I know the feeling. Spring arrives and it’s so much fun to watch everything grow. Then all hell breaks loose and one thing after another happens. Plus every year it seems like something else trumps the fruit and you need to add another sceam to the arsonal. The most favorite time of the year should be harvest time, but for the most part my harvesting is none to disappointing. I baged early with 400 bags. Probably 30 bags have fallen off already but if the birds and squirrels don’t get the bagged fruit I might have some. sweet cherries are the hardest most frustrating fruit to grow for me. I should just cut hem down. I used to go fishing with my boat more often before I decided on an orchard. It has taken enough of my time that my boat has just been sitting. Between collecting 30 car haulers of firewood a year taking care of my pool and orchard plus yard there’s no time for fishing. Maybe if I was younger and more energy, but I rough houses for a living. I think there may be an eight or ten year learning curve to growing fruit before the frustration can subside and the time spent goes down. Maybe?
For the first time in five years I did not prune my blackberries. I walked through the orchard and the 7’ canes are loaded with berries and flowers. Was this a bad idea? Will net soon. Just swooned in despair over my lack of plum and peach pollination. So sad.
Dave,
I think it’s human nature to think we could push an envelop!!! Maybe, we could be the first fruit grower in our town/county to grow cherries successfully (or not).
I was successful with my apples and A pears for a few years before I expanded it to include stone fruit. It made me realize that no wonder we hardly have any stone fruit orchards in our areas (tons of apples). That should have given me the clue.
You have a lot of space and your orchard is so beautiful and organized. Finding the right varieties that work well in your area is the key. You may want to go heavy on apples and pears and experiment on stone fruit that may work without devoting your entire being for them.
It is true about revising your spraying schedule. This year, I sprayed a lot closer than I did previously. The fruit seem cleaner than before. But again, as soon as I said this, those pests will all show up in my orchard to knock me down a few pegs. Don’t worry about complaining.
It’s better complain to us who are understanding than complaining to our spouses who may said something like
“Why don’t you just get rid of your orchard?” You could guess where I heard it from, right? 
Our backyard orchards are becoming chemistry lessons. Simply, I thought you plant an apple tree, you get apples. Forget chemicals at that point, what about learning about pollinators? Then the armies of insects that you never heard of are now in your backyard! And fungi! Then we have vermin! The constant battle of me against a squirrel. Come on, a squirrel! And they win! I can deal with the rabbits and raccoons, no deer, ( I am blessed). Now I know why supermarket fruit is tasteless. It is picked green, shipped having been sprayed to death, (different sprays from each country too). The sizes of the fruit are super large, how American… and look perfect. That fruit is so far from the real thing, it is why we treasure each deformed, bird -pecked, insect bitten,fruit we grow. When you take the one bite of an apple without curculio bites or coddling moth worms it is the most delicious fruit you have ever eaten. I am netting my Bavay green plum today, as it has about 25-30 plums on it. It has taken years for that humble whip to produce fruit. I will savor each one, as that plum is nonexistent in RI. Tippy you are so right. I go to the Farmer’s markets and they have a few peaches. No plums to speak of. Apples, yep lots of apples. No sour grapes here, I still love my orchard. I have learned a great deal. Thank you all.
If you have problems with stone fruit I would grow the American plums, the wild fruit, mulberries. Many interesting looking wild plums out there. Probably not the best for fresh eating but for processing are super good. Wild black cherry which I never see much about anybody growing it, yet products abound out there from those fruits.
i hear you! i lost all but 1 of my potted plants and my 2 goumi and half my mulberry tree died from our severe cold. on top of that , the heavy snow snapped off alot of branches splitting a lot bushes in half! patched up what i could . hoping they heal. takes years of growing to get berries then 1 bad winter with alot of snow destroys them! im lucky if i get a couple bowls of blueberries/ aronia this year. no more high bush for me! theres a reason maine commercial berry growers grow low bush varieties. less maintenance and less snow damage! got 4 brunswick low bush i just put in and 8 wild low bush i dug this spring. thank God for raspberries! my everbearing varieties are primocane fruiting so i just cut the canes to the ground in early spring. no worries about cane damage. same with strawberries. both grow well here so when everything else is a loss at least i can rely on those 2 for my fresh fruit! like most of you im trying to be fruit independent. fruit is very expensive here and the quality is the poorest I’ve seen compared to other areas of the country.
My cracked White Gold cherries have calloused over instead of rotting. I’m going to give credit to Indar.
Just about ready to pick
I have wild black cherry growing all over my yard. It gets to about 80’ tall. It grows throughout the woodlands. The cherries are the size of choke cherries and hard to harvest. I have two in my circle drive that I have collected cherries from and made jelly from.
What is the flavor of the black caps? Is it pretty close to reds or more like blackberries?
My goumi is turning the color
Cot-N-Candy Apriums and Nadia Plums are ripening in the greenhouse and also Orange Red Apricots on a tree outside. Brady
Are these in pots,the ones inside of the greenhouse？
Yes,mostly grow bags.Brady
Black raspberries are closer in flavor to back berries than raspberries in my opinion. Picture of my wife’s Jewel is attached.
Very nice. You’ve definitely piqued my interest in these black caps. Thanks for your response. Here’s to a mighty crop!
Beautiful, Brady.
Looks delicious Brady! Where did you buy your fruit bags? They look nice, do you like them?
The first bags were bought from a local grow shop and another set of ten,25 gallon,plus two 50 ones, came from an online source in California,but I’m not sure the name of the business.
They’re still doing well after a few years. Brady
I’m asking about the protection bags.
Ate my first tree ripened cherry, (burgundy pearl). I only was able to fruit a few. Delicious, beautiful looking cherries.