Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

I don't call out people for those things...as google correct and phones are TERRIBLE about predicting your intentions...plus, I'm a terrible typist, and I'm on a computer (remember, no smart phone here!!!!). So, it would be like the pot calling the kettle black Usually I get the intention anyways.


View attachment 3119712
Mum, I'm exhausted....gonna take a little nap on your computer, 'k?View attachment 3119714
All that searching for Lulu was tiring!!!!
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And Mr. Kuzu man woke me up at 4am! No rest for the weary

Love those kiddies they are so wonderful

I have learnt to double check my typing otherwise my fumbly fingers along with autocorrect can make for entertaining comments!

 

[rural mouse]

Assorted mugs

Cheetah clone with cheeks

Is this comb growing?

Adventuring outside is exhausting

A much bigger Mera, speckling up beautifully, 11 weeks

One of Jess's pair, both can drink out of the nipple waterer too. 3 weeks

And the feisty little black is gaining gold breast and neck feathers

 

[Ponypoor]

One slight issue with this statement, based on a lot of personal experience taking cuttings (in my youth) for commercial growing purposes. The primary reason to propagate by cuttings is that the cutting is exactly the same genetically, including down to the chronological “age” of the plant, and it is often referred to as “cloning” for this reason. This becomes an issue if you are working with some of the newer auto flowering tomato varieties as the tiny cutting may flower at the wrong size regardless of the light cycle which is usually what it used to induce flowering in these particular tomato plants. However when working with non auto flowering genetics this is actually a benefit as you can have a genetically mature 3+ Month old tomato plant (or a few hundred or thousand plants) that is smaller and easier to prune and harvest, and manipulate the light cycle to induce flowering for ideally sized and shaped tomatoes. Also if you are growing a particular variety of tomato you can produce hundreds of uniform identical plants for ideal harvest all at one time of a reliable quality. Cuttings are the same as grafting, except where you are grafting into a particular root stick for a quality controlled by that like dwarfism, resistance to a particular disease, or more vigour. The fruit would be the same, but the rootstocks growth qualities would be more prominent. Very few commercial tomato growers here Grow from seeds or attempt to breed their own seeds at home, because taking cuttings is more reliable and effective. My province is known for its indoor tomato production, it’s our cottage industry, and when I was working at it employed more people than fishing, mining, and logging combined. I don’t personally enjoy those varieties of tomatoes, but it was a really good job for a long time.

Agree with you Kris, I never eat hot house tomatoes - yuck!

And when I grow tomatoes I look for the heritage varieties - they may not produce as many or as big tomatoes but the taste is outstanding.

Same with strawberries, those big egg sized strawberries look nice but taste horrible. Anyone who has ever tasted wild strawberries will know what real strawberries taste like.

Of course I guess one can move those thoughts on to livestock, for instance those fast growing chickens meat has a terrible texture and taste. Anything that is bred/produced for mass production is of lesser quality than those of heritage breeds. Be it cattle, swine, poultry, on to vegetables and fruits.

Of course for the vast majority of people - they are not able to grow their own food thus will be only able to purchase what big markets offer... Afterall people need to be fed.

 

[ManueB]

Speed of growth is one reason. Grafting uses an established root system which can take a tree years to develop from a seed or a cutting.

Yes, this would explain why cutting works well with tomatoes and vines, as they have an ability to grow roots quickly.

I asked the neighbor who taught us and what he said is that most good fruit trees are already grafted. If you reproduce by cutting them, you would get a genetic result that could be a mixture of the graft and the rootstock, so no guarantee that their fruit will taste like what you want to obtain.
Now, his knowledge is that of an old timer and I don't have the background to be able to tell if it's backed up by science!
If the tree was grafted originally, it probably still shows if you look carefully.

 

[Ponypoor]

Assorted mugs

View attachment 3119719Cheetah clone with cheeks

View attachment 3119720Is this comb growing?


View attachment 3119721Adventuring outside is exhausting


View attachment 3119722A much bigger Nox, speckling up beautifully, 11 weeks


View attachment 3119723One of Jess's pair, both can drink out of the nipple waterer too. 3 weeks

View attachment 3119724And the feisty little black is gaining gold breast and neck feathers

Awww babies, babies, babies everywhere oh how I wish I could throw more than golfballs under Curly but alas, that is not to be....

 

[Ponypoor]

Not yet.

Good morning Alex how is Jaffar today? Is he ok after his little adventure?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Rosie had Russ out and was brushing him earlier. She came in needing my dish soap because he was covered in dander and decided it was time for his first good bath of the year. She wanted me to sit outside with her while she bathed him so I brought out my camera. He loves baths, but does not like his mane washed and hates his face washed. She outsmarted him eventually to wash his mane, but just wiped his face down with a clean rag.

Maybe he's gotten soap in his eyes before from a stray drip, which would sting painfully. Baby shampoo around the head and neck?

Hooligan cult headquarters: the cardboard box.
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I do somehow love that they are so close, your mini-tribe. I think this box headquarters is very important, even as a talisman when they can't fit into it, guessing just being near it might be a comfort and reassurance. It will be interesting to see how they manage laying when the time comes, could this become their private nest box? If so, how will they manage occupancy, will they share?

Managing to hang on at 60+ pages behind....

 

[bgmathteach]

That's wonderful! I hear it takes about 7 to 8 years for the graft to grow enough to produce fruit.

This past winter has been hard on my peach trees, I am going to to a severe pruning to see if I can get it back on track.

You shouldn't prune it this time of year - it will encourage a lot of sucker growth (not good). Wait until the winter.....

 

[bgmathteach]

Yes, this would explain why cutting works well with tomatoes and vines, as they have an ability to grow roots quickly.

I asked the neighbor who taught us and what he said is that most good fruit trees are already grafted. If you reproduce by cutting them, you would get a genetic result that could be a mixture of the graft and the rootstock, so no guarantee that their fruit will taste like what you want to obtain.
Now, his knowledge is that of an old timer and I don't have the background to be able to tell if it's backed up by science!
If the tree was grafted originally, it probably still shows if you look carefully.

Actually, if you cut ABOVE the graft, you get an identical fruit to the original tree. If you cut below the graft, you get an identical tree to what the root stock is made of, whatever that fruit might be.

The rootstock determines the size of the tree and hardiness of root system. The graft determines the fruit.

So, if you take a cutting from the pear tree and graft it onto some other rootstock, the size of the tree will alter, but the fruit shouldn't. (Note that climate does influence fruit some, too. Cool nights, warm days tends to make sweeter fruit/more sugar production....but I'm guessing your climate isn't significantly different from that of the pear tree...micro climates negated.)

All of this per hubby, as I don't know much about such things.

2nd disclaimer: hubby says that most likely (though he isn't sure about this given you are in Europe, not US) the pear tree is a graft....so very likely the size of tree will be different from original regardless of whether you graft, or root the cuttings.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I don’t know. I will try. Tonight they are sleeping in it.

Oh noooooooo......I will read on, but can't they just do what comes naturally and use the box or not? Chickens will explore, they can't help it, eventually they will. Right now, Maggie's out there during the day.....Dotty attacks in the night.....who knows what other dangers lurk? A cautious chicken is a living chicken!