Photos from Kevin's orchard

[thecityman]

@PharmerDrewee

Are those nectarines already ripe or do they color up beforehand? If you color up early, then how can when tell when they are actually ready to eat?

That’s a good question. The June Princess Nectarines are unique in many unusual ways. First, they do color up a little earlier than most of my other nectarines in terms of color before being ripe… They are also unusual in that they will hang on the tree even when ripe for up to 2 weeks, whereas all my other peaches and nectarines will just fall off the tree within a few days of ripening if they aren’t picked. Another odd thing about June Princess is that they ripen over the course of almost a month- meaning there can be as much as 4 weeks between when I pick the first ripe fruit and the last ripe fruit. All my other Peach/Nects ripen within a few days of each other.
As far as knowing when to pick them, I actually just give them a little squeeze and once they are at least a little soft, I know I can pick them. Finally, I would point out that in spire of the name “June Princess”, where I live it is almost always the first of July before I pick my first ripe fruit from this tree.

So, lots of odd things about it, but most of its odditites are positive attributes to me. Also, the fruits are always large and good tasting and in heavy numbers. This is a tree I would highly recommend. Almost all my other nectarines are just more problematic than peaches. They seem to attract more insects and get more diseases and other problems than peaches, but not this one. It’s a winner for sure!

OH…thanks for the reminder about the pear tree you sent me. I’m sorry you didn’t have much luck with the persimmon seeds I sent you! They sprouted for me so I’m not sure what happened to yours.

[PharmerDrewee]

I’m pretty sure something (likely a squirrel) dug up the seeds and ate them. The same thing happened to some zucchini seeds I direct sowed. Oh well, I have a Chocolate now and male Rosseyanka graft that took so I’ll be in business soon enough with seedy persimmons.

[thecityman]

Glad to hear it. I hope you end up with a saijo! Cholates are strange animals, as you may already know. My chocolate persimmon started off great producing lots of fruit. Then the second year I noticed that along with the fruit, it had some male flowers on the same tree. Over the next 3 years I got more and more male and less and less fruit. This year I only had one small limb on the tree that had female.fruit flowers and produced 3 fruits, the whole rest of the tree was nothing but male flowers!!! This isn’t only me- it happens with others too. Chocolate is the only one I know that does this. Hope you have better luck- the fruit are good.

[GeorgiaGent]

Very nice read and pictures I hope my plants are as productive in a few years.

I planted a saijo last spring from burnt ridge and it never leafed out. The replacement they gave me this year never leafed out either. I have five other persimmons from east coast nurseries that are doing fine. Maybe because they use lotus rootstock on west coast it’s a problem here I don’t know.

[thecityman]

Thank-you, Kevin! That is very interesting about your Saijos!@. The first Saijo I bought never leafed out either and I had it replaced with the one I have and love now… Last year I planted a Nakita’s gift Persimmon, and believe it or not I planted it in April and it sent out its very first tiny little growth in AUGUST!!! August. Never heard of a tree, even a persimmon, taking anywhere near that long to break dormancy. The good news is that this year it started growing in spring just like all my other persimmons and is doing well. BTW…my Saijo that I’m always babbling about is on lotus, as are most of my others that aren’t grafts done by me. The seem to do well here.

I hope you enjoy your fruit growing efforts as much as I have. I planted my very first fruit trees in 2012 and have been explanding ever since. Trust me, 6 years and fruiting trees comes much faster than you think it will today. If you started in 2017 you are well on your way. It sure is fun once they start fruiting!

[PharmerDrewee]

Yeah, I planted a Saijo this spring. I’m not sure how well it will do since it looks injured or sick from all the resin it’s leaking, but others assured me it’ll most likely be ok. That’s interesting about Chocolate. Has anyone cracked the code to get more consistent fruit production? I’m ok even if it doesn’t fruit too much. I got it for the pollen. The other persimmons planted should hopefully fruit in the next year or 2, and provide me with plenty given time.

[thecityman]

From what I’ve seen, my experience with Chocolate going from fully female to mostly male is not exclusive, but also not that common. Some people say their chocolate female always stayed female, others get an occasional male flower(s), and some-like mine- seem to go to almost all male, but not very often. So I don’t think it is a big problem and probably not something you need to worry about. Good luck with your Saijo. You can thank me in a few years when you taste your first one! hahaha. (Honestly, for all the talking I do about how wonderful they are, some people just don’t like the texture, and others don’t like Astringent persimmons at all, so not everyone feels the way I do). Good luck. I’d love to see a new photo of yours some time.

[Litsinger]

Way to go, Kevin! I admire your persistence and I hope my orchard it someday half as varied and productive as yours. I know you take great pride in your efforts and it shows!

Sincerely,

Russ

[thecityman]

Hey Russ! Maybe I missed it, but I haven’t seen anything from you for a while-hope things are going well. I’d love a bit of an update on your efforts…how many trees have you planted, what kind, and how are they? Nice hearing from you. You are welcome to come back and take another orchard tour any time you are back over this way. Take care.

