Very nice!
Fruitnut, are the trees being trained so vertically due to space? Amazing that blossom go from top to bottom!
Yes I think that would be accurate. The rows are about 5.5ft apart. So a canopy width of about 18 inches sounds about right to me. Canopy height is about 7ft. So alley width of 4ft is less than canopy height. That will still result in high light interception by the canopy. It will only be a few hrs in midday that a lot of light will reach the floor.
Amazing. I think what is most incredible is the continuous and even blossoms up and down the trees. Thinning must a painstaking job.
Thinning will be pretty easy. Everything is exposed.
If I remember right @fruitnut, your trees are also spaced 18" on center, is that right? Is this the size you pruned to when you were growing in pots?
On average that’s about right. And yes the trees will be about the same size as what I grew in 15 gal pots.
Fruitnut,
I make the same offer to you that I think I made last year…
PLEASE ADOPT ME. I PROMISE TO BE GOOD !!!
Mike
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I would put a bed in and sleep there. I would frolick and prance among the blooming trees 
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Are you a good worker? Maybe we could arrange something.
Bring a good sleeping bag it’s still 34F at night but is supposed to warm up.
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I have a great very fine bristle makeup brush I stole from the W. I could be a standby polinator.
Mike
A week from now it will probably be 90F outside… at least in some parts of west TX…
Ya, and a week after that 20F.
lol… Yeah. That is a wild climate down there. Its interesting to watch some of these cold fronts move south. Even areas like Cancun, MX and into Central America see considerable cooling from some of them (i’ve seen Cancun in the 40Fs). I know a huge cold shot many years ago that brought a frost/freeze to S Florida made it to near Puerto Rico before moving east into the Atlantic. At that point its more or less a wind shift and a lowering of humidity. 10 years ago we were in the Florida Keys (Jan) and we had winter jackets on and were still freezing. Key Largo had frost that next morning. If conditions are right (large area of snow cover across N America) and the high pressure can move far enough south (across the GOM), the cold air can really get down there. Then again, i’ve seen tropical showers from dying hurricanes even up here, so i guess it goes both ways. If you go back in time far enough, modern day Alaska was tropical.
Fruitnut this is very inspiring as I dream about what I’m going to do when I retire from my 8-5 job. I’m in PA so I appreciate your comments about the implications of trying to do the same thing out in the east here. You may have mentioned it in previous posts but how is pollination managed?
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I use bumblebees. They come in the yellow box to the left rear in photo above. Great pollinators, in fact too good. I ended up killing about 40 leaving 20-30. They were shredding the blossoms by visiting each one over and over.
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What would happen if you didn’t use bees? Would you still get any pollination from air movement. I know obviously it will be way better with bees but I’m just curious if anything would do ok without the bees.
I tried a couple yrs without bees. Did do hand pollination of pluots and apricots. Pollinated nectarine by lightly spraying with water 1-2 times per day. Fruit set was OK on most things. Wind movement with fans on highest setting is only about 1 mph.
The blueberry set was moderate to nearly none without bees.