Which variety did you get? What rootstock?
Honey blaze on Lovell. Not in stock atm though. I bought mine late spring last year.
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I got my Honey Blaze from ACN too, you also probably are aware that Honey Kist is available to home growers through Dave Wilson retailers. Finally, Honey Royale went off patent this year, so its scions should soon become easily available.
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When and where is Figfest?
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Here in the NE Honey Royale is great if you want to grow graft wood for sale, but wood is about all it grows. Mine never bore a decent crop no matter how or when I pruned it. I kept thinking if I removed the most vigorous uprights and left weaker wood it would settle down, but if it was going to it didnât respond quick enough for me. I cut it down and planted H. Blaze as a replacement. I only need one low acid Nect- at least while I still have teeth. When I get to be 90 I may appreciate the lack of acid.
Perhaps on a different root stock it produces better. I grafted it this year on trees on both Lovell and Citation, in a couple of years I will let you know. Rutgers is recommending it for NJ, and they describe the tree as vigorous and productive.
Anyone grow the HS nectarine in low chill areas? DWN suggests <250 hrs and I am in the 100-150 hr rangeâŚdebating trying this one in the spring. We love peaches and nectarines and it sounds like this one is a slam dunk.
Any âlow chillersâ out there for feedback on how low this guy can go?
Best,
Sean
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But there has to be a reason that Adams stopped selling it. At any rate, any peach or nect requiring a special rootstock is too much bother for me. Iâm over extended as is.
I heard the same from Andy Mariani (on Honey Royale) when he gave a CRFG talk on nectarines. He wasnât sure if this was due to lack of chill or other reasons. One alternative he recommended was Samarkand Gold, which may be a cross between HR and SilkRoad nectarine. According to him, it is more reliable and had characteristic flavors from both its parents
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Honey Royale wonât set outdoors for me either. Honey Blaze is better but not good. Blaze does set good in the greenhouse. Honey Lite is the big setter both places. Lots of thinning. Honey Diva sets a good crop for both. Itâs only downside is being clingstone.
This is the first Iâve heard of Honey Spring.
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@Ahmad, last year it was in Oroville Ca, Doug hosted, aka Bluemalibu on Ourfigs. It was a lot of fun and everyone got to meet up and taste a lot of different awesome figs. I also brought a bunch of high brix fruit that went over well. Most everyone brought some plants for trade and Doug bbqâd some tri tips that were excellent. It was a lot of fun trying out different figs and fruits. Due to Covid we will not have one this year as far as I know. @Sean, The Honey Spring was a gift from a farmer friend, unfortunately its still under patent and will not be available until 2035. I do not have permission to share, as much as I would like too. For you, the only nectarine that is really good that should work well for you is Desert Delight, at 150- 200 hours chill. Others to try would be Sno Queen, Panamint, and Desert Dawn. Sno Queen is awesome, may not get a whole lot of fruits but I would try that one. There are some Florida strains of fruits that would probably work for you, but I do not know much about these. Good luck with your selections!
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I have Honey Blaze thanks to @Ahmad. I grafted it to Lovell rootstock this year. Does anyone have any other off patent variety?
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And a fig tree as well!
Yeah,that guyâs been a photobomber since he figured out how to grow.bb
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This is Sno Queen nectarine, quite possibly the best piece of fruit we have ever tasted! For you low chillers this is a must have nectarine. At 30 brix The taste is sensational, super sweet with a wonderful tang, similar to an extra sweet Junglo or June pride peach, just heavenly!! This fruit is easy to get and only requires 250 chilling hours. I will be top working this over to a few trees next year. We got 5 on last years graft. Its a shame my tree died several years ago, good thing I grafted it on another tree. IMO this fruit was perfectly ripe, still firm outside, but melting inside. @fruitnut, have you trialed this one? I think you would really like these. I will have scion available in January, if anyone wants this, let me know.
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I grew Snow Queen. It was very sweet but not tops in flavor. I only had fruit for maybe two yrs before plans changed and it came out. It takes time to properly evaluate most fruits. Culture is so key to quality as you prove with every post.
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@Fruitnut, we had fruit off our original small tree for a few years before and it was just good. Before it died I grafted it on to my front yard orchard that gets water stressed on a large tree on Lovell root. Last year I got one off that graft and really liked it. This year we got 5 and they were as good as any fruit I have grown. Intensely sweet with a Mango like tang. When I shared the above fruit with my wife she almost yelled wow, amazing! I am so glad I stuck with this one and also learned how to grow them from you. I have learned a lot from you, thanks for all your help. You have been a mentor to me and probably everyone on this forum, thanks again!
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Now we have to wait until you move all your varieties from the backyard to the front yard so that we can get the final word on them 
⌠I am glad though with this recent finding, as I have just grafted two scaffolds with Snow Queen, and both are growing well.
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@Ahmad, I think the biggest reason they were not great was it was a very small tree next to the lawn that got overspray from the lawn eventually killing the tree. Most of the fruit cracked and I never got a real good taste until I moved it to a bigger tree. I have had June Pride in the back yard at 27 brix, but its a large tree getting drip line water once a week. Glad you got this one growing , Its not supposed to be low acid though, so may need a lot of heat to reach its potential. I was just reading Tom Spellmanâs write up on the DWN site. He claims it to be his favorite, and old style Anderson flavored nectarine with high sugar and high acid. I like this flavor profile the best, especially at 30 brix!
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