I’m sure this has been discussed many time before but refresh my memory on when I should pick euro pears? Obviously they are known for ripening on the counter so they are picked when they are not ripe. How do you figure out the timing? This is my first significant harvest of Euro’s.
With Asian pears I have a better idea by watching their color change and sometimes their fragrance. But with Euro’s I’m not sure how to judge them.
My standard answer, when animals start to pick which indicates the fruits are ripe
Hello all! Beginner fruit grower here, I saved some seeds from some Ume fruit I got at the supermarket, popped them in the fridge a few months ago, and now I’m starting to see some growth out of them! Hoping to grow them planted eventually, but maybe I’ll keep one or two as bonsai. Unfortunately the last attempt at bonsai ended with me killing it (sprayed it with soap and left it there overnight to try to kill aphids… not my brightest moment) so I’d like to get some advice going forward.
Can someone direct me to resources that can guide me through even basic things? Such as how big a pot will be appropriate, how big to let it get before planting in the ground, how to know if I need to fertilize or STOP fertilizing for a while.
My current plan is to get some small pots and keep them in the screened in porch for a while while they’re little and vulnerable, and then maybe keep them inside over their first winter under a grow light. I don’t know if ume seedlings can benefit from some kind of specific soil though. They’re just another stonefruit, so maybe I can just treat them like stonefruit?
Appreciate any recommendations!
that’s a hard one to answer, you can pick at multiple times.
I would look up average harvest time for the variety.
If you pick (slightly) unripe, you can store them longer. If you pick riper they store shorter.
For summer ripening varieties i would harvest when ripe. Since they don’t store long anyway. You could harvest a few testers, put them in the fridge for a day or to. And then leave them at room temp. They should start to get soft. When the neck is starting to get soft, i eat them.
I usually tilt the fruit horizontally by holding it up slightly. If it separates i start harvesting. if not i usually leave them for a bit.
your growing fruit from seed. That’s actually quite advanced (if you get it to fruit smal)
Most fruit tree’s that are supposed to stay small/dwarf are grafted.
Having the seedlings in pots is fine for 1-2 years. But after that it’s gonna be hard. Fruit tree’s tend not to like pots, with some exceptions (like figs)
im im not mistaken ume, is similair to an apricot (prunus mume). So i would guess it’s graft compatible to apricots and apricot rootstocks.
Either way, id either look into grafting (fun an useful skill if you want to grow treefruit) or id give the seedling a large amount of space in ground.
you can grow them in pots, or prune them espalier or small. but that’s quite hard/advanced
Thanks! Yeah I’ve actually already started learning grafting techniques this year, I got some apple rootstocks and a few varieties of apples and grafted them this spring (about half of them are still alive! A couple didn’t take, a few the deer ripped apart and dropped, and the others are still kicking, so I say that’s a win for my first attempt!)
Yeah I hear fruit trees can be tricky for bonsai, but it seems like it could be a fun project. I’m expecting a lot of plants to die, but I’m learning from my mistakes and if I at least end up with a few fruit and nut plants I’ll be happy 
Regarding Raspberries that produce on both Primocane and Floricane. Should the floricane be removed immediately once it has completed fruiting, to allow more energy to be put into the new primocane that will bear during fall, or should pruning wait until the all canes are dormant?
for those the floricanes usually die by themselves after fruiting. I remove them when it’s convenient. Mostly during the dormant season.
“White label” fruit trees. Ones with the roots packed in a simple plastic bag, with a bit of sawdust and other things to maintain moisture. Not labeled to indicate the nursery so they can be resold just about anywhere. Does anyone know if they by chance put some kind of growth inhibitor in that sawdust? The instructions on ones I’ve planted say to discard it, soak the roots for an hour or so, plant them in good soil. Twice I’ve bought trees this way and somewhat ignored part of those instructions, I poured the sawdust onto the dirt pile and mixed it with what was going back in the hole.
The first time was 2 years ago, a pecan tree, and it still has never put out a leaf. This spring there was still green when I scratched it, I’ve not bothered to check in months, I’ve written it off. Last year I bought a Fuyu persimmon and planted it and at the end of July there is finally some green leaves pushing. Making me wonder if there was something in that packing material that I should have discarded after all… Or is it just plain old sawdust and my bad luck that they were slow to start or failed to start?
After the second one took so long, it just got me to wondering…
if you mixed that sawdust into your soil then put that around your roots, the nitrogen would bind to the sawdust to decompose it causing it not to be available to the tree for awhile. if the sawdust was composted already then it would be ok.
tree’s have quite some nutrients stored in the wood and roots. I don’t think the sawdust will lead to a 100% nitrogen absorption. And even if it did, the tree should have enough stored N to at least grow its first flush of leaves and the first foot of new shoots.
i think something else might be going on.
Where the roots in good condition? where they dry/brittle?
The roots were slightly moist and seemed to be in good shape. Other than the fact that they hack off probably 3/4 of them for this style of packaging/sales. But then I’ve had success with bare root trees that looked far far worse…
I just thought it odd these either didn’t start growing, or were delayed so much. Almost 2 years later the pecan is still green if I scratch into the bark. With no sign of a bud or leaf or any movement in that time. At least that’s how it was the last time I did so, will try to check it again this evening. At least the persimmon is now finally growing and will hopefully be OK.
These 2 trees were grown/packaged by the same company I’m fairly certain. Only bare root trees I’ve had to be this reluctant to start growing. Most either start off fairly immediately, or turn brown and die if there is something wrong. It just made me wonder if there was some kind of retardant or inhibitor to them “waking up” in transit. Dunno, just odd…
Thanks.
My toka and superior plum trees have sap oozing from the trunk 12 inches from the ground. The oozing sap surrounds the trunk. Guessing canker from searching on here, which advice has suggested cutting out the infected wood. This would girdle my trees if I did this. Trees are 3 years in ground and growing well. If I leave it will I be risking spreading it to the rest of my fruit trees? Only other stone fruit is a 20ft purple leaf plum and sour cherries…
My Aronia berries are turning yellow. I don’t recall this color phase last year or the year prior (they should be getting closer to black). What do you think is going on here?
sorry to say this, but that’s gummyosis.
google on it.
It’s a plant response to damage/disease.
In your case i’d gamble on disease, possibly psodomonas.
If it where my tree i’d remove it.
I’m in a different climate with different diseases though. So you might want to wait for a “2e opinion” before pulling out the tree.
Anyone know what happened to the leaves of my sweet cherry? Is it nutrients deficit , disease, or something environment?
@oscar Not what I wanted to hear but looks right to me. After reading up on it sounds like prevention is about the best way not much to do after the fact. Tempted to leave for 1 more year though just to finally taste the fruit after such a long wait but don’t want to infect all of the cherries.
it depends on what disease/damage caused the gummiosis.
But i suspect pseudomonas (bacterial), and that’s highly infectious. So imo not worth the risk.
when cleaning it up. don’t compost the material, put it in airtight bags and throw in the trash. Or burn it on the spot.
Not sure what going on but my cherries are doing the same thing.
Yellow jackets are all over my Santa Rosa plums. They are ripe now so I sprayed with Neem Oil a mild insecticide this morning. Hours later and no visible effect on the Yellow jackets.
