The San Diego box stores try to sell bare-root honeycrisp grown out by Pacific Groves every year. You’ll eventually get it to fruit, but it won’t be as happy at bloom time as it should be. It will come out really late (as you’re observing now), and the bloom will be spread out over a long period. Fuji behaves similarly in SD (i.e. sporadic blossoming), but does set fruit. The lighter set isn’t so bad – Having every blossom set an apple on a low chill apple like Anna, and the resultant thining is a chore. I assume you’re branch bending to spur up?
Sure would like to remove all 5 sweet cherries, the Mrs. disagrees though so I don’t see it happening soon. Maybe if we have another 5 years of no fruit I can persuade her. Nice bloom again this year on all but frost always seems to bite them. 2 Utah Giant, 2 Rainier and 1 other white that I can’t remember. They are all healthy trees though. Grey Pearmain should come out too. I’m not sure why I thought I needed 3 trees of that… We had 1 apple last year and it was flavorless and mealy. They may get better as the trees mature but I suspect it is just way too hot here to suit it. I am going to take out Reliance grape, sprawling, vigorous, not very productive, so so eating. It too is heathy though. We also have a Northstar cherry that probably should come out. From this thread it doesn’t seem as if it is particularly productive for anybody and certainly hasn’t been for us. On a positive note though Montmorency delivers for us every year.
Not yet. I had heard that apple tree branches should be bent horizontal, but I haven’t done so yet. The honecrisp didn’t do much last year and some side branches are pretty much horizontal, although there are some that could use some training.
Here’s a not so great picture of it.
The gala put on more growth last year, but it too has some horizontal branches. Interestingly enough, the central leader was the first to start to leaf out and bloom. Fingers crossed that some will take.
The pixie crunch doesn’t have a single horizontal branch, that variety grows like a weed. It’s slowly leafing out and blossoming.
Start bending the scaffolds you want to keep. You can never start training too early. It does pay dividends in the form of fruit spurs in the end.
I’ll do that, thanks! I’ll give it a few more years to see if it adjusts to the climate. If not, out it goes. Then the question becomes, replace with another apple tree or something else?
If it’s apples you’re after, then don’t replace. Graft.
Good suggestion. The Honeycrisp is on M111 rootstock, so I still have hope for it, but grafting would be a good fallback. This Kuffle Creek blog entry is also encouraging:
Honeycrisp was one of those listed in the Orange County test orchard. I’m about the same distance from the coast as this orchard and have the same type of temperatures. Fingers crossed!
Its not technically a tree? But i chainsawed an elderberry…some European variety. Grew huge last summer…and it all died back over winter. The bark was peeling and it was slimy/stinky. The root system on those things are like an octopus.
Works that way with kids too!
2 Likes
North Star cherry is pretty productive for me. (So you can’t say nobody…lol)
I took out 3 large hazelnut trees/shrubs this spring. I thought they had scale, but closer inspection and researching properly identified the problem as hazelnut scab/blight. I’d rather have a healthy, non-productive contorted hazelnut then see it infected by these trees who produced (very little) for just the squirrels.
Scott
1 Like
I removed arctic star from a pot and put a honey royalle in the pot. The arctic star sat in the yard for three days, roots exposed to the air. I decided I would put it in the ground just for the heck of it, and it lived somehow, and actually it set more fruit after our late freeze that wiped out most everything else, than all the other nectarines. Who would have thought
1 Like
What are you using for a pollinator for Northstar? It’s very disease resistant so it’s easy to grow but the fruit is small and sparse and in general not any of what I want in a sour cherry. Montmorency is a heavy producer, fast grower, very disease resistant etc. . Carmine Jewell are excellent sour cherries here as well. Hopefully Montmorency blooming will make Northstar a better tree this year. If not next year there will be another Montmorency.
I’ve got Evans and a Newport flowering plum also blooming for the past 4 years. Either one of these is pollinating it, or north star is self fertile.
Scott
Oh yeah, the next door neighbor has a weeping cherry which also blooms at the same time, so that might be it too.
1 Like
The only thing I’ve planted that I’ve considered removing so far are Nanking Cherries.
1 Like
But in this case, jujubes are one of the best temperate tree fruits and chestnuts are one of the best nuts so it works out well. I wouldn’t grow them if I didn’t like them.
I’ve had success too at double-grafting (interstem and scion at one go?). I would have never thought of trying if it weren’t for Steven from Skillcult. Saved a year. IIRC I think Steven said he’s had success even with 6 “interstems” in one go! Crazy.
1 Like
I have as well. 3 years ago, I did two pear grafts onto a quince rootstock, using a Magness interstem (all done at the same time).
Earlier today, I noticed that both varieties are flowering this spring. The Magness interstem also grew at the same time and while it is almost as large as the varieties grafted on it, there are no flowers. Just another example of Magness being slow to fruit.
I am in the same boat here, I have 3 nanking at the top of the drive but my dog loves the cherries so much she is constantly breaking them off trying to climb up and get the fruit. They look like scrappy unkempt bushes. My choice this spring is to either hook them up to the truck and pull them out, or graft over. I am thinking plums.
1 Like
Is carmine jewel as disease resistant as montmorency?
Yes CJ is highly disease resistant in my experience.