New Mechanic

Diamondback Acres is going big time. Alex came up from California this week and is here now as our full time mechanic.

He worked part time for us a few years ago, but he needed full time work and housing for his family. We didn't have either, so he left to find work back in California.

Just a week ago Alex called Arturo during our Union Valley planning meeting. We had just stated we needed to find a mechanic and then Alex called, like divine providence. He had just lost his job and wondered if Arturo knew of anything, perhaps something with us? Yes!

Back to Union Valley and the winter damaged Fugis. We met with Gary McMonagle, a grafter, to get his opinion on the damage. After walking around reviewing the history of the orchard and cutting a variety of trunks, we cut down a tree to get a look at the cambian layer. He told us that if there is no cambian layer, there would be nothing to graft to.  Of course, Bill knew this.

We all gazed down on the tree stump to check out the cambian. Yes, indeed there was enough cambian to graft. But not all the trees looked this good.

We cut this one at ground level because it had so much injury above. Gary said this was graftable but taping would be tough, so we would have to dig around the tree to create enough space.

This tree has significant injury on the southwest side of the tree from winter sun/cold damage. It appears the trunks were painted white when the trees were young. Without the protective white paint, the sun can heat the bark/cambian to 70 - 80 degrees on a mild winter day. The night temperature can drop to below 20 degrees causing shock and tissue death.

Bill would like to get rid of the Fugi inner stem, since this is the reason for the overall wimpiness of the trees. Union Valley is a chilly place so even if we could bring these trees back from the dead, there is a chance this could happen again. Getting rid of any Fugi inner stem would mean cutting the trees to ground level.

Gary, being the voice of reason, suggested we go lightly this spring and experiment. He suggested we cut the tops off of the trees leaving a few limbs. We could graft a few of the best and a few of the worst to see how they do before making the big financial commitment of a major over haul. Yay, Gary! Great idea. We want a sure thing, so redirecting our energy to grafting the Golden block makes cents (get it?).

What's that? Hey, that's winterized Leo in his bed with the upgrade for colder temperatures with wind. The pink back drop looks like decor, but it's actually a highly technical flap that comes up and over Leo when the wind picks up. Next to his bed is a bowl of warm water so Leo won't have to walk far to stay hydrated. All of this maintains Leo's status and regal portliness as king farm cat.