're allowed two yolks a week, so you're doing good!