Questions not deserving of a whole thread

I think some Opossum climbed up a couple of my small Mulberry trees this year and broke a few branches. Brady

The question for people who have both Pristine and Zestar in their orchards. How Pristine ripens relatively to Zestar? Is it earlier or later? I am trying to figure out the variety of apples that is quite good and it looks like Pristine, but it also might be Greensleeves or even Shizuka (the original name on the label). Maybe somebody have Shizuka apples and can post a picture?

Yes that certainly looks like hops.

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My Pristine were ripe at the end of July. I live in central Nebraska.

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Thank you @TurkeyCreekTrees. Your dates should very close to mine. My Zestar ripens approximately on the 1-2 weeks of August and this unknown variety ripens about 2 week later, end of August-beginning of September. So it is most probably not Pristine. This variety was sold as Shizuka, but Shizuka ripens at the end of September and it is a large apple, but mine are medium-small. Similar variety Ginger Gold has long stems, but my apples have short stems. So that leaves me Greensleeves, which according to description of Raintree (the company, which sold me this apple) ripens in the middle of September, which is close enough. Greensleeves is a rare variety, so it is hard to find good pictures of it, but the one which I found looks really similar. Lots of detective work :grinning:

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Pristine is several weeks ahead of Zestar in NY. It is the earliest of decent tasting apples I’ve grown here.

Thank you @alan, so it is definitely not Pristine. Here is the picture of them taken this year. These part is harvested too early, they should be more yellow.


They are very easy to grow apples, taste is sweet without much of acidity, juicy and refreshing, but there is nothing in the taste, that makes them special, but they are prolific and produce every year.

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What makes them special is their earliness and being better tasting to most palates than Yellow Transparent- the most popular of old-time apple that ripens in its season. Holds its texture longer than that one as well. Earlier summer apple varieties tend to be tart and bland at the same time, not a winning combination to most (except if your were raised in N. Russia where such apples are what you ate as a child). .

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I grow Pristine as well. Mine are always ready the end of July beginning of August to Mid Aug. depending on the weather. They make great pies and have a lovely taste for eating fresh. They are crisp, juicy and sweet. They do not make a great applesauce, as their flavor is far more delicate than a Jonagold! Regardless of pruning, etc.the tree has a tendency of going biennial.

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Is this a type of black knot?on friend‘s hawthorn tree. how to prevent it occurs?

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I picked two and ate one Kidd’s Orange Red tonight. The background color was mostly yellow, but there was still a little green on the calyx end of the one I ate. While the seeds are brown (not the best indicator), it still had quite a bit of starch in it. They both came off with a slight lift. So far they are frustratingly hard to tell if they are ripe.

I’m going to give them another week and see if I get any drops. I will pick one then and re-evaluate.

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Question not deserving a whole thread:
I have several dwarf trees that the main part of the tree is about 6-7ft tall with nice shape and laterals.
Then the main leader shoots up another 4ft all by itself making the tree 10ft tall. I assume that I should
whack it off completely this winter?

As a central leader grows some people leave it others grow an open center tree so it’s preference. The tree can be topped by pruning off the tip of the main leader where you want it to send side branches out. In your case your trying to grow dwarfs so open center is likely what you want.

I have a question about grafts and high winds. By the time Irma gets to us, it will probably be a tropical storm. But I am still worried about my bench grafts. They’ve grown about two feet and the graft is sturdy enough for winds 20 mph, but I’m not sure about 50+. Should I cut off the growing part down nearly to the graft (the new growth will act like a sail, I bet). Just reinforce the graft union? Something else?

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More experienced folks can give info on how/if the graft unions can take this. FWIW though, I put in a stake of thin wall elec conduit (1/2") with each of my grafts when they go out. I tie them to to conduit over several feet to spread the force. Old bailing twine, start at the conduit, over to the tree, spiral it up the trunk several feet then back to the conduit. It spreads the force over a wider area, so as not to stress a single point. And it still allows some motion, so that in the long run the tree can gain strength and stand on its own.

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I would trim the grafts down before the high winds hit.

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Are these flower buds I see on my apricot graft? If so, how come nothing on my plum grafts that have grown much more than apricot?

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Looks like it.

Tony

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Yey!! Best news ever :slight_smile:

Any guess as to why my plums not showing anything? Maybe focusing on vegetative growth instead of fruiting? They have grown 3-4 times more than the apricot.

Where there are three the outside two are flower buds. The center a vegetative bud. If you see the same on your plum you have flower buds. On spurs there can be 10s of flower buds close together esp on pluots but also many together on other stone fruit…

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