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Damian starts with ... Hi all, Any advise on dealing with the problem in melbourne this week where temperatures are above 40degrees 4 days in a row, it's been day 1 and pretty much all of my new growth on all plants have dried up (crispy). They are all newly bought trees, so i'm relying on new growth for growth to get them through the winter. Most concerned as these are really young and i'm relying on these new growth : Longan white sapote (all crisped up and some old stems have shrivelled, doubt new growth will spurt from these stems again) All citris Sapodilla Pepino (i think these really don't like anything above 30degrees) Will these plants just die after severe heat like this or is it just folage being burnt? I can't do much to shift them, as there are no shady areas and it's probably too late to go out to buy a shade cloth now. I give them some water each morning but don't know what else can be done. Any advise apart from shifting and shade cloth? | About the Author Melbourne 29th January 2009 7:50am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author se queensland 29th January 2009 8:03am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Tran says... Don't worry Damian. Mine are in the same situation. My green tomato fruits were half cooked and young babana leaves all turned black on the edges. I found that the ones in pot where I gave some wetting agent are doing well but not the one on the ground (cant afford). Last night I did spray some water on the babana leaves and they look a bit better today but I cannot do much with the black leaf ones. You have done your best so far. I think keep water early in the morning and mulch them where possible. I think as you said just folage being burnt that is all. Good luck. | About the Author VIC 29th January 2009 8:10am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Jantina says... Damian you don't say if your plants are in the ground now or still in pots. If they are still in pots then try watering them by putting the pots in a bucket of water until the bubbles stop coming up (and if you have no shade do it morning and night). When potting mix gets very dry it can become water repellent. Also try to shade the pots with something, even some old cloth. The soil in the pots in a hot sun gets very very hot and can cook the roots. If they are in the ground Trans advice is good. | About the Author Jantina Mt. Gambier S.A. 29th January 2009 8:36am #UserID: 1351 Posts: 1272 View All Jantina's Edible Fruit Trees |
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SlickMick says... Damian, a couple of other things you can do. Mulch the top of the pot as heavily as you can even to the point of tearing up old cardboard boxes and laying these on the surface, or shredded paper to try and keep the earth cool. Wrap the outside of the pot in shadecloth or anything else that will shade the walls of the pot. Old TV boxes or similar over the top of the pot will do well and may even shade some of your plant. Paint the pot white to reflect the heat instead of absorbing it The whole idea is to make a sort of micro climate that cools the plant and its soil and allows the soil to remain damp. Dont water the leaves of the plant.. just the soil. Hope this helps | About the Author Slicko 29th January 2009 8:49am #UserID: 1775 Posts: 227 View All Slicko's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author 29th January 2009 9:27am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Slicko 29th January 2009 9:48am #UserID: 1775 Posts: 227 View All Slicko's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Jantina says... I had problems with big pots drying out and the water just running down around the outside of the mix basically not doing much, then I bought a pile of those big plastic terra cotta coloured saucers (Cheap as Chips) and sat the pots in them and on hot days particularly made sure that the saucer was full of water after I had watered the pots and voila no more horribly dried out pots. I have never had any root rot problems from this and my plants did so much better. Trans idea of water holding granules is good and would help a lot. | About the Author Jantina Mt. Gambier S.A. 29th January 2009 11:55am #UserID: 1351 Posts: 1272 View All Jantina's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Slicko 29th January 2009 10:03pm #UserID: 1775 Posts: 227 View All Slicko's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Damian says... Today is Friday, the 3rd day of 43deg. After 2 days of 43degrees and 30deg plus nights most of my fruit trees have suffered some sort of heat damage. The only ones that seem to haven't been affected are the black sapotes, tamarillo and dragon fruits. White sapote, lemon, mandarin, pears, banana, pomello,carambola, jaboticaba, kiwi and babaco suffered severe folage damage, all crisped up or wilted, even old folage. Strangely the babaco fruits altho have gone soft and limp is still hangin on to the tree. They