Hello all,
I’m not totally sure about ripening dates for some of the following. I have my orchard rows laid out by approx ripening windows (e.g. early-mid Aug, mid-late Aug, etc). Help from locals like @Chikn and @Levers101 would be especially helpful. Even if your climate is quite different your input will be useful. I’m pretty close to the ripening times of ACN. My trees mostly bloom mid-late April at my site.
Also, any suggestions for the early-mid Aug and early-mid Sep windows (as those are the harvest windows I most need to fill out - particularly with plums, peaches/nects or pears.
According to my notes:
Purple Heart: 7 days before Santa Rosa
Lavinia: 5 days before Santa Rosa
Seneca: with Stanley or a week before Stanley (according to different sources)
What’s Santa Rosa and Stanley ripening dates at your location?
Last year Redhaven was ripe for me on 7/27/2016. So that should give you an idea for peaches when Redhaven is ripe looking at the charts for +/- Redhaven. But bear in mind that last year was an early spring. Based of the pictures on my phone, full bloom for apples was a week earlier here than in 2015 and 2 weeks earlier than 2014. (I use apples as an indicator because I take a picture of the crabapple in our yard every year at about full bloom.) So Redhaven might be closer to 1st week of August most years.
I have only had fruit off of Superior plum, so far. The few fruit I had on it ripened between the last week in July and the first week of August. If I recall correctly @warmwxrules indicated that I was significantly ahead of his Superior, but he is also 2 weeks farther north than me and the sunburn might have set mine to early ripening. Alderman had dead pistils and did not set fruit after our late hard freeze. I believe it bloomed slightly later than Superior.
I don’t have Redhaven, but my Harrow Diamond (-18) was ripe 7/10/16 last year so that lines up well. I wasn’t (and maybe still am not) sure if Superior would be ripe early-mid or mid-late Aug… Anybody else care to share when it ripens for them?
How about Mericrest nectarine? I have found little to indicate its ripening time in relation to Redhaven or anything else.
Here are some ripening dates from Bob Purvis (he was previously in central Minnesota and now is in SW Idaho):
AMERICAN-JAPANESE HYBRID PLUMS
Alderman: About Sept. 1-5 in central MN.
Gracious: Late August in central MN.
Kaga: Early September in central MN.
Kahinta: Early to mid September in Idaho.
La Crescent: Early to mid August in central MN.
Pipestone: Mid to late August in central MN.
Rosemary: Early-mid September in Idaho.
Superior: Late August in Idaho.
Toka: Late August in central MN.
EUROPEAN PLUMS
Autumn Sweet: Early October in SW Idaho.
Bluebyrd: September
Castleton: Early September in central MN.
De Montfort: mid August in SW Idaho.
Early Transparent: Early to mid August.
Golden Transparent Gage: Mid to late September in SW Idaho.
Jubileum: Mid Sept. in SW Idaho.
Kenmore: Early Sept. in SW Idaho.
Mount Royal: Late August in central MN.
Northern Blue: Early August in SW Idaho.
Opal: Early August in central MN.
Pearl: Late August in SW Idaho.
Polly: Mid Sept. in SW Idaho.
Schoolhouse: Mid Sept. in SW Idaho.
Seneca: Late August in SW Idaho.
Todd: Sept. 5-7 in central MN.
Yakima: Early September in central MN.
PEACHES
Autumnstar: 45 days after Redhaven, Sept. 9-11, 2014 in our orchard.
Chinese Honey Peach: Early to mid August here, probably after Redhaven.
Contender: 27 days after Redhaven.
Flamin’ Fury PF-24C: 24 days after Redhaven.
Golden Jubilee: 5 days after Redhaven.
Harrow Diamond: Very early (July 7-9, 2014 here, about 18 days before Redhaven).
Reliance: 3 days after Redhaven.
Risingstar: 14 days before Redhaven (July 15, 2014 here).
Veteran: 24 days after Redhaven (ours were ripe Aug. 12-14, 2014)
NECTARINES
Fantasia: Sept. 5-7, 2014.
Firebright: Aug. 12-16, 2014.
Red Gold: Aug. 28, 2014.
Purple Heart, Toka, Superior, Alderman overlap and ripen in that order, starting in the last days of August through mid September here in Maine. Last year PH was a favorite for its rich taste. Opal is my earliest Euro plum and quite good with a delicate flavor. Underwood is my earliest hybrid, a reliable bearer. Those two both ripen in late August.
Awesome. Thanks for compiling this, Stan. I’ve got Bob’s fruit description lists and his ID ripening times are very similar to mine. I’m still in the dark on ripening dates for Lavinia plum, Luscious and Drippin’ Honey pears.,
Sounds like Mericrest would fill my early Aug gap (and would be my only peach/nect for then).