Anyone else think these weather Flips are something we need to address if we are going to continue to grow fruit? I’m considering growing more later blooming harrow pears in an attempt to try to dodge these early spring weather flips that are sometimes getting my douglas and kieffer pear blooms. Anyone else strategizing on how to overcome the new problems with weather? Someone is going to say bad weather is nothing new and they are right but this trend is different from other weather than anything we have seen in Kansas in my lifetime. The droughts are more extreme, the floods are more intense the heat is later or earlier and the cold is longer or sooner. I’m a survivor so my concern is not who to blame if anyone but rather what do I do to have as little impact on my growing fruit as possible. Do we shoot for the middle and grow more summer pears that bloom later and ripen sooner?
I observe my bloom dates each year and my Harrow Sweet and Korean Giant tend to be my latest to bloom. Both are good tasting pears and I am adding more to my orchard each year. I like my other earlier blooming pears but they do tend to have bad years with late cold weather. I think the bloom date is very important after going through a few seasons of observation. Is there other pear varieties that you have observed to bloom late? I think this information could help a lot of people including myself on selecting varieties. In my area they would also need some fireblight resistance. Thanks in advance, Bill
Bill, does the Korean Giant pollinate the Harrow Sweet?
I am not sure if this falls into this category, but my mislabeled pear tree went into full bloom about one month ago. I’ve seen a few buds flower in the fall before, but it really seems like this tree thought it was time to bloom. It suddenly went to to 17 degrees one night and all the blooming buds got wiped out. Hopefully some buds didn’t open or didn’t start to open and were saved for next year.
I had more late season blooms than I normally do but most of my fruit buds didn’t bloom out. I can’t say for certain that they will cross pollinate each other but I think they will simply because the bloom overlaps. I will probably add a couple more late bloomers if I find any.
When I’m in a more permanent location, my intention is to experiment with - and hopefully implement - protective structures against both weather fluctuations and pest attacks. Think of something similar to what fruitnut does.
For example, keeping fruit trees to six or possibly seven feet high will enable me to locate them in a frame made from something like dimensional lumber or PVC pipes with metal pipes inside to add strength. (There are other reasons for preferring that as well such as the ability to easily access the entire tree and to probably be able to move it if necessary.)
If a cold snap is about to hit, the frame can be covered over with blankets or some other kind of insulating material and a heat source of some kind (e.g., a sprinkler powered by a regular garden hose turned on low) can be used to keep the internal temperature above some critical point.
One can go further with this, such as putting a transparent plastic roof on top that directs rainfall to the side, such as into a pipe that goes into a rain barrel. While some wind-blown rain will still get onto the tree through the sides, the tree will stay much drier than it otherwise would, which will help reduce the incidence of disease. Irrigation water to the tree can be metered out at a desired rate from the rain barrel or some other source.
Even further, one could put plastic mesh around the sides and top of the frame to stop bug intrusion. Mesh is available that lets through 90% of incoming light and enables fairly good air circulation, yet has a mesh size small enough that plum curculios can’t fit through it. The plastic is UV-stabilized and will an expected lifespan of year in the outdoors. The mesh could of course be mounted on removable frames that would attach to the main structural frame that surrounds the tree. Thus you could have it off while the trees are in bloom to provide pollinators with access, then mount the removable frames following pollination to keep bugs out. Think of it as putting an entire tree inside one really big fruit bag rather than bagging the individual fruit.
One can take these basic concepts and add to them, refine them, or whatever; these are just some initial thoughts to give you something to mull over.
I have more detailed ideas related to this, as well as a couple of other possible approaches to dealing with the problems you mention. They will take some thought and experimentation to really get them right. There are others who have tried similar approaches and written about their results and lessons learned, so if any of this sounds interesting, you could see what you can find out via a web search.
This protective structure can work for a while, but then something comes up like an out-of-state wedding, college graduation, or funeral, or a hospitalization or injury where you aren’t able to care for things, and blammo, a weather disaster. I think the best approach is to plant the safest varieties possible, plus an assortment of various fruits, so you will at least get some things in abundance, plus a taste of others. Then there are new pests, like SWD that can really mess up the best-thought-out plans.
northwoodswis4,
Good point.
I’m thinking of something that would be designed / engineered to minimize the amount of human intervention required to keep it working correctly.
I also agree with your point about planting safe cultivars and a variety of fruit.
