(no subject)
And now for a random tree post.
Yes, indeed, Kentucky is too hot for citrus. You may recall all the baby citrus fruits in my last post. All of those are gone. Heat stress caused the trees to drop all their fruit.
My Eureka lemon, the one that had about 20 baby lemons on it. I knew it wouldn't set them all, but I had hoped for 2 or 3 lemons. Alas, there are none.
Something funky happened with this branch. A number of the leaves started to bronze, as though they were being munched by mites. I never did find a mite, so I don't know what was going on. I pinched off all the affected leaves as they appeared and threw them over the side of the balcony, and the damage stopped. Maybe it was mites and I just managed to get rid of them all? I don't know. Whatever it was, it didn't spread, and now that the weather has broken, it's starting to get tiny buds on it. I don't know if they'll grow into new leaves, but I hope so.
Also in this pic: good shot of the one remaining lemon. It started to grow this one in the winter. It will probably be ripe in another 2 or 3 months.
The Meyer lemon. Not looking quite so sad anymore! It's not as full and healthy as I'd like it to be, but this is a huge improvement. I am very encouraged by all the growth this year.
The Minneola tangelo has also grown tremendously. I pruned it quite a bit this spring, and it has thrown out leaves everywhere. No blooms yet, though. Not even a hint of them. That's all right ... there's always next year. This season doesn't seem like it's going to be too good for fruit.
The Washington navel orange tree dropped all of its fruit also. You can see how the young leaves are "cupped" ... the edges curling upward. This is not normal for citrus. This is a sign of heat stress. Also, note the gigantic elephant-ear leaves on the downward-curving branch to the right. Those are a sign of not enough light ... it grew those in the winter while it was in the dark in my bedroom. This tree just hasn't had any luck when it comes to leaves. :D
The huge leaves are no issue, but the cupped ones worry me whenever I see them. Heat stress. On citrus. In Kentucky. WTF is up with that?
Interestingly, this tree is starting a second growth phase.
Even to the point of trying to grow out new branches on the trunk! I usually pinch these off because they don't look very nice, but I think I'll let them grow. Maybe I'll prune them off next spring or something, but they amuse me right now, and may be attractive. I did remove the ones that were growing ridiculously close to the ground ... the lowest one now is about eight inches off the ground.
Speaking of wtfery, what is up with the sago palm?
Witness: ZERO growth! It has not grown an inch since it came into my care. No young leaves ... no nothing! Is the plant plastic? If I hadn't repotted it and seen the living taproot for myself, I would be thinking so right about now.
Finally, some randomness. This is my angel orchid's flower spike. The buds are starting to get very fat! It should bloom soon. The flower spike is all curvy and weird because it kept trying to grow toward the window, and I kept turning the plant to keep it from bashing into the blinds, heh.
And that's all for now!
Yes, indeed, Kentucky is too hot for citrus. You may recall all the baby citrus fruits in my last post. All of those are gone. Heat stress caused the trees to drop all their fruit.
My Eureka lemon, the one that had about 20 baby lemons on it. I knew it wouldn't set them all, but I had hoped for 2 or 3 lemons. Alas, there are none.
Something funky happened with this branch. A number of the leaves started to bronze, as though they were being munched by mites. I never did find a mite, so I don't know what was going on. I pinched off all the affected leaves as they appeared and threw them over the side of the balcony, and the damage stopped. Maybe it was mites and I just managed to get rid of them all? I don't know. Whatever it was, it didn't spread, and now that the weather has broken, it's starting to get tiny buds on it. I don't know if they'll grow into new leaves, but I hope so.
Also in this pic: good shot of the one remaining lemon. It started to grow this one in the winter. It will probably be ripe in another 2 or 3 months.
The Meyer lemon. Not looking quite so sad anymore! It's not as full and healthy as I'd like it to be, but this is a huge improvement. I am very encouraged by all the growth this year.
The Minneola tangelo has also grown tremendously. I pruned it quite a bit this spring, and it has thrown out leaves everywhere. No blooms yet, though. Not even a hint of them. That's all right ... there's always next year. This season doesn't seem like it's going to be too good for fruit.
The Washington navel orange tree dropped all of its fruit also. You can see how the young leaves are "cupped" ... the edges curling upward. This is not normal for citrus. This is a sign of heat stress. Also, note the gigantic elephant-ear leaves on the downward-curving branch to the right. Those are a sign of not enough light ... it grew those in the winter while it was in the dark in my bedroom. This tree just hasn't had any luck when it comes to leaves. :D
The huge leaves are no issue, but the cupped ones worry me whenever I see them. Heat stress. On citrus. In Kentucky. WTF is up with that?
Interestingly, this tree is starting a second growth phase.
Even to the point of trying to grow out new branches on the trunk! I usually pinch these off because they don't look very nice, but I think I'll let them grow. Maybe I'll prune them off next spring or something, but they amuse me right now, and may be attractive. I did remove the ones that were growing ridiculously close to the ground ... the lowest one now is about eight inches off the ground.
Speaking of wtfery, what is up with the sago palm?
Witness: ZERO growth! It has not grown an inch since it came into my care. No young leaves ... no nothing! Is the plant plastic? If I hadn't repotted it and seen the living taproot for myself, I would be thinking so right about now.
Finally, some randomness. This is my angel orchid's flower spike. The buds are starting to get very fat! It should bloom soon. The flower spike is all curvy and weird because it kept trying to grow toward the window, and I kept turning the plant to keep it from bashing into the blinds, heh.
And that's all for now!