Can't wait to try my Flavor King...when do yours ripen?

Fruitnut, have you ever tried LSU Purple fig? Wondering how it stands up to other figs youve tasted. Ive got 2 LSU Purples now and havent had a fruit to taste yet. I think Im seeing what looks to be tiny figs starting to push at the leaf nodes. Hopefully I will get a small crop. Ive got one of them in a pot and one in ground. Ive read that potted figs usually produce better fruit? Can you weigh in on that?

Blueberry: Snowchaser for flavor, Sweetcrisp for everything else.

Peach: Tropic Snow was delicious this year. Its the only peach I have and I must say its the best peach Ive ever had. White fleshed, melting and very sweet. Dad said it tastes like candy. Makes a mess of you when you eat it!

Blackberry: Tupi or Tupy how ever its spelled. Fantastic berry. Balanced sweet tart favor, more sweet when dead ripe. Im ready to trash Kiowa. I have one other unknown thats better flavored but dont know what it is so I cant count that one. Gator said its probably Chickasaw but thats just a educated stab.

Steve,

You have us at a disadvantage as you grow so dang much:) I was intrigued by your grape but I see I can't grow it here, shame.

Blueberry is sweetcrisp hands down.

I have 4 types of peaches and Floridaprince won this year. Not only is the fruit awesome the canopy is pushing 20' across after just 16 months.

We can only grow like 3 plums but they were good.

Grapes I like nesbitt best, amazes me how much like a concord it tastes.

I ripped out my other blackberries and just have 90' of Kiowa now but the Tupy have me intrigued so will add 30' of them as a test.

As you know I am up to just about 70 fig varieties now..I should make a post on that journey. Some of the plants started from cuttings in November are now 4 feet tall and have a couple figs on them. Can't wait to start sampling and comparing but most of that will be next year.

Pluot: Flavor King, Flavor Supreme at its peak
Plum: Emerald Beaut
Melon: Early Sugarshaw (no longer available - seed company merger, I think)
Apple: Pink Lady (for our climate)

The new hybrid Crenshaw that everybody sells is "Lilly", which is a much more forgiving melon for commercial growers. It has good sweetness, but not as much "Crenshaw" flavor as Early Sugarshaw. It is much firmer, too, and a prettier, more uniform exterior color. Keeps getting sweeter on the vine for many days after it turns completely yellow. Doesn't have the melting quality or fabulous flavor of Early Sugarshaw. Early Sugarshaw has thicker, softer flesh than the traditional Crenshaw.

Extra Summer Sweet comes in second for me in tasty melons for a hot, dry climate. It may split if over-watered, but nothing like the Charentais type melons. Plants set well. Quite easy to grow. Some people may find some of the "musky" netted melons more to their liking, but I've had damage to my sense of smell which makes them too strong for me.

I also like Ogen (Ha' Ogen), though it may not be sweet enough for you, Fruitnut. It's a soft melon, with very fragrant green flesh. Not a hybrid. Slips when ripe. Short shelf life, bruises easily. Looks great when not bruised. Easy to grow.

How does OrangeRed compare to Robada or Golden Sweet apricot?

I think I'm going to have to get into blueberries. Thinking about container growing.

This post was edited by carolync1 on Wed, Jul 10, 13 at 15:01

Frank: My Flavor King ripens in about 2-3 weeks.

blueboy: No haven't tried LSU Purple and only about 8 others than Strawberry Verte. Paradiso is very similar to SV.

Carolyn: Robada was my old favorite until I tasted Orangered this year. I'm just hoping Orangered will duplicate this years results. I did have fruit from two trees and they were both fabulous. Haven't tasted enough Golden Sweet apricot to be sure where it ranks but it's now on my best of season apricots. My favorites from earliest to latest: Tasty Rich, Tomcot, Robada, Orangered, and Golden Sweet. Orangered topped the list this year without the highest brix.

I find that high brix enhances the flavor of almost any fruit. I think it's partly that the conditions giving high brix also enhance and increase flavor elements.

Don't know how far Summer Muscat grape can go. Even though seedless it's not up to retail store standards for berry size or ease of eating. But when they combine that flavor and sweetness in a user friendly grape I'd think it will take the grape market by storm. With the new marker assisted breeding techniques that should be just a matter of time.

