It’s just about far enough along to report fruit set on some of my peaches and nectarines in inland San Diego.
Full crop:
August Pride
Red Baron
Spice Zee
Midpride
Flordaprince
Double Delight
Crimson Belle
Panamint
Oktoberfest
O’ Henry
June Pride
Oldmixon
Springtime
Silver Lode
Santa Barbara
Bonita
Donut
Cal Red in morning shade
Moderate crop:
Speckled egg (one graft)
Tropic Snow
Pioneer
Sierra Blanca*
Fairtime*
Snow Queen* (on one tree)
Scant crop:
Snow Queen* (one two young trees)
Artic Glo (young tree)
Baby Crawford
Raspberry Red*
Indian free (morning shade)
Liz Late*
Cal Red* (full sun)
White Rose*
Bare sticks/failures:
Indian Cling
Peregrine
Indian free (full sun)*
*= may continue to set, small fruitlets this late in the season often fail
Caveats:
-Some of these are just test grafts, so I am extrapolating crops based on a single branch. Take this with a grain of salt:
-We had an uncharacteristically stable winter, with temps rarely going above 75
-I am near a valley so maybe I get more chill than others in So Cal
-Some high chill test grafts may have done better grafted to lower chill trees if early leafing supports holding their fruit. Thus this would not necessarily translate to independent trees.
Conclusions:
-June pride and O’ Henry outperformed expectations and actually gave a full crop so far
-Cal Red fruited well in morning shade
-Morning shade seems to make marginal varieties more productive (Cal Red, Indian Free, maybe Liz Late)