Is is all of the rain?

10 years ago

All in all my orchard is a bust this year. Yes there are apples on my Pristine but maybe only a third of what I had last year. There are about 30 apples on the tree. My Enterprise is finally having 12 small apples (rather than one or none per year, as it seven years old now). My Jonagold has about 16 apples one rather than (3-6). But boy its slow this year and the apples seem smaller. My 'Mott's Pink' apple has 4 on it for the first year of fruiting. Cannot wait to see the pink flesh. They are a little larger than a ping-pong ball.

My one peach (out of five peach trees is coming along slowly). The Italian Plum is the only tree that is performing well, but the prune-plums are smaller than they should be. Most of them have cat facing or russeting of some sort. Ugh.

My Caroline raspberry crop will be huge, thank goodness. Also It is fun watching my (poorly reviewed) Ouachita blackberries turn from red to black. I must say, they are not ripe enough to taste, but they are huge. It will take maybe one quart for a pie.

My currants and strawberries have been the best so far. With plenty to eat and put up.

This is not about patience at this point, I've learned to live with that, its now about what am I doing wrong? Mrs. G

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Comments (7)

alan haigh
10 years ago
Two summers ago things were going well in the northeast when a monsoon came in early Aug. It was 3 or 4 weeks of almost constant rain. It destroyed most everything that came into ripening at that time. Figs burst, plums split and ants were strangely all over both. Peaches were too bland to bother with. When the rain stopped in Sept things began to ripen in a useable way but the brix was down for sure.

It isn't just about how much rain- if there are some drying times between downpours it helps a lot. I'm sure temps play a part so every situation is different, but you should blame the weather an not yourself, I think.

That monsoon destroyed the crops of any farmers making a living on bottom land so I didn't feel so bad for myself.
franktank232
10 years ago
I'm way behind here...i'd say a good 2 weeks or more. I'm still waiting on everything...plums, peaches, pluots...ive had a few raspberries (black/gold)....
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mrsg47
Original Author
10 years ago
Frank thats exactly what it looks like here. So different than last summer. Putting down one of my last sprays till fall tomorrow.
northernmn
10 years ago
The birds got all of my sour cherries (wasn't very many though). Not much for apples and no plums but my trees are still young.

The blueberry and Boyne raspberry harvest is just starting and it looks like a good year for those.

The raspberries are good but they don't seem to be quite as flavorful as last year. I'm trying to figure out why.

One possibility is last year, the frost went out of the ground on March 28th a my garden. This year, frost out was May13th. Over 6 weeks later than last year. So the canes got started 6 weeks later, but the start of ripe fruit was only 2 weeks later than last year. Does compressing the growth and ripening by a full month affect the flavor at all?

We really didn't get the rain excesses that many of you experienced.
mrsg47
Original Author
10 years ago
Northernmn, I think what you are saying is right regarding frost and cold. We did have a real freeze here this past winter for the first time in three years. The last spring frost must have affected my peach trees. (it is rather funny to see five peach trees and only one single peach amongst the group).
I cannot address your question about compressing growth and the equation of flavor. Good question!
camp10
10 years ago
I'm having a so-so year. But after last year's debacle (warm March/freezing April/hot, dry summer), it feels like a bounty.

Cherries were good.
Apples look good, although the number of them is down.
Getting my first crop of pears!
Peaches are ripening, but look small??
Raspberries were poor (I think it was all the rain in June)
Blackberries are poor (most of my canes froze overwinter)

Keeping fingers crossed that the hailstorms stay away another couple months.
ltilton
10 years ago
Can't really complain about the weather. Everything is late, but coming along pretty well.

I got plenty of white cherries despite the birds, I got apricots, I'm getting Japanese plums. A lot of splitting there, but since we had a dry July, I can't blame it on rain.

Apples and pears will be late, for sure. Some years, I'm picking Galas in August.