What fruits did you eat today?

Wonder how Earlitreat would have done in comparison? Funny the DWN chart shows Sauzee Swirl as a yellow peach.

Good question. Yes, it’d be interesting to see how Earlitreat performs in late spring here. I think @RandallW has posted elsewhere his experience on Earlitreat and may also have Sauzee Swirl. Randall, how do they compare for you?

DWN’s chart does list Sauzee Swirl as yellow peach. It’s clearly a white peach - no tang!

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@Monardella, we enjoyed our Earlitreat peaches a few weeks ago, ate the first one on April 28th. They were between 13 an 15 brix, but the tree is still small, so the quality should get better in the years to come. Truthfully a 14 brix peach in april is hard to beat, we really liked them as did the birds. Besides my Royal Lynn cherries, these were the first fruits of the season, and almost forgot, Tasty Rich apriums were all eaten from late April thru early May and all were very good.

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I don’t know where Fruitgrower hails from, but I am about 60 miles south of Californicus. Despite being further south than San Jpse, our weather is cooler due to the ocean breezes that waft through here in the afternoon. San Jose on the other hand, is hemmed in by mountains and the heat can build up. DWN lists approximate harvest dates near Modesto in the central valley.and temps over there can be over 100 while we are upper 70’s to low 80’s. We do get an occasional scorcher about Memorial Day.

Seems like Californicus has temps more in line with those at DWN. In my experience, our harvests run 10 to 14 days later. In any case, my early fruit is still rock hard but colored nicely. My mouth waters every time I look at them. Last year I lost the Earlitreat crop due to Brown rot. They look okay so far, and I sprayed Daconil after petal drop, but some rain is scheduled SUn, Mon, Tues. so we’ll see. I had no Brown Rot on any of my other fruit.

Last year I harvested Flordaking about June 10 and the sole Sauzee Swirl abut that same time. I love Flordaking, but the one Sauzee Swirl was fantastic. I wish I had a Brix meter.

This year there are 5 Sauzee Swirl on a still very small tree, and I want to thank you guys for the reminder, because I have been forgetting to get the bird netting up.

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I’m in Livermore. How is the leaf curl on these early peaches?

Thanks @RandallW and @fruitgrower. Jon lives in Orangevale and has all the advantages of ideal central valley fruit growing weather (hot summers and enough chill) which I could only wish for :slight_smile: Although our spring weather shouldn’t be too different, the timing of my recently planted Sauzee Swirl is probably due to the fact that its a first year fruit (which usually ripen out of season). It does motivate me to graft some early season varieties though - TastyRich, Nicole and Earlitreat, which I didn’t previously think will produce decent quality fruit in my area.

@Monardella to answer your question - its too early to tell for me. I sprayed the neighboring PeachyKeen with Joe Real’s Italian Salad dressing spray. I think it worked well, but many of the grafts that leafed out (grafted after spraying) had bad leaf curl which spread to the host tree mildly. Sauzee Swirl next to it does not show any curl so far, but I should have better assessment next year.

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Nicole apricots. Brix around 18. Very decent fruit for mid May.

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my son just bought a townhouse in Yuma, AZ. he has about 1/4 acre yard with a 20ft. orange tree. he asked me to come visit in the fall and help him prune it. the previous owner told him it sets a lot of fruit. he also wants to add a few more fruit trees when I’m there. anxious to try a tree ripened orange. when do oranges ripen in the s. Arizona? sorry . a little off topic.

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Just had some apricots from Costco. Pretty bland. One year I lucked out and got apricots there that tasted amazing, made it my favorite fruit. Have been searching for something similar since! Hope you’re are awesome.

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Sounds like a fun little adventure. Have you spent much time in az? Maybe you’ll be woo’d into staying!

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That’s very exciting, Steve. Unfortunately, it’s hard to say without knowing the variety. Most navel oranges ripen between mid-to-late winter. For Valencia oranges, the fruit needs to stay on the tree until summer. Interestingly, both fruit would have identical color (of course you can spot the difference in the navel at the bottom) in winter and while one is ripe, other one will make you pucker. I’m sure you guys will have fun figuring out the variety by reading online and comparing the fruit! Four winds growers list different varieties which can be useful for identification - Citrus Variety Info Chart – Four Winds Growers

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i wouldn’t mind snow birding there. just not a lot as far as outdoor recreation. if i could figure how to grow something out there with any consistency id be ok.

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I’ve got some friends who just moved down there. They’ve got figs going, they forage a lot of prickly pear and stuff like that. I’d like to go visit myself and learn a bit more about growing things in the desert. It would open and shut a lot of doors growing wise, that’s for sure.

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I had an Ag Dept. employee stop by last week and she commented on the lack of PLC on my peaches/nectarines. She said it is a bad year for PLC but that I am lucky. My plantings allow me to harvest peaches/nects from late May to September. I sprayed with Daconil several times during dormancy and had no PLC on any of my trees until just recently. Now I have a few infected leaves on each tree, but not too bad. I have been picking those off and destroying them, but I am not sure that does any good. Thoughts on that anyone? I wonder if I risk spreading the fungus that way.

Btw, I planted an Octoberfest Peach and grafted Last Chance and Halloween peach scions to my Carnival peach aiming to extend my harvest even more.

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like a different world compared to what we are used to for sure. with my asthma it would be a lot better for me. i struggle with humidity. here.

My wife bought me these cherimoyas and some Saturn donut peach. I am looking forward to eat them. YUM.

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I tried @JoeReal’s Italian salad dressing spray couple of times during the dormant season. I didn’t have any PLC when the peaches leafed out but reading CRFG emails, others in the area who didn’t spray at all didn’t have it then either. After a spell of dry season and rains, I got hit badly (others too) but observing the tree, I think it was concentrated on a couple of my grafts (which were not likely sprayed) and mildly spread to the rest of the tree. So, hard to say anything about the effectiveness of the spray. I’ll try the same procedure again and observe what happens.

Octoberfest sounds very interesting. I have my eye on it for next winter order. @RandallW What are your fav peaches/nectarines so far?

@californicus i skipped joes sprays this year as i thought limesulfur would do it…pretty heavy plc compared to just a couple leave the last couple years i ised joes strong recipe with hydrogen peroxide. Was also an exceptionally dry and warm spring here this year. Will do them again next year and see how things go

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Clery strawberries, the first small Charentais melons and the Rouge de Roussillion apricots. Delish!

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A white nectarine with some pink in the flesh. It measured 17.4 Brix, and had good acid for a white nectarine.

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