Received apple and pear rootstocks from Cummins: 30 G.890 and 25 OHxF 87.
First apricot fruitlets:
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Love the flat landscape. Makes for some beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
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Yes it does but it makes for lots of windy windy days too
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And then sometimes it blows like H3LL!!!
Checked on my trees today. My Tomcot is done blooming, except for one late flower on the trunk for some reason. Surprisingly, not an extended bloom as advertised–12 days, maybe. The Moniqui is almost done too. The Harcot is having a staggered bloom; maybe it had chilling problems this year, too, not sure. I went ahead and started preemptively thinning the branches that seemed done. I think I’m the only person here with the problem of overthinning–I’ve just listened to you all talk about the dangers of underthinning too many times! I suspect I won’t get any Moniqui at least, based on @scottfsmith’s observations about white apricots, but hope springs eternal.
Peaches are in peak bloom. Loring, Strawberry Free, and JuneGold have very pretty, large single blossoms, while Harvester and O’Henry are underwhelming by comparison. I should have fruit from my Harvester and Loring again this year, and be able to try SF, JuneGold, and O’Henry for the first time this summer. I’m so excited! I would be bouncing up and down, except I’m exhausted from work (and I still have to cook dinner).
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Moniqui is relatively more reliable so hopefully you will get some. The problem with most white apricots is they take many years before they bloom well - for a long time there are not many flowers at all. Moniqui is much quicker and more reliable to flower. For a few years it was flowering and fruiting well, but then I think it may have gone into a bit of a decline from borers, none of the blossoms were setting. The tree is doing better now so it will be interesting to see what it does this year. I got no apricots at all for the last two years so no recent data on them…
The other white apricots I had either never really produced and are now gone (Afghanistan, Sukphany, etc) or finally got into shape and started blooming (Zard, Lasgerdi Mashaad, Shalah). All of these latter three took a long time before they got a good bloom all over. This year they look very nice (well except Zard, that stock died last year from borers so I am starting over on it).
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Can’'t wait for these Mulberries to ripen. And crossing my fingers, hoping the birds and squirrels don’t notice them like last year!
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We went to town today for some items and other business, so I was able to peruse some stores and their fruit tree inventories.
As suggested by @thecityman, we stopped by Kroger, and they indeed had some potted trees at the entrance, for $14. Mostly apples and peaches, like Honeycrisp apple an Contender peach.
At Tractor Supply, they didn’t have any more bare root trees, but they did have potted trees. Apples, peaches, and plums, including a Santa Rosa (?!!), I think for about $27. I didn’t get it as I had to get some fencing and straw for our new trees that came in this week.
The plums and some peaches were already blooming, so I’m wary of getting a tree that’s already woken up. But, if it’s in a pot now, it should be OK to plant in the ground even though it’s blooming?
Walmart had lots of trees, most were apples, plums and peaches. I think they were $17 for potted trees. They also had Santa Rosa, but it was a dwarf. I don’t even know what a dwarf plum rootstock would be unless it’s a Citation.
I didn’t get any trees, we got to get these 3 pluots in the ground first. We got home late, so tomorrow will be a busy day of mowing, planting, and hopefully work on the truck.
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No trees, shrubs, outdoor flowers at the Kroger ‘superstore’ I visited today in Kentucky.
Yeah, they were at the entrance of this store, so we drove by and I said stop. I had to get out and look, to the consternation of drivers behind us. Didn’t take long, as they didn’t have a lot to pick from, but I might consider getting another cheap Contender peach later, considering its later bloom time.
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They had something labeled Santa Rosa … with about 50-50 odds of being the real thing.
I hope I don’t sound like a broken record bringing this up but there is a long history over on the old GW forum of people being shocked when their big box trees were not true to label. At some point there was an informal survey and it seemed about 50-50 on whether it was true to the tag. Theres nothing wrong with buying them, if its not the right thing its probably a decent variety anyway, just beware its a crap shoot.
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The problem is, you’ve got a problematic tree, so when people ask for scions, I hesitate to send them what might not actually be what they’re looking for
This would also be a problem if I wanted to market the fruit
Thanks, I didn’t get any trees, but I realize one is taking a chance when they buy such trees. Shoot, sometimes folks get the wrong trees they ordered from a reputable nursery, so nothing’s a given.
I rooted some figs this winter, and they are so big out they go for the day! It’s sunny but only 34F still out they go! I will bring them in soon, and it’s supposed to be warmer in coming days. I uppotted them, Four of them, Grown under lights.
From left to right
Genovese Nero AF, Blava, Sao Miguel Roxo. I also uppotted Petite Negri not pictured. Same size as the others. I have about 8 more, I wanted to root more, but ran out of room, so they will be grafted.
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Just to add another thing, they usually do not have the rootstocks labeled, so you would be growing trees on unknown roots.
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Just now looking at the first live bud on my new Emerald Beaut whip! It’s later than both of my other plums/pluots and I was worried it wouldn’t leaf out, but it’s just later to wake up.
Drew do you have a count on how many varieties you have now? Your collection has grown fast. I would grow more and maybe will if my in grounds do well. I just don’t want more pots in my garage overwintering. I counted pots and I have 53 in my garage. Only part of them are figs. Myself, I’m trying to get my garage back, lol! I brew beer so at times it warms up in there. My peach trees are blooming already inside. I will have to hand pollinate them. My plums are are swelling too. I still have a good hard six inches of snow in most of my yard. I can almost walk on it. The dog can.
Went on garden walk today. Still about 4-5 inches of snow on the ground since last storm. Though on warmest spots snow is gone. Noticed that Daylilies are about an inch up where snow melted. Also my flowering quince has some leaves on it! Crocuses and daffodils and tulips are about an inch out of the ground. Just exactly what you DON’T want to see… a day before 10F night.
I think around 60? 
And I have other plants in the garage too! Blackberries, mulberries, and pomegranates
I plan to consolidate a little with grafts. I should be able to eliminate some that way. Yes, most have to go at some point. I would like about 10 to 15, probably settle on 20. So 2/3 have to go! Not sure how I can do that?
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A pretty good day, got the truck running, finally. Then I got the tractor out and got some bush-hogging done around the farm. Looking better but more needs to be mowed, especially since most things are still dormant. The ground’s still a bit soft, but I didn’t tear it up too bad.
I got the holes dug for the pluots, but it was getting late so maybe tomorrow. It’s supposed to be colder with a chance of freezing rain tonight, so hope we don’t get too much precip.
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