2020 Buds, Flowers and Fruit!

Blackberry fruit season starting… :yum:

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First of all Thank you very much for helping me for the male and female flowers. I hand pollinated and it look like that I have 10 to 12 fruit sets.



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They look terrific! I hope you won’t get the fungal problem. Yours look ‘clear’ so far. No discoloration. They look great!

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Naeem, I’m not going to claim to be an expert. Sugar Pearls was a total eye opener for me. I had never had a white apricot before, but I like it better than orange apricots, so I planted another white variety - Canadian White Blenheim (Sugar Pearls needs a polinator).
Last year was CWB’s first fruiting on a second year tree (3 fruits), so a comparison to a 9 year old Sugar Pearls might not be fair, but I can tell you this: Both were consistently 20 brix, Sugar Pearls is firmer, CWB is more fragrant (ridiculously fragrant), Sugar Pearls has some tart to go along with the sweet, and CWB had no tartness at all.
Sugar Pearls seems to be highly disease resistant. This is my second CWB. I am pretty sure the first one died of Blossom Blight Brown Rot.
Sugar Pearls does seem to be susceptible to pit burn. The ones that get a lot of sun are typically drier and less sweet. The ones that don’t get a lot of sun are terrific.
Finally Sugar Pearls is ridiculously productive for me (only when a polinator is available). It always needs to be thinned.
This year, I woke up to an unusually cold morning while the tree was in full bloom. My phone said 23 degrees, but that is at the valley floor. I am on a hill about 120 feet above the valley, so I was probably a few degrees warmer, plus the tree is near the back patio which probably acted as a heat sink. Anyway, I had to thin again this year (compared to Redhaven and Early Redhaven peaches which the cold thinned for me).

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First of all thank you very much for explaining very well. I am a big fan of white Apricots back home in Pakistan when I was kid white Apricots were the best and sweetest. I missed those so much never eaten or even seen those over here in US. I have a Moorpak and Harcot Apricots and will add two of above you recommended. .

So how much direct sunlight we are talking I have spots which will get from 2 to 8 hours of direct sunlight.

My tree actually gets full sun all day long. Fruits on the inside of the tree (shaded) seem to do very well. Fruits on the outside of the canopy not covered by any leaves, thus exposed to lots of direct sunlight, develop a nice red blush to them, but do not ripen quite right. They dry out and don’t sweeten up. I assume this is from pit burn because, with most stone fruit, the ones that get a lot of sun are the sweetest snd the best. Not with Sugar Pearls.

Additionally, there are a lot of people with more experience than I have with white apricots. Like @Stan . Popular varieties seem to be Moniqui, Lasgerdi Mashhad, Zard, there are more. I just got the two that I got because they were widely available and easy to get. I am currently grafting others to my existing two trees, so I can try some additional varieties.

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I have a branch of Moniqui but it really doesn’t put on a lot of growth. I also use to have that nectacot the Gurneys sells/sold. I never tried SP but maybe i need to. I really don’t care much for orange flesh cots, but i do like the white flesh i’ve tried (trader joes). I also have the Shaa kar pareh that blooms every year heavily and sets zero fruit.

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07-08-2020 Gala Apples sizing up.


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07-10-2020 I do not know why members are not happy with Beauty Plum. These are very sweet my Refractometer is coming soon so I can measure it. Spots are just on outer skin inside is very clean.


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@Naeem,
You are fortunate that your Beauty tastes good for you. Mine tasted mildly sweet, more like diluted sugar water for the past two years. I would like to love this plum because it grows vigorously and set fruit like crazy. Unfortunately, so far, its taste is lacking.

It may taste better this year because we have had more dry days so far. Still, it is several more weeks from ripening. We could have more rain.

It is quite common for the same fruit to produce differently growing in different locations. In fact, same fruit in the same yard may produce differently on different years, too.

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I’m interested to see your brix readings.

Agreed, don’t like the taste or the texture - fresh.

Will be interesting to see if Naeem’s brix is over 15.

It may not be different growing conditions, it may be palate. My mom claims that several of her friends rave about the fruit from the tree I planted and don’t care to eat fresh from.

It makes great jam. I was looking forward to juicing it this year, but this season was terrible for Japanese plum set.

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I just tried the first Beauty of this year and it was similar as before,a bag of juice,on the level of Shiro,about 12.5 brix.bb

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Brady,
“a bag of juice on a level of Shiro” is a very good description of Beauty. Very juicy but nothing else. While I am inclined to agree with you comparing it to Shiro, I’ve had very good Shiro in some years esp. when I let it hung for a long time and the summer was not too wet.

I personally rank Beauty below Shiro (granted I have eaten Shiro for at least 7 years and Beauty 2) as the texture of Beauty is also mushier than Shiro.

@murky - “it may be palate”. That’s, too.

Wait until you try things like Flavor King, Flavor Supreme, Dapple Dandy and GeoPride and you will know then why people are not very excited about Beauty :blush:

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Ahmad, I’m wondering if the people who like Beauty may actually prefer it to meatier, sweeter fruit. I’m genuinely mystified that people rave about Beauty.

I know some people love to exclaim how juicy a fruit is. And that dripping juice down their arm, or having to eat it over the sink is meant as a compliment to the fruit. Neither of those things are appealing to me and I take those of signs of either way over-ripe, or fruits to avoid.

I also confess, Beauty is a heavy setter, and I don’t thin it, nor have I kept the tree pruned regularly.

WRT to the fruit, I prefer Shiro, although its admittedly more bland and has some bitterness in the aftertaste. There is a window in which I find Shiro worth eating as I pass the tree in the yard. Can’t say the same for Beauty.

That said, I’ve taken some Beauty scion and grafted it for putting a tree at my current home. I’ve come to appreciate its health and regularity of abundant crops. It’s also the earliest, has good color, and makes good jam. I’m also hopeful that the juice will be good (sweetened or mixed).

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I read that Beauty comes in around 13 Brix most years in W Washington. The same reports have Shiro coming in at 15 Brix. I chose Shiro on St Julien A because it is supposed to be reliable, and it has great flowers in the spring.

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Shiro is cold hardy including flower buds but needs a pollination partner.

Don’t pick them early when they turn yellow. Letting them hang longer until they turn darker yellow will improve the taste. Many plums taste better but may not be as productive or as cold hardy.

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I have some fruit set and will be able to taste these.

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Surefire sour pie cherries

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