[Litsinger]

Kevin:

You are a gracious host, and I would love to have the opportunity to walk through your orchard again. I have not posted much as I have been neck-deep in orcharding, apiculture and pressing needs on the farm.

Short update- I planted approximately 130 cultivars over a 1/3 acre plot, installed a wildlife exclusion fence and spread 100 yards of hardwood mulch…by hand.

Watched with dismay as the scorching temperatures and dry conditions near Memorial Day caused leaf drop on most of the trees despite watering only to watch most of them bounce back. I suppose next Spring will be the true test of how many will successfully take.

Thank you for all your help and advice, and have a great Independence Day!

[thecityman]

Its been a couple months since I posted some pics of my orchard and new fruits are co0ming, so I thought I’d post a few more fun photos of what is going on today at my little piece of the world.

Because of all the trouble I had with coyotes eating all my melons last year, I only planted a few this year AND I moved them right up to my house. What you can’t really tell from the photo is that I planted them just 3 inches from my concrete patio, then every time a runner came out I would pick it up and point it onto the concrete patio. Turned out to be a great idea because I’ve (obviously) not had any weeds come up through the concrete, so all the vines and melons are weed free. The funny part is some of them climbed up the steps (only 2 steps) and onto my deck, so I now have melons on steps and wooden deck. One melon grew under a step and the growing melon is so powerful that it slowly lifted the step up out of the wood stairs frame-nails pulled out and all… Amazing how powerful their slow expansion is while growing.

My first ever graft was topworking an old tree that was here when I bought the place. The graft is now over 8 inches diameter and producing like crazy. It is a Rome Beauty Apple and they are ripe RIGHT NOW!, shown below:

Below is a yellow delicious- first time I’ve ever gotten fruit and its very heavy with fruit! Also has a graft of Freedom Apple in the center which explains the red ones.

Here is another tree fruiting for the first time. This is supposed to by yellow delicious but has way too much red I think. Also has a Red Rome Graft which are the solid red apples in center right of tree.

Just a few of my Fig Trees- coming in now

One of my fig trees with my dog to show size. While this is a 6 year old tree, it was frozen to the ground winter before last, so this is just 2 years of growth!

While picking figs yesterday I got a fun little surprise…turns out one of my free range Jersey Giant chickens decided to build a nest and fill it and sit on them under a fig beside the road!

Here is my 3rd leaf Honey Jar Jujube. Can’t believe how fast and how much this tree has gone, and how much fruit it has!!

Closeup of Honey Jar- almost ready to start ripening (a couple have)

This is a really fun project! I planted these Niagra Green Grapes intentionally against a light pole with the idea of trying to get them to climb the guy wire. I’ve been shocked at how successful it was! This is a 4 year old vine BUT I did almost the entire guy wire JUST THIS YEAR!!! Seriously, probably grew 20 feet up, maybe more. I wish it would grab that other wire but it has been reaching for it for 2-3 weeks! Fun to see, though.

I think this is a crepe Myrtle but I know nothing about flowers or flowing trees…but lots of people comment on its size so I guess its pretty big?

Below is a Freedom Apple. Its 4 years old but really didn’t grow a lot until this year, when it took off! In fact, back in spring the tree wasn’t much taller than where the apples are now, so all that growth above them is new growth this summer!

Same Freedom apples close up.

[Auburn]

Beautiful pictures. Looks like a nice country setting.

[tonyOmahaz5]

Great looking orchard Kevin.

[mamuang]

What a piece of land you have!!!. Your trees look happy. Your Honey Jar is the same age as mine but twice the size.

[k8tpayaso]

Your Honey Jar is bigger than mine too. It’s much fuller than mine. I’ve had to support my branches this year because of all the fruit. I’ve eaten most of the fruit on the lower tree but these upper branches have a later crop that isn’t ready yet.

LOVE seeing your pictures!!!

[thecityman]

Thanks for the kind words. I still feel like I’ve got less knowledge and experience than many of the people on this site, but I think I enjoy the hobby more than anyone!

I think my jujubes have found a happy home and they do seem to have taken off. I’d love to tell you that my tree is so large and full because of my great skills and knowledge, but truth be told I’ve not done anything but fertilize it with triple 15 every other month and let it go. It gets less attention than almost any tree I have, so I can’t really say I’ve done anything to make it successful! @k8tpayaso I really love how you have tied your limbs up, and I desperately need to do the same thing. Thanks for great idea. I had been thinking about trying to put posts up or something to support the limbs, but just tying them to the top of the tree itself seems like I great idea.

[k8tpayaso]

Actually if you look you can see a skinny pole (look closely at the top…a curve and hook with a horse on top of it). It’s one of those poles that you hang bird feeders, etc on. The limbs are actually tied to that. But earlier today I was looking at my Li and I think I can tie a couple a branches to a sturdier upright. ??? The feeder pole was a fantastic idea though…my husband gets that credit!

[thecityman]

I completely missed that, and I actually wondered if my main tree limbs were strong enough to hold the limbs. So you are right, your husband had a fantastic idea there!