Orchard road trip!

Those GoldRush look amazing. I wish I had a pound to try… I was too busy at the time the local orchard had theirs for picking. I don’t have room but everyone’s raving about them makes me think I need a GR on G.935 from Cummins for 2017…

These picked GR seemed to have a rough, almost russet texture. I don’t know if that was a result of the extreme cold they had to endure (temps in the mid 20’s last week). All these in bags are those picked off the tree, at 50c a pound. The owners told us to use those first, the freeze has an adverse effect on the storage ability of the fruit. These GR still have that high sweet/acid taste, but not as much as the original ones we got in October. Plus, they don’t seem to be as crisp, but the apples are still very good.

We have a GR in our orchard, planted this year. I’m debating on whether to add another one next year.

Goldrush develops a strange “wrinkled” texture, but fortunately this does not detract from its high quality and for me is a non-issue.

Those are beautiful apples. Thank you for sharing your experience and reviews.

You should consider buying yourself a reflectometer as a holiday gift. Measuring brix of those apples would be a fun project.

This morning, I drove to Adams County Nursery (PA) to replace a Methley plum tree that had died. The tree never leafed out this spring. Everything else I had purchased from them is now growing well. I was pleased that they honored their warranty; they gave me a huge replacement Methley tree.

Being just 15 minutes away- I decided to swing on over to Boyer’s Nursery (PA) to see what’s what. On the way, I hit up a roadside farmstand to get a basket of their field-picked strawberries.

At Boyer’s, I bought myself a Harmony peach tree and had myself a jolly time looking around. They gave me a free Fuji apple (still juicy) and I bought some Montmorency concentrate from their fridge.

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What a fun trip. I’d like to see tree nurseries like those. Plus, I know those places are close to Gettysburg, which I always wanted to see. Were you also able to check out the grounds at ACN? My pear and peach tree from them are doing great.

That tree has some nice feathers on it. I don’t think I’ve heard of a Harmony peach.

Pertaining to this thread, Reed Valley orchard is opening back up in about 3 weeks. Their blueberries are about ready, they’re having bloob pancake breakfasts every Sat until they’re done producing. And their summer raspberries will be ready in a month or so. So, can’t wait to go back and check things out.

Yes they’re near Gettysburg.

ACN does not particularly cater to visitors. On rare occassion, they host events, but their office is stark and the location austere. Their operations and plantings are largely hidden from view.

If you wish - you can schedule a date - and pick up your stock (saving on shipping expenses).

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Matt, though I saw they have a five tree minimum?

Yes.

My various notes:

HARMONY yellow peach a.k.a. Canadian Harmony. PLANTED May 25 2017 on Halford from Boyer’s (PA). Pruned upon planting:

Another release from the Harrow breeding station in Ontario. Incredible juicy yellow melting freestone w/ exquisite sweet tangy flavor. Purchased specimens at Boyers Aug 21, 2014. One of the best peaches I’ve ever had. Well-balanced flavor.

Occassionally stocked by ACN (PA) (Lovell) and WhiteOak (PA) (Krymsk.86). **** resistant to bac spot. Almost as Cold hardy as Contender, but with far superior flavor, and less brown rot.

Update: had some from Pryor’s (Thurmont) on Aug 2, 2015 (photo below). Huge fruit, but a little mealy; ripened way early. One had split but not shattered pit. Too much rain blew up Harmonys and made them ripen early in 2015? The latter ones were excellent. Good flavor. Occasional mealy flesh, but mostly perfect melting freestone-- skin came off easily. Fruits were HUGE! Lots to eat!

Harmony is the peach at top of frame. This one had a split pit, but was still good eating:

Some links:

http://www.boyernurseries.com/fruit_trees/peaches/harmony.html

http://www.davewilson.com/product-information/product/canadian-harmony-peach

https://www.acnursery.com/fruit-trees/peach-trees/142/canadian-harmony

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If you order 5 or more trees there’s no shipping fee. Anything less than 5 and it’s $20 for someone like me who’s in KY, and higher the farther west you are.

https://www.acnursery.com/pricing-info/retail-pricing

I’ve never ordered anything from them until this year, and I was very pleased with the two trees I got from them. Big roots, and at least 1/2" thick. Both trees have really taken off after planting in March.

