I wanted to record bloom times and thoughts for So Cal fruit growing in case it is of use to others planning their orchard. I finally hit the point where I am enjoying my yard instead of running fruit tree experiments so I am not as active as other forum members but others can contribute their own experiences on this thread also.
First, cherries:
Royal Lee and Minnie Royal are the best low chill cultivars for flavor. Once mature, they do overlap enough in bloom. Bees are picky and only visit the tree when it is a puff ball of flowers. Graft your pollinizer in the tree, because all you need is a few flowers and your whole tree is pollinated. I grafted Royal Lee into Minnie Royal and usually once Minnie Royal gets going, there is a flower or two of Royal Lee just randomly blooming.
If everything works out by the way, you will eventually battle the drosophila cherry fly, which puts eggs in your cherries when they turn yellow. Plant diverse drought tolerant flowers near the trees now so they are feeding the predators. Salvia, Penstemmon, Alyssum, etc. Once they get going you can propagate by cuttings at the start of rainy season (or spreading seeds).
Photo March 15, the Royal Lee graft mostly dormant despite 2 weeks of scattered Minnie Royal bloom. There are a few (pinkish) Royal Lee flowers likely providing some pollination. The loss of crop from that early scattered bloom is not very severe either way. If you don’t do this, you will be fine.
Here is Minnie Royal on left on a krymsk sucker, and to the right is Royal Lee on another krymsk sucker. These were in better synch (also March 15). (note of clarification in request to a reply: Krysmsk 5 vs 6 were not originally differentiated by Trees of Antiquity, but these are cherry Krymsk, not to be confused with a different rootstock Krymsk 1, used for plums and apricots)
I am not fond of Royal Crimson, which disappoints in both flavor and productivity. But as a pollinizer, it is probably pretty good, and is earlier than Royal Lee. I bought Royal Crimson, and grafted it over to Royal Lee, leaving one branch, seen here to the left of Royal Lee bloom. (March 21)
But just for extra pollination, here is a Brooks graft within that Royal Lee puff ball. Brooks will consistently pollinize Royal Lee for the late bloom that Minnie Royal would miss. (March 21)
What gets interesting is Brooks and Black Pearl in So Cal. I get cherries every year. On gisela 6, it is abundant. Here is Brooks on Mahalab, today, March 27.
Brooks on gisela 6, grafted over from former Coral at bottom (photo is today, March 27). Brooks on gisela is always a week earlier than on other rootstocks, and this has been shown in research studies. I think it may be from being earlier to hit maturity. As your Mahalab and Mazzard trees reach maturity, they will bloom earlier too. You do not need gisela 6 unless you just want to get a full crop in year 3 instead of year 7 (lol, that was worth it to me!). Maxma reaches full crop a bit earlier, maybe year 4-5. It is my current favorite. Krymsk 5/6 varies. Maybe 5 years on average but has the lowest death rate.
Black Pearl on Krymsk 5 or 6 from Trees of Antiquity, fruits every year. Not a massive crop like RL/MR but pretty full and the tree is not even mature yet. It might end up being massive crops once it is fully mature.
Tart cherries: I have pretty much given up on these. Have some still but the death rate is higher, never grow them on Krymsk by the way, but they don’t do well for me on anything. I will report back if I figure out how to keep them alive.
Apricots:
These trees are SO healthy and easy to grow. This should be what you start with. Tropic Gold is just Blenheim in my opinion, one day the DNA will be done and can clarify. Either one is great.
To get fruit 2-3 weeks earlier, Nicole tastes amazing and is an excellent producer every year. The only year I got skunked, it was during rain. And I had a test branch on another tree that bloomed a week later when it was dry, and it was so full of fruit the branch would have broken.
Nicole requires pollination, and Blenheim does fine for that. Here is Nicole today, I have other trees or grafts that bloomed slightly earlier.
