Interesting! Rotterdam’s annual high/low range is similar to that of Seattle, Washington. Here we’re always hoping for a few more heat units to grow zone-pushing crops.
And so the year begins.
I have flower buds on Abbadabba and 8 ball. None I can see on the NZ varieties. Nikita is a loser as usual. It will be top worked at the next warm weather spell.
The potted trees got set back by the cold and are just about starting to bud out in earnest. The in-ground trees are much further along.
My grafts of Dens choice and Arhart done in Jan are just starting to bud out. Many grafts done later died. I think the reason might be scionwood quality.
I’m at over 75% defoliated from last winter. Many leaves still fall from shaken branches.
Oh no! You folks had that nasty freezing rain. We had it too but it was much less intense it appears.
Wow, quite a difference here! No winter damage on any of mine. Here’s the most vigorous graft from your tree, which I thought had a couple flower buds but I seem to have been mistaken.
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Thanks for the graft update.
17F twice just before Christmas and 20F around Valentine’s did the trick here.
Just shook some branches today and more dried leaves fell.
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We had similar temperatures here in late December and almost as cold in late February, but my neighborhood is mostly protected from wind, so I bet that makes the difference. Here’s my temperature chart for Dec to Feb this winter:
Here’s what my ~5 year old seedling looks like with several grafts of Larry’s variety. I don’t see any flower buds on it yet. Is it too early to tell? Or would I see them by now?
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No buds yet. There’s still a bunch of time. I was surprised to see some of my Feijoas this far ahead.
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Flower buds here are absent or tiny on 1 June but are usually obvious by mid-June.
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Interesting. All of mine are finishing up their flowering. That’s Apollo, Takaka, and 2 seedlings…
Nowadays, low 80s in Metro Atlanta…Portland is only a few degrees lower. Maybe the cooler winters in the NW delay flowering…
The cooler overnight lows in the PNW likely also make a difference, not just the high temperatures. Here in Seattle, the lows have mostly still been in the 40s other than a brief heat wave last week, and the late April lows were mostly in the upper 30s.
Way different climate in the PNW compared with Atlanta. Even in northern CA which is an entire zone warmer than Atlanta, blossom buds aren’t even open.
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…a few degrees lower: try 10+
Average highs
ATL PDX
65 55 Mar +10
73 61 Apr +12
80 68 May +12
Low temp average difference is similar.
Atlanta overnight average low for May is 60, an average that Portland does not achieve in any month!
Yup, yet Portland is 8b compared to Atlanta’s 8a. But your cooler temperatures should supposedly bring better flavor. I’ld be interested to see the performance of the later varieties in the SE as opposed to the NW. Maybe I’ll try Waingoro or Albert’s Supreme down here…to see if the earlier flowering translates to earlier fruiting…
Testify! Coastal humboldt, 9b nor cal. Some buds but at least 2 weeks to opening.
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Today, in this picture, I count 3 flower buds on this picture of my Nikita which started waking maybe a week or so ago.
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I checked my Nikita this morning and it had a lot of flower buds also. Much more profuse than any of the NZ varieties.
One of my big producers from last year (Arhart) has not even produced any new growth!
Mark’s varieties are so far leading with hundreds of flower buds.
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I planted 4 of the New Zealand varieties during the winter. Bad idea. They got hammered by the heavy snow, breaking branches, exacerbated by the fact that the central trunk was cut, probably the top 1/2 to 2/3 of the plant removed 
, and floppy side branches left that weighed to the ground and/or broke.
I’m hopeful that 3 of the 4 will survive, but none of them have shown any bud growth yet. Both of my Mammoth plus this Nikita show lots fo this new growth coming from woody stems.
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