Summer 2021 - Show Us Your Fruit!

Excited to see your John Rivers nectarine, I have a small JR tree. How does it taste? Does it set reliably?

They look so clean for what looks like being under thinned!

Nice haul

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It’s pretty good! Good fruit set, good tasting. Even with my high humidity and sandy soil, it was not affected with bacterial spot.

It is a miracle that that branch of your Howard Miracle does not break :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

My Spring Satin are darker than yours (more purple, not reddish like yours). It was my first year having them so I really do not know when to pick.

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I have a couple dozen Slash pluots growing on a graft that look to be a few weeks out. I found one of them on the ground that had some insect damage on the orange side. It obviously ripened early due to the insect damage. I’m not too prissy to sample the clean side of the fruit despite it being the least colored. I got two clean bites out of it and it was amazing. Best thing I’ve tasted out of my orchard in 5 years. I’ve heard it is average when compared to the more popular pluots but to me it tasted great and fills an early gap. Hopefully the remaining fruits make it to true ripening and I an really get a true sampling of the fully ripe fruit.

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Hall’s Beauty-17 brix
Columbia Star-12 brix
Newberry-11 brix
Obsidian-11 brix
I tried to select a decent representative for each test,which was done by finding fruit,that were past the shiny stage and getting a little dull in appearance.

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I did have a large branch of Howard Miracle break. This is my first year Spring Satin produced well. They need a bit of hang time but the flavor is great. The red flesh makes some dark red jam.

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One spraying of imidan is all they got. I know that stuff is dangerous but it sure works well.

Those look great. Mine are a week or so away. Color is changing to ted on my peaches. I have never seen your or my variety before. Taste?

Whoa!!!:grinning:

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It’s a white peach. I think a white peach is not as popular. This one is Mark’s favorite whitepeach. I had one fruit last year and it was very good. This year, the ripening period coincided with a long rainy period of rainy days. It tasted diluted, very disappointing.


Methley plums. Some splitting but very good.


So many cukes this year. My past strategy was to jam as many plants together as I could to get the first set of fruit. Then the cucumber beetles would come and plants would die. This year, not a single beetle and vines are growing up peach tree and into peppers. I’m not complaining, but Where did they all go?

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To my yard.

This was the first time I learned about cucumber beetles. We are losing one cucumber plant already. They also attack summer squash, watermelons and cantaloupes.

Found most of them in flowers every morning. A few during the day, Hard to believe such small insects could have such devastating results.

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I tried to grow cukes about 10 years ago before I started the orchard and they were all killed by cucumber beetles. I haven’t tried growing them since. Although I do love them tossed with cherry tomatoes, fresh mozz, and a light vinaigrette.

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How big and what age is your cherry tree?

The tree is 6 years old and I’ve kept it under 10 ft. tall.

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Here are some Sorriso di Primavera plums and a single Malta Black breba fig I found this morning.


@SMC_zone6 This one is pretty good. It doesn’t turn watery when fully ripe and is very fragrant.

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that’s a pretty plum.

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@Ahmad
All of my Redhaven peaches and Harko nectarines have been picked. I tried leaving them on the tree a little longer - and found that if I leave them until soft - they are ‘gone’ by then. The flesh gets fibrous and as it comes away from the pit - it leaves strings that almost look like roots! And they are just mushy. So - I am going to have to make sure that I pick them before they soften.

We had some rain during the last part of the ripening of the Redhaven peaches and the Harko nectarines. And it seemed to push the almost ripe fruit into a level of ‘mush’. The skins slipped off of the peaches at the slightest touch. Maybe that was the problem with the Harkos too.
(My Mericrest nectarines are still quite hard. One lone nectarine came off with the slightest tug and it was . . . amazing! Better than the Redhavens!)

That will be the end of all the stone fruit harvest.
Now I will be waiting for the Scuppernongs - the pomegranates - and the apples.

’I Just Don’t Eat 'em . . . I Paint 'em!'

I think I’ve mentioned here before - that (when not pampering fruit trees) I am an artist. And recently I’ve been painting very colorful fruit and vegetables (most not very realistic - just from my head). These paintings have been very popular and I decided to tap this summer’s fruit - to use some as ‘models’. So, I set up some staged photos . . .
The paintings I’ve done include what I think of as ‘tumbling fruit’.
And the nectarines in the photos appear to be floating in space . . . which works for me!

The last 2 pictures are recent paintings . . .


“Apple Tumble”. Oil on panel. 16x16. :slight_smile:


Lemons & Limes. Oil on linen. 9x12.

Just thought I’d share a little piece of my ‘real’ life. :woman_artist:

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That has been consistently my experience, with a few exceptions. If weather is not cooperating, it is hard to achieve high quality. Also, trees don’t reach their full potential till they are 5+ years old. I think you have done great so far for your first crop of stone fruits. Every year from now on you should do better till you consistently achieve high quality (when weather cooperates).

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