Too much vigor is a problem we fight with peaches here. Jealous of your ability to control every aspect in the greenhouse of your Fruitnut. Our side orchard planting of peaches (about 60) is especially vigorous. Going to try to limit irrigation this year but thats less than simple. We flood irrigate here with river water. It comes at regular internals that are not on our schedule but on the water systems. Generally every two weeks from April to September.
Beautiful!
Every two weeks in Phoenix doesnāt sound like too much. You must have very good soil.
How much are you fertilizing, mainly nitrogen?
Patty:
You could grow Honey May for sure. Itās about 200 hrs and very early maturity. Tastes fair to really good for such an early fruit. But only worth pursuing based on earliness.
Honey Lite was initially listed at 400 hrs. Have it planted but donāt recall the fruit if Iāve tasted it.
Honey Fire is listed at 600 but leafs out early here. Has excellent fruit. One to keep an eye on.
Polar Light, white flesh, leafs out even before Honey May. Brand new this yr.
Honey Royale and H Blaze arenāt nearly as high chill as the hrs listed, 5-600 Iād say.
I need a couple yrs to evaluate these new nectarines. May be something in there with great fruit for low chill areas
Okay, so Iāll be on the look for Honey Fire, then. I have a couple of great early nectarines, so looking simply outstanding cultivars. Who grows these, fruitnut? Have not seen them. Thinking about adding Flavor Queen pluot, as well. Like to have a nice green fruit, and this has performed well here in S. California, and a consistent taste test winner. And, considering TomCot as well. I just cannot get Cot-N-Candy to bear for me, for some reason.
Patty S.
Patty:
I like Emerald Drop better than Flavor Queen. But neither is great for me.
Cot N Candy isnāt all that good either. Too soft, drops badly, and no shelf life plus tree issues.
If you can get Tomcot to bear Iād think Honey Royale would work as well, maybe not.
The Honey series is all DWN and commercial so far. My understanding is thatās because they still have commercial value.
Patty,
Ever try Emerald Beaut Plum?A yellow-green color and great flavor. Brady
At our local farmerās market, Brady, and this was the one I was thinking of picking up as a cross pollinator for Nadia. It is right on the cusp of ch for me, though. Iām thinking our folks up in the hills are probably growing this successfully (Alpine, Julian, Valley Center). Everyone that has an Asian plum out here has Santa Rosa - you see them all over the place here because they are so dependable. And, Weeping Santa Rosa because it is ornamentally attractive as well. But, think Iāll try this. Think Walter Andersen has it. Wish El Plantio had all 3, nice to be able to pick my trees locally, so I can actually pick out what I want.
Patty S.
We are on prime agricultural soil. We fertilized once last year with a slow release 15-15-15 with minors. We could have gotten some residual nitrogen from urea that we fertigated in the next field (we grow sweet corn). Its possible a certain amount of water from that field flowed back into the orchard after the water shuts down. This year im going not going to fertilize at all to see if I can nip that vigor out. The peaches we put in dormant and liner stock whips winter of 2013/14 were 10 ft monsters at nearly a 2" caliper by end of 2014.
Amadioranch:
I know there are some great soils in that valley. Always loved flying in during winter and looking at everything growing.
With the 300+ day growing season you have growth is bound to be considerable. Even at moderate vigor youāll get a lot. The idea is to remain in 3rd gear not overdrive. Good luck!
Hi Fruitnut,
Your pics are as beautiful as ever! How is your Flavor Supreme tree doing this year? I have a lot of blooms on me as I will try to post pics of it after work todayā¦
Fruitnut, I meant to write: I have a lot of blooms on my flavor supreme treeā¦
I didnāt get a heavy set this yr on FS. Didnāt spent enough time pollinating. But have enough for me, sorry everyone else.
Fruitnut, I have my fingers crossed. Just because I have quite a few blooms means nothing without pollination right? I did the paint brush trick, transferring from my Santa Rosa Tree to Flavor Supreme. I tried to cover as many blooms as possible but time will tell. I did see about 5 bumblebees visit the tree once or twice, but I just decided I would help them out anywayā¦Whatever the outcome, I will post pics!
Patty, that looks like the same greehouse that I have. Is yours 8x8?
Mine is 8 x 12, but may be. An inexpensive one, and wished it had better ventilation than just the two pop up windows on the roof, neither of which we could get installed so that they shut all the way. We worked for hours on trying to figure out how to get the hinge installed so it would allow the pop up window to lay flat. We finally gave up. It needs cross ventilation front and back for my warm S. California climate. I even have it mostly in the shade, but it will get to about 130 in hot summer days. Too damned hot to grow things well, sadly. So, it is a work space and storage space for right now.
My vent kept leaking. I called the manufacturer, and they sent me a new one free of charge.
I agree, they really heat up. Iām ordering an automatic vent opener. Itās the vent āhingeā, but filled with oil. When it heats up, it extends out, opening the vent automatically. Last year I nearly baked an Owari Satsuma to death. I donāt grow any thing in there during the warmer months, but still keep it opened up, and use shade cloth to help keep the temps down. My shade cloth is just a couple of cheap tarps I found at the dollar store, but works perfectly.
In the winter I use a space heater with a thermostat to keep it warm. Works well enough, but wish I had bought the double walled greenhouse, instead of the single. Works great for starting seeds, and keeping my potted plants from freezing in the winter.
@fruitnut Steve, what is the target size for your stone fruit trees in this high density system? It looks like you are going for a very slender shape, similar to spindle/columnar system. Can you maintain this size for the entire life expectancy of the trees, or do they get ripped out before cumulative growth becomes an issue?
Tree size will be 7ft by 2ft by 1.5ft. And I intend to maintain that for the life of the tree. Although after a while some may come out and the adjacent trees allowed to expand. There are usually winning varieties and those that fall out of favor. Or some trees might die.
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@fruitnut Does root competition plus aggressive pruning keep the trunk diameters small? Do they need to be supported when they are loaded with fruit? What is the typical yield for trees maintained at this size?