This post was edited by fruitnut on Wed, Jul 10, 13 at 16:01

Fruitnut,

I looked the grape up, it said it was a raisin grape. Have you dried drying them?

bamboo:

Yes, seems like I remember it being for drying on the vine. Cut the canes after the grapes are ripe, dry them right there, and shake off. As you probably know Thompson's are dried by laying them on paper, just like butcher paper, laid on the ground. Any rain is a disaster.

I haven't tried drying them. But some berries are already shriveling and I'm a week or two from fully ripe. Separating out the stems would be a difficult task without the commercial equipment. I'll try drying some this year just to see what they taste like.

Summer Royal makes a potent raisin. It is my former first favorite but fresh hasn't been quite as good the last couple years. The fresh flavor of Summer Royal is high by most seedless grape standards, and said to be muscat, but nothing like Summer Muscat.

Here is a link that might be useful: grape pics and descriptions

This post was edited by fruitnut on Wed, Jul 10, 13 at 18:23

One of the nice things about growing your own fruits and veggies is that you get to share with friends and family. Often times it can be a good way to gauge whether or not your fruit is truly special. That said, it never ceases to amaze me how so many people prefer sweet and crunchy fruit to soft, sweet and melting (or juicy). So my winners for the taste/texture combo are the fruits that can bear sweet and crunchy and soft and melting on the same tree (or bed).

Peach: Babcock will have both texture types at the same time! The sweet and crunchy ones will hold a long time. I still have some on my tree that started ripening fruit mid-June.

Plum: Burgundy will for the most part stay crunchy and get progressively sweeter and wine like as time goes on. The super soft ones (they usually drop to the ground in one-off fashion) go directly to my wife as she really loves them.

Strawberry: Camarosa has a very firm flesh and great taste that I have come to enjoy.

Pluot: Flavor Grenade is the best based on the texture/flavor combo for me, mostly because Flavor King is horrible if not dead ripe in a super crunchy state.

Diamond Muscat is supposed to have a stronger muscat flavor than Summer Muscat, hard to believe. The same source says Summer Muscat only has a mild muscat flavor. Mine are anything but mild at least to my taste. Others that have tried mine all seem to think they are great.

Here is a link that might be useful: Diamond Muscat

Too bad a number of my trees are not yet old enough to fruit, fingers crossed for next year.

1. Peach (the only one that has 'A' peach this year is 'Elberta'. Not the best peach in the world, but when only one is on the tree its terrific.

2. Apple: Early ripening 'Pristine' sweet and tart' at the same time, love it.
3. Raspberry: Caroline, hands down! I have four other varieties that do not compare.
4. Grapes: Concord: just 'old fashioned' I guess. Makes the best grape pie!!!
5. Plums: Italian (only plum tree out of five that has set fruit. Great for baking and makes great jam.

Sure wish I could talk about my Chinese peach or mirabelles, but no fruit yet. Report will be better next year I hope! Up to 26 trees now.

Fruitnut,

Have you tried Zard, and if so, how does it compare to OrangeRed, its progeny?

milehigh:

Haven't tried Zard. That sounds like something Scott would try.

Thanks for the lists everyone.

@Blueboy Potted figs can produce more figs at an earlier age. In terms of flavor though, in ground mature tree is the best. LSU Purple is known to improve its flavor after a few years of harvest. I tasted it off a big mature tree though and while sweet and good I think I found it slightly boring.

I have both Zard and Orangered. Its like apples and oranges, they are both fantastic in their own unique way. Zard is sweeter and more sour; Orangered is more delicate. Right now my Moniqui are starting to ripen, they are another fantastic white 'cot. Its my favorite white because it sets a lot of fruit; Zard just likes to put on wood for me. The new Sugar Pearls ended up being a disappointment, I was hoping they would be the ultimate white 'cot but no flavor. Full report when all have ripened...

Fruitnut, I wish I could grow those muscat grapes, too much work in my climate. I added three of the new U Ark. varieties this spring and am hoping one of them works out. I agree on Strawberry Verte, my favorite fig is Battaglia Green which is a very similar tasting fig. This may be the last year for Flavor King, it seems to have some problem every year. The Flavor Supreme I keep but this year I have only ONE fruit on it!!

Tupi blackberry sounds interesting. Since it was marketed as huge in size I got suspicious, huge fruit often means huge and nothing else good about it. My new favorite is Newberry, its a real WOW and is a full tier up from any other blackberry taste in my mind - a unique flavor that tastes like a mix of many kinds of highly flavorful berries all in one. This is from a limited tasting but its enough for me to decide to add a whole lot more of them.

