Patty S.

Patty S.

I also have a small Cristobalina cherry (200 hrs, self-fertile) which looks like it, too, will bloom very soon. Whether this old Spanish heirloom will have pollen that will work for the Minnie Royal, I have no idea, but it might work.

I have a pair that have been in the ground for three years, on their fourth growing season. They are both just starting to bloom. This will be the first year that they bloom together.

I thought maybe it was due to the 400+ chill hours we got this year. Usually I am at 300 or less. Probably just a matter of time before yours are blooming together.

Have you had any luck with Apricot trees? Mine don't bloom heavily like my other stone fruit trees. Goldkist, Blenheim, Flavor Delight, Cot-n-candy. Haven't had more than maybe 10-15 apricots on a tree.

Tom

Patty S.

ps. Tom, thank you SO much for your very nifty "Get Chill" web site, for those of us with weather stations or near weather stations. Very helpful. For those that would like to calculate their chill hours, I've included the link to Tom's clever site. You need to find the weather station near, you, which can be found on www.wunderground.com, or use your station's ID if you have one.

Patty S

You said even your low chill apricots have few flowers. Can you elaborate a little? Do they have many or some fruit buds that don't open? Are the blooms that do open staggered, a few then a few more open but most fruit buds aborting? I think that's a sign of insufficient chilling. I've got that this year on some apricot in my greenhouse and it is now looking that ways outdoors as well.

It's even possible that these low chill cherries aren't blooming together because one needs a little more chilling than the other. You think you're getting 600 hrs and the cherries are listed at 200-300 but they still might be short.

Low chilling environments vary so widely in timing and quality of chilling that it gets very complicated. We get lots of hours below 45F here. But when it's 25F at night and 65F by day the temperature isn't long in the 37-48F range where chilling is really effective. Then mix in an endless variety of warm and cold spells of varying lengths all mixed together and it is a mess of figure out.

My apricots usually have maybe 15-20 sporadic blooms and the rest of the fruit buds are aborted and die. What little blooms I get usually turn into fruit and the trees grow vigorously in the summer.

I got 400+ chill hours this year which is unusually high with the same result. I probably average around 300 or a little less.

Streaks of weather with daily highs in the 70s and 80s is not unusual in the middle of winter. That type of weather must do something to the apricots. My pluots, peaches, and nectarines bloom profusely, regardless.

My royal cherry trees definitely bloom better than the apricots. All of the fruit buds send out flowers. Just out of sync in the past.

Tom

Additional Notes
In low-chill climates and when the trees are young, Royal Lee tends to bloom a little later than Minnie Royal, pollenizing Minnie Royal but not being well-pollenized in return. Bloom overlap improves as the trees age, but Minnie Royal always out-produces Royal Lee.

Dave Wilson - Royal Lee

Your apricot are acting exactly like mine that apparently aren't getting enough chilling. I usually get some fruit because what bloom there is sets well. Next year I'm upping my greenhouse chilling by a factor of at least 1.5. I've been thinking I was getting 700-1,000 Utah hrs. But a couple degrees too warm or too cold apparently does really make a difference. I could double chilling, in my greenhouse, but that's probably not needed.

Just for instance this year I ran the nights in greenhouse at 34-36F and that's a lot of hours because nights get cold here. Next year I'll run nights at 39-41F that's 100% chilling by the Utah model. 34-36F is no more than 0.5 hr chilling per hr. We've had probably at least 75 nights this year below freezing. So we loss a lot of chilling outside because it's too cold. In So CA I think lots of nights are in the low 40s, great but then days get too warm maybe even into negative chilling with highs in the 60s.

My sweet cherries that are apparently short on chilling bloom all their flowers. But the flowers are lacking in pollen and the female parts are in multiples or otherwise deformed.

I've also had pluots that abort flower buds at the time of bud swelling. Not so much this year but at least 50% abortion in years past. The bloom can also be spread out seeming to come in a couple of waves.

All are under 500ch. I get about 500 to 600 ch here. We have fairly long periods of time in the nighttime that we have temps from 36 to 46 degrees all winter long. Not unusual at all for temps to drop below 50 after sunset here in the hills. Plus, my stone fruit for the most part are in the lowest, "cold sink" area of my yard. My weather station sits above this area, so this year I recorded 566 ch and I didn't even start recording for several weeks, so I estimate 600 at least, and that was up at the weather station, not in the lower part of the yard. So, long story - not enough chill hours seems unlikely. I would say that my trees are still young, yet, and it's going to take a bit to get more blossoms. Like Tom, my Minnie Royal and Royal Lee, as well as several other of my stone fruit trees are much more covered in blossoms (August Pride, Desert Delight, Arctic Star which is blanketed). But, some of my apricots are a year younger than the other mentioned trees. Another poor bloomer last year was Bella Gold peacotum. Looks like it will bloom better for me this year. And, I see a few flowers on the Royal Lee missing the stigma, but not sure if they just dropped off because the blossoms are getting old, or if they were missing the stigma to start with. I'm with Tom in thinking when we get these warm ups during the winter, it somehow affects the apricots and to some degree, the plums. Maybe that is overall chill hours effect? My peaches and necatrines could care less. My plums and apricots/apriums seem to be more affected. Pluots oddly seem to be somewhat in the middle. Some look like they're going to do well, others, maybe not so much. It's a big experiment here for me, so a few more years of patience will give me better, more meaningful data. And Tom, I know that with the Minnie Royal and Royal Lee there was a bit of a lag time, but I'm now hearing possibly more than 4 years to get the timing better. That's a long time to wait. I went down to see my Minnie Royal just now, and it's finally really starting to bloom, so let's hope the Royal Lee flowers are still in tact to be cross pollinated. And, not a lot of bees down there, either. I need to plant some lavender and rosemary down there, which blooms now, and are huge, huge bee attractors.

Patty S.

I don't have the two low chill cultivars of sweet cherry just for the reason you folks are expressing. If they release a couple more pollinators I might try them just to compare. Or maybe you Socal folks need a group buy on a couple more low chill pollinators. If you had four cultivars you'd likely be set for pollination.

Patty S.

Patty S.

I got the Cristobalina from The Arboreum Co.. Unfortunately it comes on Mahaleb and I have no place for a tree of that sort, so I tried grafting a section onto Krymsk 5 last year but that failed. I'm trying again this year since the rootstock stem died back but sent up a beautiful consolation sucker to work with. Looks like a take this time.

In the meantime I've been growing out the remains of the Mahaleb tree in a container for scion wood. You're welcome to some next dormant season if you would like to try it.

I've not seen a chill hr number for Tasty Rich. But it blooms very early, a couple days after Flavorella (the earliest), and sets one fruit on top of another. If it's not low chilling I'd be shocked. It is my most consistent apricot for yield and fruit quality, and the earliest ripening every year. Always 17-19 brix which is a pretty good way to start the summer fruits. I haven't seen a wart on it yet, but as always YMMV

PS: Patty I see DWN says 700 hrs for Tasty Rich. That must be one of those overblown initial estimates. I hope so for your situation.

Patty S.

See PS above for a chill hr estimate on Tasty Rich. I suspect it is self fruitful the way it sets. But it may be getting pollinated by Flavorella or another later apricot.

Patty S.