So winter was here a couple weeks early in terms of the calendar and it caused…not much in terms of any damage to olive trees—at least not from what I’ve seen around Saturna. A bit of tip burn on some unprotected branches, maybe a few more yellow spotted leaves but all told not much apparent damage, at least none to be seen yet. If anyone out there has evidence to the contrary please send photos and location info and I’ll post the sad tale. I’ll post a couple photos at the end of this post showing the Itrana and Frantoio I’ve shown in posts earlier this fall and spring. Not much to see here, a little withering of the tips which had been showing new growth in late November (these are very optimistic trees). Just to clarify, these trees are on a south slope so probably protected from freezing north winds but other trees in the face of the wind also showed little or no damage.
These olives apparently remained undamaged by -6 to -8C temps. I’ll leave them on for another month just to see what happens. Other olives on a Maurino that was directly in the wind but covered lightly in burlap likewise show little or no freeze damage although most are shrivelled because they are over-ripe
Not much of anything seems to have happened to this tree. I did heavily mulch both trees before the coldest nights (minus 8 or 9?)
Tonight and tomorrow night look like the coldest nights for the Southern Gulf Islands and Victoria while other locations such as Vancouver may have already had their coldest weather this week—at least if you count wind chill in exposed areas. Further north on the Sunshine Coast and Comox Valley, at least according to Environment Canada, things ain’t so cold. The best advice for tonight and tomorrow night is mulch, mulch, mulch and wrap or cover trees in burlap, horticultural fleece, row cover cloth or old blankets. Just keep in mind that any covering laid over the trees without support can act like a sail in high winds or weigh the trees down to the point of breaking branches if it snows or rains hard. Best advice for trees in pots, put them in a garage or outbuilding out of the wind (the trees can take temps below zero so you don’t necessarily need a heated space).
Here’s Environment Canada’s weather forecast for the Southern Gulf Islands:
Issued: 11:00 AM PST Thursday 5 December 2013
Looks like winter is here next week. Time to put a heavy mulch around young trees in the ground and wrap their branches in burlap or row cover cloth. Be careful when using plastic as a cover—it can sometimes get colder inside the plastic than outside. Also, the big problem with low temps past -5 are cold northerly winds that can wick all the moisture from the leaves while the trees are too cold to replace that moisture. So protection from wind is key.
Here’s a bit of the forecast for Waldron Island in the US of A just across Boundary Pass from Saturna Island:
OVER THE LOWLANDS… WINDY FRASER OUTFLOW WILL START TO AFFECT THE BELLINGHAM AREA AND THE SAN JUAN ISLANDS ON MONDAY… BRINGING A COLDER AND DRIER AIR MASS INTO WESTERN WASHINGTON STRAIGHT FROM THE INTERIOR OF CANADA. AS THE LEADING EDGE OF THE AIR MASS SLIPS SOUTH THROUGH THE PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS ON MONDAY… A FEW SNOW SHOWERS MAY TAKE PLACE WITH SPOTTY ACCUMULATIONS POSSIBLE. AT THIS TIME… IT LOOKS LIKE MANY LOWLAND LOCATIONS WILL ESCAPE WITH LITTLE OR NO ACCUMULATING SNOW.
REGARDING THE POSSIBILITY OF LOWLAND SNOW ON MONDAY… IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF UNCERTAINTY WITH A 5-DAY WEATHER FORECAST… SO CHECK BACK THROUGH THIS WEEKEND FOR THE LATEST FORECASTS… ALONG WITH ANY POSSIBLE WATCHES OR WARNINGS.
COLD TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED NEXT MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY… WITH TEMPERATURES RUNNING FROM 10 TO 20 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR.
We’re taking orders on trees for now and next year—but if you’re buying for someone else we also have gift cards:
Not quite yet, but maybe soon we will see some temperatures significantly below zero—or maybe this winter will be mild like last winter. Hard to say, although like last year we are in a neutral ocean weather pattern, neither La Niña nor El Niño but La Nada. Last year we had no extreme lows and, really other than a bit of wet, not much extreme weather of any sort. This could change, despite this neutral pattern, since La Nada years sometimes bring extreme weather fluctuations…or not. But just in case, I thought I’d start posting some cold weather protection ideas. Today I’ll post some photos taken on Salt Spring Island and in the Comox Valley.
Here’s what one clever olive tree grower did on Salt Spring a couple years back:
And up in North Courtney, last year a customer sent me this photo of her trees in individual pyramid greenhouses:
This small Frantoio started from a cutting in 2010 and was planted in Fall 2012. Its olive crop is still small and indeed some of the olives are undersized. This is also a good illustration of how the Frantoio olive crop ripens unevenly. What’s remarkable is how ripe some of the olives are compared to all the other varieties we grow. In theory Frantoio olives ripen later than Leccino and Maurino olives but this year Frantoio are ahead of all the other varieties. This may be because bud break was late in coming this year so the Frantoio, being self-pollinating, may have had a head start because it didn’t have to depend on bud break in other varieties to set fruit. But who knows—it could be simply that like many other characteristics of this cultivar, the common wisdom is wrong—at least here in British Columbia.
A friend travelling in France has been sending me photos of interesting olive trees. Here’s the latest addition to the olive trees in pots collection:
