Fruits & seeds.

Discussion in 'Edible Gardening' started by Marley Farley, Jul 20, 2005.

  1. Marley Farley

    Marley Farley Affable Admin! Staff Member

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    [​IMG] Is it just me or are trees & other perennial plants, flowering.friuting & seeding in a much bigger way this year. :confused: Is it because we have had a dry winter & summers, they are panicking so to speak & want to make sure something will be there for next year if they are not. :confused: :rolleyes: :( Any ideas anyone??
     
  2. pete

    pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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    I think its a matter of some plants doing better and perhaps a few not so well.
    When you consider that quite a lot of our cutivated plants come from warmer climates than ours, ( not many from colder), it makes sense that they will do better than normal in a warmer sunnier year. Thats what I reckon anyway :D
     
  3. Hannah

    Hannah Gardener

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    My mum's fruit trees always go one year on, one year off, but then I think trees have some kind of sixth sense - the year of the hurricane never saw so many bramleys, then it got blown down. And when Gramps said he was going to cut down the greengage because it never fruited, lo and behold, one glut of greengages! So you never know...
     
  4. Fran

    Fran Gardener

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    Marley - much more likely that this year we didn't have the heavy rain and spring gales so much, and therefore a lot of flowers set seed.

    I used to think that a bountiful fruiting autumn was a sign of a hard winter, and then some-one at Kew advised it was less about the coming winter and more about the past spring.
     
  5. pete

    pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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    Couldn't agree more Fran, the idea that plants can foretell a bad winter always seemed a bit daft to me. [​IMG]
     
  6. Marley Farley

    Marley Farley Affable Admin! Staff Member

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    [​IMG] That is what I was wondering, I thought it would probably be because of what the plants had been trough rather than what was to come, & we certainly have had a dry winter & spring in this area. It's just that the old sayings that we have listened to for generations really don't seem to apply, but usually there is some basis of truth in them, so was puzzling over it & was wondering what everyone else thought. I have been suprised by the number of trees that have died off this year, allot seem to be Ash trees too, which is such a shame. :( Of course there has been the usual death rate of the elm trees that appear for a few years then die off, but we all know about them. :(
     
  7. Fran

    Fran Gardener

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    I like the old wives tales, and your right, there is often some truth in them.

    I've noticed this year an increase of dead trees in the hegerows - mostly young ones fairly weedy ones - but a lot are showing the signs of drought - so this rain is soooooo good.
    Even a 15 year old horse chestnut, is in autumn colour - oddly the conkers are still green.
    On one lane there are two of the most gorgeous old oaks, and I would be sorry to see them in trouble.
     
  8. pete

    pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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    Oaks dont seem to be doing so well around here.
    Seen quite a few in recent years that are on their last legs, big trees, but not ancient. They seem to shed their bark in large chunks and slowly die over a few years. :(
    I dont think there's a problem with some of the introduced trees, they mostly come from hotter dryer climates than ours, so can cope. As long as the leaves are shed and dont stay attached, then the tree is probably OK. Insect attack causes a lot of early leaf fall as well.
     
  9. Marley Farley

    Marley Farley Affable Admin! Staff Member

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    :( Certainly agree about the trees suffering from lack of water, the oaks as you say are struggling, we have lost a couple of ash trees nearby, one of which was healthy to the untrained eye last year, but it is as dead as a dodo this year. It was quite old but not ancient, very sad to see. We also have allot of dead young elm trees this year. I know that they only live for a short time before you can see the bark dropping off & death is on the way, they nearly always put out seeds the year before they die, I have noticed that, have tried once to germinate some, but to no avail, still they wouldn't have survived long. :( I must say though that my Tuliptree is certainly looking wonderful this year. [​IMG]
     
  10. Fran

    Fran Gardener

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    Hopefully the recent rain will set recovery in motion before the autumn.
     
  11. pete

    pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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    Dont think there's any elm trees around here, must have all died years ago. :(
    Has your tulip tree flowered yet? They do get big.
     
  12. Marley Farley

    Marley Farley Affable Admin! Staff Member

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    [​IMG] There are just the odd ones here & there in field hedges round here. They don't live long about 10yrs then throw out seeds & die off. Then a few years later you see fresh growth in same area. It seems to be a little cycle of roughly 15yrs. :( Such a shame as they were wonderful trees. I remember them well as a child. They used to make the most wonderful creeking noise, a bit like poplars can.
    No I'm afraid Tulip tree hasn't flowered yet, was hopeful for this year as is 25yrs old but it was very badly damaged by the winds last year. I had it trimmed & reshaped in the spring. I have been feeding it in the spring & early summer but have stopped now. It has put on fantastic growth & a very nice shape coming now next year it will be lovely as long as the wind leaves it alone. The leaves are huge, bigger than the bean tree round the corner. Anyway after that rant, no hasn't flowered yet hoping for next year now as they are wonderful to see. [​IMG]
     
  13. pete

    pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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    I dont know if its common knowledge but we use a lot of tulip wood now in this country imported from the USA. Where they grow loads of it.
    It seems a shame to cut down such an ornamental tree for timber.
     
  14. Marley Farley

    Marley Farley Affable Admin! Staff Member

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    No didn't know we used the timber from the Tulip trees, it is a lovely pale wood. They are beautiful trees, but it seems that if the timber is used for a paticular reason they will cut any tree down. You only have to look at the devastation of our rainforests, & the americans didn't think twice about cutting down the Redwoods. I know they have a cutting policy now, but it's too late for some areas. All these trees are fabulous in their own way, mainly their sheer size, but our greed outstrips the supply,so what will happen in years to come I don't know, but I'm sure we will pay the price for our devastsation. :( :eek: So on a happier note I enjoy my tulip tree and all trees in fact, while I can. [​IMG]
     
  15. pete

    pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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    I think it just illustrates that what we grow as ornamentals, other parts of the world have in abundance.
    Although I do see your point about overlogging.
     
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