Here is the enormous root mass (Myrobalan) of my replacement Methley plum tree picked up from ACN today. Planted it before this evening’s rains came… yes!


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Thanks, sounds like a good variety. A better tasting almost as cold hardy peach than Contender.

Planted on the 25th? Did you dig and plant by car light? You don’t mess around! :grinning:

Yes, that Methley looks very nice. Hope it works out better than the last one. What happened to that one? Was it on the same rootstock?

The first one never leafed out.

Had two Carolina Golds from Vaughn never leaf out… the main leader is still showing green… but have feeling that it won’t be long before it code blues.

Rootstock might have died/ dried out.
Consider grafting some sticks of CG onto other peach trees of yours, if you don’t already have that variety in your collection.

Matt,

I did just that initially when I got the trees I took cuttings from it so I could graft from it. But like most of my peach grafts it hasn’t taken. Just was hoping they would of made it as I was looking especially for them when I bought them along with four other that are doing so well. Interesting that the two CG didn’t make it and the others did. Same rootstock and all… Still have the wood… .wonder if I can try to bud it… later on…

I hope your Harmony puts out some wood this year!! :wink:

Well, since it’s the middle of summer, we thought that we’d make another trip down to Reed Valley orchard. My mom is here visiting, so I thought it’d be a good road trip for us.Their blueberries and blackberries were available, as well as some early apples. All their raspberries were gone, and they dont have any fall bearers.

We got there about 11:30, and mom had to look around their country store at the various knickknacks. We sampled some of their apples, and blackberries.

The apples they had were Lodi, Earligold, Monark, Ginger Gold, Sansa, and to our surprise, some Zestar’s were available. Of all of them the Z’s had the best balance of tart and sweet. Lodi were sour, and not much flavor, GG were slightly sweet, but not much else. Earligold were pretty tart, but had good overall apple taste. I liked the Sansa, they were tart, and a bit sweet, and my wife liked the Monark, they are very tart and huge.

We came there for the bloobs, and their crop was just about played out, even tho they were mostly under heavy netting. Me and the Mrs picked about 3lb of mostly medium to small berries. I think most of the ones we picked were Legacy, Blueray, Patriot They had a good flavor, not real sweet, but still had good bloob taste. Tomorrow they are taking the netting down, and the birds will prob finish them off.

Afterwards we decided to go out and pick some apples. She picked about 8lb of the Z’s, and I went to get some Sansa, EG, and Monark. I think we ended up with about 15lb total.

Their blackberries are yuuge, they’re about the size of small strawberries, but were way too tart, so we didn’t pick any. After standing out in that heat, and picking the blues and apples we didn’t feel like picking any blacks.

The orchard looks great, the trees are brimming with ripening fruit, but they didn’t have any peaches available as they lost almost all of them to a late freeze (~15°) in April. Due to the high temps they’ve had lately, things are are ripening faster than even last year.

Mom didn’t go out to pick anything, but really enjoyed the store, and the place overall. Both of them tried some of their homemade ice cream, mom had raspberry, and the Mrs had peach and raspberry, both gave it a big thumbs up. She liked the Zestar’s the best, and then the Earligold, so we’ll be sending her home with some. We’re hoping she can come up in October, when the best apples and pears will be available, along with all the pumpkins and other veggies.

We took quite a few pics, so I’ll try to post some soon.

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I’d rather pick blueberries than blackberries any day! Of course I’d rather eat blueberries than blackberries, so…
I’m surprised more places around here don’t have upick blueberries, given how much research and promotion the University of Kentucky does on them.

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I think picking the blacks would’ve been a lot easier, as the fruit was much bigger. I think it took me and the wife about half an hour to pick the bloobs, because the plants were pretty much picked over, and the fruit was small to medium-sized.

I think maybe why there aren’t more blueberry u-picks is because we’re on the edge of northern highbush territory, and rabbiteyes. Most of their berries were NHB, from what I remember, but they might have had some other types. Plus, it requires a very acidic soil, so there has to be a lot of amending if your soil isn’t. Their plants looked great, some were over 6ft tall and bushy. That netting system was impressive, it was like being a big white mesh tent.

Their blackberry grove, though, wow, that was impressive. They were at least 6ft tall if not higher and dense. Looked like big hedgerows. I still marveled at the size of the fruit. But they were way too tart, but not bitter or whang-y like our wild versions.

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