fruit trees in general

[Joel]

i wonder about the green leaf / red leaf thing. i presumed they were green leaf when young and purple when older, is this not the case?

I see some sort of Prunus around my area that have purple and green leaves on the one tree. In every one i have seen, the purple is the desired growth, and the green leaves are suckers coming from below the graft, presumable because that's the only way to propagate them, or because the rootstock of the green variety is stronger. Is this what you meant?

JayC

[Bretts]

We have some(purple leaf plum) growing wild here and they seem to have more of a green tint that the ones planted in town. Our thinking is that they are hybridized from the pure ones. It could be that we saw them as leaves were changing colour,as I stated they turn an unimpressive greeny colour in autumn, it could also be a nutrient deficiency. I have noticed that the ones in town in Orange have the most amazing colour in the growing season. Much better than most of ours in Parkes. One of these is on the top of my list for collecting this year so in a few years I might be able to say more
One of our feature trees has gotten uglier and uglier with me trying to turn it into a landscape bonsai. I made it so ugly Danica gave me permission to dig it up and chop it. I found a graft deep under the soil and it is one ugly bugger. Now I don't know what to do with it. Maybe I can get some root cuttings and an air layer or something
I have never seen one of these sucker from the root stock Jay and there are ALOT around the streets in Parkes and surrounding towns.

[Joel]

My heads mixed up. I'm probably thinking of some completely different tree lol.

JayC

[Steven]

Here's one of those purple leaf prunus that I recently collected from a nature strip. For some reason this one was about 1/8th the size of others in the street but just as old and gnarly. The person who owned the house it was out the front of was more than happy to let me dig it up and replace it with one that "didn't look so stunted and funny".
They had lived there since 1982 and the prunus were there when they moved in.

streetplant (19).jpg

streetplant.jpg

streetplant (4).jpg

It definitely has character and potential for a nice bonsai in a few years. I'm not going to do any work to it for 6 to 12 months so it has a really good chance to recover.

What do you think of this urban yamadori? What would you do to it if it were yours?

Regards,
Steven

[daiviet_nguyen]

Hi Bretts,

The green leaf variety that I was referring to stays green, they do not change
with ages -- please see the photo "Green.jpg".

Likewise the red one stays red. The tree "RedGreen.jpg" is the "grafted" one
that I was referring to. Green stays green, red stays red.

Best regards.

[Asus101]

if you want apricots use what every it is they use or root stock. The eatable ones have very course growth and large leaves, they are also prone to rot and all sorts of nasties.
Atm Im collecting root stock suckers, Ill try post some images on tuesday. All clumps, but goos too work on.

i dont know where you are getting your information but as usual, another bunch of crock! the ramification and leaf size on the edible ones is sensational. anything rots if things are not right. you need to get out more.

Well little buddy, I'm just saying what I have seen around here. After all there are large properties here full of Apricots. I have found the root stock is finer and has smaller leaves. Still the master knows best. Good luck.

[kcpoole]

Anyone know if the wood can be preserved OK? I will want to do some carving on one of the trunks.

Ken

Hey Ken , If I remember correctly peach wood is quite hard and carves well , I used my arbortech and the wood had a nice grain, I'd use a wood hardener not lime sulphur would look better in my opinion anyway.

Cool Thanks shannon

Now I only have to get Clinton to organise that carving Workshop

Ken

[Bretts]

Ripper trees guys thanks for posting.
It would seem the one you collected Steven is not Grafted?

[scott]

I had a closer look Brett and I reckon all those really deep red ones they use as street trees here in Orange are grafted. I think you're probably right that all those wild red ones we see everywhere around here are hybrids of them and the green ones.

[Bretts]

I recall that was your thought about the hybridization Scott . I am thinking you are probably right but I did wonder after we talked if the ones I saw had just started turning green for the winter colour as I have noticed they do. I stopped in at my sister in laws that day and noticed her's was as green as the ones we had been looking at due to the seasonal colour change.
I have started to wonder also if it could be a nutrient thing as the ones you have in Orange are much brighter red/purple than most of the ones we have in Parke's?
It will be interesting to see what happens when we get them home

[scott]

Yeah I'm full of good ideas Brett! Hybrid green / red plums is probably up there with "let's invest in US shares, no way we'll loose money on that!" and "no it doesn't look deep, I'm sure we can drive through there!"

On a more serious note though, I have a few of those in my garden so I'll watch the leaf colour carefully this spring and see if it does change? Nutrition effecting leaf colour is an interesting theory, I think you should devise an experiment to prove or disprove it?

[Bretts]

I do think Hybridization is a good possibility Scott. Looking into the hornbeams again I came across a study about hybridizing Carpinus. The most easily hybridized was American hornbeam which has me thinking why the trees that Ray Nesci is adamant is are American Hornbeam don't look that much like American Hornbeam.
" A review of the horticultural literature and data about the site conditions from which Carpinus have been collected in their native habitats indicate that they possess adaptations which would enable them to withstand the rigors of urban growing conditions"

"Preliminary results indicate that seven previously undocumented interspecific hybrids were generated: C. caroliniana ´ C. betulus, C. caroliniana ´ C. cordata, C. caroliniana ´ C. coreana, C. caroliniana ´ C. laxiflora, C. caroliniana ´ C. orientalis, C. caroliniana ´ C. tschonoskii, and C. cordata ´ C. japonica"

Just to clarify it is in Autumn that I have noticed the purple leaf plum gets green hues.

[anttal63]

if you want apricots use what every it is they use or root stock. The eatable ones have very course growth and large leaves, they are also prone to rot and all sorts of nasties.
Atm Im collecting root stock suckers, Ill try post some images on tuesday. All clumps, but goos too work on.

i dont know where you are getting your information but as usual, another bunch of crock! the ramification and leaf size on the edible ones is sensational. anything rots if things are not right. you need to get out more.

Well little buddy, I'm just saying what I have seen around here. After all there are large properties here full of Apricots. I have found the root stock is finer and has smaller leaves. Still the master knows best. Good luck.

first of all im not ya little buddy kid! 2nd im far from any kind of master, i'll leave that job to you. 3rd ive actually worked on enough trees in the last 4 years to last you a life time. heres a photo of my edible apricots as they turned in autumn. they are the original leaves from spring so were even smaller to start with. the growth looks fairly fine to me what you think pal. like olives, growing fruit trees in my family is a long and common story. is there anything else you would like to teach me, cause im all ears and eyes just waitn for that reliable info you so readily deliver.

[Asus101]

You have the under stock that they use up here. I have been digging them out up here for the past week. Orchard tree's have different leaves and thicker growth.

[anttal63]

yes they are wild apricot trees grown from the seed i spat from my mouth after eating one. these too in the ground will have bigger leaves and courser growth but we are growing bonsai not orchards.