Early Defoliation from Wind Storm

General Fruit Growing
#1

Well, it wasn’t the deer this time. I should preface this by saying we’re relatively fortunate and my heart goes out to the folks who’ve had their lives turned upside down by wildfires and other extraordinary events this summer.

We’ve had very high winds the last few days. Fortunately few trees have serious damage. I lost a loquat graft, but there was another of the same variety on the same tree that persists.

But some of my trees, especially persimmons, have lost many or most of their leaves. I know its almost fall, but they hadn’t yet begun color change. I’m curious how much it will affect the developing fruit.

My Prairie Star, I think Claypool 118, set a nice crop this year and I’ve been taking pretty good care of it so the fruit are well sized and look pretty good. Now they are naked. I’m wondering if hanging on the tree is still going to develop them better. They are showing hints of color but were still at least weeks away from being ready to ripen.

The Coffeecake has a single fruit. It used to be hard to find among the foliage, only visible from one angle. Now its obvious from afar.

“Izu”, or whatever it is, seems largely unaffected.

Prairie Star:

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#2

It’s been a very strange year in so many ways! I wish you the best of luck (but I’m still trepidatious about the future - just because things are weird doesn’t mean they can’t get weirder.)

#3

Heavy leaf loss a few weeks before harvest shouldn’t affect fruit quality much if any. If there is even 20% left it shouldn’t affect anything much. Not the fruit, winter survival, nor cropping next yr.

#4

Thanks for the replies. I’ve added a picture to the post.

The other thing that surprised me a bit, is that the leaves broke off in the petiole, not where they attach to the stem. Almost like deer ate it or, they are a bunch of T-buds. But it was the wind.