look like they're going to die or at least definately not happy. Ive shifted these to the edge of the west fence to get some shade from 4pm onwards, altho still full sun and heat up until then. I do have SOME black pots but i'm not inclined to paint them white, as i'll have to do the opposite again in winter. Its so heart breaking to put so much effort into watering fertilizing and mulching these trees only to see them wilt in just a day. We have today to go, if it's not already dead, today will deliver the final strike. I did stick my finger into the soil to feel how hot it is at 430pm apparently thats the hottest time of the day here, it feels surprisingly cool, perhaps 3-4 degrees cooler than air temperature and the soil is moist even wet from my daily splashing of some water in the morning before i go to work which i take from my fish pond. I dont think i have a dry pot problem and i "hope" i dont have a pot cooking problem either, it didn't feel like i did when i stuck my finger in. As you can tell, this is my first year to take up fruit trees so i don't have the experience like tran has going through hot times. Anyone else in melbourne with similar problems? Might make me feel better just to know others are experiencing the same things as I am, or even better those that have experienced it and have seen their trees survive these harsh conditions. | About the Author 30th January 2009 8:48am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author SA 30th January 2009 9:06am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author 30th January 2009 9:20am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Adam Melbourne 30th January 2009 9:40am #UserID: 1613 Posts: 110 View All Adam's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Michelle says... I am also in melbourne and having a terrible time with newly potted plants. Even those in full shade (bromeliads) and succulents are suffering. I have tried bringing some inside for a break from the heat and placing in buckets of water but i fear the damage has been done. I think a big part of my problem is that the plants have only recently (ie: in the last month or so) been potted so they are not yet established. Can't wait for slightly less hot day tomorrow!! if only the forecast was 25 and not 35... | About the Author Michelle10 Yarraville 30th January 2009 10:44am #UserID: 1932 Posts: 1 View All Michelle10's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author 30th January 2009 11:14am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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SlickMick says... I wouldn't just yet Damian. I would expect that your smaller branches and twigs would have dried out but perhaps the roots and bigger branches have not succumbed to the heat and still have living fibres in them. Perhaps take off any obvious dried out wood, bend the twig back on itself and if it is dead it will snap.. if dying then there will be some green in the break, but it should be still pliable and bend back on itself just showing a bit of bending stress in the bark if alive. Monitor the wood with some green and flood the pots to cool the root ball. I would not fertilize as I think that would be too stressful for them at this stage. In a while I would think you will see some little green shoots on the larger wood.. just the tree telling you that it is going to be around for a while longer. | About the Author Slicko 30th January 2009 12:30pm #UserID: 1775 Posts: 227 View All Slicko's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Tran says... Be positive Damian. I have just discovered that my 5 year old Indian chery in a big pot I thought it had gone a year ago (the top dried up completely) and I could not remove the root so I left there and grow melon on top of that this year. Guess what I found some young shoots coming out just this morning so there is always hope for your trees, just folage was damage that is all. | About the Author VIC 30th January 2009 12:45pm #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Julie says... I know it's not a tree - I was trying to keep a strawberry grape alive in a pot, but because it was in an odd spot, I forgot to water it last summer. I gave it up for lost, then was surprised to see new growth in spring, after the winter rains. I was so pleased, because this is not a commercial type of grape, and not easily available. It has a slight strawberry taste under the skin. So don't give up! | About the Author Julie Roleystone 31st January 2009 7:41pm #UserID: 154 Posts: 1842 View All Julie's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Damian says... All but a sapodilla seedling died. The main trunk shrivelled up. Some plants sprung up again after a cool night, leaves from a chilli and pomello wilted during the day but overnight they stood up again. All of the folage on the babaco is fried, had to cut them all, but the fruit remain,lets see in the next few weeks if they drop. Disappointiing was some cherimoya, sapodilla and lychee