Some do have frost rings. Very observant ltilton.
I’ve had them on apples. Fortunately they don’t hurt the fruit.
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I’m not talking about the affect of chemical thinners- the reduction of carbo-demand just means they aren’t photosynthesizing at a high rate (it isn’t a reduction in demand but production) so the chemicals aren’t drawn in, I believe. It is entirely another issue. If I’m mistaken it is because I’m no student of chemical thinning but I am one of annual bearing.
The process of the tree “deciding” how much fruit to keep is primarily about the state of energy reserves- if there is enough energy to invest in fruit production without threatening the tree’s well being it’s time to have babies.
It is when pears get lots of warm sunny weather during fruit set that they produce parthenocarpic fruit which is why it is more common in areas with warm springs. If they aren’t ahead in reserves they don’t keep the “worthless” (seedless) fruit.
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You saw pictures of the weird weather we went through this spring so I wanted to post some follow up pictures of the fruit. The plums are not the prettiest when they are bagged
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Killer pics
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Thanks Speedster glad to post them and give you guys a glimpse of Kansas starting in January. It’s never dull here, there is always something going on if you grow fruit.
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What kind of cherries are those? Looks like there will be a good haul. Your growth in 5A is ahead of my growth in 6A/B.
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Speedster,
We have been reclassified to 6A now from zone 5b since our weather has changed so much. Those are Carmine Jewell cherries in the picture and there is a row of them to pick so likely a 5 gallon bucket of them I’m guessing but maybe more. My northstar is loaded as well. My girlfriend pruned her Montmorency so it will be a lighter crop this year. I have two of her cherries growing now here and they grow like crazy! My girlfriends Montmorency is hard to keep up with because when it has a good year literally you can pick all day for days and not get them all picked.
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I’ve noticed my pears and apples are smaller than normal this year and I’ve had a lot of drops this year. Typically the fruit is ripe in July but so far is showing no signs of ripening. Had a lot of cracked fruits this year I’m assuming due to heavy rains then weeks without water. And temps in the high 90s. Blackberries similarly seem a litle smaller than normal. It’s odd the weather was warm sooner but many things are ripening later. Overall getting very heavy harvests but again the weather is strange and things are a bit off this year.
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Here the late winter was really warm. It seemed to encourage fruit trees to flower early. Then as spring progressed it stayed cool. I waited for warm weather to graft my peach and when it finally looked like low eighties for a week I put the grafts in. Just as they started to leaf out good we had hot dry 90 degree weather and I learned how to cook a peach graft. One lived so I was pleased with my top working but the weather was really hard to guess this year. I agree that we are still seeing the effects of it, I am still waiting on my first tomatoe
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I noticed the same in Omaha. Apples on young trees are way too small. Smaller than they were last year. Do not know what to think about it. Some yellowing on the leaves and as it seems less vigorous growth. The other types of trees look normal.
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Sounds like exactly what we are experiencing. May be a lot of cider in our home this year. Small apples are hard to work with.
Just saw this can you tell us more about the keiffer improved. It ripens in July? Wow regular Kieffer is so late that is a suprise. Is it a better quality with softer texture?
Everything is the same except the ripening time. They are running later and they are smaller this year than normal.
Do you like it for eating fresh or just preserves. I used to have a very old keiffer and I thought they were about as good as a rock. They never softened much no matter what I did. I always wondered if I was missing something.
They are the potato of pears in that they are reliable, typically unblemished, great canner. I eat some fresh and these definitely do soften and turn from green to yellow when ripe. They are not an overly sweet pear. Kieffer have a place but that place is not meant to compete with the sugar pears for sugary flavor.
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Low of 37 here this morning after being in the 90s on Wed. We had lots of wild strawberries , wild raspberries and blueberries are jut getting ripe , wild black berries are loaded but a ways off yet.
I find myself again wondering is this strange weather going to get our blooms and fruit in 2017? Lots of people lost fruit last year due to this unseasonably warm weather. I’ve not even been able to get scion wood this year because some of it even still has leaves on it.
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Same here… Too warm, peach buds look all fuzzy and ready to go… And it is zone 5, so we have to have at least couple cold snaps here before spring, if not the full month of frozen weather… (sigh)
Temp has been slightly above norm for Dec (+1.9F) and for Jan (+4.4) but its been very wet. Dec was an inch above normal for liquid precip and Jan is at almost 2 inches above norm for liquid precip…crazy wet for this time of year and a lot of the precip has fallen as rain/sleet/ice—not really normal for Jan.
Dec extremes were 44F and -16F …Jan have been 43F and -6F … nothing extreme on either end of things for here.
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