Our peach tree has leaves opening already, as does our pomegranate bushes, the plum graft that I did years ago has some leaves opening, our Shinsui asian pear grafts look like they are going to open buds soon. Our plum tree has already finished blooming, our peach tree has a few blooms left, as does our almond tree.
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It is crazy to see stuff blooming in 6A that we have in nearly zone 9 that is barely leafing yet.
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Regardless of an early spring, it always freezes here in western wusconsin around memorial day. So I do a second oil spray with Canola or Soy to try and slow bud break on both my apples and grapes. Might be voodoo but losing all the flowers is too sad
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In Central Wisconsin, zone 4b, we are also way early. My bees have come out but there is no dandelion, only a little maple pollen. Usually, bees are still in hiding when maple blossoms are ready. Not this year. Speaking of which, some folks that tap maples may have a bad surprise because they went by the calendar, which means they would not tap until mid march. The problem is, is has been maple tapping weather for a while now, like early February. We have had very little precipitation, which should mean concentrated sap right out of the trunk.
The drought worries me a lot more. We got maybe 7" of snow all winter. That’s just not enough. And summer was also abnormally dry. Tapping season typically ends around Easter, often earlier than that.
Early bud break means poor pollination by honey bees but stuff that gets pollinated by the wind are OK.
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Southern Rocky foothills Z6a:
Nothing’s budging. Not even the Forsythia.
Now I’m beginning to worry if we will have a long enough season.
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Plant bulbs like snowdrops and species crocus. The other day I was sitting on my front porch because it was probably 65 or so in the sun. Snowdrops are up and they are always first, opening in mid February. Anyway, they were just vibrating with bees. There were thousands. Good thing I have so many snowdrops all over the property. It was the only food in town! The crocus are just starting, too.
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I am concerned, the apricot flowered and the buds froze when we dropped to 20. The nectarine now has open flowers. I wonder if the mid 20s will damage it. Some of the young apple trees are starting to leaf out.
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Trying to figure out what is going on with my Anna’s and Dorsett Gold’s. No flowering on either yet. Bee’s have been working over my Centurion and Cripp’s Pink.
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In case you have not seen this table of critical temperature.
https://extension.usu.edu/productionhort/files/CriticalTemperaturesFrostDamageFruitTrees.pdf.
It is not definite but it can give some idea. Damage depends on several factors including length of time of low temperature.
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Does any one know of a low chill plum, plumcot, pluot or pluerry that blooms late enough to overlap with flavor punch pluerry? My flavor punch blooms consistently at the very end of my flavor king pluot.
Bonus points if it’s off patent so I can find scions
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Thank you! I hadn’t seent it.
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Looks like my apricots are in the danger zone again. The handful of flower buds are all in either tips separate or calyx red, and we’re looking at ~21 tomorrow night. Peaches are ahead of schedule but still in a fairly safe spot for the temps.
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Your apricot are a tad more advanced than mine. This morning, forecast predicted as low as 22F Thurs night. Right now, it predicts 25 F. as the lowest. Hopefully, the newer prediction is accurate 
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Full blossom Obilnaya, this is just one 3/8 inch diameter limb! Never seen such a cluster of blossoms!
Dennis
Kent, Wa
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I have the same weather display! Very helpful.
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They’re nice aren’t they? I have been very pleased with the Ambient Weather Station.
What an amazing tree! Did u graft the interstems in one year and topworked that the next year or do you do this in one grafting session?
If temps don’t drop below 24F, blossoms and tiny fruit should not be damaged. Light frosts almost always occur after bloom in the northeast- where I am the “average” last frost is listed as May 1st when peaches are generally going to be in full bloom and J. plums have lost their petals, so I expect fruit trees are similarly hardy elsewhere. With this average you can give or take a week. I remember one year we got 22F around Memorial day… that was a fruit disaster where even apples failed to crop in areas that got that low, including in my own orchard. In 30 years that only happened once, but J. plums are much riskier, depending on the variety. Early blooming ones may only bear fruit half of the time- ones like Elephant Heart and Early-Magic. The odds go up somewhat with Satsuma and Burgundy Queen and finally crop over 80% of the time (I would estimate out of my head) with the hardiest varieties like Shiro, Rema and Methely.
European plums bloom a week or so later and are less often destroyed by late, HARD frosts. I gather they become less reliable as one goes further south and west from me. I’m about 40 miles north of NYC not close enough to either the Hudson River or the Atlantic to get great protection from frosts.
Japanese plums grown at Plumhill Farm.
| Japanese Plums/hybrids | Production | Taste | Hardiness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shiro | 5 | 2 | 4 |
| Ozark Premier | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Comet de Kumetz | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Methley | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| Toka | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Kaga | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Gracious | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| Surprise (may be Kaga) | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Alderman | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Purple Heart | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| Early Costello | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| kahinta | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| Ptistin #5 | 4 | ||
| Pembina | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| Pipestone | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| Red heart | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Starks Delicious | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Red Glow | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Superior | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| Marisopal | |||
| Obil’naja | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Rema | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Au Auburn | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Rose Marie | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Formosa | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| Sumumo | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Whatever Plumhill Farm rates as productive are probably relatively hardy varieties. We aren’t talking tomatoes. Peas and lettuce shouldn’t be killed by light frost either. However, his ratings on taste do not always match mine. I consider Rema to be about the best tasting plum I’ve ever grown in its harvest window.
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Excellent data points on plums and frost hardiness!!
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It took several years to complete. Has 19 varieties before this years adds. May get some cross pollination! Interstems were Adara and cherry plum
Dennis
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