What is everyone eating from their orchard today?

[MuddyMess_8a]

What do you do with your cots when you have an overabundance?

[scottfsmith]

This is my first year of having so many… my vague plan is tonight I am going to halve them and add a bit of sugar to preserve and put in fridge. Then when my wife is back in town I hope she will make a tart or something. I can always dry them or make jam if she doesn’t want to do anything with them.

I have found this adding a bit of sugar method handy for temporary keeping of many fruits. You need to keep track of how much sugar you added so when cooking you can leave that amount out. The maceration in sugar improves the jam or whatever you are going to make as well, in fact it is common in recipes.

[Matt_in_Maryland]

Chris,

Those look awesome! May I ask where you obtained Clayton? It’s a hard variety to find.

[Brethil]

They look yummy Weatherman. Nice coloring. Will be watching for your taste review.

[Brethil]

That is exactly the feeling I got from Anne: fussy to start. I’ve seen so many pics Anne’s as larger plants and I had the feeling that unlike my other berries (which were fall planted as 2" starts and well winterized, they just exploded in spring) Anne would do better as a warm spring start with lots of TLC and minimal root disturbance to get a chance to get through winter better.

One of these days once I have less other things to think about I may try again that route. But I need a new spot…Jewel and Kiwi Gold took over Anne’s spots.

[Chris_in_GA]

Bill, I got my WP from Cummins on G-11 rootstock but lots of online places carry it. It seems very grower friendly and good tasting for an early apple.

Matt: I got mine from Vaughn Nursery a few years, they mailed my this pamphlet that listed Clayton and other varieties for sale that were not shown on their website so you just need to call them and they may may have it. I could also send you a stick next year.

[fruitnut]

One of the few nectarines I’ve saved from critters in the outdoors orchard. Honey Fire tested 25.6 brix and tastes superb!!!

[Auburn]

Thanks

[Lizzy]

I let my two-years-planted Desert King fig fruit this year. Just had two big, juicy, sweet green fruits. I’m hoping the flavor will get more interesting as the tree gets older and I learn more about fertilization, but they’re good enough to gobble up even if they don’t get any more complex. I don’t usually plant things without knowing what the fruit is like, but in the case of figs, only two grow successfully here, Black Jack and King, so I planted both. To me, even a mediocre fig is better than no fig. Has anyone tasted a mature King fig?

[itheweatherman]

From the lower branches the pluerries were bland, on the other hand, from the upper branches the fruit was delicious. The semi-ripe ones, they first tasted like a plum, then cherry, and finally a unique tropical-like flavor dominates the fruit. The riper ones have a unique flavor, the flesh very similar to an apricot.

Overwatering causes the pluerries to lose its flavor.

[Brethil]

Thanks, Weatherman! That tropical flavor sounds awesome. Beautiful fruit.

I hope we get reviews on some of your developing varietals (like Peacharine) next year.

[murky]

Lizzy,

I’ve had Desert King figs several times. The sweetness ranged from sweet to almost too sweet to eat, but the flavor was always about as uninteresting as can be for a ripe fig.

[Lizzy]

Thanks for the info Murky, well, a bummer that they won’t get more interesting, but they sure are sweet! Maybe I’ll graft a couple of other figs onto it.

[MuddyMess_8a]

Lizzy, are you sure those are the only 2 that can be grown there successfully? For years, I was told that there were only 2 that could be grown here, and took it for granted that was true. It was nowhere near the truth. I wish I had learned earlier to take it with a grain of salt when I hear that only specific varieties of anything will do well in my own location. Maybe it’s true for yours, too.

[hoosierquilt]

Lizzy, where are you? By your zone, you should be able to grow lots of different figs. Do you have really high humidity?

[MuddyMess_8a]

I’m just replying because Lizzy isn’t reading the forum right now. She’s in Santa Cruz.

[hoosierquilt]

Thanks, Muddy. LIzzy, you should be able to grow about any fig cultivar you want.

[Lizzy]

If I were just aways up into the Santa Cruz mountains I probably could, or in the “Sun Belt” on the far other side of town. But down here on the west side of town (on the northern tip of Monterey Bay) we get more fog and cooler summers than most of Santa Cruz. The nurseries will say that we can grow any fig, but it just doesn’t get hot enough to ripen them. I had a brown turkey for five years, and it couldn’t ripen a single fruit. The neighbors’ tree is the same. Fruit growers on this side of town say it’s Blackjack or Desert King. But there may be more esoteric varieties that work here. I think I’ll experiment with grafting next year and try out some different cultivars, see which ones manage to ripen.

[Matt_in_Maryland]

Lizzy,

Have you tried Flanders fig? Profiled in this video, in case you haven’t already seen this:

[hoosierquilt]

Flanders is a very nice-tasting fig, I have that here. You can also try Green Ischia (Verte), Celeste, Violette du Bordeaux (great container choice as it stay compact), White Genoa, Mission (widely grown in California on the coast, probably the most common fig tree you’ll see), and my favorite, Panache. Panache should do well for you, again, commonly seen on the coast here in my area. Here is a link to a nice article from the Bay area CRFG that should help you out:

Figs,%20Jujube%20for%20cool.pdf