I don’t like the overly large strawberries. The tend to ripen unevenly - red on the top and white on the bottom
My White Gold doesn’t have enough sun so it produces too many leaves vs blossoms. Its good to see its capable of setting a lot. Black Gold right next to White Gold has the opposite problem, it sets far too many and the fruits are bland. I am going to start thinning it this year, I have never thinned a cherry before but that tree needs it.
I ordered two more cherries yesterday from the Cummins 50% off sale, I am recycling a spot where I had blackberries to put some more cherries with better sun. They are Ulster which I will eventually graft something to.
2 Likes
Heres a few photos I took over the weekend… apricots sizing up (Ilona I think):
Baby romance cherries all fenced in from deer:
Check out my funky Ashmead’s Kernel… this tree was in a deer pathway and for many years got munched back so it was growing as a bush. This year I decided to remove all but one of the branches to get it higher up overall and out of deer browsing zone. As a consequence it now has this funky bend at the bottom like a stepover:
Massive overset on Shiro as usual - I have been thinning this tree by grabbing handfuls:
I am letting my kiwis grow over into what was a blackberry row, the goal is to get more kiwi production without much extra work:
Here are some pawpaw flowers. The maple tree shading these guys fell down a few years ago and they have 5x as many flowers as they used to. I get way too many fruits now.
29 Likes
Hey Scott, nice pics. You are an inspiration.
I was out spraying surround and spinosad on my plums, peaches, and pears last night. This is the first year I’ve ever had a crop of shiro and red heart plums. I was having a hard time getting the surround to stick to the fruit because it is small and very smooth. It seemed to all drip off. I made sure to hit the branches and leaves around my fruit and plan to put a second coat on tonight.
Any tips on getting the surround to stick better or do you experience the same issue.
Thanks
Mine does not get full sun either, but probably more than yours. The branch tips are supposed to be loaded but mine never are. I just pruned it before the photo. Also center is a graft and I cut out the flowers. You can see the tag and foil over the grafts. i was pruning KGB method, but decided when i stub scaffolds back to graft new ones on. Once full or I don’t add anymore I will prune as open center. I added Utah Giant, after 2 weeks one of the grafts is growing
At my cottage i have another sweet that is in heavy shade and the trunk looks like a 2nd leaf plant when it is 7 or 8 years old.Very skinny, and it only produces a handful of cherries. Everything is like that there.
Hey nice photos, good to see your stuff!
Hi Jim, you can see in my Shiro picture that the Surround didn’t stick too well to them. It varies by variety, my Early Magic on the same trunk is coated well. I would suggest adding a bit of soap to the tank to help break the film on the plum surface. I used to do this all the time but I don’t like mixing soap with sulphur so I stopped when I was doing regular sulfur sprays. This year I am not doing as much sulphur and I should have added it to the spray you see here.
Oh, I forgot to add that even if the plums are not well coated the little dots on them plus all the Surround on the limbs still is very effective. So, you don’t need to re-spray immediately with soap, just add next time…
2 Likes
just ordered myself some surround WP, as this may be the first year i have a plethora of stone fruit to protect.
any recommendations for a decent <$50 residential sprayer?
How does the plum curculio move around? Does it fly from fruit to fruit or does it crawl from branch to branch? Is it migrating from the woods by crawling on the ground, then crawling up the truck or is it able to fly up into the tree? I had some damage last year but was never able to find the actual insect.
1 Like
Not sure wha size sprayer you are looking for. I love love this Chapin sprayer. For $8 it’s the best. Mine is about 5 years old, spent an entire winter outside but it still works like the day I bought it. It’s small but more than enough for my needs. Something to consider if you are looking for a smallish sprayer.
Jim
from Uof MN
“Important biology
Plum curculios have one generation per year in Minnesota. Adults overwinter in brush near the plum trees. In the spring, the adults emerge shortly after bloom. Plum curculio adults can fly, but prefer to walk. The adults usually climb tree trunks to reach the developing fruit, rather than flying to branches. In sites with low curculio pressure, typically only one plum or cherry branch will have infested fruit, while other branches have no damage.”
That’s why you need to spray Surround on stems and branches, not just the fruit. they don’t like irritation caused by Surround when they crawl around.
Here’s the whole article. https://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/fruit/integrated-pest-management-for-home-stone-fruit-growers/plum-curculio/index.html
6 Likes
Thanks, mamuang you are so helpful.
I do spray the branches and stems and this tends to stick better than the little fruit. I am going to try what Scott recommended and add a little dish soap on my next spray.
I think it is important to remember the mechanism of how surround works, by aggravating the pests so they want to clean themselves, not by creating a barrier that doesn’t allow them to get to the fruit.
I just wrapped trunks all my fruit trees (well, except jujubes) and smear the wrapper with Tangle Foot.
That’s to stop ants from climbing up to farm aphids (esp. on plums) or ruin my ripening fruit. If this Tangle Foot could stop those darn climbing plum curculio, too. I’ll be doubly happy 
5 Likes
Just went to look at the strawberries, only to find the rabbits have been at them. Normally, I don’t put up the nets til the fruit starts to ripen
Just about every plant in the garden is netted or fenced in some way now
1 Like
Based on my own observations I would say they fly more than that particular UMN article is claiming, but still it is true they are primarily walkers. For that reason you need to cover the branches and even the trunk if you can. If you look at my pictures above you will see white trunks in the background. Also don’t just spray one side of the branches or fruits. I have many times come across a curc walking upside-down along a branch I only hit the top on, or merrily laying an egg in a fruit on the un-sprayed side. You don’t need to achieve perfection, but do spray some from all sides.
4 Likes
Finished planting my veggie garden. Growing two types of tomato this year. Sun gold and sweet million. Also planted eggplant fairy tale and Hungarian hot wax peppers. Green bean Calima of course.
11 Likes
Driving around the hood today, I see a lot of apple trees with very sparse bloom this year
2 Likes
That looks like a princess of a tree🙂
You should see me with all that fabric coming out of the house - it did look like I am caring wedding dress 
8 Likes