I had to peel the ones I bought in a grocery store, and use the peelings. It was sour not sweet, so I added to my lemon lime gatoraid drink. While it improved my workout drink taste, it aint worth it. Ye gads, the whole mini fruit was seed.
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Like most store bought fruit,they were probably harvested early for easier shipping procedures.
I just read about a recipe for jam,that called for soft,ripe fruit,instead of hard or some bitterness will be detected.bb
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Fingerling potatoes starting to flower - glad I got the straw on them already
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Sometimes I just can’t win!!! So, I had a few young trees that had 6-8 peaches and nectarines that I have never got to taste before so I’ve babied them all spring. Then suddenly this afternoon we had a tornado watch and then warning. and ended up with straight line winds. I just went outside and most of those young trees with only a few fruits have had every single fruit blown off the trees!!! SOOOOOO frustrating. My larger trees that had good fruit loads also have large numbers of fruits laying on the ground under them. DARN!!! If it isn’t too much/too little rain, late frosts, bugs, fungi, diseases, animals, etc then its high winds whiping the trees to the point of knocking fruits off! Anyone ever noticed growing fruit is HARD!!! 
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We are all at the mercy of the weather. I just had a persimmon grafted last year blown over and snapped. It was staked but really too big for the stake. It only broke half way through and hadn’t wilted so I brought it back together and matched cambium best I could and splinted to a big stake. I don’t hold out much hope but it made me sick. So sorry about your fruit… such a disappointment!!
I was looking at my orchard the other day and thought that it could all be destroyed in a few minutes from a tornado…
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Sorry to hear that, Kevin.
Mother Nature often gets better of us. I just witnesses several of my plums that set fruit ( through rain, cold and wind) sized up to give me hope and then, turned yellow and dropped.
French Improved and Empress all dropped. One left on Toka, Laroda and Lavina. I feel your pain.
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I was in Seattle today and stopped off in Chinatown,at what could be the largest Loquat tree in Washington State.This thing is almost house size,one that@ramv and I are watching and waiting for ripening fruit,which is the first I’ve seen.Ram said there is another big one,a little north of the city.
I did pick a couple,nearest to the ground,but had to climb a small rock wall to reach them.
I ate the biggest and softest one,but probably a few more weeks on the tree will do them good.
Ram,should I save the seeds?
Also nearby is Washington Park Arboretum,where grows the Briancon Apricot,which interests me.There is a small group of them planted in a very shady place,surrounded by bigger trees.
They are fruiting though and I’ll be going back periodically to check the progress.bb
Loquat tree in Seattle and some fruits
Briancon Apricot at the Washington Park Arboretum
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@Bradybb, how did the fruit taste?
I plan to go there tomorrow to check out the tree and taste some fruit. I will be dropping by 3 other trees as well.
This tree is huge but it is smaller than the Ballard tree. That one is quite possibly the largest in the PNW - Atleast 45 feet tall and 4 feet across at the broadest point. It is a sight to behold.
There are several other trees in the Seattle area that are 50-100+ years old. These are some amazingly hardy trees.
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Sorry to hear that Kevin. Hang in there.
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Just lost this years plums from high straight winds and hail. Feel your frustration. But, it sure is good when you do get a crop.
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You know what is so great about this site? I can come here and complain about my bad luck and you people get it…it isn’t perceived as whining as it would be in the real world. Because you guys know how hard fruit growing is, and how many things can go wrong. Hearing about @mamuang and @k8tpayaso and other’s bad luck also reminds me I’m not alone!!!
That being said, I just have to talk about my continued bad luck today!!! I cut down a fairly large non-fruit tree near my orchard to give a couple fruit trees better sun. Well, I didn’t plan it out to well and the darn thiing fell right smack on top of a Saijo persimmon that I top worked 3 years ago and have been carefully bracing and protecting the last 3 years! The big tree completely snapped the whole grafted top right off!!! MAN…if it wasn’t for bad luck I wouldn’t have any luck at all! Of course , that is really the result of poor planning and carelessness more than bad luck.
OK, thats all the complaining and whining I’ll do for a while. If anyone else wants to talk about your own bad luck recently, I give you the floor. It might help you and the rest of us to get it out and confirm we all have unfortunate things happen!
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Growing fruit can be very frustrating. Spring is the best for me. I get to see all the blooms and have high hopes then it usually goes downhill from there, lol. I do manage to get some apples, peaches and pears. Sometimes nectarines, plums, and cherries.
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We have large old loquat trees like that my neighborhood. I am not too thrilled about them because they tend to harbor big patches of fireblight.
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Fire blight is pretty rare around here. With climate change it’s becoming prevalent. This year I had to get rid of one of my favorite apple trees (Golden Russet) and heavily prune all my pear trees.
Your neighborhood birds look like they’re useful for getting rid of nuisances and not interested in fruit like mine. Can we trade neighbors?
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This wasn’t the really productive tree you have is it? I know how much you love that tree, so this is very sad. The same happened to me earlier in the year. I had just planted a new plum tree and chopped down a nearby tree to make room. The tree fell right on top of the plum and knocked off all the new shoots.
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I’m in 6b-7a with rocky clay soil, ph 5.6. Rabbiteyes grow great for me. Tifblue is vigorous and carefree. Brighton and Premiere grow well. My favorite is Misty, it perfumes my garden when it blooms. Unfortunately most of the new growth dies back every year so it remains small.
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