A Little Bit of Sulphur and a Whole Lot of Stink


Hello everyone!

I can feel it - spring is in the air!!  Well, almost.  We are having an absolutely amazing week, weather-wise (in the teens (50-60F's)!), and I have been itching to get in the garden.  There isn't much to do outside yet - there's still snow on the ground and the spots that are exposed are downright sodden so I'm trying to keep off of them.  A couple of tasks were overdue, however, and needed to get crossed off the list.  A couple of days ago, it was all about spraying the fruit trees with dormant oil & lime sulphur - a first for me.

The sulphur/oil solution is ready to go - 1st up is the nectarine tree in the background

And everything went well - although I'm not exactly sure why I was surprised by how absolutely stinky the sulphur was - I mean pee-ew!  You really do have to make sure you're not standing downwind when you're spraying the trees - a fact that I forgot about a couple of times 🙄.

While I'm viewing the dormant oil as more of a preventative measure, the lime sulphur is what I'm really excited about.  I'm hoping that it helps with a couple of problems I've been struggling with - peach leaf curl on the nectarine and canker that has shown up on both the nectarine and cherry tree.

The Kit

When it comes to the peach leaf curl, I also sprayed the tree with copper (Bordo) last fall, just after all the leaves had dropped. I have my fingers crossed that this will be the year that I actually taste my first homegrown nectarine (if the dang squirrels don't get to it first 😟)

Other than starting a few seeds (I'm trying winter sowing this year!), things have been fairly quiet on the garden front.

Dipping my toe in the winter sowing trend...
'cause you never know until you try

But we all know how it goes - one day there seems to be little to do and the next, everything is coming to life at breakneck speed.  

My goal for 2021 will be much the same as it was for 2020 - to cross several larger projects off of my list while leaving plenty of time to enjoy soul satisfying garden strolls & everyday gardening tasks.   I learned a lot last year, especially when it came to time management in the garden.  This resulted in a good deal of progress being made and I am confident that my momentum will continue in 2021. Truth or famous last words?? We shall see!

Comments

  1. Congratulations on getting an early start, Margaret! I sprayed my one peach tree with some premixed stuff but, with the tree planted on a slope (by a crazy prior owner) and wind an almost perpetual issue here, I was less than thorough. Best wishes with your winter sowing experiment.

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  2. Yes, we all know how it goes. I think particularly in a climate with a long winter...it feels like we're operating in slow motion January through February, then normal pace for March, and then fast forward from April through December (because of the holidays). Good luck with the dormant oil and the winter sowing!

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  3. Nice work! I hope it helps with your fruit trees. I think I just discovered some black knot on a chokecherry.

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    Replies
    1. Ugh!! I'm dealing with black knot on my plum tree as well.

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  4. Our fruit trees missed out on this year's winter wash.

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  5. Spring is in the air here too, minus any snow at the moment. The only fruit trees we have now are a couple of cherries and several pawpaws. Thankfully they seem to do well without spraying, which is a chore I don't enjoy at all!

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  6. It doesn't look as though spring is in the air with all that snow on the ground. It does feel good to get a start on the gardening season though, doesn't it. I'm not growing much this year, just tomatoes and potatoes again. The spuds have some good chits on them and the tomatoes are just poking through the soil now. I can almost taste this year's harvest.

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