接ぎ木など Grafting etc

 昨日届いたナツメ苗は、たっぷり水やりしたあと袋がけにしました。今度の週末は更に寒くなるという予報なので、過保護気味の扱い。来年の春の芽吹きが楽しみです。今度こそ。

After planting the jujube trees in pots yesterday, I heard the weather forecast saying that this coming weekend would be even colder than so far.  It is already freezing now.  So, I covered the plants in plastic bags to be safe.  I am not taking any chances after so many disappointments with rotten jujube plants sent to me.

ご近所のアルプス乙女の枝を早々といただけました。私の中では来年の１-２月頃を想定していたのですが、手に入ったからには枝が新鮮なうちに接ぐことにしました。バラ科の枝の保存で過去に冷蔵庫と地中深くに埋めておく方法を試したことがありますが、どちらも枝の活力が失われてしまっていました。

接いだのは「紅の夢」に。グラニースミスには開花時期がほぼ同じの紅玉が接いであります。今年の初開花では紅の夢はその２品種に遅れて咲きましたが、アルプス乙女となら開花が合っていました。ただし、木が充実して将来 花数が増えれば、開花時期の重なりが期待できます。

My neighbour gave me a branch from her crab apple tree.  It is a Japanese variety called Alps Otome, and its pollen is said to be compatible with any commercial cultivars.  Indeed, my red-flesh apple tree produced a fruit from the pollen of that variety this year. 

I was thinking of getting a scion during Jan-Feb next year but, since it was here, I decided to graft it right away.  In the past, I have tried the methods of preserving scions in the fridge or buried deep in the ground but, by the time I came to use them, they had lost their vitality.

接いだ場所は２本の枝がくっついていて、片方を剪定する予定だった箇所。アルプスが活着すれば横の紅の夢の枝を来年の初夏に除去する予定。

I grafted the scion on one of the two branches growing close to each other.  I was going to prune one of them during this winter but, if the graft goes well, I can afford to get rid of the other branch in summer next year.

リンゴ苗はいずれも幼苗で枝数が少ないので、１ヵ所ずつしか高接ぎできません。でも、頂いた枝が長くて余裕があったので、余った部分を試しにスモモの李王に接いでみました。この李王の枝も剪定予定の箇所でした。バラ科どうしとは言え、活着するかどうか予想もつきません。

Since the apple tree is still young and does not have many branches, I can spare only one branch for grafting.  However, the scion given to me was long and I had some left, so I grafted the leftover onto a plum tree as an experiment.  Both apple trees and plum trees belong to the rose family, and I am curious to see if the graft will be viable.

今年の夏に、星タンゴールの枝を地植えのカラカラオレンジに接いで活着したのがこれです。葉っぱの状態は、鉢植えの親木のよりも健康そうなので良かったです。

The Hoshi Tangor scion that I grafted onto Caracara orange in summer this year has been growing well.  The leaves of this scion look a lot healthier than those of the potted parent tree, so I am pleased with the result.

私があちこち移動するたびに影のようについて回るタイガ。視線を合わせずそうっと関心を引こうとするところが笑えます。YouTubeで見る他所のワンコたちは洋犬も和犬も自己主張が強いので面白いですが、タイガは渋いです。

As I was moving about looking at plants, Taiga followed me in silence like a shadow.  I know that she does this to catch my attention, but she does not even look me in the eye.  Those dogs I see on YouTube are a lot more forthcoming, be they Japanese or Western breeds, but Taiga is utterly restrained.

ナツメ新苗 New Jujube Plants

 注文してあったナツメ苗が届きました。今回は過去に何度か注文した蟠棗と七月早脆王に加え、無核大金糸（「糸」が横並びに２文字が本来）です。

The jujube plants that I had ordered during summer arrived today.  This time, in addition to the two varieties I have always wanted to grow, I ordered another variety called Seedless Golden Thread jujube.  Re the two varieties, the plants sent to me were always in a diabolical state - they were either dead or absolutely rootless.