new growth fried, especially the lychee and sapodilla since they grow so slow. The following week in melbourne is around 30deg, should be favourable conditions for re growth, lets see what happens to those that survive. Stone fruit leaves all black. I kept a babaco at my mum's place 1 suburb away but it was shaded behind a large plum tree and there was absolutely no folage damage. It would have been subjected to the same temperatures, so perhaps a shading will stop the folage burn or at least minimize it in future. Lesson here is GET A SHADE CLOTH!!!! | About the Author Melbourne 2nd February 2009 8:36am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Julie says... Hi all. I live in a fruit growing area, and the local orchardists have started spraying 'Surround' on all their trees, to stop sunburn. It is a clay-based product (kaolin), so it shouldn't be too expensive. I have no idea where to get it, but will check with one of the orchardists and let you know what I come up with. | About the Author Julie Roleystone 13th February 2009 3:23pm #UserID: 154 Posts: 1842 View All Julie's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Jantina Mt. Gambier S.A. 13th February 2009 4:04pm #UserID: 1351 Posts: 1272 View All Jantina's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Julie says... Jantina, when I first heard of Surround, several years ago, it was to do with fruit fly control. But the local guys use traps as well, so they obviously don't rely on it for that. I Googled 'Surround', and they mention a lot of pests, but make no claims re fruit fly. If I could buy some and it wasn't too expensive, I would give it a go. I will contact one of the local guys. | About the Author Julie Roleystone 14th February 2009 5:35pm #UserID: 154 Posts: 1842 View All Julie's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author juanita melbourne 5th March 2009 12:57am #UserID: 702 Posts: 122 View All juanita's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Jantina says... Poor thing looks like it got caught in the fires. My Casana (close relative) in a pot, no fruit, got badly scorched and lost it's leaves so I put it in a more sheltered spot and gave it lots of water and it grew bigger and better leaves. If I was you I would be inclined to tidy it up, remove about half the fruits and give it lots of water and seasol and some dynamic lifter and I bet it comes good. Good luck. | About the Author Jantina Mt. Gambier S.A. 5th March 2009 9:02am #UserID: 1351 Posts: 1272 View All Jantina's Edible Fruit Trees |
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denise says... In my conditions I found that a potting mix has improved water holding properties with 5 to10% soil added. Healthy bush soil is great You could water in some nice soil from the top.If the water bounces off, I add to the top a mulch of some crushed shell, stonechip, or bark granules and after a few days or hours you can see the hose water goes straight through. as arteries open up through the mix. It does work often enough.Some people swear by trickle irrigation which can be quite straight forward on a small scale. | About the Author denise4 auckland kiwiland 5th March 2009 10:57am #UserID: 1929 Posts: 73 View All denise4's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Jantina Mt. Gambier S.A. 5th March 2009 3:20pm #UserID: 1351 Posts: 1272 View All Jantina's Edible Fruit Trees |
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denise says... I hope to visit in one year from now.I will be based in Sydney. I have 3 more dreams to walk through before an immigration. It is still not entirely certain. . I am thinking of a couple of acres in Dural, but would consider something similar. Somewhere with good cheap water supply and good soil.I would build a big tropical tree dome as finances permit. | About the Author denise4 auckland kiwiland 5th March 2009 6:51pm #UserID: 1929 Posts: 73 View All denise4's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Jantina Mt. Gambier S.A. 5th March 2009 9:39pm #UserID: 1351 Posts: 1272 View All Jantina's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author denise4 auckland kiwiland 6th March 2009 5:57am #UserID: 1929 Posts: 73 View All denise4's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Jantina Mt. Gambier S.A. 6th March 2009 9:12am #UserID: 1351 Posts: 1272 View All Jantina's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Jantina Mt. Gambier S.A. 6th March 2009 9:16am #UserID: 1351 Posts: 1272 View All Jantina's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Paul says... Hi, I'd like to start this thread again as its just gotten hot in Perth and most of my veges got blitzed. I've mulched, soil improved and I was hand watering in the morning/evening of the hot days. But the veges (even the pumpkin) really struggled to make it through. I put up an old 1.5m x 1.5m shadecloth on 4 bamboo sticks (tied down) over the middle of my patch, and the veges seemed to survive a lot better. Now I'd like to go that extra step and look at putting shade cloth up over all the plants that suffer. I have a large area that I haven't started on yet (about 4m x 6m) plus another 3m x 3m. I don't want to spend much (who does) and have been looking at the various options... so far I've got: ** Fully-enclosed shade-house ** eg http://www.argosee.com.au/d91/shadehouse about 2.3 x 2.7m at nearly $800 This is fully-enclosed, much like amandas: https://www.daleysfruit.com.au/forum/veggie-garden/#31564 The dry wind is blocked, and I guess you could use 30% shade just to knock off the excess heat. Not sure if it should stay up over the winter. or ** Shade sails ** This is more of what I've done on my little bamboo poles. To do it on a big area means big poles concreted in to ensure it doesn't blow over the fence into the neighbours pool. But most shade sales are something like 70% - too shady for the plants? To do small areas means lots of little bits of (free?) shade cloth tied down with cheap poles and rope. Plants will still suffer from hot dry winds. ideas? thanks, Paul | About the Author Paul21 Perth 15th December 2009 5:05pm #UserID: 2685 Posts: 14 View All Paul21's Edible Fruit Trees |
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au0rey says... Hi Paul..I'm a novice gardener and tml it will be 39-40 deg here in melbourne with strong winds.. I had some poles hammered into the ground for my vege patches (2x3, 2x 0.5m..etc) and i bought white cloth. I think white cloth will work and they are cheap alternatives if you are looking at using them to cover the plants for a day or two. | About the Author melbourne 15th December 2009 8:57pm #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Araich says... I wonder what the effect of wrapping small trees etc in shade-cloth would be? With strong winds it is often not practical to set up short term cover. I have numerous trees and shrubs in the ground that are young and vulnerable and probably should have looked at this before tomorrow! I might try loose wrapping of a couple of things... could it hurt? With hot winds, ventilation may not matter anyway. 50% shade-cloth. Thoughts anyone? | About the Author Araich Melbourne 15th December 2009 10:20pm #UserID: 2933 Posts: 58 View All Araich's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Araich says... Well, I put in some garden stakes next to a newly planted fig and loquat, and around a 6 month old tamarillo, then covered in 50% shade-cloth, letting it hang over the tops of the trees. We will see. Had a thought, this talk of clay protecting leaves from sun - perhaps a dusting with talc or similar, or just home made clay spray. You could wash it off after the heat wave passes. Maybe even a non-toxic water-based white paint? Could this choke the plant? | About the Author Araich Melbourne 16th December 2009 10:50am #UserID: 2933 Posts: 58 View All Araich's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Mish says... Hi (I'm in Perth) If your after a cheap and temporary fix for the moment... go into Bunnings grab as many big boxes from the bins at the front... absolutely free... and then out to the garden centre and grab some bags of Bamboo stakes, you get 10 for $1.86 approx. I used this for my heat sensitive vegies e.g. snow peas, and also for my seedlings until they establish themselves. Just pop the boxes on top of the stakes during the hottest part of the day, but let them have the morning sun and some late afternoon sun. Use some cable ties or gardening wire to fix the boxes to the stakes. If your not home all day, then place the stakes and boxes on the sun line (work out the height and distance the boxes will need to be from the vegies) that way the plants will get sun and shade as the sun moves. I've also been using some re-cycled weed mat tied to some stakes (like a banner) and positioning it in front of the vegies. I guess you could use, old towels or clothing, everyone has old sheets in the cupboard :). When you get the 'shade house' let us know how that goes and whether it is worth getting. | About the Author Mish Singleton 16th December 2009 4:02pm #UserID: 3045 Posts: 42 View All Mish's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Mish Singleton 16th December 2009 4:09pm #UserID: 3045 Posts: 42 View All Mish's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Mish Singleton 16th December 2009 4:23pm #UserID: 3045 Posts: 42 View All Mish's Edible Fruit Trees |
