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nkesh099

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Posted Reply with quote  #1 
In heavy bloom. Apples will bloom within the next two weeks.

Navid.

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akrouus

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Posted Reply with quote  #2 
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
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Nick
Southern California
Rewton

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Posted Reply with quote  #3 
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.
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Steve MD zone 7a
grant441

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Posted Reply with quote  #4 
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?  
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South Carolina zone 7b
nkesh099

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Posted Reply with quote  #5 
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.
TGO

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Posted Reply with quote  #6 
Quote:
Originally Posted by akrouus
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

I am in So Cal too and my apricot tree had a TON of blooms, but many of them dropped. We had the same raim (of course)... I still have fruit developing on the tree but significantly less than previous years. It's a shame cause the window of opportunity to set fruit has passed for me I think and will need to just be happy with what is left... if course there will be a battle of biblical proportions with the birds later in the season for what remains... I usually let them have their share but I figure theirs all dropped :)
Interestingly my citrus fruit set appears to be progressing as normal, still early but looks good. Good luck!
Adriana

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Posted Reply with quote  #7 
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?
eboone

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Posted Reply with quote  #8 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adriana
Any suggestions on keeping bears from the trees?

Have a big dog inside fence.
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Ed
Zone 6A - Southwest PA     
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Short wish list: CDDG, LSU Red, Dark Greek (Navid),  Col Littman's Black Cross.   And any cold hardy early fig.
Adriana

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Posted Reply with quote  #9 
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!
figgary

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Posted Reply with quote  #10 
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?
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Gary in CA 9A  Seeking: Bebera Branca*, Colonel Littman's Cross
AndyInNYC

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Posted Reply with quote  #11 
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.

FruitSalad2016.JPG

Andrew
akrouus

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Posted Reply with quote  #12 
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?
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Nick
Southern California
tyro

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Posted Reply with quote  #13 
Not by zip,you'll have to find the station closest to you.

http://getchill.net/
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Paul.Simi Valley,Ca.Zone 9a/Sunset 18
The_Gardener

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Posted Reply with quote  #14 
I planted a galaxy peach this February, can't wait to taste my first fruit off this variety.
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My fig collections so far:  Black medeira; RDB; Negronne; Pastiliere; White Texas everbearing;  
drew51

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Posted Reply with quote  #15 
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.
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Drew
Zone 5b/6a Sterling Heights MI
Gr8Figs

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Posted Reply with quote  #16 
There should be plenty of plums if the weather stays above freezing.
[vNbnWOI] 



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Barry Northeast Georgia 8a Wish List:Medium-Small Size,Dark Cold Hardy Figs

Low Temperature of 4F in 2015,17F in 2016
figgygoose

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Posted Reply with quote  #17 
Quote:
Originally Posted by grant441
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?  


We are thinking of getting into bees. I thought I might put a hive near our pears. We mow the area around them, would that bother them too much?
ParacleteFarms

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Posted Reply with quote  #18 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nkesh099
In heavy bloom. Apples will bloom within the next two weeks. Navid.


Downright beautiful photos !
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Zone 7b/8 near Dallas, TX

VdB, RdB, Alma, Celeste, unk Celeste, Osborne Prolific, Peters Honey, Conadria, B.Trky, Strawberry Verte, Brunswick, Olymp ,LSU Purple/Gold, C.Hrdy, Brooklyn White, Unk Green Ischia.

Wish List : Cold Hardy/Prolific bearers - Letizia , Florea, Smith, G. Paradiso, Lattarula, any Sals varieties, Negronne, Navid's Unk. Dark Greek, Bass' Fav.
ParacleteFarms

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Posted Reply with quote  #19 
Quote:
Originally Posted by akrouus
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?


For the chill hours calculator : http://getchill.net/  open the Wunderground link on that page in a new tab, find an official weather station near your house, type the station name into the spot on the getchill.net page, select a time period on the calendar (they recommend Nov to Feb, but in TX we can have cold randomly/easily from October 1 to May 1), then hit calculate... it will take a minute or two for the results to tally, the progress bar should move slowly.

In my case I researched through the Texas A&M website for recommended varieties for my area, with an eye towards late blooming fruit trees due to our crazy last minute freezes into April at times,  varieties that were Self-fruitful, and varieties that paired specifically with other varieties who bloomed at the same time (as a production boost for both self-fruitful varieties).  Otherwise you have two healthy fruit trees that want to go on a date to do some "pollinating", yet each show up to the Lover's Lookout a few weeks apart, thus no fruit babies get made :)

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit-nut/
http://harris.agrilife.org/files/2011/05/fruitnut.pdf

Use this link to find the low chill/climate appropriate varieties.  I would imagine a university in your region has a similar "recommended fruit" list for your climate.

Using these resources I selected/planted Harvester, Ranger, Elberta, Red Globe, and another peach which I can't remember.  Had to thin the first couple years as the trees weren't ready to grow that much fruit, but still got some peaches to eat each year.

Best of luck this year !
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Zone 7b/8 near Dallas, TX

VdB, RdB, Alma, Celeste, unk Celeste, Osborne Prolific, Peters Honey, Conadria, B.Trky, Strawberry Verte, Brunswick, Olymp ,LSU Purple/Gold, C.Hrdy, Brooklyn White, Unk Green Ischia.

Wish List : Cold Hardy/Prolific bearers - Letizia , Florea, Smith, G. Paradiso, Lattarula, any Sals varieties, Negronne, Navid's Unk. Dark Greek, Bass' Fav.
nkesh099

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Posted Reply with quote  #20 
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.
Gr8Figs

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Posted Reply with quote  #21 
Quote:
Originally Posted by figgygoose
We are thinking of getting into bees. I thought I might put a hive near our pears. We mow the area around them, would that bother them too much?


I use weedkiller around the beehives for a couple of feet. I try to cut around the hives quickly in the evening just before dark with a push mower,nibbling away a little bit at a time and retreating to assess my progress and check for any angry bees at the entrances. ;)

The bees were really attracted to my pear trees this year with a loud buzz around them.I'm hoping for a larger crop than last year.My pear trees had already bloomed when I added my 2 beehives in 2015.
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Barry Northeast Georgia 8a Wish List:Medium-Small Size,Dark Cold Hardy Figs

Low Temperature of 4F in 2015,17F in 2016
Chivas

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Posted Reply with quote  #22 
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. 
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Canada Zone 6B
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