Or perhaps he would be pleased, because you would probably be coming back to try new varieties if you liked that one so much
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One who isnāt looking for a reason to be offended by people because they savor their anger or are unable to ever interpret the real intentions of other people. I would steer clear of anyone so easily offended and not much regret having offended them once.
But then, I am a New Yorker, and we have different standards of etiquette than other places. When people live tightly together either they have to become almost excessively polite (by my standards) like the Japanese, or less self conscious and concerned about saving āfaceā (for ourselves or others). I like being able to freely express myself with people who can roll with it and freely communicate back. Thatās the world I make for myself, but itās not better than the 7 billion other worlds of other people.
I just didnāt think you should be lecturing Susu because herās isnāt yours.
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I just ate a 17+ brix Carene nect and it has to be the best piece of fruit Iāve ever eaten in July. We are still 10 days from ripening first Red Havens, which used to be the earliest peach around here and Iāve been pulling Carenes for about a week. I ate this one a bit crunchy, and I love it like that. I have Gold Dust and Glenglo coming in now also- just starting 2 days ago. Gold dust is a little better than Glen, but both are fine early peaches but Iām sure none will top 13 brix. I got that number from Flavor May 3 weeks ago.
Iām in southern NY.
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Best gold dust I have had this year was 14 brix, but most were in the 12-13 range. The difference between 12 and 14 is surprisingly large for my palate.
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2 points probably makes a big difference to all palates and is often the difference between mediocre and delicious.
The NJ breeding program makes you sign a non-propagation agreement, so I doubt they would agree to sharing wood.
Hopefully this nectarine will be showing up at ACN or similar soon as a tree we can buy. Iām not sure its this NJF20, its several weeks later than how that variety is described.
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Good point Scott, I spoke with the Orchard owner again and he told me he had two donut nectarine experimental varieties, both from Rutgers program and one is a little later than the other. Also, note that what I picked from his trees was probably a week or two after the advertised maturity date, most of them were very soft that I had to be careful when I pull them off the branch not to squeeze them in my hand. I believe I tried both varieties and they were very similar in appearance and taste qualities, but one was cling stone and the other was free. He got both from ACN.
I was not lecturing Susu. Like I mentioned in my statement I put the quote below. I just do not think it is right to be going around professional orchards asking for pieces of wood. Plain and simple, you want to able to express yourself and have people freely communicate back. That is exactly what I was doing. I was not yelling " IN BOLD" nor was I shaming Susu about anything. My opinion about that situation with Susuās comment about asking for some wood from their tree. Especially is they just happen to have stopped in to buy some fruit. Sort of an odd question/request to them without really knowing them at all. Again, my opinion. I was not intending to make a big issue out of if, Just stating my opinion is all. Thank you for your opinion as well.
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I didnāt think my statement was as odd as you found it to be. I was purely talking as a backyard fruit grower. I wasnāt thinking in terms of breaking patent laws or jeopardizing the farmerās livelihood. I wasnāt intentionally suggesting anything illegal or unethical. I can understand why Alan thought I was getting lectured because I certainly did feel attacked. But now I know in the future not to just type out whatever comes to mind. anyway letās shake hands and move onā¦ shall we? 
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My intention was not to make you feel bad or want to make you feel like I was lecturing you. I apologize if that is how I came across to you. Again, not my intention at all. I am here to learn and to help others with what I have found out works and doesnāt work in my orchard. I never want to cause problems here with my fellow gardeners and fruit growers.
Please accept my apology. I will gladly shake your hand.
Thank you!
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We are all good Mikeš
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As a small commercial grower, Iāll offer some small $.
Every year, I sell extra trees Iāve grafted which are extras. These are varieties which have been proven here, in my orchard.
I generally like doing it because these folks are excited about growing fruit. It doesnāt take anything away from my sales because someone who is trying to grow their own peaches is super excited to try lots of stuff in the process. They buy more peaches in the process.
The biggest issue is time. It takes a lot of time to try to train a new backyard grower to be able to make the trees live and produce. Probably more time than itās worth.
Still, Iām excited about fruit so I tend not to view it econonically.
If a customer wanted a cutting from a peach tree, it wouldnāt bother me, as long as it wasnāt patented or as long as I wasnāt swamped taking care of other customers.
