Top disappointments in So Cal fruit for me, 2024:
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Lapins cherry. Reputedly low chill, it blooms pretty late for me and never sets much fruit. It is not as good as Bing. I think it is just self-fertile and therefore looks low chill to some. In my opinion it isn’t, and is not worth trying in inland Southern California.
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Royal Rainier cherry. Don’t get me wrong, it is good. It just blooms late and has not fruited much for me. I had a lot of test grafts too. You may be able to get some fruit, and I have had a few. Royal Rainier at its best is basically not a yellow cherry, but bright red. Left on the tree long enough to turn that color, it is really sweet, and very special. My son loved it when he was 4 and I am keeping it for his sake for now but I snuck in a Black Eagle graft at the base for future replacement. Royal Rainier might be a great backyard tree elsewhere but don’t waste your real estate on it in inland San Diego. It is not 400-500 chill hours, at least not San Diego chill hours. If anyone disagrees, please share how you got it to work.
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Low quality “low chill apricots.” Start with Tropic Gold/Blenheim. I just don’t see anyone growing Blenheim and then saying “I changed my mind, I would rather have Katy… or Gold Kist… or Royal Rosa.” As others have said on this forum, if you summer prune Blenheim, it will fruit well inland (and I have heard coastal also). If you want lower chill, grow Nicole apricot. It fruits abundantly with a pollinizer nearby (Blenheim overlaps every year). Nursery apricot offerings are a missed opportunity here, though to their credit they almost all do carry Blenheim.
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Extremely early or late flowering plums and pluots. There might be a way for that to work, but I am giving up and sticking to Flavor King and its mid-season pollinizers. Blooming with Flavor King right now are Nadia, Sugar Twist, Sweet Treat, Flavor Grenade, Dapple Dandy… and Santa Rosa and Laroda would if I still had them. Candy Heart blooms too early. Flavor Punch mostly blooms too late, though I have had some fruit every year, and they are actually quite good.
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Almost every tart cherry rootstock I have tried so far. Krymsk has a 100% failure rate after 2-4 years. Mahalab has not been as successful for me as I had hoped. Mazzard worked okay so far but it is slow here. I might try Maxma 14. Krymsk as an interstem to a sweet cherry, then to a tart might work also.
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Geneva rootstocks for apples. Credit to the developers for great rootstocks in general but in Southern California, the more vigorous, the better. M111 is very productive for me. B118 produces so much fruit on a goldrush graft it leans the tree to that side, if it doesn’t break the branches. And I am hoping Antonovka does well. But everything dwarfing disappoints. This principle applies for almost all stone fruit also. All my apricots are now on seedlings I grew in my own yard and they are much more vigorous, healthy, and productive.
Here is Lapins with scattered late bloom. The base are grafts of Brooks that I hope survive to take over the tree. After it is Black Pearl, same rootstock, planted the same year, same location.