今回は苗の樹肌が清潔で、虫食い穴やひび割れ・黒ずみなどは無いようです。まるで違う農場から来たような印象。

This time, the plants seem reasonably clean with no pockmarks made by insects, etc.  They look like they were grown by a different nursery.

七月早脆王：生食用品種
Early Crisp King jujube: fresh eating variety

蟠棗：生食用品種

Pan jujube (Panzao): fresh eating variety

無核大金糸：生食および乾燥用品種

Seedless Golden Thread jujube: both for fresh eating and drying

袋から出してバケツ水で土を洗い落としました。

After removing the bag and soil, I washed the roots in a bucket of water.

左から、蟠棗、七月早脆王、無核大金糸です。左端の蟠棗は、土を徹底的に洗い落とされる輸入苗にしては満足な根っこだと思います。真ん中の七月早脆王の根は申し分ない量。右端の無核大金糸の根は、　　まあ、これで頑張ってみます。写真写りは悪いけど、短いヒゲみたいなのがついているので。　今度こそ、苗に育って欲しいです。

From left to right, Panzao, Early Crisp King, and Seedless Golden Thread.  Considering that these roots were thoroughly washed before being allowed into Japan, the roots of Panzao look reasonable.  As to the one in the middle, I am more than happy.  Regarding the one on the right, I will have to make do with this.  In the photo, it looks worse, but it does have some short roots.

七月早脆王の根っこは長く伸びすぎた部分は切り詰めて、10号ロングスリット鉢に植えつけ、他の２本は10号菊鉢に植えました。あまり大きすぎる鉢に植えて、排水性が損なわれるのが心配だったので、菊鉢です。

I slightly trimmed the long roots of Early Crisp King, in order to fit them into the deep pot (extreme left).  The other two varieties were planted in pots with less depth, to ensure good drainage.  They are all 30 cm diameter pots.

日本ナツメなど Jujube etc

 今年8月に買った日本ナツメの大苗は、うちに届いてからひこばえが次々と３本出てきました。それらを本体から切り離して独立の鉢に植えましたが、実際には根っこを切り離すのが大変な作業で、汗だくになりながらノコギリと移植ごてを使って格闘しました。結果は、先日のシンビジューム同様、サボテンも真っ青になりそうな極少の根っこです。でも、ナツメはタフな植物だし、植え替えたあとも葉っぱがしなっとしていないので大丈夫でしょう。

I bought a large Japanese jujube plant in August this year.  Subsequently, 3 suckers came out and grew fast to over 60cm.  Today, I separated them from the main tree and planted them in individual pots.  It was hard work to cut them off from the parent's root system.  I used a saw and a trowel, and even then, each sucker came out with a pitiful amount of root.  Hopefully, they will recover from the shock and start growing new roots during the winter.  It was reassuring to see the leaves looking perky after being re-potted.

これが親株。ひこばえが全部なくなったあと、この本体だけですっきりしました。

This is the parent tree.  Without the suckers, the tree looks neat.

本体は枝が伸び伸びになっているので、今度の冬の間に剪定する予定です。

I will be pruning the small branches during the winter, since the tree has grown lanky.

クリスマスローズの古い葉っぱを先月 取り除いたあと、来年用の葉っぱが元気に伸びてきました。この苗は今年の３月にネットショップで買ったゴールド苗です（偶然、上の日本ナツメの苗もここで買いました）。元々りっぱな苗でしたが夏の間に根っこが育ったらしく、今は２倍以上の株になっています。

I removed the old leaves of the Christmas roses last month.  Since then, new leaves have been coming out quite vigorously.  This plant was bought in March this year (in fact, from the same shop where I got the Japanese jujube tree shown above).  This plant was already well grown at that time, but during the summer months, the root system must have expanded.  As a result, the whole plant has more than doubled.

こういう花が咲きます。今年の１月下旬に撮影されたようです。

This is the flower.  The picture was taken and uploaded by the shop at the end of January this year.

3月末に苗が届いたときのサイズはこれでした。花はとっくに終わっていましたが、クリローには珍しく退色が少なかった。

This is how the plant looked when it was delivered to me in late March this year.  The flowers had finished some time previously, but they still retained some of the beautiful colour, which was unusual for Christmas roses.

