Last year, I waited too long to unwrap my fig tree, and there was a fair amount of mold on many of the branches. This is not a mistake I would care to repeat, so this year I decided to unwrap it earlier. I went through my photographs and discovered that I had unwrapped it April 6, 2019.
My final decision was driven by the weather report. The weather people predicted rain for this last weekend in March, so I decided it was time. I don’t want it sitting in wet wrappers when the temperatures are going to be reasonable. That sounds like a recipe for mold.
The soggy leaves have been making a cold-brewed tea that stains everything. Take it from me: it’s a good idea to change into clothes that you don’t mind getting stained. I didn’t take that precaution. Fortunately, I noticed the spots and treated them right away. Even better, the spots came out in the wash.
I undid the twist ties holding the tomato cages together, unhooked them from each other, and very carefully pulled them up. Watch out for loose hooks!
The leaves packed down a bit, so I could remove them in soggy chunks—which is how I spotted my sleeve. I spread them out behind my wild ginger.
It somewhat resembled a llama in a wrap—it just needed to be unwrapped.
In the end, there was a branch sticking out on the right that spent the winter unwrapped, and two branches on the lower left that were already quite moldy. The two branches on the left had the only definite signs of damage, so I trimmed them off.
As for the wrapping materials, the cages will go back in the basement until the tomatoes them, and the floating row cover and acrylic throw got well shaken out, washed, and put away.