Scott

Most things in my yard arent bearing yet. I will say the chester blackberry i had was delicious - way better then any blackberry ive ever gotten from the store. Patio temptation strawberries were pretty good too - if small. The plant is 5 years old, and continue to bears heavily.

Ones im waiting for:

Honeygold apple - Supposed to taste like a slightly mild golden delicious (parent tree), with a honey overtone. I love fresh golden delicious apples so I am hopeful for these. Honeygold is also the parent for the now popular honeycrisp.

Seedling trees - Yup, I have 3 and am in for a long wait in regards to the apple and pear, and even then the odds are they will revert closer to the wild apple but you never know. I am probably going to graft a few branches of named apples as insurance.

Grapes - I now have 6 kinds of varying uses and hardiness: Flame seedless, niagra, himrod, beta, valiant and a few volunteer seedlings.

I grew a green plum from seed as well, and apparently green plums have a better chance to being similar to the parent, or even close enough to say they come "true" from seed.

Scott-

I got you beat..my Flavor Supreme has 5 fruit...a little bigger then a golf ball at this point. That white cot sounds very interesting. Do you prefer those to orange cots? Are they more like a white peach?

Fruit-
Wow..if you Flavor King ripens in late July...mine will ripen in...Sept? Mine are still very small...

Frank:

Ya September sounds about right for FK in your area with a late spring. That's a long time to fend off everything. My FS is long ago ripe.

Scott:

Thanks for all your tips especially Newberry. Zard sounds interesting if it will bear half a crop. I'm looking forward to your apricot report. I'm very happy with my current apricot lineup but there's always room to try another and our results so far seem similar. Sorting out Orangered and Golden Sweet involved a lot of effort, rejected varieties, and expense but worth it.

Strawberry Verte may be as good as it gets for a fig. Mine dry on the plant to the perfect moisture level for me. Do yours shrivel and dry while hanging?

Persian:

The likely reason a big mature fig has better fruit goes back to the dry farming results here and in Iran. A big deep rooted tree can run a more consistent water deficit than a young or potted tree. That's assuming the environment is dry enough to run a deficit. I can't stand those big watery figs that split open after too much rain or irrigation.

When a tree is pruned back heavily it's water status increases because leaves are reduced more than roots. This tends to reduce fruit quality in my experience.

This post was edited by fruitnut on Thu, Jul 11, 13 at 11:59

I'm still waiting for most of my fruits to ripen, the peaches and plums are closest but not quite ready.

The Black Mission figs on my Mom's large tree are just starting to ripen and the unusual summer rain we had last month really plumped up the fruits and and watered down their flavor. They are nearly twice as large as usual, and about half as sweet. Pretty disappointing. I'm wondering if water deficit from now until the second crop ripens might make those ones a bit sweeter.

Fruitnut, I pick the figs at different ripeness levels depending on how much bird/wasp action there is on them, but I agree the partly dried ones are the best.

Frank, the white apricots are analogous to white vs yellow peaches, they share some flavors but not others. The primary problem is they tend to be stingy producers (or, they crack, rot, etc). I have tried many of them and only Moniqui so far is in the winner category.

Scott

In order of ripening::::::::::::

1. Strawberry::: Earliglow. They don't even have to be fully ripe and are still as sweet as honey.

2. Black raspberry::: Jewel

3. Apricot::: Stark Bros. Sweetheart. The seed is an almond. It is not terribly large, but s definitely an almond.

4. Peaches::: In order of ripening --- Stark Bros. Starking Delicious, Red Haven (this one is the "gold standard" in peaches), July Elberta, Canadian Harmony, Contender, Crest Haven, Redskin. My Elberta Queen throws its fruit early, so it has to get the chain saw even though it is the healthiest one in the block.

5. Grapes::: Ontario, Steuben, Sheridan, Catawba, Schuyler

6. Plums::: Early Golden

7. Pluots::: Flavor Gem. Yielded 2+ bushels this year from a single tree 10' tall and first year of full bearing. The tree is only 4 years old.

8. Apples::: Mollies Delicious, Honeycrisp, Criterion, Macoun, Royal Gala, Fuji, Suncrisp.

9. Kiwi (arctic hardy)::: Ananasnaja (a Russian name, and means, "pineapple like").

See photo below for Sheridan ripening on the vine.

See photo below for Mollies Delicious.