@pine I actually asked that question on this forum, creating a thread & got so much encouragement I had to try it. If you look up GoldRush on the magnifying glass icon at the top of this page, you can find the thread for details.
GoldRush ripens for me October 16-19. In the BC Okanagan, it might ripen by October 26, but definitely within the green season. The difference for you & me is our region has widely fluctuating temperatures, day to night. 30 degree daily swings make a huge difference in ripening many cultivars, including GoldRush. In the region where it was developed, summertime temps range 10 degrees F or so, day to night, which slows conversion of color in the skin & sugar from starch in the flesh, as I understand it. That is why it needs 20-30 days more between freezes to ripen in Illinois or New Jersey.
With just two harvests it has become one of my favorites, alongside Lamb Abbey. Big flavor of differing kinds typify them both. Go for it!
BTW, GR is a small tree. Do yourself a favor & put it to Bud118 or Antonovka. Mine stands on Bud118 & stopped growing up at 10 feet. I got about 90 apples from it a couple months ago, which keep marvelously through May.
how are these coming along? I started apricot but no sign of growth yet from the seeds. my partner planted an unknown fruit seed and I’ve got a tiny apple, pear or cherry tree about 4 inches tall in a little pot
(he does this a lot, he’s “helping in the garden”)
The warm weather is kickstarting spring in Spokane. This young tree had a bit of a tussle with someone or something two years after the graft was made & has been rebuilding its lower stem ever since. About half of one side got torn up & it spent a lot of its resources healing. This is what it looks like 3 April, '24.
The scion for it came from a grafting class/scion exchange in '19 & came loose from the encircling ID tag. That loose scion was the only one from that bag to callus & live. I had hoped it might be Orléans Reinette, which blooms mid-late to late. Nope, this is slightly behind Redfield which typically leads the floral parade each year. I remember wanting to graft three late apples from that collection of scions. Generally, really early bloomers are not very late to ripen. “Curiouser & curiouser…”
I have been watching the weather and I think this week will be the last of the really hard frosts. already have cold weather stuff out but seeded things very late, like this week, not sure if cabbage and things will get their chance before the heat comes.
the greenhouse was getting up in the 80s with all this sun, too. been keeping the door open.
the toka plum graft is in full flower despite my daffodils not even opening yet; the other branches on the original Italian plum tree are still breaking bud. don’t think this graft will be so good as there’s no pollinators out yet at all. might be too early a variety for Spokane
I cut it back pretty seriously every other year. I think I went overboard year before last though or timed it badly, last year was the first time it didn’t bloom
This will be its third crop. The nearest plum I know of lives a block away. I am torn between thinning the number of fruits so it gets a bigger tree or enjoying the perfumed smallish fruit in four months.
A quick look at Kirke’s Blue plum (planted only last year) might be at 10% bloom tomorrow, so they will overlap bloom time easily. I might need to thin the number of fruit Ersinger sets this year, after all.
this year feels late to me. but confusion- my tomatoes blooming as my lilacs finished.
I didn’t get to prune my plum tree over winter, and will be heading the top because it’s ladder height- there’s two big forks I need to cut, one fairly near the base. is it safe to do a big prune like that this time of year, or should I let it go on until this winter?
it’s loaded with plums, I don’t want to lose too many. but the two big cuts need doing, they needed doing last year actually.
there are two very large forks, one near the base and the other a bit higher up. the base is split nearly to two similar sizes trunks, one faces forward the other is upright. then the main trunk forks again. both need to be removed. the base trunk is a bit cracked in the bark too, and I am not sure why or what.
I am pruning this time of year. The fruit hormones offset sucker-producing hormones, so the tree responds with moderate growth rather than reacts in panic mode. Do it.
well I did everything but the biggest chop. I’m nervous about that one. I think it’ll be winter for it- it’s got fruit and grafts on the big limb at the bottom that needs to come out. I cut the top back really hard, I can reach all the top branches if I stretch.
Hi All, greetings from zone 6B in Bend OR at 3900’. I inherited a mature unknown pear (probably Comice), and an unknown apple back when we moved to our current location several years ago. The apple was a poorly maintained, coddling moth, mess and is now gone. I’m pushing the envelop but am trying a few things here in Bend:
Comice pear, maybe 6 to 7 years old, zapped by an early June frost this year.
Bavay’s Grean Gage plum , 3 years old, growing well, no blossoms or fruit yet.
Golden Nectar Asian plum, Third summer, Raintree says it will grow in zone 5, giving it a try, growing well but no blossoms or fruit yet.
Flavor Supreme pluot, really pushing the envelope on this one, but we have the long warm summers that should hopefully allow it to ripen.
Triple Crown Blackberries, easy and fairly successful here.
Thomcord grape, in its third summer, no grapes yet, but it’s picking up speed with its grown rate.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned in 6b with our dry cold, and I think someone else mentioned this, no fall or winter pruning, not even early spring pruning. Wood needs to have plenty of time to harden off after pruning or I end up with die back if there is any cold weather following pruning.
