So when is it time to start worrying about PC attacking my few apricots and eventually my sour cherries which are now flowering? I figure I have a few weeks until there are really cherries to worry about, but could PC show up in the next few weeks to get my cots?
I think last year we had a long string of fairly cool nights so PC was an issue later than usual in many areas. But I wasn’t sure if it is just temperature that is the issue or if they take a while to emerge overall.
I put a spray on apricots and plums once they finish flowering (just avoiding the apple/pear/etc that are still flowering.
Right now, some of my apricots are in full bloom and others are just opening,
2nd year trees at a rental:
Sugar Pearl (everything is open):
Early Blush (a few open, most not):
Ilona is similar to Early Blush, so it looks like Sugar Pearls is on the early side. Either that or the tree nearest the road warms up first…
PC started attacking my fruitlets when they weren’t particularly big at all last year. They’d practically cut the tiny plums in half by the time I realized I should’ve sprayed. I think it’s recommended to spray before the shucks fall off if you’re using pesticides. They also mangled a lot of Asian pears that were only pea sized. I sprayed those too just because I didn’t want super ugly fruit.
Has anyone grafted persimmons or jujube yet? When is the best time? On established trees.
You’ll want to wait until the trees are actively pushing growth with temps in the 70’s. I normally don’t get around to grafting persimmons and jujube until June but Mid-May probably works weather permitting. I’ve even grafted them into July with great success. Maybe jujubes could be grafted earlier, but definitely wait on the persimmons.
Thanks. Persimmon are just starting to push and jujube nothing.
I’ve got a few extra nectarine scions if anyone’s interested. Probably best not to send them too far since things are warming up and they might wake up with longer transit so offering them in this thread.
I agree, persimmons and jujubes you want to wait on. Some years it has been hard to find a window as it gets too hot too fast, but usually there is a cooler window later to graft them in. For stone fruits you want a warm window in the cooler early spring, and for these guys you want the opposite, a relatively cooler window in later spring.
So far I grafted all my stone fruits and my apples. I am waiting on pears because those stocks only came this spring and have not woken up yet; normally I would have done pears by now as well. Kiwis I am going to do in the next warm period.
Anything early ripening? I might have some leftovers myself to make a trade.
I agree with waiting on persimmons, but I do jujube pretty early. I’m more than halfway done with my jujube grafting, while persimmons are at least a month in the future. I’ve had OK results with grafting jujubes later as well, so maybe they are just very flexible. I think I’ve had more growth on the ones that I grafted early though.
Darn freeze warning. Kids are busy playing after Easter dinner so I am digging out buckets and barrels to cover stuff.
Yeah this could be pretty terrible. Forecasts of 30-32 degrees here so no wiggle room at all. The past week pushed most of my persimmons into bud break and one of my Honey Jar jujubes. Let’s not have another 2020 
I just got the alert on my phone. But I’m in Florida for the week and just have to put it out my mind. If everything survives. It only delays the plum curculio on my later stone fruit.
Yup, weather happens. Worrying won’t change the temperature!
Just carted about 70 pots of various figs and budded out persimmons back inside. This is their 3rd time going back in this spring.
30F here. Wonder if any fruit tree flowers will survive. Bummer.
That’s why I am done keeping potted figs! I am going in ground only, and will remove covers around the end of April.
We had 25F here this morning. I’m afraid a lot of my fruit will be majorly thinned out.
I was visiting my parents for Easter weekend, and didn’t even realize it was supposed to be cold here, so I didn’t do anything to my plants before I left.
But, apparently it was a low of 39 degrees here, so I should still be OK. It’s just super interesting to me that so many people just an hour away from me had temps so much colder.
As time goes on, the more I’m convinced I live in an odd little microclimate that’s just slightly warmer than everywhere else nearby. I’m not sure why though? For example, My 3 in-ground fig trees have been completely unprotected this past winter, including the “Big Freeze” a few weeks ago (that killed ALMOST all of my aprium blossoms). But there is no die-back on them, and they’re pushing green buds right now.
On a side note: I was convinced that the big freeze last month was going to completely kill all my apriums. But I found THREE fruitlets still alive and growing! I’m so nervous about how to protect them and keep them safe until ripe!
Well, however cold it got here, it was enough to wipe out the Asian pears. I’m more optimistic about my couple of Euro pears. The peach, persimmon buds, and most pawpaw buds look good. The peach and Asian pears are in petal fall as a reference of progress. We appear to have been grazed by the bullet. Not a full dodge but not a fatal shot this time around. Let’s see what doesn’t drop in the next couple weeks.
It’s so interesting how frost damaged my trees. Most persimmon buds still look nice and plump. Only a couple buds were killed on the tree furthest along while the rest of it looks unharmed.
