@scottfsmith,
Thanks, Scott. I have a whole Satsuma tree but it is in an even shadier area. This year, with contunuing rain during bloom and not enough sun, it set not a single fruit. A Superior graft on it has 3 fruit.
I wish my next door neighbor would get a hint and have his large, dead cherry and a partailly dead maple trees cut down so my trees can get more sun. Unfortunately, hiring a company to cut down trees here is very expensive here. We are suburb dwellers. None of us own or want to own tools used to cut big trees down.
Someone brought my attention to this thread, so I wanted to offer an update on some trees which have been problematic for me, which I mentioned earlier.
I never did get rid of the Jubileum and Danube cherries in my yard. The last couple years they seem to have done better. This year they actually did pretty decent (relatively speaking) for these type of cherries which arenāt super productive. Iād estimate each tree put out about 30#s of cherries. Their productivity seems to have improved with age.
I can be impulsive. My PF 24C had been in declined for the past couple of years after borer damage. I have a nectarine I want to move from a pot in ground. I (my husband and his friend) removed it today.
If I waited until next spring, I could have collected scionwood. Canāt wait.
I also removed two other trees. A Satsuma plum because of poor productivity. It was not the treeās fault. It was mine. I planted it in a too shady area. Without enough sun, it barely produced.
I also removed an Eastern Glo nectarine. The tree was in poor shape from huge crack on the trunk and seceral bark peeling areas. It would be a goner in a year or two if I kept it.
I actually felt relieved to get rid of those trees. There are spaces for my potted trees, that have waited patiently, to go inground.
If its any help, I removed all the trees (4 years old & highly productive) in my yard to restart again. Mainly because I wanted a more efficient layout. The new layout is much more efficient and I am happy but I do miss some of the varieties.
Only you know your garden best. If you are the impulsive type, sleep on it for a month and see if you still want to do it. Go for it if you think thatās the best route.
My Satsuma produced decently one year a while back. Then, other trees have shaded it from the sun. Also, its flowere buds got killed a few times (one time 100%killed) by late freeze including this spring.
A bad location plus, flower buds not being cold hardy resulted in low to no production. After 6-7 years it needed to be gone. Also, I have found other varieties tasted better, larger and more productive for me.
Iāve seen pictures of your yard. Your trees are beautiful and the plan are very artistic. I saw the apricot tree you removed. Even that tree was far nicer and productive than any of mine.
I do not have a real plan. I am not artistic or creative. I just take out trees when I realize my mistakes and put trees in where I have space.
Im pulling out Tomcot apricot due to lack of production. If flowers way to early here and the blooms are not cold hardy enough to survive some low springtime temps.
Im culling out an unknown pluot due to black knot issues. I dont need that spreading througout the orchard.
I was going to cull santa rosa plum due to lack of production, but it did that on its own when it died this year.
I may graft satsuma onto shiro for pollination and then cull my satsuma. Its a large tree but does not bear reliably enough to justify the pruning and fertilizer. Id probably top work it over to a peach of some kind.
Your removed Tomcot due to poor production. My Tomcot was one of the most productive apricot I had. What was a cross pollination partner of your Tomcot? Mine was Orangered. Then, when I had 6-7 varieties on that same trees, everyone of them were well pollination.
Like you, most of apricots bloomed too early here. However, Tomcot has long blooming period. This spring, it survived and produced decently while other varieties were wiped out by late freeze.
Anyway, I removed an Eastern Glo nectarine this time. 7 of my apricot varieties went with it. I started new with a grafted Tomcot. Thanks to @jcguarneri.
I have a Honey Royale nectarine on Lovell that I planted in 2012 from ACN that may get grafted over. It blooms heavily every year but Iāve only gotten 1 nectarine from it. I also have a FlavorKing pluot on Citation, planted in 2012 also from ACN. Blooms every year beside a Santa Rosa but Iāve never gotten fruit from it. The plum and pluot are only a couple feet away from each other. Itās upsetting because I am really looking forward to trying these varieties. I hate to get rid of them.
Iām at a loss on how to get fruit from them especially the pluot. It should be fine here.
No. I have been busy and completely forgot about it. One tree has branched out. The other goes straight up.
I put the straight up tree in ground yesterday just to see how it looked in that space. Today, I saw a big chunk of the trunk was munched by bunny!!! I am so mad at myself for forgetting about bunny.
I too have a Flavor King, but on Myro 29c, planted in 2014 that has never produced one fruit. My saving grace is I grafted it onto Ruby Sweet and Chickasaw and it produces on those trees.
@mamuang And @jaypeedee I was really hoping the 3 peach trees near the nectarine would help and the Santa Rosa plum about 7 feet from the pluot would have helped. Iāll have to see if I can figure out the pollination issues. I have new Fantasia and Eastern Glo grafts on another tree that I could graft onto Honey Royale.
I have 2 small grafted branches of Purple Heart and Superior plum on the pluot. I also have Elephant heart I could graft on it. Maybe more time for the grafts to grow will help the pluot pollination issue. Since all the grafts are fairly new I donāt know about bloom times yet. Thanks for your thoughts.
The Honey Royale Nectarine should be self fruitful,with the wind helping out.Maybe try collecting some pollen from Santa Rosa and Elephant Heart and hand pollinating the Flavor King.
I do that with all Japanese Plums,because they usually bloom before the bees are out.