この苗は何年も前にゴールド苗をいくつも買ったのが１年もしないうちに絶滅したあと、こぼれ種が発芽して育ったものです。苗はいつまで経っても大苗にはならないけど貴重な存在です。

This is a seedling that came out of the ground several years ago.  A few years previous to that, I had bought a lot of golden Christmas roses which did not last a year before perishing.  So, I assume that this plant is their legacy.

これは今年の開花のようす。初期のゴールドクリローの特徴をしっかり受け継いでいます。具体的には、花はうつむかずに前向き、そして短くてしっかりした花茎。その後、様々な育苗者による交配が進んで、今では花茎が徒長したものが一般的です。

This was the flower in early spring this year.  It shows the characteristics of the initial gold Christmas roses that were developed by a nursery in Saitama Prefecture.  It caused such a sensation that many other people bred them with Helleborus orientalis, and the so-called 'golden Christmas roses' available nowadays are watered-down versions.  Specifically, the flower is not facing forward but instead drooping, and the flower stem is long instead of about 10cm tall.  The plant I bought in March this year belongs to the watered-down generation.

これ↓は今年の夏の間に気付いた実生。赤花クリローのそばで発芽していたので、たぶんそれが親。

This is a seedling I found this autumn.  It was growing near the red flower variety that I also have, but not quite keen on.

去年の秋に買った厚物の菊は、伸び伸びになってだらしない草姿になりました。高さ150cm以上あります。私にはどうしても厚物をきちんと育てることができません。

This chrysanthemum that I bought in autumn last year is meant to have only one huge flower, but I just cannot manage it.  I give it up.

家の中で退屈していたタイガ。蚊にくわれても外に出てきたがります。

Taiga was so bored that she insisted on coming out even though we still have mosquitoes due to the unusually warm weather.

日本ナツメ Another Jujube tree

 日本ナツメの実もそろそろ色づいてきました。一言に「日本種」と言ってもバリエーションはいくつかあるようで、数年前に地元JAで買ったトゲトゲの日本種の実と、今年の８月に買った苗の実とでは、葉や実の形が随分違います。共通点は、実が小さいこと。これは仕方ないです。幸いこの苗はトゲ無しなので世話がしやすい。この写真の実は、苗が届いてから開花した花の実。今年はこの小さい状態で終わりそうです。間引きと試食のために小さい実を毎日ポリポリ食べていますが、酸っぱくてジューシーで美味しい。酸味と果汁は、ナツメにとって稀で貴重な要素です。

The fruits of the Japanese jujube tree is ripening.  There are several types of common Japanese jujube trees.  The tree I bought several years ago was very thorny and the shapes of leaves and fruits were quite different from those of this tree which I bought in August this year.  The commonality is that the fruits are small.  This new tree is thorn free which makes it easy to look after this plant.  

The fruits in this photo are from the flowers that came after the plant was delivered to me.  Due to the short time in which they had to grow, it seems that this is all they can do for this year.  I have been tasting these tiny ones for the purpose of thinning, but they tasted so juicy and beautiful with definite sourness.  To me, juiciness and sourness in jujubes are rare and precious factors.

以下の４個は苗が届いた時点で開花していた花からの実。これくらいの色づきが果汁たっぷりです。

These 4 fruits are from the flowers in bloom at the time of plant delivery.  At this stage, the fruits are ripe.

色づきの度合いで糖度がどう違うか実験です。まずは右端の最も色づた実から糖度計を当てていきます。

I wanted to see if getting brown had correlation with sweetness.  I started measuring the sugar content with the one on the extreme right.

46.8%

46.9%

47%

46.9%

ほんとかいな、と思うくらいの高糖度です（あくまでも糖度計によるとですが）。しかも色づき具合はあまり糖度に重要ではなさそう。青い実を試食していたときは甘味を感じていたけど、それはしっかりした酸味のおかげで甘味を感じているだけだろうと思っていましたが、実際に糖度も高いようです。

They all show incredibly high sugar content (assuming that my gadget is working all right).  Interestingly, the degree of colouring seems irrelevant to the sugar content.  While I was eating the young fruits, they tasted sweet but I kept thinking that it was due to the relatively strong acidity that enhanced the sweetness.  I now know that this common jujube variety can produce very tasty fruits.