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amanda says... I am about to try the Yates product called "Drought Shield" on my trees (as soon as I can find the time!) More for conserving water than anything - we get some scorchers here too - but my trees don't get burnt for some reason. I put this down to the sub-surface retic providing constant moisture. It might be worth trying to increase the humidity around your pots also - trays of water with stones in them allow for evaporation. Pot plants need a constant supply of water on hot days - I used to get plastic bottles and poke a tiny hole in them to slowly drip water all day. | About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. WA 17th December 2009 9:51am #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Araich says... We reached about 40C here in Brooklyn (West Melbourne) yesterday but in the end there was no damage to my new plantings - some just a week in the ground. I think the shade cloth made a big difference. juanita, did your Tamarillo recover (pictured above). I have one in a hot spot and it wilted yesterday, but recovered quick. We moved here from Sydney 10 months ago and I can't quite get my head around the weather. Today it is just 20c. For anyone bored enough, you can see our transforming suburban plot here: http://www.roberthague.com/conifer.htm DroughtSheild looks interesting. Must be a fancy wax. | About the Author Araich Melbourne 17th December 2009 5:21pm #UserID: 2933 Posts: 58 View All Araich's Edible Fruit Trees |
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au0rey says... Hey Araich, yeah my garden survived too...and nice to have the rain today...weather moodier than woman's.. Had a look at your pics...wow look at the cauliflower, zuchini, squash and everything...they are really fat! Do you use a lot of organic matter to get them this big? I am trying to get my vegetables/fruits to be big too... | About the Author melbourne 17th December 2009 6:06pm #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Araich says... I actually don't have much of a clue as this is our first place with a garden. We're on clay, so the vege garden is topsoil I brought in, with cow manure and some bagged potting mix added. This mix is a bit thin, sandy, and I recently started to add some clay to give it more water-holding capacity. I mulch heavily with pea straw and water with seasol now and then. I think dumb luck is at play. Plus those photos don't show the failures, like the poor pollination of the corn (due to it flowering early and unevenly after those heavy rains). | About the Author Araich Melbourne 18th December 2009 8:17am #UserID: 2933 Posts: 58 View All Araich's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Brad says... Araich - you've done great and don't convince yourself otherwise! Everyone has some flops and learns from them. My squash are hopeless this year. Be sure to avoid repeatedly growing vegies in the same place to help avoid pests building up (starting from scratch helps initially).Hopefully my squash just didn't like this years location. | About the Author Brad2 Como, Perth 18th December 2009 12:52pm #UserID: 2323 Posts: 762 View All Brad2's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author melbourne 30th December 2009 2:19am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Melbourne 30th December 2009 9:06pm #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Charles says... I have a lot of the garden beds under the 70% shadecloth I think. I find shadecloth is needed in perth from mid Nov onwards till the end of the 35 degree days. Anything over 35 flops the plants and if the heat stress doesnt kill them the burning hot soil/mulch does. Beets (beetroot/silverbeet/etc), spinach, cellery, parsely, capsiciums, potato's, beans (runner and bush), carrots. I have all grown fine under the shadecloth. Things that can handle the sun are obviously much better off in full sun, potatos, artichokes, beans, tomatoes, etc. They all tend to get long and skinny under shade. Get the shades down as soon as possible after the hot days as your plants need the reducing sun and the winter winds will blow them down (if they are as dodgy as mine). At the end of the day I look at it like this, if I didnt have hte shadecloth most of my garden would be dead, so I am happy to compromise with lots of plants nad just leave the full sun beds to those few plants that can take it.
| About the Author Charlesstillcantspell1 Innaloo 30th December 2009 11:47pm #UserID: 2742 Posts: 411 View All Charlesstillcantspell1's Edible Fruit Trees |
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amanda says... I like your garden Charles - very natural looking! I wish I had a more established property to do this. Anyway - my summer veg patch has 70% shadecloth on top and "shadecloth" windbreak material all round (even has a door!) It's working really well - I at least get to eat some lettuce b4 it goes to seed now! :-) | About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. WA 31st December 2009 11:42am #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Araich says... Juanita, that is good news about the Tamarillo. I had imagined that the die back could have been fatal. They have quite a pretty flower - I didn't realise. I think I might have to look at some shade cloth over my veges too. Perhaps just aim to cover the afternoon sun. Todays heat has my sunflowers all drooping sadly... | About the Author Araich Melbourne 31st December 2009 2:40pm #UserID: 2933 Posts: 58 View All Araich's Edible Fruit Trees |
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