Will 7-10 bloom delays be beneficial?

Will delay pruning actually delay blooming for 7-10 days? Does this give consistent results? Some years I think it would help my plums and pears escape late cold weather. At about 9:05 in video.

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Another way to look at this. Early pruning causes early bloom.

I wish I hard seen this last month. I’m now worried about a few upcoming cold nights and a blooming delay of a few days would have been helpful.

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Jim is one of Texas most knowledgeable fruit extension persons. But I’m having a hard time believing 7-10 days delay. Personally I don’t think it will have much effect at all. But then I’ve seldom pruned early. Often I wait until it’s time to thin. Freezes often thin the crop so wait and see what happens. As early as my trees bloom I can’t believe that early pruning would make for even earlier bloom.

Also this subject gets lots of attention and I haven’t heard this claim before. What will delay bloom 7-10 days in dry west Texas is evaporative cooling. Wet the tree once every 10 minutes anytime it’s above 45F after mid winter.

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Interesting that grape growers have used delayed pruning to protect grape spurs from frost damage and to reduce sugar content of grapes.


from https://www.bio-conferences.org/articles/bioconf/full_html/2019/02/bioconf_conavi2018_04003/bioconf_conavi2018_04003.html
> Early work proved that this technique could reduce spring frost damage, since in unpruned shoots, apical buds development inhibits the basal bud burst, whose shoots grow after spur-pruning [10]. Recent studies reported that late winter pruning of Cabernet Sauvignon vines determined a delay of 4–5 days in the main phenological events and lowered soluble solids concentration by about 1 °Brix at harvest [11]. Moreover, [12] described that the later winter pruning was performed, the greater was the sugar ripening delay in Merlot berries. More recently, post-budburst spur pruning on Sangiovese vines caused a reduction in sugar concentration and increase in phenolic compounds, but different responses were reported in relation to the phenological stage at which vines were pruned [1316].


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I heard late pruning grape could help delaying.
Tomorrow the temperature will drop to minus 2 C. I will use mist+ timer to protect my apricots, grapes, and kiwi.

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I’m interested in your mist + timer set-up! Can you give details on type of mister and timer schedule?

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Thanks for adding your vast knowledge. I’m in a similar thought set or at least it only changes the blooms near the cut.

I bought two of them for my garden last summer

https://www.amazon.com/HOMENOTE-Misting-Greenhouse-Trampoline-waterpark/dp/B07MV3ZTNB/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=mist+system&qid=1617115024&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzUDZWREYxRVFGTjdGJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjc1MjkxMjU2RFZDU09ISDlGViZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNDczMjI0M0RMQUFKNFc0NENaUiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX3Bob25lX3NlYXJjaF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

I have a timer bought several years ago to control for my misting system to grow plants from cuttings.

You can buy splitter from local store to connect misting system. Just tie tube to tree branches.

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Thanks so much. Looks good!
Your timer schedule?

Using that during a freeze is another matter all together than delaying bloom. Wetting the plant delays bloom by cooling the flower buds by 15-20F. Misting during a freeze can do the same thing, ie lower the temperature not raise it. Misting isn’t the right way to do that. You need to apply more water. And it only works under the right conditions. Too much wind or too cold and all you get is the cooling effect. Would you stand out in a windy freeze and ask someone to mist you with water?

Read this before using water for frost control: Using sprinklers to protect plants from spring freezes - MSU Extension

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Thanks for this. Wind speed and dew point are critical variables.

Thank you for the essay link. If the temperature goes too low, nothing can help. Just let it be.
If just a few degrees down the freeze temperature, misting could rescue the fruits. At my location, temperature seldom goes that low.