My greenhouse stone fruit trees planted 11-12 months ago are blooming. Tiny rootstocks planted a bit later and grafted in summer are also in bloom. Nectarines and pluot are blooming earlier than apricots and apriums. Probably not the expected results.
Chill cycle was Oct 27-Dec15. Since then, temperatures have been lows in 40s and highs near 90. In my GH it hits 90 any day with a bit of sun. Coldest day since Dec 15 it hit 86. Being in a sunny climate at 30N latitude makes for a warm GH during the day even in winter. Nights have been cold lately. As low as 8F. So, it gets expensive to heat above the 40s at night.
I plan to leave fruit on all the bigger trees. But I’ll thin heavily and only leave fruit low on each limb. Once I know where the fruit will be I’ll prune off everything above the fruit. That will allow new growth down low for bloom next year. On the bigger trees I’ll remove 80% or more of the two biggest limbs each year. The idea being to take out the most vigorous growth early each year in order to keep the fruiting wood low and the tree small.
Any comments on that strategy would be appreciated.
So nice and inspiring to see your work. I watch a delightful guy UC Santa Cruz name Orin Martin that mentioned to do that with the more vigorous branches as you mention.
Thanks for the photos, first time I’ve seen your greenhouse. Trees have room to grow and breathe. And I agree with you on concentrating production as low as possible,- you can control the leaders you want after you prune, although labor intensive. With the vigor your trees show, I’m not surprised they bloomed after adequate chilling.
I’m not surprised that they bloomed. I am a bit surprised that they set so much in the way of fruit buds. I did attempt to hold down vigor last summer in order to promote flower bud set over growth. I guess it worked. And does make me think that they’ll set good flower buds in 2024 even if I prune heavily.
The other issue I’m working thru is pollination. I’ve got a hive of bumblebees. They do an awesome job of pollination. In fact, too good. So, I’m concerned they might damage the flowers because they hit each blossom so many times. I do have some control over how many bees are out and for how long. By next year with bigger trees that will be less of an issue.
Always fun to see what’s going on in your greenhouse @fruitnut . I’d be really interested to see what the trees look like (maybe a before and after shot) after you decide what fruit you’re keeping and do your renewal pruning to keep the fruiting wood low. Can’t wait to see the progress on your more tropical trees as well, like the mangos and date.
