It was recommended to me by Century Farm Orchards, as being relatively rot resistant. I resigned myself to spraying fungicides till August, without that, even my bronze Muscadines have black rot all over the fruit. So, I’ll just spray the orchard at the same time.
2 Likes
trailman here is in a much more sunny place and so i think it gets a early start from that. a warmer spot too. the AB is a good light area but less reflected heat, it’s not anywhere near a wall
1 Like
We grafted over 50 apple trees this spring, along with some pear trees. Several varieties. Instead of planting them in the ground this year, we potted them. I wanted to see if they grow better in pots the first year than directly in the ground.
6 Likes
I was delighted to see apples set on my Aunt Rachel this spring, despite frosts, despite what seemed an early bloom (because none of the others were blooming). Much later the mystery tree bloomed . My Grimes golden and Johnson keeper apparently get too much shade and rarely bloom – this year no flowers at all. So somewhere someone has a welcome pollen donor!
1 Like
My potted Lucyglo has very pretty, long blooming flowers that start at bloom 2 and last probably to bloom 4 or 5 considering my Sundance are throwing late flowers now.
Clark’s crab has a flower period likely starting 2 and then lasting to a late 3, as the flowers are all spent now but were later than Zestar. Though the blooms are prolific and precocious, they have small petals and are not very decorative.
I can see how the fruit set would dwarf any rootstock, the thing is loaded and doesn’t want to drop any, even on bench grafts. When bench grafting, you will definitely have to go back and check for fruits as it fruits on wood that does not appear spurred. It also set fruit when grafted on top of my Galarina, which has yet to flower for me still.
6 Likes
Crazy to think some of mine started blooming 2 months ago.
1 Like
I lost everything this year. We had 70 plus degree temps early in March, crazy warm. Peaches, apricots, plums, cherries had all bloomed and set. Got temps down in the mid 20s. Lost all the apples as they were just starting to bloom. No tree fruit this year. Might still have some berries. Keeping my hopes up.
4 Likes
@Quercus
Sorry to hear about a total loss. It has happened to many of us, me included. There’s always the next year.
2 Likes
@Wethinkyoushouldgrow
Red-fleshed apples (most are pink-fleshed, not many are red-fleshed) usually have deeper pink blossoms and deep pink or red buds. I have a few grafts of them.
2 Likes
My apple trees have a little less fruit set than last year. Still should be a reasonable harvest though. Temps in the low to mid 20’s on March 13, 17, 18, and 29 likely had a lot to do with that. All peaches except for China Pearl got zapped as well. An off year but not terribly so I hope…
2 Likes
I didn’t lose many fruits to the frost but some varieties got some damage I have never seen before.. there are cracks on the tiny fruits running part of the way from stem to calyx. The fruits are otherwise developing fine so I think I will just have seams on those fruits this fall. The early ripening apples got hit the hardest, they were further along.
3 Likes
It was certainly an above average bloom in NW NC. The blight season appears to be coming to an end.
I didn’t use Carbaryl for PC but used Surround instead. This stuff doesn’t stick well on certain varieties of apples. Peaches, Williams Pride, good. GD not so much. Overall, I’m somewhat satisfied. The squirrels were thinned out last year so maybe they won’t eat them all.
1 Like
Is Pixie Crunch a slow growing variety or is it just mine?
It’s been a strong grower for me on Bud 118.
So this week Howgate Wonder, Winston and Tree Frog’s{our member} Burgundy Blush have joined the rapid takers with Vystachoynoe , Makino and Levering Limbertwig.
Interesting. My Bud-10 grafts grew little in their first year. They seem to be really putting on much more growth this year.
2 Likes
I agree this is sad 
I have next to zero experience with herbicides, but I want to try some on a row of apples. I’m curious what will become of the apple trees? What chemical was used and how did this occur? Please don’t take this wrongly. I’m not at all trying to “rub salt in wounds” I’m just trying to learn. it’s hard to type correctly but if we were face to face you could hear my tone and see my facial expressions. These are very hard for me to convey in a typed forum reply.
1 Like
I got some of the strangest apple damage in the Big Freeze we got in the mid-Atlantic a few weeks ago:
It looks like a few of the vascular bundles popped but the rest of the fruit was OK. The temps were just barely in the bad zone. It varies widely from tree to tree how much damage there is, from nearly all to none. Early bloomers got it worse, similarly the Asian pears also got it but not the Euros. In 25 years my apples have never had any freeze damage so I’m not familiar with this. Has anyone seen this kind of thing, and if so how do the fruit develop? I will be thinning out a lot of it but plan on keeping these guys if there is no undamaged fruit to replace it.
8 Likes
Adventitious roots / burr knots on a 7-8 year old Muscat de Venus. I ordered all Bud 9 early on, but I discovered a few of them were really M9 later. This must be one of them.
7 Likes
Bud-9 can moderately burr knot. It is rated less then M7/M26 of course. But it definitely can do it.
It’s seed parent M.8 is very burr knotting.
1 Like