Erratic makes life interesting if not always pleasant.
So as soon as we can get a persimmon tree that grows fruit that tastes like an Ashmeads Kernel apple or an Orange Red apricot etc. my problem will be solved:grinning:
Mike
2 Likes
The old Chinese curse: ‘May you live in interesting times’ changes to ‘May you live in erratic times’?
2 Likes
One thing I’ve noticed is that in addition to the difficulties of growing fruit in more erratic weather patterns (cold when it’s supposed to be warm, and warm when it’s supposed to be cold) earlier springs here the last few years make it difficult to grow flavorful early peaches.
In past threads, I’ve mentioned how several early varieties of peaches don’t taste good here. I’ve always thought it was the heavy spring rains affecting them. I still believe that but also wonder if the early varieties are more negatively affected by less overall sunlight from unusually early springs.
Most fruit development occurs based on degree days, not the amount of sunlight (although I think sunlight has some impact). Early springs mean shorter days during fruit development and cloudier days here because of spring rains. All of this means less sunlight during the critical fruit development phases. I think this can make for lower brix fruit.
I don’t know how this affect would compare at other latitudes, and it’s all a hypothesis anyway. Farther north, the day length increases more rapidly in the spring, so sunlight ramps up more quickly. The farther south you go, the day length increases slower, but the days are longer early on, vs. northern climates.
All I’m saying is that I would rather have late starting springs because of more daylight. My latest peach bloom occurred on 4-15 one year. This year it occurred on 3-7, more than an month earlier. These peaches are ripening very early for our area and have missed out on a lot of cumulative sunlight, had they bloomed a month later.
2 Likes
That’s not a significantly different translation, actually. That’s definitely the sense of the word interesting that they are using!
1 Like