皇帝ナツメを収穫 Picking Jujube Fruits

 皇帝ナツメが十分色づきました。毎日が雨なので、この際一気に収穫です。一応、糖度を計りましたがあまりにもカタログの宣伝文句よりも高いので、あくまでも私の糖度計の数値です（甘いことは甘いですが）。苗がこの小さなサイズで10個生らせたのは少々ムリがあったと思いますが、来年は木が成長しているはずなので、同じ個数を目指します（反省無し）。

The 'Emperor' jujube fruits seemed ripe enough.  Since it rains every day, I decided to pick them all, in order to avoid over-ripening.  I have a gadget to measure the sugar content, but the values I got were too high to be believable.  Nevertheless, the fruits were very sweet and beautifully crunchy.  I am so pleased with this tree which I bought as recently as May this year.

皇帝ナツメ今朝の状態 Jujube Fruits This Morning

 昨日は真夏日の暑さ（練馬区の最高気温は32℃＋）と青空。その高温で一気に皇帝ナツメが色づき始めました。そして夜には台風がらみの雨で涼しくなったので、寒暖の差が出て実の成熟に適した天気です。

It was a return of a summer day yesterday with the max. temperature reaching 32℃, and the sky remained free of clouds all day.  Thanks to the head and sun light, all but one of the jujube fruits started to go brown.  Then at night, we had a typhoon-related rain lasting up to this morning, which brought a cool air.  Just like autumn leaves, this difference in heat and cool air is said to be conducive to jujube ripening.

5個固まっている枝の実は色づき始めたばかりで、陽光面だけ赤い。

These 5 fruits have just started to go brown, and only on the sunny side.

２個の枝の右側の実はまだ着色部分が無く、最も遅れをとっている。

Of these 2 fruits, the one on the right has no brown spots as yet.

３個の枝の右側の実は、全体が赤くなるまであと一息。今週末までには裏側も色づくかも。

Of these 3 fruits, the one on the right is almost all brown - the back of the fruit probably becoming brown by this weekend.

皇帝ナツメ Jujube fruits

 皇帝ナツメが段々と色づいてきています。毎日バルコニーに出て眺めずにはいられません。

The Emperor jujube fruits are turning into mature colour gradually.  I cannot help looking at them every day to observe their progress.

いつも思う、樹上の果物の不思議：２ｍくらい離れたところから見ると、実物よりずっと大きく見える。近づいて手にとると、あれっと拍子抜けするサイズ。

The strange feeling I always get when gazing at fruits on trees: they look much bigger than they actually are when looked at from afar (say, 2 meters away).  So, when I actually hold the fruit in my hand, it is disappointingly small.

10個ある中で最も着色が進んでいるのは、この↓右端の実。赤い綺麗な色が日に日に拡大しています。

Of the 10 fruits left on the tree, the one on the right in this photo is ahead of others in ripening.  The red colour area is growing day by day.

今、赤い部分は、この実全体の３分の１程度を占めています。これが半々くらいになると、ジューシーさを保ちながら同時に甘味が乗っているという最適な状態になると思っているので、あと２，３日待ちます。理想的には、日中ガンガン直射日光に当たって色づいた実のほうが甘そうな気がしますが、台風の影響でしばらくはぐずついた天気が予想されます。でも、10個あるので、他の実はそのうち秋晴れに恵まれて色づくでしょう。

The red area currently occupies about 1/3 of the fruit.  When it becomes about 50% of the fruit, it should be the optimal stage for tasting, in terms of retaining the juiciness on the one hand, and the sweetness on the other.  Hopefully, that stage will arrive within the next few days.  Ideally, the fruit should become red under the strong autumnal sun light, but we have typhoons one after another this year.  Luckly, I have 10 of them to go through, so, the sun should be back sooner or later.