I donāt violate patents myself, so I wouldnāt give wood away from a patented variety.
Iām so observant about it, sometimes if I canāt buy the patent variety I want, Iāll buy another patent variety of the same breeder and throw those away as soon as I receive them. Then propogate the variety I want because Iāve already paid the patent fees of those Iāve purposedly trashed.
Probably most people would think Iām crazy, but I like not cheating people, even if they are millionaires or corporate.
All that said, nectarines suck here. Iām down to the last few varieties I like and pulling those out.
They donāt sell well here and they are very hard to grow.
Sorry to be a wet blanket on this thread, but those are thoughts from a commercial grower in a marginal peach growing area.
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The amazing Carene nects Iāve been eating lately would not be of value to a commercial grower- just too many split pits and a half of them are pretty mis-shapen as well, but for the home grower it is wonderful to have the highest possible quality of fruit so early in the season. Same deal with Flavor May- every single one had a major cracked pit and itās not very productive compared to other peaches here and is a cling of small size, but to have really highly flavored peaches in late June in NY is such a gift to the home grower.
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I had some funky outdoor nectarines this yr as well. We had very low chilling and up/down temperatures all winter. The Harko nectarines didnāt size up past 2 inches. They did have full sized seeds. Other nectarines and peaches didnāt set well and had small fruit with unpollinated seeds. Do have some full sized nectarines and peaches outdoors. What fruit Iāve had has been high brix, 20 to 30.
The greenhouse nectarines and peaches were neglected and didnāt pollinate. Iāll do better next yr.
So without the right growing conditions nectarines in particular can be difficult. But when I was trying I grew large high brix nectarines every yr in the greenhouse. And they were better than peaches. Just to refresh my memory here are a few pictures of my better crops.
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Outstanding fruit!! I would really like to try that Honey Royale, it looks just like my 2 favorite fruits, June Pride peach and Flavortop nectarine with its reddish orange streaked flesh. Super pics, worth a thousand words!!
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Beautiful looking fruit. Great contrast against the green leaves. Looks like a photo they would use in a nursery catalog.
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The one nectarine I grow that might serve the commercial grower in the east is Silver Gem. When it rains constantly and there is high humidity in the days leading to its ripening, it doesnāt tend to crack and most fruit is uniform. Unfortunately, such weather does reduce the quality of the fruit. It is amazing how quickly the quality of my peaches and nectarines started dropping off as soon as we fell into a tropical pattern of cloudy rainy weather- it is as if I picked the fruit a week early and ripened it indoors.
Silver Gem is a small white nectarine, ripening about 10 days before Redhaven with exceptional flavor when the weather cooperates- if you like some acid with that sugar.
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I think Silver Gem is pretty high quality too. And youāre right it probably has some of the most potential as a commercial nect. We just finished picking the last ones here the other day.
It set a decent crop, where the other nects I have left (Nectafest, Fantasia, Summer Beaut, and Honey Royale) set hardly anything. Honey Royale actually didnāt set anything, so I already cut it down in late spring. Summer Beaut and Nectafest set less than a dozen fruits each. Fantasia did a little better and probably averaged 20 fruits each on three trees. These are all mature trees.)
Silver Gem does have a very intense flavor, like most nects, I donāt know why Rutgers lists it as sub-acid. But like all nects, they looked fairly ugly at harvest here. They were somewhat harder to sell. My wife really liked them and ate some every day. I think in a bit better growing conditions, they would make a good commercial product. Just not here.
My favorite tasting nect is Nectafest. I donāt hear it discussed much here. But Iām getting rid of it along with my last few remaining nects. It hardly produces anything every year. Very intense sweet flavor though.
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Here nectarines are no harder to grow than peaches. We canāt get the super high brix, but I have grown some that I would say are the best I have ever had. Productive, unblemished, etc. I would say my nectarines (I only grow two right now) are more productive than my peaches. Not by much but the most consistent producer for me is Arctic Glo. It does not grow well everywhere from reports, here it grows great. This year both nectarines trees have much more fruit than my peaches. Even my nectarine grafts tend to grow better, putting out twice the wood of my peach grafts.
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Not keeping even one for yourself?