The two approaches could both be used at the same time to maximize the likelihood of success.
with our weather patterns changing as they are, i predict smaller bush fruits that harvest midsummer will become the easier of fruit to grow to harvest. they generally harvest over a longer period than tree fruits and take a lot less time to ripen. not putting all your eggs in one basket per se. they also need little care . i think as time goes by cane fruits, honeyberries, blueberries, serviceberries, currants, elderberries strawberries, cantaloupe/ melons oct… may need to replace more common fruit tree types like apples and pears. although if we revert back to older heirloom varieties or breed more adaptable cultivars, there could be hope there as well. I’ve noticed over the years on here there are a lot more failures mentioned on tree crops as opposed to bush and ground types.
Best money I ever spent was 25K for my 1725 sqft greenhouse. Cost less than a pickup, less to operate and maintain, will last at least 50 yrs, and gives me yr around superior fruit.
No weather losses inside vs a yearly disaster outside. Way less pest pressure, basically only spider mites. And no losses to critters vs major losses outside. My outside figs were hit by 17F in early Nov. this fall. They are already severely damaged so no crop again next yr. Meanwhile I am still harvesting high quality fruit inside.
But I do have a great climate for a greenhouse. 75% sun all yr long, low humidity, and mild average temperatures which makes effective, low cost cooling and chilling possible. My greenhouse can be run with nearly no winter up to about 1800 chill hrs this winter.
I harvest figs for 5 months, stone fruit April thru September, and about anything else I want to grow.
Fruitnut,
Do you happen to have a webpage that describes in detail the design of your greenhouse?
As you say, your climate is certainly conducive to it.
While an equivalent system would be challenging to implement in the climates found across much of the US, I do think something similar - although probably not as good - is possible in many places.
For example, once one goes about five feet or more below the surface, the ground makes a pretty good heat sink / heat reservoir, temperature control obviously being a crucial aspect of the design.
If the rate of air circulation between the inside and outside of a large setup like yours isn’t too high, it might be possible to implement some amount of humidity control inside the structure. For example, water extracted from the ground at a temperature in the mid 50s (degrees F) could be used to condense (and thus extract) humidity in the air in the structure in areas where the summer dew points are frequently between 65 and 75 F. Obviously this would be more complex and expensive than your setup, however.
There will be an optimum setup for each climate, crop, and growing goals. I think mine is pretty optimum here. All I’d change on mine is lower the height from 16 ft to 12-13.
In some climates a lot of things could be grown with a cheaper system. Say open in summer and moderated for winter or spring freeze control. A base layer to exclude critters could be up as needed, say 1/4 inch hail screen or shade cloth, then cover that as need to avoid freezes, etc.
Fruitnut,
That reminds me… You grow a lot of different fruit, including a lot of stone fruit.
By any chance do you toss the pits somewhere where they could be fairly easily retrieved? (For example, a compost pile used for leftover bits of fruit.)
I’m experimenting with growing seedling fruit trees and am wondering if it might be possible to obtain seeds from you.
Thanks very much.
I don’t have any seeds right now. I’ve saved a few in the past for distribution.
Sometimes my greenhouse seems like overkill. That’s only until I think about all the battles people out East face to grow fruit: diseases of tree and fruit, freezes, squirrels, deer, coons, insect pests of all kinds, etc.
Only CA looks better and CA has so many issues I can’t name them all.
i too would like a permanent greenhouse but our heavy snowfall probably would crush it! i currently have a small 10’ by 20’ portable one that i can remove the cover off it in the winter. sad that our stores here in maine have cane fruit from mexico, when cane fruit grows so well here.
Folks in high snowfall areas in Alaska have greenhouses so I’m sure one could be built in northern ME to stand up to snowfall there.
we get a lot more snow than most of alaska . we get occasional ice storms mixed with the snow storms which makes it worse. there are very few large greenhouses around here because of the work it takes to protect them. would love to get one!
Valdez, AK averages around 300" of snowfall a year I think…and folks in that area have greenhouses. It can be done
I’ve been looking into one type that attaches to the house. read a article about a couple in VT that has one and they said it cut their home heating bill to a third .might try to incorporate that into my home improvement loan next spring. seems like a modest one 10’ by 20’ would run about $2500. you would save close to that in a couple years in fuel savings alone!.
we get a average of about 140’’ a year here. i think one that attaches to the house would be less prone to snow damage.