Pear buds, blossoms, and fruit 2017

The weather has been kind so far this year and I’ve not lost any pear blossoms yet. Lots of trees are budding out and will flower very soon. The individual flower buds are formed. With any luck the cold will miss us and these will wind up being fruit. The weatherman is predicting 26 Saturday but I sprayed copper and dormant oil so I think I bought myself 2 degrees. Its also been extremely windy which on my hilltop orchard may give me the edge I need. I will post an update next week. Fruit growing is only for risk takers. Hope your blossoms are still ok. I’m not counting on the stone fruit crop but it’s a great bonus when I get cherries, peaches, and plums. Wish I could say I get apricots sometimes but I’m not a liar and out of the 5 apricot trees I have ive got half a dozen fruits in years. So far my cherries are barely swelling and they are very cold tolerant in that stage. Crossing my fingers!

6 Likes

Are those carmine jewel? I am hoping they are slower to bloom than my Nanking bush cherries. On a more pear related note my European pears look like they will bloom this year for the first time, the Asian pears are ready to burst open this week. My lantai jujuli is still fast asleep.

1 Like

My nankings are in full bloom but carmine Jewell’s are barely swelling so they look great. Those are European pear blossoms in the picture above. Harrow sweet buds are swelled and like your harrow delight setting tip buds , our weather is just way behind you.

2 Likes

Supposed to get down to 23 here

1 Like

Derby hang an electric blanket , light etc. on that tree under a tarp. I have hundreds of pears so for me no worries either way it’s not feasible to cover them. You might as well keep your fruit since it’s only one day. Those pears would think they are in the Bahamas!

1 Like

I may try…I don’t mind doing it a time or two but not sure how many frosts we have left

1 Like

Wow Clark, yours are as far along as mine in zone 9B!

6 Likes

@bleedingdirt, that’s a really nice photo. Well done.

3 Likes

It’s just a Kieffer but it’s my first pear and this is its second year in the ground. This photo was last Saturday so a lot more open now.

4 Likes

Bleedingdirt,
They are pretty far along. Let’s hope the weather Stays as is. Your pears are looking good! My camera is not that great on my iPhone but I agree with SMC your picture is sharp.

Your kieffer looks very nice. They really are a good tree to have around. The crop is very reliable here in Kansas.

2 Likes

Clark, fingers crossed :crossed_fingers: for you and others!

I took that pic with my iPhone 6. You need to click on the screen where you want to focus. The trick is to have the sun behind you and on the subject.

3 Likes

It was so sunny out today I could not even see the iPhone screen when I took the pictures. I’ll try to get some better pictures. We have extreme cold coming in which will be down to 18 degrees. As our predictiins come true im hoping some of you dodge the cold weather Strange weather - Will it get our blooms and fruit? - #614 by clarkinks

1 Like

My problem is that all of my stone fruit bloomed way too early this year,
and the weather has fluctuated so much, that the insects won’t come out
to pollinate anything. So the blossoms just fall unpollinated. Hand pollination
doesn’t work, because the blossoms just disintegrate.

Ray,
We got that last year on some trees I’m sorry to hear that.

You win some you lose some I guess and we have lost plenty of blossoms. These are some of my pears today showing color.

4 Likes

Some blossoms lived through the cold and some didn’t.

3 Likes

I lost my harrow delight but it looks like KG , shinko, and shinseiki all made it

2 Likes

The early pears don’t seem to have done to great this year. I had 3 + Asian pears get nailed but this type of year I’m not surprised at all. It’s been hit and miss.

1 Like

I’m surprised that harrow delight bloomed that early but on another note the apricot I got from @amadioranch is slower than the bush I grafted it on so I think it may work here every other year or so.

3 Likes