Plum Bloom Times. 3.15.18

Sweet Treat Pluerry.  3.15.18

It's hard to find overlapping bloom times for fruit trees. Many of the plums and hybrid plums need a pollenizer, but that only helps if they bloom at the same time.  In addition, for areas with late frosts, it's better to plant cultivars that have later bloom times.

So far this year, the following are in bloom at the same time.  These are early bloomers:  Sweet Treat Pluerry (hybrid plum / cherry with some peach and apricot in its ancestry), Crimson Spire ornamental plum (small but flavorful fruits), Hollywood plum, and Shiro plum.  My multigraft is blooming too, but I don't know the main variety - I think it's a pluot.  Methley plum is not quite open now.  Nadia Cherry/Plum is also on the verge, with a few blossoms open.

I removed some blooming twigs from Hollywood and Crimson Spire, and placed them into the branches of Sweet Treat, to improve the chances of pollination.  There are no honeybees around now,  but there are lots of tiny pollinating insects within the tree.  Since they don't appear to fly from tree to tree, I added those branches to improve the chances of good pollination.

Apple Blossom Log. Plum Blossoms. 4.19.17

Of the apple trees, the first to bloom, is Gravenstein.  About 10% to 20% of blossoms are open. 

Gravenstein is the first apple to bloom.  4.19.17

Of other varieties, the next are North Pole and Golden Sentinel, each of which has a few open flowers.

None of the others in my yard are open, although there are some buds that look close.

Of the plums, virtually all of the Asian and Asian x American hybrids are done blooming.  Ember is winding down.  I have what I think is Prunus americana, but might not be, grown from seeds.  That one is just starting.  I don't think it will do much good as a pollen source if it waits until the others are done blooming, before it starts.

Green Gage Plum is a little past peak bloom, and Stanley Plum is at peak bloom.  They may boost each other by cross pollinating, although both is considered self pollinating. My other European plums probably wont bloom for a couple of years, so time will tell.  Or not.

Fruit Tree Blooming Notes. 4.16.17

Gage Plum.  4.16.17

Stanley Plum.  4.16.17

LaCrescent Plum.  4.16.17

Hanska Plum.  4.16.17

Ember Plum.  4.16.17

Sweetheart Cherry.  4.16.17

Vandalay Cherry.  4.16.17

Ranier Cherry.  4.16.17

Hamese Asian Pear.  4.16.17

Hosui Asian Pear.  4.16.17

Maxie Asian Pear.  Front white flower is graft of unknown Asian Pear.  4.16.17

Multigraft Asian Pear, Branches Tied Down for Better Bearing.  4.16.17

Shinseiki Asian Pear.  4.16.17

More documentation of fruit tree blooming, for pollination matching.

By now, the earliest have dropped almost all of their petals, and can be considered done blooming.  Those are:
Ornamental Plum Crimson Pointe.
Hollywood Plum.
Sweet Treat Pluerry.
Nadia Plum Cherry Hybrid.

Methley Plum looks done or nearly so.

At peak or slightly past peak:
All of the hybrid Asian/American species plums.  These include Toka, Hanska, Ember, Lacrescent.
The unknown Asian plum is also past peak.
Shiro is past peak.

At peak bloom:
Stanley European plum
Green Gage (European) plum.
Vandalay Sweet Cherry.
Sweetheart Sweet Cherry.
Ranier Sweet Cherry.
Asian Pears including Hamese, Shinseiki, Hosui, Mishirasu, and unknown that might be Shinseiki but appears slightly different.
Maxie Hybrid pear is not quite to peak.
I have a graft of Rescue pear on the Maxie tree, which is at peak, but the original Rescue pear has barely begun blooming.

Apples are not blooming yet, but Gravenstein will be the first, with the first pink flowers now almost open.  It looks like Liberty and Pristine will be close behind, and maybe Jonared.  I don't know which of those I'm anticipating more.

Pawpaws have swelling buds, but I think it will still be a month or so.

Among the peaches, Charlotte is almost done blooming.  Same for Mary Jane.  Q-1-8 is at peak bloom.

The bottom 3 photos are my main orchard, although I have about as many other trees spread around the 2 acres in various groups.  It's nice seeing so many trees blooming, and thinking about watching the potential fruits develop.

a month.

