Tuesday 20 December 2022

Snow Recovery at Crumbly Acres – Part 3

Crumbly Acres! (<= YAM named us!) It will take me weeks to clean up the branches, more crumbling. Sunday morning we eased into the day. We watched soccer, while I poked around with plants. The taller 🥀amaryllis doesn't have any roots. The soil is too wet. 

  • Dec. 14th – I measured the taller stalk. It was 28 cm (11").
  • Dec. 16th – it was up to 30 cm (12").
  • Dec. 19th –  It's 32 cm (12.5").

I wiggled them in the pot, and found that all the roots have rotted on the taller one. I pulled them off, and set it back down in the soil. Pulling off the LCBO bags, I set them in the window, hoping for the best. I thought I might dry out the top layer of soil with the hair dryer. What could go wrong? Dirt everywhere. I gave up, after cleaning off the sink, counter, and floor. Yes, you may laugh!

I set it on a pad of vermiculite to help dry out the roots. 


🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲

These are the climbing trees: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 




I won't be able to lift these branches until I cut them up. I tried, JB watching from the back door, and one fell on top of me. Thankfully I was wear both a ball cap and a hoodie. 

You can see the ~(‾▿‾)~ Crow's Nest if you look hard enough. OK, maybe you had to be there. That was an adventure, having the crows around that year, April, 2021.

Perhaps I ought to point it out. Even with all the loss of branches, you are hard pressed to see it.

Not only did the white pines sustain damage, but the sumac beside the shed lost at least two big branches. (Monday, I cut them off, skilsawed them into smaller branches, and set them in the forest.)

Saturday afternoon, as I said the sun came out. The shock had worn off somewhat, by then, although it makes me so sad looking out back. Out front, the sun on the fake tree was lovely, and most of the heavy snow, which bent its branches, has fallen off. 


We've four big white pine trees. They have various amount of damage. The tree that had the hornet's nest is drooping quite a bit. 
 

Out front, this evergreen is looking so dreary, and burdened with snow. I've gone around twice, shaking the lower branches off. This is where the top branches dislodge and dump the snow, breaking them right off.

The blue sky cheered me immensely.

Poor old lilacs!

I wish I could reach them. Hydro trucks were about, as there were a couple of power outages nearby. I could have used their cherry picker.

I came to the conclusion that I cannot whittle away at the dead branches this year. We're going to hire someone. The skilsaw doesn't last very long, even with a back up battery. Yesterday I took a walk in the forest. More damage. Not as serious, though.

18 comments:

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
I guess if you get a pro in, they can assess ahead of the game and prevent further issues as the winter deepens... judicious pruning to prevent the crumble! YAM xx

William Kendall said...

What a storm it was.

Barbara Rogers said...

Sorry to see your trees letting go of heavy limbs...the pruning of nature's forces I guess. So glad you had a bit of sunshine!

Tom said...

...white pine can be a brittle tree under snow and ice.

Christine said...

Looks beautiful though

Anvilcloud said...

In a little excursion this morning, I saw that there is still snow on the branches. I am not sure if I will get out for a photo.

eileeninmd said...

Hello,
The trees look pretty covered with snow. Take care, have a great day!

Nancy J said...

Hire the whole gang and it will be done so quickly. The time comes when experts, paid by the hour, are the best solution. However, I do think those branches drooping with snow are SOOO pretty. I have not seen anything like that ever, in my whole life.

Elephant's Child said...

Echoing YAM. And hoping that the damage isn't as severe as you think.

RedPat said...

That is so terrible that the trees suffered so much damage. A tree pro is the way to go so that you don't injure yourself.

Red said...

I hope you don't get such storms very often. No rush to clean things up right now.

DrumMajor said...

That is a lot of wet snow! Be careful! Linda in Kansas

Lowcarb team member said...

There are times when you need to call in help ...

All the best Jan

Ontario Wanderer said...

Amazing amount of snow . . . meanwhile we have almost none in Brant County.

River said...

Mix a little of the vermiculite with the over wet soil and also mix in a little fresh dry potting soil. Then replant the amaryllis.

DeniseinVA said...

Snow looks beautiful except for all the damage and the hard work it causes. I hope you can get someone in to do the dangerous stuff.

Jenn Jilks said...

That is exactly what I did, River! Vermiculite.

Divers and Sundry said...

Difficult decisions... A professional sounds like a good idea. I'm sorry so many limbs/branches were lost.

The crow nest is an exciting memory. Maybe they'll return!