In heavy bloom. Apples will bloom within the next two weeks.

Navid.

i have a blenheim apricot and santa barbara peach. both fruited for us first year in ground in 2011. nothing since...

its either no pollination occurring during bloom period, or maybe the lack of regular fertilizer . any thoughts would be appreciated from stone fruit experts.

the apricot started to bloom this year , and then got hit by a monster rain storm, so not too confident this will be the year.

i am in socal

Looks like a glorious Spring there.  It's interesting that you are in zone 6B and your plants are further along than they are here in zone 7a.

My peaches and plums are in full bloom too.I have an Italian honey bee hive near by for pollination.I also have native chickasaw plums growing wild near by for added pollination,it's  the late frost that always comes this time of year that gets me.Is anybody growing segundo or rebusto plums, i heard they stay dormant longer to avoid late frost?  

Nick, I do not grow Apricots, but Peaches will usually began to produce on their 2nd and 3rd year. Plums will take 5 or more years to produce. The particular Plum in photos, were grafted and 8 years ago. Didn't flower till this year! My younger Plums flowered once they were 5 years old. I only fertilize them with 10-10-10 each Spring and spray them with Fungicide when needed. No irrigation for any of the fruit trees hence to heavy mulching.

Alan, If your plants are young, make sure to thin the fruits. The young Peach and Plum trees haven't open their flowers yet. It has turned cool in past two days hence the delay in opening their buds.

Steven, it has been a very mild Winter here. Temperatures have dropped in past two days but predicting to warm up again by Tuesday.

Grant, Please post photos. Unfurtunately, I do not grow those two Plum variants.

Navid.

Newbie here in the North Georgia Mountains. Just planted two Mirabelle plum trees, one Metz and one Parfum de Septembre I ordered them from Raintree after I got back from a trip to France last fall when they were in season and fell in live with the delectable jam. Was super impressed with the quality of the trees which were 4 feet tall. Our challenge immediately after planting them was to address the need for deer and bear protection. We installed an 8' fence around them and will be spraying with some type of deer spray. I am not confident at all that the fencing will withstand a bear attack. Any suggestions on keeping bears from the trees?

Our 80# mixed lab Miss Kitty can smell them coming, but she wont take kindly to being outside full-time. She's a spoiled Papa's Girl. I'm thinking an electric fence will be necessary, Tractor Supply, here we come again!

Nick, it is possible that with your mild Winters, the stone fruits may not be getting their required chill hours. A long time, organic peach grower in the Bay Area, has pulled many of his trees to replace with fruit varieties that need fewer chill hours. He said he has had increasingly smaller crops due to too mild of Winters. Might be what is going on with yours?

I'm in NJ and therefore way behind you guys season-wise.  My son wanted a 'Fruit Salad' grafted tree (we already have a multi-apple) so I went searching.  My normal choice, Bay Laurel Nurseries, was out of stock for the year on their Dave Wilson trees, so I turned to Peaceful Valley/GrowOrganic.com.

I purchased a 3-1 cold hardy fruit salad for $51 including discounted shipping.  It was 'the last one they had' and they couldn't hold it until it was warmer in NJ.  It sat in my basement for 2 months while we battled freezing weather.

In the interim, Home Depot has their version of fruit salad trees on display - the Santa Rosa plums on their trees, without exception, look like mistakes.  They are tiny little twigs usually growing right against a stem (oh, and more expensive.

Now that I've bored you with the story, it's time to unbury the headline.  The tree I received is gorgeous.  It is, by far, the best multi-graft tree I've ever been shipped.  It turns out to be, not a 3-1, but a 5-1.

On Lovell peach root stock, I have:
Late Santa Rosa Plum
Blenheim (Royal) Plum
Gold Dust Peach
July (Kim) Elberta Peach
Independence Nectarine.

Each of the grafts seems well placed and, after sitting in wet saw dust and dirt in my basement, it still seems full of life.  I wasn't crazy about the roots it shipped with, but I'm hopeful.

Here's a picture of the newbie.  Hopefully it will leaf out shortly.



Andrew

nice thread. thanks all for the inputs
Gary, i think you might have nailed it. i searched and my blenheim apricot  requires 400 chill hrs below 45 degrees. I am in LA, its probably not getting those hours. anyone have a good site for searching chill hrs by zip code?

Not by zip,you'll have to find the station closest to you.

http://getchill.net/

I planted a galaxy peach this February, can't wait to taste my first fruit off this variety.

I grow peaches, plums, pluots and various hybrids. I'm growing Nadia the sweet cherry-plum hybrid from Australia. I cannot wait to taste the fruit of this one. Flavor King pluots are awesome fruits. Another fave I wait for each year. I try to grow exceptional cultivars, and have researched most, and that research has paid off big-time.

My favorite fruit is Arctic Glo nectarine.
It is a white nectarine with red streaks. It is a high acid fruit, but has loads of sugar too.


I grow Indian Free peaches. My favorite peaches by far.

There should be plenty of plums if the weather stays above freezing.
 

Figgygoose,

Seems like that mowing around the hives should be fine.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?237755-Mowing-Yard-With-A-Beehive-Present

Navid.

Make sure you're applying sufficient potassium as it can cause blooms and fruits to drop, excess nitrogen as well.  If you are not sure of how much to apply try using the jobes plant spikes and apply as directed, once early spring and once in the fall.