I’m really hoping that Adam’s version of early Cripps is as good as they claim. It is supposed to ripen a month earlier. I wonder if my grafts from last year have any blossoms- I noticed today that nursery trees I got last year already have them on the tips. They look to be about my earliest bloomer.
@alan,
Is that what it’s called early Cripps. I’m interested. I have early Gold Rush aka Crunch a Bunch, and will graft early Fuji (Auvil Fuji) this year. Early Cripps could be next. Thanks for mentioning it.
I don’t know off hand what they call it, but you can look in the catalog. I don’t have much wood (or time) but may be able to send you a stick.
Was out checking out the trees after I had fed the cats, and saw the first couple of bees buzzing around my Blushingstar peach blossoms. Yay. Hope they take the message back to the hive- “Hey check it out, yo, there are SOOO many blooms out there. Come wit’ us tomorrow and check em out, bro”. The rains are done for a few days, with sunshine and temps in the 70’s, so we should be seeing more soon.
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I can wait until next year. Thanks.
Last year we were soaking wet days after days during bloom time. It afftects plums and other fruit trees that need cross pollination.
Peaches were plenty last year. As you know they are self fertile and wind pollination.
My wild plum isn’t blooming yet, but probably will in a week or so. My pluots are to some degree, so I hope they’ll get after those. Also my big pear is blooming but the others aren’t open yet, so I worry about it not getting pollinated. I have heard about some pears not needing cross-pollination, but I think that applies to those grown in much warmer areas. I’m not worried about the apples as they’re not open either.
i have 2 pekins and 3 mallards. love duck eggs!
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Wish you better weather when those fruit trees bloom.
Constant rain last year really negatively affected the productivity of my plums and pears.
Put in a William’s Pride, Evereste crabapple, and Weeping Santa Rosa plum from Rain Tree. They were alright. Lots of growing to do. Might as well have been whips with how many tiny branches were broken off. One had no branches, so I guess you’d call it a whip. I absolutely hate ordering trees online, but I couldn’t find these varieties locally. I was kinda of surprised to find them still asleep considering the temperatures. Hoping that doesn’t mean something is wrong. William’s Pride will be espaliered. Evereste will be shaped kind like an L between the corner of a wall and a sidewalk. The Weeping Santa Rosa will stay in a pot for a year or two and then move into its final resting place.
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Well, I have 7 open apple blossoms…and 3 that have already lost their petals!
Supposed to hit 75 next 3 days…so many more will be popping.
Finally got around to “converting” a callery pear to a fruit one today. Took 3 hours, and the help of a step ladder…but I got about 27 pieces of scion added to a Bradford seedling.
(Mostly bark grafts, a few clefts.)
And got ‘all season’ oil sprayed on my bearing trees.
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Lots of flowers on my “probably Methley” plum tree. Also, grafts of Superior, Satsuma, and purple heart have all flowered also. So much hope.
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Wow fresh mulch and everything. Somebody’s been working hard during the shut down…beautiful!
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Now I know better than to count my fruit before it is in my mouth but…first ever green gage bloom is still exciting.
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Subdood,
Peaches are pretty complicated when it comes to pollination. As you mention just about all peach varieties are self-pollinating. Some flowers are pollinated before they ever open up (peaches are capable of doing that). However, wind or pollinators, are generally needed to get the pollen from the anthers to the stigma for most of the flowers. Rain inhibits pollination, even though peaches are self-pollinating. High humidity inhibits the anthers from “rupturing” which is how they release pollen grains once the flowers open. Rain also increases blossom blight. And of course it keeps pollinators from working the flowers.
If there is wind, no pollinators are needed. They’ve done studies and caged peach flowers from pollinators. The trees will still set full crops as long as there is adequate wind. However, pollinators are helpful in pollinating peaches.
In years where there is bad weather for peach pollination, you see more button fruit. Those are fruit which get about the size of a big button, then stop growing and fall off. A lot of things can cause lots of button fruit. Inadequate pollination is one of them.
I’m not aware peaches produce bigger fruit if they are cross pollinated. Of course pome fruits like apples produce bigger fruit if they are pollinated adequately, but that’s because there is a higher seed count. More seeds give off more hormone to produce a bigger fruit. Peaches just have one seed, and either it is pollinated adequately, or not.
All that said, it’s rare that peaches aren’t pollinated adequately to produce a full crop. If the variety is productive, it will produce enough fruit set to set a full crop, that’s why peach producers don’t lease bee hives for their orchards, as apple growers do.
If the peach variety is a shy bearer, then I think poor pollination weather can come into play and compound the problem.
The length of viability of peach flowers depends on the temps. I don’t know how long they are viable at various temps. If you come across any info on that, please let me know.
Lastly, my observations are not so much with poor pollination being the problem. Rather spring frosts or poor bloom performance are the big issues which rob harvest poundage. Peach trees with a nice bloom and no frosts always produce full crops. It’s the trees which have few flowers, or cold frosty weather, which indicates trouble.
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Ok, thanks. It has been a bit windy sometimes since they opened up, so that might help. Thankfully the weather will be mostly dry and in the 70s the next three days. Plus, I did see a couple bees buzzing my Blushingstar flowers today, so that’s another good sign.
We’re not forecast to see any freezing temps the next 10 days, so the closer we can get to that last average freeze date, the better.
Regarding how long the flower’s are viable, say the high temps are in the 60-80 degree range, what might be typical?
One more thing, I gave a couple of my struggling peach trees about a pound of 10-10-10 fert yesterday, along with a few of my runty apple trees. I hope they’ll respond. Should I give them another dose of that or maybe some high N fert in a month so? I also have some 27-0-0 I can use if needed. Now that I think of it, I think I might have some 35-0-0, but it has some sulfur (ammonium sulfate) in it. Thanks.
I’m not sure of the length of viability of the flowers. I know in warm weather they “look” viable for about a week, but that’s not a scientific assessment.
It’s hard to over fertilize peach trees with N or K. If you get too much P, some bad things can happen, but that’s pretty rare. 10-10-10 is a pretty mild fertilizer.
Ammonium sulfate is OK, as long as your soil pH isn’t already too low, or the soil already has too much S.
A juvenile peach tree which has a 5’ radius from the trunk can easily handle a 1/2 pound of urea fertilizer (about 50% N). Nitrogen is probably the most important in terms of getting good shoot growth.
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Thanks.
Well, they’re in pretty acidic soil (pH about 5 or so), so I don’t think the Ammonium Sulfate would help matters. The other N fert is half Ammonium Nitrate and some other N based compound. So, maybe a half pound of the 27-0-0 for each peach in a couple months, or sooner? Neither one has a radius of 5ft, maybe 2-3ft. Same treatment for some of my puny apple trees? I gave them a pound of triple ten yesterday as well.
Wow, my apples have not bloomed yet and you are way up north of me. I am about 30 miles from Mississippi. What variety is blooming? I have Gravenstein, Winesap, Braeburn, Stayman and Honeycrisp. Not the first bloom on any.
None of my apple trees are opened yet, but a couple (Alkmene and Zestar) are getting close. Two pluots are blooming some, too. One of my pears popped open about 6 days ago, but the ones nearby haven’t just yet. Hope it can wait for the others.
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