Fruit Bloom Diary. 4.9.17

White Toka with Pink Hollywood Graft.  4.9.17

 Here is my fruit tree bloom diary as of today. 

Completed Blooming and Petals Fallen.
Crimson Pointe Plum.

Past Peak but Many Blossoms Present.
Sweet Treat hybrid plum (pluerry).
Nadia hybrid plum (Asian plum x cherry).
Hollywood (Asian plum).

Late Peak.
Methley (Asian Plum).
Unknown Asian Plum.

Peak.
Hanska (Hybrid American x Asian Plum).
Toka (Hybrid American x Asian Plum).
Ember (Hybrid American x Asian Plum).
LaCrescent (Hybrid American x Asian Plum) .
Shiro (Asian Plum)

Rare blossoms open, most not open yet.
Possibly, Green Gage Plum - small green euro plum.

Toka Plum.  4.9.17

Vandalay Cherry.

Hanska Plum.  4.9.17

Hamese Asian Pear.
Hosui Asian Pear.

Most of the pears are not open yet.
None of the apples are open so far.
Most of the sweet cherries are not open yet.
None of the pie cherries are close to opening.
Pawpaws have swelling buds but not close to open flowers yet.

I've read mixed reports on pollination among the American X Asian plum hybrids.  Most state that Hanska and Ember are poor pollinators for the others, while Toka is a good pollinator.  I'm not sure about LaCrescent.  I have not read about the effectiveness of Asian plums with these, such as Shiro which had the same bloom time for me, or Hollywood and Methley, which seem to overlap but not perfectly.

When I originally obtained the American X Asian hybrid plum grafts, one of my goals was to see if they bloomed later than Asian plums, and therefore less risk for damage by late frost.  That hypothesis was correct.  Since this is the first year for massive bloom, I don't know yet if they will actually provide fruit here, or what those fruits will be like.

Sweet Treat and Nadia are new interspecific hybrids, and their pollination requirements are not well known, especially in this area.  With early overlap by Crimson Pointe, mid overlap by Hollywood, Methley, and the unknown Asian Plum, and late overlap by Shiro, the bloom times are covered.  Whether any of those will be genetically compatible pollinators, I hope we learn soon.  I won't know specifically which ones, but I might learn if we have those needs covered.

LaCrescent Plum.  4.9.17

 So far my wild plum hasn't even made buds.  I don't know if it is skipping a year, or if it is just going to be a lot later.  If so, and no fruit, it might be a candidate for removal. 

Sweet Treat Pluerry.  4.9.17

Possibly Green Gage Plum.  4.9.17

Fruit Tree Blooming Notes. 4.4.17

Methley Plum.  4.4.17

Hollywood Plum.  4.4.17

 I'm recording the bloom dates for my fruit trees.  For future decisions, I want to know if some bloom too early, and are exposed to frost.  For pollination and multigrafts, it doesn't help if one is finished before the polleniing variety starts.

Here's where they are now.  At my place in Battleground, only the Asian plums and peaches are blooming.

Peak or past peak blooming:
Crimson Pointe ornamental plum.

Peak Blooming:
Hollywood Plum.
Methley Plum.
Sweet Treat Pluerry.
Nadia Plum Cherry Hybrid.

Early Open with a few flowers Blooming:
Shiro Plum - barely started.
LaCrescent hybrid Plum.
Charlotte Peach.  Almost peak blooming.
Mary Jane Peach.

Buds present and swelling but not open:
Hanska hybrid plum.
Ember hybrid plum.
Toka hybrid plum.

I have Hollywood on Toka.  I think I'll remove it.  Hollywood is way ahead of Toka, and is much more vigorous.  I have several other starts or grafts of Hollywood, so removing it is no loss.  Except I hate to remove a successful graft of my own doing.

Most of the cherries have swelling flower buds, as do most of the the pawpaws, Asian pears, and some apples. 

There are tiny insects moving from flower to flower in the plum and peach trees.  I imagine those are pollinating insects.  I cut sections from the unknown plum tree, and Crimson Pointe, and attached them to the other trees, as pollen sources.  I also hand pollinated a little, for Nadia and Sweet Treat.  I doubt that will have much impact, but it's not difficult to do.