皇帝ナツメなど Jujube fruits etc

 ９月下旬になって皇帝ナツメがほんのり色づき始めています。

As we approach the end of September, the young fruits of the 'Emperor jujube' tree is getting slightly yellow.

実の１個１個に日光が当たるように、今朝、枝を括り付けました。

I rearranged the small branches this morning, so that each of the fruits would get more exposure to the direct sunlight. 

日本種の実よりもずっと大きくて、食べ応えありそうです。「皇帝棗」のラベルの写真よりもはるかに丸っこい形状の実で、海外で梨棗 (Li Zao) と呼ばれている品種に酷似しています。「皇帝棗」、「ジャンボナツメ」、「中国大実棗」などは、日本の業者が勝手につけた名前だと思います。特に「中国大実」に関しては、あまりにもいい加減すぎ。

The fruits are much larger than those of the common Japanese variety.  Also, they look a lot rounder than the fruits in the photo of the label.  The name 'Emperor jujube' does not appear anywhere outside of Japan and I suspect that this is not an official/correct name, but that created by distributors in Japan.

南向きバルコニーで、うちでは最も陽当たりが良い場所。これから一日の寒暖の差が大きくなってくると甘味が増すと思います。

The plant is placed on the upstairs balcony where it gets full sun.  As the day's max. and min. temperatures widen going forward, the sugar content should increase.

こちらは８月に届いた日本種。散歩しているうちに、これと全く同じ実がなっているナツメの成木を見つけました。食品倉庫のような事業所の敷地わき、トラックが頻繁に出入りしているので近づきにくいですが、道から見る限り同じものだと思います。「日本種」と言っても、実にはバラつきがあるようです。棗が日本に入ってきたのは奈良時代よりも前と言われているので、何世紀ものあいだ人が改良を加えなくても、ある程度の枝変わりが発生してもおかしくないと思います。よって、この苗の実は数年前に地元JAで買った日本種の実とは全く違うタイプだし、狂暴なトゲで覆われていたあの苗とは異なり、これはトゲ無しです。

This is the common Japanese jujube that arrived in August - these fruits are from the flowers of August and still very small.  To my delight, during a dog walk, I happened to notice a mature jujube tree with identical fruits, growing in a corner of a business establishment.  The place is a kind of warehouse for foodstuff and trucks come and go all the time, so I can only observe the tree from the street.  When the fruits become brown, I am going to ask for a permission to pick a few fruits.

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

ぷちまる金柑がまた開花しています。家の中にいても甘い匂いが漂ってきます。今年は裏年の予定なので、実のなり方には全く期待していません。

The seedless kumquat is flowering yet again, and I can smell the flowers from my living room.  Last year was the bumper year, so I am not expecting much from this plant this year.

タイガが私に気付いてもらおうと、枝の下に潜り込んでいる。

Taiga getting underneath the branches hoping to get noticed.

こちらは金柑ライム。ほんの少し蕾が出ています。

The limequat is ready to be harvested but it also has a few flower buds.

もう実は十分大きくなり弾力性も出ているので、今年は今有る実で終わりのはず。

Since the fruit picking season has started, I am not expecting fruits from the new flower buds.

こちらは地植えリスボンレモンに、７月中旬に高接ぎして８月に開花していたらしい金柑ライム。落果する様子がないので、このまま行けば来年の２月頃に使えそうです。

The limequat scion that I grafted on the Lisbon lemon is growing well.  I did the grafting in mid-July this year and flowers must have followed in August.

うちのヒガンバナが顔を出していました。花茎がいったん土から出始めると、一日で数十センチ伸びるので、昨日はまだ気づきませんでした。

The spider lilies in my garden have started to come out.  Once the flower stems come out of the ground, they can reach 40-50cm in a day, so I did not notice them yesterday.

タイガが気づいてもらおうと近づいてきます。YouTubeでよく見る洋犬とは違い、タイガは要求のそぶりは見せず、いつもひっそりと圧をかけてきます。

Taiga walking towards me.  Unlike the super affectionate Western dogs that you see on the YouTube, Taiga makes no demands even when she wants to go for a walk.  Instead, she silently 'indicates' to me that she wants me to notice her needs.

You are a funny thing.