Gobbler Nation

Looking good, especially those berries! Mmmmmm......

Those mulberries are easy to grow. Nothing seems to affect them.

Cool looking apples.

Night_Hawk wrote:Those mulberries are easy to grow. Nothing seems to affect them.

Mulberries even grow where you don't want 'em to.

Thanks guys.

That particular mulberry is a named variety that has even better tasting fruit than common ones. It also bears for several weeks longer than the native trees around here. There are actually still a few hanging on the tree right now.

And with apples fresh off the tree, there is no comparison with supermarket apples. But, that is true with a lot of homegrown stuff - just like tomatoes.

Looks good, Steve. You must be getting some rain. It's so dry here, my mulberry trees haven't even fruited up. My apple tree is completely bare & the pear tree only has a few stunted fruit. It's been over 3 weeks since I mowed.

My asparagus did great this spring when it was rainy. I have gotten 1 cutting from my barb & am just about ready for a 2nd. I do have a helluva nice 2 1/2 acre field of Queen Ann's Lace, Buckhorn, & other weeds but they're all dying. You can walk across my yard & it sounds like corn flakes with each step.

If you have any spare rain, send it north. It's been weeks since we've had any measurable amount.

HunterGKS wrote:Looks good, Steve. You must be getting some rain. It's so dry here, my mulberry trees haven't even fruited up. My apple tree is completely bare & the pear tree only has a few stunted fruit. It's been over 3 weeks since I mowed.

My asparagus did great this spring when it was rainy. I have gotten 1 cutting from my barb & am just about ready for a 2nd. I do have a helluva nice 2 1/2 acre field of Queen Ann's Lace, Buckhorn, & other weeds but they're all dying. You can walk across my yard & it sounds like corn flakes with each step.

If you have any spare rain, send it north. It's been weeks since we've had any measurable amount.

George, it sounds like you are in a horrible drought. We went through a short drought (about 3 weeks) and then came out of it with a lot of rain. Wish I could send you some of our rain brother!!!

Night_Hawk wrote:

HunterGKS wrote:Looks good, Steve. You must be getting some rain. It's so dry here, my mulberry trees haven't even fruited up. My apple tree is completely bare & the pear tree only has a few stunted fruit. It's been over 3 weeks since I mowed.

My asparagus did great this spring when it was rainy. I have gotten 1 cutting from my barb & am just about ready for a 2nd. I do have a helluva nice 2 1/2 acre field of Queen Ann's Lace, Buckhorn, & other weeds but they're all dying. You can walk across my yard & it sounds like corn flakes with each step.

If you have any spare rain, send it north. It's been weeks since we've had any measurable amount.

George, it sounds like you are in a horrible drought. We went through a short drought (about 3 weeks) and then came out of it with a lot of rain. Wish I could send you some of our rain brother!!!

Steve, It's probably been at least 4 months since we had any real rain. I was in 3 different woods yesterday & the walnuts have already dropped. Not a good sign.

HunterGKS wrote:

Night_Hawk wrote:

HunterGKS wrote:Looks good, Steve. You must be getting some rain. It's so dry here, my mulberry trees haven't even fruited up. My apple tree is completely bare & the pear tree only has a few stunted fruit. It's been over 3 weeks since I mowed.

My asparagus did great this spring when it was rainy. I have gotten 1 cutting from my barb & am just about ready for a 2nd. I do have a helluva nice 2 1/2 acre field of Queen Ann's Lace, Buckhorn, & other weeds but they're all dying. You can walk across my yard & it sounds like corn flakes with each step.

If you have any spare rain, send it north. It's been weeks since we've had any measurable amount.

George, it sounds like you are in a horrible drought. We went through a short drought (about 3 weeks) and then came out of it with a lot of rain. Wish I could send you some of our rain brother!!!

Steve, It's probably been at least 4 months since we had any real rain. I was in 3 different woods yesterday & the walnuts have already dropped. Not a good sign.

Yes, that is horrible. The last time I saw anything like that was several years ago. When even the weeds start browning out, you know it has to be bad. Hoping you get some relief before long.

Night_Hawk wrote:

Night_Hawk wrote:

HunterGKS wrote:
George, it sounds like you are in a horrible drought. We went through a short drought (about 3 weeks) and then came out of it with a lot of rain. Wish I could send you some of our rain brother!!!

Steve, It's probably been at least 4 months since we had any real rain. I was in 3 different woods yesterday & the walnuts have already dropped. Not a good sign.

Yes, that is horrible. The last time I saw anything like that was several years ago. When even the weeds start browning out, you know it has to be bad. Hoping you get some relief before long.

Steve, I thought I’d post a few pics to show what it’s like here in central Ohio. I can move them to a new string.

This is what most of my yard looks like, all 2 ½ acres. The green is mostly weeds that are dying but there is a little green grass.




Usually this tree is full of pears getting close to picking size. What few pears there are pretty small.










Even the corn is starting to suffer. Not only is the drought affecting them, the coons are as well.




The only thing doing any good is my rhubarb which is almost ready for a 2nd cutting.

Wow George, glad you posted those pics. I haven't seen it that bad here for many, many years.

It's strange how the weather gets on a pattern and stays that way for a long time.

How old are most of your fruit trees? Looks like you will have a huge crop this year for sure. What do you do with your mulberries?

We eat the mulberries fresh and also make cobblers out of them.

Some of my apple and pear trees are 10 years old or so. On a semi dwarf tree you can start getting fruit in as soon as 3 years. On a full sized tree it may be 10 - 12 years for the first fruit. Getting the right varieties are important due to disease that affects apples and pears. I don't spray my trees, so my fruit is not supermarket quality in terms of looks, but tastes better than supermarket fruit. I also grow some fruit at my farm just for the wildlife.