Sweet Treat Pluerry.  4.4.17

Nadia Plum Cherry Hybrid.  4.4.17

Mostly, Unknown Asian Plum with multigrafts.   4.4.17

Charlotte Peach.  4.4.17

Maryanne Peach.  4.4.17

Q-1-8 Peach  4.4.17

Crimson Pointe Plum.  4.4.17

Fruit Tree Blooming Notes. 3.31.17

Methley Plum.  About 25% in bloom.  3.31.17

Nadia Plum Cherry Hybrid.  About 1/3 in bloom.  3.31.17

As of today, the Asian plums are the main fruit trees with blossom.  Hollywood and Crimson Pointe, both with myrobalan heritage, are in full, amazing bloom.  I cut a few sprigs from Crimson Pointe and placed near other blooming plums to assist pollenizing insects.  Crimson Pointe is sold as an ornamental, but I like the plums.  They are small, larger than sweet cherries, very juicy and richly flavored.  The seeds are a bit large for a small plum, so they would never sell as a fruit tree.  I'm not sure if it is self pollinated, I think so.  I think Methley also has some myrobalan DNA, and is also starting to bloom with about 25% of its flowers open now.  Nadia Plum Cherry hybrid has about 30% of its flowers open, but I'm not sure that such a young tree will behave the same way as a mature specimen.

Peaches and other plums will probably  start to open soon.  I'm seeing significant pink in the swelling buds.  Most of the Asian pears have tufts of flower buds emerging from each bud, so won't be far behind.

I don't know how well the pollinating insects will do with the rain and chilly weather.  I saw a lot of tiny bees on the Crimson Pointe tree and a few on other trees, today.

Unknown Asian Plum, possibly seed grown.  About 50% in bloom.  3.31.17

Hollywood Plum in full bloom.  3.31.17

Crimson Pointe Plum in full bloom.  3.31.17

Fruit Tree Blooming. Pear Graft Progress. Orchard Phenology. 3.31.16

NOID Asian Pear.  3.31.16

Vandalay and Sweetheart Cherries.  3.31.16

 The fruit tree bloom stage now, is sweet cherries and pears.

Full bloom:
NOID Asian Pear - I wonder if this is Nijesseiki?

Maxie Hybrid Pear
Hosui Asian Pear
Mishirasu Asian Pear
Hamese Asian Pear - this one never blooms much.
Shinseiki Asian Pear
Rescue European Pear - just started.

Early full bloom-
Vandalay Sweet Cherry
Sweetheart Sweet Cherry
Ranier Sweet Cherry
Stanley Plum

Vandalay and Sweetheart are described as self pollinizing, which was part of why I planted them.  Even so, it can't hurt for them to bloom together.  Vandalay is slightly ahead of Sweetheart.  There is promise of several bowls of cherries from each tree, for the first time, this year.  This is 4th leaf.

Late Full Bloom
American species plum
Ember hybrid plum
Hanska hybrid plum

Finishing  bloom
NOID Euro Pear, I think Green Gage

 I can't find the grafting date, I think mid February, but here is the progress for the two pollinizers I added to Maxie.  Both are ghrowing.  Both source trees are blooming now, as well as Maxie, so this looks like a good choice.

Graft of Rescue Pear onto Maxie.  ~6 weeks,  3.31.16

Graft of NOID Asian Peare onto Maxie.  ~6 weeks.  3.31.16

A good pomologist would not let the stock bloom below the grafts, but I'm not looking for maximal growth, just some pollinizing blooms.  Also, I really want to try the Maxie pears, and want to give it all the chance I have to bear.  The priority is on the Maxie, not the grafts.

Puttering. 4.8.14

Mostly today I rested and did take-home work.

As for puttering -

I planted 6 pepper plants in the poly-tunnel,  raised bed that I set up for them during the winter.  Temp in that bed, before I opened the polyethylene top, was 80 F.  That opens up room in the fluorescent light stand for other plants.  Given the warmth and shelter, I think they will be fine, even though this is too early to plant in-ground without protection.  These are experimental.  I don't intend to grow as many types next year.

