Yes, exactly, it’s on the buds. Another one had it spiraling around the trunk at each bud for about 6 inches.
Yes, lots here still! Just started getting a few bare spots, gonna be a while…
maybe a porcupine taking a taste. they leave slices like that and do chew fruit trees!
i just started to see the tops of my 8ft elderberry last week.
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like in a different world
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our ‘spring’ starts in early may here.
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Dang…I have a dozen Elderberry and they are all full leaf now! What a difference…
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yes that a good price. I usualy buy from Aliexpress and that price is good.
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I have a Spring 2018 Wickson Crab graft on small M-27 Rootstock. It was the worst bench graft I did last year but did take, but with just small growth. Now it seems that over the Winter the graft dried out and nearly separated and is trying to support itself by a tiny attachment. The scion has leafed out to about halfway and will surely fail eventually. Can I just cut off the scion, make a fresh cut on the rootstock, and regraft it and have success even though the scion has leafed? Thanks!
Are the blooms on this tree showy?
I lost my large Contender last year to peach borers. This was a replacement tree - the blooms are late like a Contender but to me the blooms are too showy to be a Contender. I will gladly keep this tree no matter what variety it is if it keeps blooming this late. This tree, Black Boy Peach, Indian Blood Cling Peach, and Early Elberta peach are still in full bloom, the rest of my trees have peaked or already done blooming. I lost a good portion of my peaches to a late frost.
I recently bought a Contender peach and it’s in bloom now. Only few flowers but they are not as showy as yours. Not sure if mine is indeed Contender. Either yours or mine has to be a variety other than Contender.
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Yes
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Thanks @Susu and @fruitnut. The USDA Handbook of Peach and Nectarine Varieties show Contender as being non-showy. I have another mis-labeled Home Depot Peach. What is interesting I have 3 trees from Home Depot, 2 bought last fall labeled as Early Elberta and this impostor Contender bought this spring that are extremely late blooming. Early Elberta does have showy blooms per the USDA guide. Anyone know if Early Elberta is a late bloomer? If the trees keep blooming as late as they did this year I really don’t care what variety they are - they bloomed late enough to avoid a late frost. Thanks to @Olpea for turning me on to the USDA guide in another thread - I found a cheap used copy on ebay and it is worth every dollar.
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Should I be concerned about mold on the roots of some plants I received today? I purchased some bare root Washington hawthorns from one of the smaller state DNR nurseries. Opened them today and many of the roots are covered in white and red mold. Should I dip them in something, spray them with something, or just not worry about it? I haven’t seen this yet. I’m pretty sure they were moldy before they shipped since some of them are pretty bad and I can’t imagine them getting to this level in a few days. They weren’t totally sealed in a bag or anything.
I’d dip them in a peroxide solution
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I’m not sure about that. I’m certainly not qualified to challenge the USDA handbook, but maybe their definition of showy is different or something. What I can tell you is that my contender blooms look like yours. Furthermore, I have a total of 5 contender trees from 4 different sources bought in different years, and they all look the same and behave as a contender in every other way (late bloom, etc) so I’m very confident mine aren’t mislabels.
To me, a non-showy bloom is like a redhaven. They have small petals and are just not very pretty. Now, I do have some peaches that make a more showy bloom than contenders, which is why I said the difference here might just be in how everyone defines “showy”. But the important thing I wanted to tell is that I’m very sure my contenders are contenders and their blooms look like your blooms.
I’d like to hear if @Olpea things those are contender blooms AND whether he thinks they are “showy”.
I’m 99% sure those aren’t Contender blooms in Spud’s last post with picture (post 1351). Any professional in the peach industry would consider those showy blooms.
Contender is listed as non-showy by NCSU where it was developed. It’s also listed as non-showy by Clemson in their evaluations, as well as any other University Extension I’ve read.
I’m afraid Kevin that your Contenders may be imposters. One thing you can evaluate on the fruit to help verify is that there shouldn’t be any red in the flesh. Also Contender is very low browning, so if you cut one open and let it sit, it will take a long time to brown.
If you have 4 Contenders from 4 different nurseries with showy blooms, I posit there is a peach out there labeled as “Contender” but it isn’t. Nurseries can duplicate label errors.
I actually took some pictures of Contender blooms today which I was going to add to the reference thread of peach bloom types. I too think mine is a Contender. It fits the description. Ripens +21, as Clemson reports. Blooms late and profusely. Winter tough. Leaf glands are reniform. Non-showy blooms.
http://www.clemsonpeach.org/index.php?p=181&e=1334
Here is a couple pics of my Contender blooms.
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Ok…so things aren’t as bleak as I thought, and I owe @SpudDaddy an apology. I was relying on memory and not on photos of my trees. I was very lucky that I still had a few contender blooms on my trees that are fully in tact and in fact, they are just like the ones in your photo, @olpea. My mind has learned to think of redhaven when I think of non-showy blooms, and my redhaven blooms are more red than pink, so I think that was causing me to think my contenders looked like Richard’s blooms, when in reality they just have the same pink color.
So I’m very sorry for the confusion. And BTW, thanks for the other info - and my contenders do match the other traits you provided…not a trace of red AND I had actually noticed and commented on how they don’t turn brown in the bowl when I cut them up and let them sit before making preserves. Never thought of that as an identification trait but I should have. They bloom heavier than any other peach I have and are actually my last peach to bloom and the only trees to give me dependable fruit in harsh winters/late freezes, etc. Yes, you’ve actually helped reassure me instead of disappointing me- I just need to pay more attention.
My red haven I’m less sure of. Are red haven blooms more red than pink? Thanks again.
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So what you’re saying is, his Contenders are Pretenders. Sorry, couldn’t resist.
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Kevin,
Here is a pic I took yesterday of Redhaven
I have noticed some Redaven blooms on the same trees aren’t quite as multicolored as the one I took in the photo. So yes, maybe a little more red than the ones in the photo.
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