Mine still aren’t getting sweet. They’ve gotten up to 10 brix, from 7-8 when I last posted about a week ago. They are still pretty firm on the tree, so I’m just going to leave them until they are good or get destroyed by something (I’ve seen more losses on them to something (yellow jackets?) recently. With their acid, 10 makes them just barely palatable. But, I have much better fruit, so I can take a chance on them improving.
I found a damaged Feng Bao peach (I think) on the ground today. 13-14 brix and a wonderful aroma. I tried picking one and it wasn’t fully ripe.
I also had an interesting Raspberry Red nectarine. It Wasn’t fully ripe yet, but something was damaging them. About 10 brix. I could see why they named it that way as there is an aftertaste of raspberries.
My Tango tree looks to be dying. The leaves have been drooping for the last 1-2 weeks and the fruit is shriveling. The Freckle Face graft wasn’t close enough to ripe, but the Tango have actually been pretty good this way. They are normally rubbery, so a bit more rubbery isn’t a problem, at least for me. No way to get a brix measure though. I’m not sure if it is borers (there is a good sized hole, so it could be) or some other issue like X-disease. Either way, I should probably just remove it. I like TangO’s, but I don’t like the rot that I always get on them. I think this tree is a big part of why I’ve had so many brown rot problems…
On to the good stuff- Lavina has been very good. They are often around 15, with a few up to 17 so far. I’ve gotten a lot off the tree- this is my 2nd picking, with at least one more to go.
I under-thinned, but it carried the heavy crop like a champ. It was mid-way through the 2nd picking when I thought to take a pic…
The low hanging fruits are the ones slowest to ripen. Here’s a pick of some which are being swallowed by gooseberries and weeds.
Purple Heard has been 14-15 brix, but nowhere near as tasty. Mild and sweet. Like a slightly meatier and slightly sweeter Metheley.
A few Ersinger have been pretty good and I just did a first pass through the tree today, as it started dropping fruit a few days ago. Also in the 14-17 brix range.
This is the first time I’ve had a significant number (more than ~3 on a tree) of Euro plums to pick. I’ve tried to pick only those with a bit of softness (not fully soft) to them.
Geo Pride pluots have started to color up. I picked one with a crack which was 16 brix in the damaged area and 12 brix at the other end. When the whole things gets to 16 brix (or more), it will be a very tasty fruit. Maybe another week?
I think it’s about a month early, but I’ve had a few Flavor Grenades ripen (or at least color). The two I had didn’t get that that high of brix (~12), even though they got pretty dark. The ones I’ve had from the store were much more yellow and much higher brix (18-20).