Moorpark was supposed to fail, and I killed several trees before I finally got success. I have a tree on citation with scattered bloom, and it makes a few dozen fruit every year. I thought that would be as good as I would get. But inadequate chill is a problem not just for bud development, but for vigor of the tree. Apricots are stronger on their own rootstock. Here is Moorpark grafted to seedling, in a warm area of my yard, and it fruited abundantly 2 years in a row and has a nice compact bloom right now. My current theory is it just need the vigor of a perfect apricot seedling rootstock and a healthy tree.
I like Moorpark because it is 2 weeks later and the flavor has a plum-like aroma. If you want to try Moorpark, put it on apricot seedlings you grow yourself. You will have to aggressively cut away all growth other than Moorpark. Moorpark is a weak cultivar and the tree tries to push up shoots from the original seedling cultivar.
I like peaches, but I like Nectarines more. The only peach I am intentionally growing more of is Peacot. At Andy’s Orchard, these are amazing. Not as good for me yet but I have grafts and young trees. Fruits abundantly every year. Definitely low chill.
Here is Peacot Feb 27. It has flowers that look like Snow Queen.
Snacktime nectarine is amazing, donut shape, early, low chill, and fruits abundantly. It was picked up by Dave Wilson I have heard. Mine was from the essentially defunct Burchell shop for home growers (Tomorrow’s Harvest), which they sold.
Compared to how good Flavor King is, as far as I am concerned, everything else is just a pollinizer for Flavor King. Santa Rosa plum is tart and great for cobblers. Laroda plum is quite good (but not as good as Flavor King). But I would rather have a freezer full of Flavor King.
Flavor King flowers mid-season, for me that starts either mid-March or late March and lasts for 4 weeks. It has SbSe compatibility alleles. Unfortunately, for modern plums/pluots, there is not a lot of genetic diversity. Laroda (SbSc) is a 50% match, as is Santa Rosa (ScSe), and Flavor Grenade (SbSc). CandyHeart pluerry (ScSh, I was told) blooms a little earlier but overlaps with early Flavor King flowering.
I probably could do better on pollination studies, if anyone grows just this and one other plum and it works for pollination, let us know! I get fruit every year and I think I just have so many test grafts, it just works out.
Notes on the So Cal test crop this year:
-Every Minnie Royal that overcropped last year undercropped this year. One tree which lightly produced last year produced a perfect crop. My son climbs on the branches to get high cherries and they bend down with him. He has changed the tree’s shape into Bob Marley’s hair. This was his daily ritual for 3 weeks in a row.
-Royal Lee produced poorly in relative terms, not purely explainable by cross-pollination alone. Is it higher chill than MR?
-Coral finally tasted good. When it is beautiful red and has an aftertaste like dirt, it needs 1-2 weeks on the tree. It was very good when I left it long enough. The dirt taste went away. It was my highest producer of all this year.
-Black pearl produced decently again. It was good.
-Brooks produced lightly again, everywhere in the yard. I think it will produce well when trees and grafts are mature.
-Royal Lee and Brooks were the best, in terms of flavor
-I have an absolute runt of a Sumadinka tree, like 2 feet tall and only a few branches, and yet it produced a dozen cherries. I ate them. It has a large pit but was very good, definitely sweet and tart. Another branch of Sumadinka is flowering right now, and I don’t think I made a mistake in grafting. I am confused and wonder if it is yard placement somehow/microclimates but that is some extreme variation.
-Snacktime nectarine is amazing and produces every year. Buy this!
-Low chill nectarines like Desert Delight and Desert Dawn and Arctic Star always overproduce and are a lot of work to thin.
-Nicole apricot produced abundantly again. It is better than Flavor Delight. But Flavor Delight is pretty good if you are worried about chill hours. For me every flower turned to a fruit. Lots of work to thin.
-White knockout apricot is really good. It has that melon like taste with balanced tartness. Produces well so far
-Orange knockout to me is chalky in texture and no better than Tomcot. Produces lightly here. Grafting over.
