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 Although our spring weather shouldnât 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 didnât 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 Realâs 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.
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 Iâm there. anxious to try a tree ripened orange. when do oranges ripen in the s. Arizona? sorry . a little off topic.
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 youâre are awesome.
Thatâs very exciting, Steve. Unfortunately, itâs 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. Iâm 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 â Four Winds Growers
i wouldnât 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.
Iâve got some friends who just moved down there. Theyâve got figs going, they forage a lot of prickly pear and stuff like that. Iâd 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, thatâs for sure.
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.
I tried @JoeRealâs Italian salad dressing spray couple of times during the dormant season. I didnât have any PLC when the peaches leafed out but reading CRFG emails, others in the area who didnât spray at all didnât 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. Iâll 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 itâŚpretty 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
Citrus trees donât need much pruning, most years I donât do it at all except for removing dead wood. I was always afraid of removing branches from a productive tree but my Meyer lemon and a Mandarin that are over 25 years old were declining in production and branches were getting long and scraggly looking. On the Meyer Lemon I selectively removed branches from inside the canopy, letting more light penetrate the interior. The tree responded well so I then took on the Mandarin which I had almost given up on and pruned it pretty heavily during the winter⌠I was afraid I cut back too much and exposed branches to sunburn.(freezing is not a problem here, but be aware that new growth will be sensitive to it.) The flush of new growth will need to be thinned some. New sprouts can simply be rubbed off where the are not desired.
Btw, I have a Lane Late Navel Orange that doesnât start getting sweet until May, then keeps getting sweeter until October-November by which time we have harvested the last of them. That would be about the time an earlier Navel would be harvestable.
Earlitreat has produced some nice crops for me and has had fine flavor. Last year, I lost the whole crop to brown rot, and I tried to prevent it this year by spraying with Daconil after petal fall. Unfortunately it is already affecting my fruit when it is still a week or so away from being ripe. It starts softening at the blossom end, the spreads through the rest of the fruit until it drops from the tree with a soggy âsplatâ. I am trying to salvage what I can by picking them at the first sign of rot and cutting them up. They donât have much flavor ant the pit has not even hardened. I hate to throw away usable fruit when i have nothing else, so it can be tossed into oatmeal as it cooks or sweetened with honey.
Last year, Earlitreat was the only peach/nectarine so affected out of about 14 varieties. I will be harvesting Flordaking in about 2-3 weeks and will keep my fingers crossed. Is anyone else having this problem?
Another question; I am seeing tiny black beetles in and around the affected area. Are the a causitive or contibuting factor?
I found these apricots at Costco. They are the best ones Iâve ever had. Most at the grocery store are hard and sour but these were melting and sweet. Now I kind of know why people go through the efforts of growing these. They are probably not as good as what people can grow but I donât know any better.
Although our spring weather shouldnât 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 didnât previously think will produce decent quality fruit in my area.
