Picked a dozen Methleys today. The first year ive harvested from that tree. Some fruits were over ripe and some were a tad under ripe. Many were very good. All of mine were very small though. Maybe golf ball size. Kids liked them and so did I. The downside is that more and more black knot is developing on the tree. Ive cut a lot out but it just keeps getting worse.
Also still losing my battle with deer. They keep getting through my fence and this time stole all but the single highest Zestar apple. That was my best apple crop since planting my orchard.
I pulled the card from my stealth cam just to see how many idiot deer where evading my fence. There were a couple hundred pictures over a two week stretch. I keep telling myself that Im sending a 17 caliber pellet their way if I see them but based on the time frames this is happening mostly at 2-3am. I can’t stay up that late. Im either going to install proper deer fence or rip the entire orchard out. I put too much work into it just to end up having it pillaged.
When I first started seeing signs of deer
I bought a 15-mile fence charger. I have been slow to get it hooked up but I am protecting my Rainier cherry tree from coons right now. It seems to be working. I could pick the cherries right now but should wait a few more days to get the extra sweetness. These pictures are almost a week old so the cherries are blushing red now. Those plastic posts zip tied to the tree are meant to be stabbed in the ground for temporary protection setups with flexible electric rope. Every other wire spinning up is a ground wire to make sure.
They taste good now and it’s hard to leave them on the tree because they might not be there the next time I look at them. There was twice as many at least but brown rot set in on all my sweet cherries because of all the rain. I finally sprayed indar and it saved these! I had a large crop on Stella also but they were lost. My sours look good and are starting to turn ripe too. They are tiny though less than 1/2" in dia.
So…while pruning today I had a Japanese beetle land on my ear and crawl straight inside and all the way back. It hurt like crazy and sounded like a helicopter in my head. I was screaming like a girl scout and flopping around like a fish. Thank god it eventually crawled back out!!! Whew! No fun.
Another reason to hate these pests. That sounds awful! I would have had a panic attack. I’m spraying some of my trees just to prevent complete defoliation. They sure love their plum and new persimmon leaves.
For me sweet cherries are the hardest to grow because the critters like them so much. I’ll pick some of them today. The redder ones. I have been yelling at the birds (Get out of there! ).
@Stan
I ordered the ‘Satsuma’ from Willis, in 2016. This is disheartening.
But . . . several of my plums bloomed around the same time. ? Very early in the spring. I didn’t record the dates . . . but it might have technically still been winter. I recall that I was worried about frost damage to the blooms. I’m in VA. Near the coast. Would that make a difference?
And, would the fruit take normally take that long to develop? August? The plum fit the description of a Satsuma plum - except in size.
I also have these young trees - Toka. Methley. SantaRosa. Black Ice. Chickasaw. I was told that the Methley and Toka were good pollinating choices for the Satsuma. If my tree is not a Satsuma . . . then I wonder what it IS?
Of original 50 flowers, 18 are now mini fruits. I have no idea how many will drop, but it has been fun this first spring to observe their development! Diameter is about that of a US dime. Theyhave hint of orange on them.
There is no correlation between bloom time and ripening time — two plums might bloom at the same time and one will be ripe in June and another in September. I’m in California and most plums and pluots here bloom in February (some even in early February), they still ripen at their destined times.
Willis’ reputation is very low, they could send anything, frankly, you’re lucky it’s a plum.
My wife panics at the sight of them. Our son used to tie a string to their leg, hold the string, let them fly, and chase her all over the yard! Somehow, he managed to survive childhood.
My kiddo found this in the garden today. I had no idea it was there, that just shows how messy my garden is! I forgot i had even planted cauliflower- I’ve never successfully grown it before. It is durgesh 41 variety from Baker Creek seeds.
