Mrs.G.,
What are other trees behind the cherry trees? I am not sure if the flowering one is a peach or nectarine tree.
Behind is a white peach, after that another apricot , then a French prune, and 3 citrus trees. 2 currants and 2 strawberry pots, and a large fig. On the other side, I have two cherries, a pear, another apricot, a strawberry container, a large fig and a very large lemon tree. 13 large trees, the rest are smaller. Many tomatoes, herbes. My potted orchard is still work! Watering and pruning take the most amount of time. We don’t have great fertilizers here. No one but me grows fruit. You might see an occasional lemon tree. Only fruit in orchards. People here buy all of their fruit. They are shocked to see what I grow. Pretty funny!
Your potted orchard looks amazing.
Please post pictures of those ripened fruit so we can see what they look like. I bet most of them are not available in the US.
This year, my area has faced a moderate drought, not as bad as other areas. We have had a stretch of no rain but on Tues, we had a down pour. As expected, some donut peaches have cracked. H 13-23 is very crack susceptible (again). The fruit taste very good. I have a branch of this variety. It’s a keeper. However, in an area where summer rain is expected, I would not grow a whole tree as cracking is a serious issue of this variety.
Cracking was so bad that you can see through the holes. I sprayed Indar so they may not rot. Last year, they cracked like this but no rot.
@BobVance and @Ahmad have your donut peaches suffered cracking from the recent downpour?
I got 5” of rain on Monday/Tuesday. We had non-stop rain starting Sunday shortly after midnight and till sunset on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I was just starting to pick White Knockout, and I probably lost two thirds of the crop… they swell, crack open at the stem and drop, and obviously become very bland…
My nectarines (the few that have crop this year) are doing better, but still ~50% of Snow Queen crop cracked, some cracking on White Diamond, Arctic Star and Snack Time. Nothing as severe as your photos.
So, I won ![]()
It rained here from Mon night to all day of Tues. We got over 3” of rain baed on an amount of rain in empty buckets I left outside.
Nothing else has cracked that I could see. My fruit development is behind yours so less damage on small regular peaches and nectarines.
Tippy, these are Rouge de Roussillon apricots, (the darker colored ones), the lighter are Polonaise apricots a much lighter color. The latter are almost beige before they turn a very light golden yellow. They are drier. I have three apricot trees. They produce well for being in pots. My move caused a lot of stress as they all had to be re-potted. Next year should be spectacular!
Wow, amazing you got these bounties from potted plants. May I ask how large the pots are and how tall do the trees get?
Interesting looking pots. They look much deeper than they’re wide, and heavy too. Not sure how the soil stays in with such a large hole in the bottom though.
I add broken terracotta to the bottom of the pot. The water must drain. These pots gave been used for fruit trees since King Louis xiv. ![]()
Mrs. G., those pots look quite heavy. Is there any concern about their weight if your orchard is on the second floor balcony?
I moved to a house they are on the ground floor. My other house was a mansion. All of the walls were 3 feet thick. No problem. They built them to last! Xxoo
Since we have had a moderate drought this year. Rain has not been as frequent as in normal years. With mostly dry weather, my last fungicide spray was a month ago. I thought I could get away with it.
Yesterday a few nectarines dropped. All covered with brown rot. I can’t let my guard down.
Sorry to see that. What fungicide do you use? I’ve been using multiple fungicides usually Indar plus Luna or plus myclo or plus Merivon. For the last few years with this I get very little rot even though I stop spraying in early June. Oh I also spray the fungicide at delayed dormant, just before bloom. That might be helping as well.
I have used Indar only. I do have Luna Sensation and myclobutanil. Do you mix them at full strength of each? I can’t remember a mix rate of Luna per gallon of water. (have not used it for a while).
I’ve started spraying fungicide at bloom time on peaches, nectarines and cherries. I did spray chlorothalonil at delayed dormant on plums this spring hoping to slow down black knot but, so far, it has not worked at all.
I use the full rate on both. I think it also helps to add both to the delayed dormant spray, that nips it in the bud. I saw how well the delayed dormant spray I did for pear leaf blister mite worked, it completely wiped it out for the season, and it convinced me that early spraying was a good thing. Diseases are just waking up at that time and have low populations that overwintered so you can really knock it back.


