I planted a row of Phacelia tanacetifolia (Bee Friend) at the end of one of the raised beds.  Purpose is to feed bees some organic bee forage, and keep them attracted to my garden and yard.  I've never seen this plant in person.

I planted okra seeds that I had soaked overnight.  The varieties were Baby Bubba Hybrid, Burgundy, North + South Hybrid, Dwarf Green Long Pod, and Jambalaya.  All were chosen based on reported early bearing and smaller stature, compared to other selections.  Of the plants I tried indoors, Babby Bubba hybrid is the most compact and robust, followed by Burgundy.  Dwarf Green Long Pod was weaker and more leggy.  These were all new seeds, except North + South hybrid, which were 5 years old.

One lesson I learned last year.  Many garden resources say you can't start okra indoors and the plant outside.  The reason given is the roots are too delicate.  The ones that I started indoors last year did much better than the ones I direct seeded in the same ground.  The only ones to bear, although minimally, were the transplanted ones.  Some resources say you can transplant okra.  I'm glad I did the experiment.  It gets me ahead this year.

I cut a handful of small flower bunches from pears at home, took to Battleground, and played the bee using a paintbrush to pollinate the Asian pear there.  I noted, the smaller Asian pear I have been trying to salvage, is in bloom too, so I cross pollinated that one with the larger one.

I pollinated cherries with each other.  Sweet cherries and Almaden Duke cherry.

I noted, all potatoes are up now.  All plums are dropping flowers.  No apples are blooming yet.

Home Orchard. Bloom report. 4.6.14

Home Orchard

Bloom report.

Plums.

Methley = done.
Satsuma = petals almost all dropped.
Toka = all open , 1st petals dropping.
Unknown = about 3/4 done

Stanley = doesn't look like it will bloom.

Gage = almost fully open.
 

Peaches = all varieties are done.

Cherries.

I may have Vandalay and Sweetheart mixed in this photo.   Both are about 1/4 open.
Almaden Duke = fully open.  Really beautiful tree.
Tart Cherries = neither has started.  This is good.  I wanted them to be late in case of late frost.

None of the apples are blooming.

Dwarf apple 3-way I planted bare root this winter,  Pristine, Queen Cox, Rubinette is leafing out.
Minidwarf Karmijn de Sonneville is almost blooming.
Minidwarf Honeycrisp is almost blooming.  This is new growth last year after broke off completely 2012.  I kept this with branching very low, 2 branches.  I grafted a pollinating branch of Liberty onto the smaller branch.  The Liberty branch looks like it might bloom.
William's Pride 1-year old looks like it might bloom.  One year from grafting.
Esopus Spitzenberg 1 year old is growing, I don't expect bloom.
Golden Sentinel has some unopened flowers.
Red Sentinel has some unopened flowers.
Prairie Fire has nice burgundy leaves, and clusters of flower buds. 

The unknown, original Asian pear is in full bloom.  The others have buds, starting to open.

Fruit Tree Blossom Times. 3.30.14

Asian Plums 3.30.14

Apricot  Blossom 3.30.14

Log for plum blooming times.

Unknown plum, not quite full bloom.
Toka, full bloom.
Satsuma, just past full bloom.
Methley finished blooming.

Among others,
Greengage just beginning to bloom
Stanley, doesn't look like it will bloom.

I pollinated several times using paintbrush.  Today it did not rain.  There were many pollinating insects, especially on the unknown variety of plum.  I didn't see much traffic to Toka or Satsuma.

Among other stone fruits,
The apricot seedlings have just a few blossoms.  I have been trying to pollinate them.  Looking,on a few the base of the pistol has minimal swelling.  That is  also the case with Methley.

Among the cherries, the first flower opened today on Vandalay.  Sweetheart has not started to open.  Those are only one year old.  Almaden Duke is covered with buds, none open yet.  The tart cherries, not near opening yet.  Montmorency and Northstar.

Peaches are done blooming.  Except the one and only blossom on Indian Free.

Toka Plum Full Bloom.  3.30.14

Almaden Duke Cherry 3.30.14

Sweetheart Cherry 3.30.14

Vandalay Cherry 3.30.14