flooding and pawpaw update

A pasture with standing water on the land; along a fence line, the soil is higher, up out of the water, and there are trees in a row along the wire fence.

We had torrential storms last week that put large sections of the land under water. Including the area my pawpaw trees were just planted. I checked on them the next day and found that the fence line itself was not under water. Nonetheless, the trees were in mud.

Close up on a tiny sapling along a wire fence, protected by a cut ring of green pool noodle; behind the fence is standing water, but along on just in front of the fence, the leaf strewn ground is not under water.

I checked on them yesterday, about a week later. There is still some standing water and the trees are still in mud. Pawpaws don't like living in saturated soil. But this is the rainy season. We should be into drought soon enough.

Two of the saplings show damage that I suspect is bug inflicted.

Ken has no label. It has the worst damage.

A blackened, disfigured, and torn looking leaf; other leaves on the sapling also look torn.

Several of the biggest leaves look torn and two are blackened as the above.

Georgia has a green label and is an Eastern Seedling. It also has damage that look like it's been torn.

A sapling with a damaged leaf; it looks torn.

Tucky has a white label. It shows the least growth but also the least damage. As in none.

Blurry image of a sapling protected by a segment of pool noodle.

This is also the first time I got a close-up look at duckweed. It's really pretty! The ground was so wet that it was right out on the pasture. Normally it lives in the pond.

Muddy ground covered in tiny green star shapes.

Close up view of a bark fragment covered in little green star shapes.