Emerald Drop Pluots. Thought they were semi freestone but maybe too soft to split cleanly? These were incredible last year, not as good this year, but still good.
Emerald Drop on the left, Geo-pride on the right, Splash in the back.
My 4 in 1 pluot has like 7 fruit on it whereas this I obviously should have thinned more.
It was Royal Zee plum. Found the label on the bottom of the box. Not bad. Makes me consider investing in a tree or two of Zaiger varieties.
Are you sure Emerald Drop is ripe? DWN says mid July to late August. I haven’t had ED in a few yrs but used to have it on a tree with Geo Pride and Splash. Seems to me they all ripened at about the same time in mid summer. Your Geo Pride isn’t even colored up yet so it’s not anywhere near ripe.
Emerald Drop was soft, fairly sweet, no tartness.The Geo-pride was finger indentation soft, but not super soft. Geo-pride was great tasting much better flavor than the Emerald Drop.
I feel like everything is about a month early here right now. There are plenty of Emerald Drop and Geo-pride that are rock hard with very little outside coloration, I bet those are a few weeks away.
I’ll agree…Emerald Drop is ok…my kids loved Splash…that was probably their favorite.
I had never heard of Royal Zee(and many others too) and so after searching a little,found that Zaiger released the Plum in 1985.Here’s a link to the paper that mentioned the fruit,published in 1999.Lots of others listed also. Brady
I had a nectarine split due to most likely all the rain we’ve been having lately. What is interesting is this nectarine is very much different (about 2x the size/color is different) then the rest of the nectarines on this tree (it’s a seedling). Maybe a sport?
Whatever the case…it’s split now so i’m not sure what will become of it.
The Geo Pride pictured above are roughly 6 weeks from being ripe, maybe more. I’d say the Emerald Drop are probably nearly that far off. It’s harder to tell with ED because the color doesn’t change that much at any point.
Geo Pride gets very dark well before getting ripe.
Fruit-
My Dapple Dandy didn’t ripen until mid Sept here last year!
My grandson was over yesterday so we went out to the yard to see if we could find anything to pick. We had a few black raspberries which he thought were ok, then we started looking for some Nankings. The bushes are thick and there are a few that the late freezes missed. I showed him how to bite them and remove the pit and then eat the cherry. He absolutely loved them, I couldn’t get him to leave them and go check the peach tree, lol. He had cherry juice all over his hands and shirt by the time he was done.
Besides apples, we grow Nanking and Evans cherries (they do well ) and this year my small Montemorency has set fruit. Pears that are small, Early Gold and Golden Spice, but this is also the first year for fruit set on my son’s trees. I have tasted a friends and although they are small they taste good and a jar packed full of these whole three inch pears is a treat in the winter for the eyes as well as the stomach. My plums are young and so far the only one setting fruit is the Brookgold, but I have grafted others.
I do have 2 Empress peaches in pots on their second year, and between them they have 5 healthy, almost ready peaches (that I have no clue when to pick)
. I am so excited to taste these after reading how much better home grown peaches are. You cannot believe the awful peaches that pass for fruit here, and most plums are the same, woody and flavourless, when you get a good batch you run back to the store for more before the shipment sells out for fear the next one will not be good. “Dibs” are being taken by the family on who gets a bite of these peaches, I might have to set up surveillance cameras. Infact my husband is on a squirrel watch making sure they don’t get scoffed by the varmints before he gets to taste one. Let’s hope they are good.
I am suspect of the “official” zone 2 rating, so many factors play into it and because we are set on a hill I think I have a small micro climate that allows for a little zone pushing.
The weird weather has given us warmer winters and has messed up the frost dates, making the growing season longer. Our last spring frost is usually around now but I believe it was back in Mid-May.
I read this forum often and am awed by the beautiful fruit that the members are growing. My choices are limited but that doesn’t stop me from trying, and I find that much of the info and help is still applicable to my fruit growing efforts.
Pick your own strawberry season started Saturday so took the bride and kids and loaded up. 1 large and 2 small containers gone in under 24hrs. Can’t complain because they could be eating junk food.
Greenhouse is turning into a jungle…
… and the perennials are finally coming along nicely. Lack of rain seemed to have slowed them down a bit earlier in the spring. Here’s the back corner of the garden. This hosta loves its home near the downspout. Biggest Hosta I have, about 4.5ft across.
I’m not the best at container plantings as I can never seem to get the combinations to work. Maybe that’s why people write books about container plantings! This one should actually look pretty good this year.
I like to check my peachy for ripeness by gently pressing with my thumb. On my tree the sunny side of the peach will ripen first.
FIRST PEACH OF THE YEAR!!! OK, I actually pulled these about 2 days early but I couldn’t wait. One is a June Gold (left) and one is an unknown thanks to being mislabeled. Perhaps another June Gold since ripening time is about the same? Either way, they were both delicious! Especially for early peaches, these were good. That being said…they aren’t nearly as good as my later season peaches.
Kevin,
Congrats. I know you’ve worked hard for it. Considering what you went through last year, so glad this year is a great year for you. May it continue.
Thanks so much for that, Mamuang! I’m sorry you had such bad luck this spring, so its nice of you to still be happy for others like me.
The biggest difference in these peaches (besides the fact that they exist- which last year they didn’t) is how perfect they look. That is 100% thanks to Imidan. I know some have concerns about health implications, but in terms of protecting from insects the stuff is amazing! In the past I sprayed triazicide relentlessly and still had most peaches scared with stings, half-moons, cat-faced, and/or had worms. NO MORE! 
Did I mention I love growing fruit?
Yep, some tree fruits are running that early this year for me too.
Those who have Free Range Chickens will appreciate this photo! This is an old, large peach tree that I haven’t thinned enough so it has several branches hanging low enough that my chickens will peck holes in them. So I put up this very ugly (I wish Lowes carried a color besides Orange!) temporary fence. Its ugly but it takes 5 minutes to put it up and it works great at keeping the chickens out! Its very flemsy and the bottom could easily be lifted up or it could easily be jumped over or just knocked down. But lucky for me, chickens are very stupid and are easily defeated by this little fence.
What appealing yard, Mike! I really like that your beds are filled with curves, instead of sharp angles. I’m always being fussed at for doing that. I really enjoy seeing perennial beds from areas with cooler summers. You can grow huge and healthy plants like those hostas that struggle or call it quits in our summer heat. The effect you’ve created is serene, and casually elegant. Beautiful!
Your greenhouse plants look like they are thriving. Did you start all of those figs this year?
Hostas? Struggle in the heat? Do you guys down in SC not consider NC hot in the summer?
