Those things sure don't need much chilling. Mine with lots of chilling blooms all at once and sets at least 10 times too much fruit. It's a pain to thin. Really hard to find the fruit amongst the leaves. Fruits the size of yours would be buried in leaves.

This post was edited by fruitnut on Mon, Mar 31, 14 at 11:23

Yes, the behavior this year, for most things, was an initial early bloom due to high temps, and some fruitset. Then a full bloom after a good soaking rain, and more fruitset. They are leafing out fast now and still blooming and setting fruit. This from a minute ago:

I've had mine for only a couple years.I can see why they set so much fruit,as they have massive blooms.
The trouble this year,early this month,there was a bit of warm weather and plants were kicking in and flowering and then colder,rainy days came.The bees were basically nonexistent and mostly still are.I did take several flowers from a Santa Rosa Plum and touched them to theirs.
Someone said yesterday,this was the wettest March ever in this area.
This Pluot and a few others are kind of trial trees for me,because usually 80 degrees is about all this area can muster during the Summer. Brady

This post was edited by Bradybb on Sun, Aug 10, 14 at 3:17

Those are interesting bloom clusters. Mine look nothing like that. Goes to show that trees are somewhat variable according to environment.

First real thinning pass early yesterday:

All BirdBlock'd up --and the waiting game continues...

Mrclint:

Are your pluot and nectarine trees still growing at this point? That's a good indication of water status. How much are you watering and how good is your soil; deep, shallow, droughty?

These dang trees all want to grow bigger. ;) Summer pruning keeps them in check. My preference is for vigorous roots just for survival sake --this FG pluot is on myro. I have had some hits and misses on citation.

My soil gets powdery and dusty if I don't mulch and maintain somewhat even moisture. I suppose that would make it a mixture of clay and silt. Not sure what deep soil means or how to gauge it.

I fertilize in the spring with GRO-POWER FLOWER 'N' BLOOM 3-12-12 like DWN recommends. I deep water the trees once a week in late Spring and through Summer. Pots get watered daily. I get bad fruit splits if I hold back water, and citrus just won't ripen properly. It's a zero sum game holding back water here. I won't flood too much around 'Babcock' right now since it is in full harvest mode.

Mr. Clint your trees are beautiful. I will look for Gro power flower in bloom 3-12-12 on line if I cannot get it at the big box stores. I normally use just 10-10-10 fertilizer along with some compost just as the trees are coming out of dormancy in early spring. I have had a flavor grenade pluot that I bought at a publix grocery store, but I cannot imagine what one tastes like straight from the tree!!! That will be the next tree that I purchase! Keep up the good work!

ahgrower, thanks for the kind words! I used 10-10-10 one year on a few trees and will never do that again. Caused a lot of growth with fewer blooms/fruit.

A dead ripe FG is a special piece of fruit. The sweet crunchiness is truly unique.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gro-Power: Georgia Distributors

I chomped into a 'Flavor Grenade' a day or so ago and was surprised how good they are already. They will get sweeter over time, but are excellent here right now.

The FG are still coming in sweet and crunchy:

I wonder if you could make pluot pie--- just like apple pie.

I love flavor grenade pluots---they taste like fuji apples.

They would probably make an interesting wine.

I can grow Flavor Grenade here,yay!Well,two anyway this year.The first fruiting.This tree was also attacked mercilessly by Aphids this year.
The one with color fell to the ground and ants were feeding,otherwise I'd probably pick about September.That's the plan for the other one.The flavor was good though.Kind of reminded me of Pineapple.
Those big leaves in the photo are of a Pakistan Mulberry. Brady

Great looking fruit and interesting shape! Mrs. G

Bradybb, nice color on that FG! Mine have been mostly green with a bit of blush. Spider mites have been ravaging my lot since early Summer. We need a couple of good soaking rains and a bit more chill this time around.

I had some broken pit tips in my 'Flavor Grenade' pluots this year. Mostly just an annoyance when you're chomping and have to work around a small piece of pit.