letsski:

I'm sorry I used your fruit as an example. But I wasn't saying your fruit was store bought. I said it LOOKED like a store bought low brix fruit. Does the tip have any sugar speckling? What is the brix?

letsski:

I reread my post above. And what I should have said is that it looks like an over watered nectarine to me. Maybe not but I've never grown a really good nectarine that doesn't have the speckling caused by sugar accumulation under the skin.

And the second fruit could be thrips damage but could also be excessive water deficit.

Please accept my apology. I can see how my comments weren't that clear.

The leaves on your Nectarines look much darker than the one I have,a Fantasia.Is this normal for this variety or is there something I can add to the soil?I bought it potted earlier this year and it was about eight feet tall,but I cut it down to about five.Thanks,Brady

Jujube li, GA-888, Honey Jar, and Sugarcane.

fruitnut: Speaking very generally, are pluots your favorite variety of stone fruit? I'm thinking that instead of stressing myself out to acquire Honey Blaze/Royale, I will add a couple more pluots to my roster. I have 20+ peach/nectarine trees, and only 2 pluots, so I think this would be reasonable. Thoughts and variety recommendations? I already have Flavor King and Supreme, thinking about adding Finale and Geo Pride.

tmunson:

No my favorite fruits are nectarine. To me they have a richer flavor than pluot, sweet cherry, or apricot which all rank second tier. Sweet cherry and grapes are the easiest to get really sweet, 25-35 brix common. You have the two best pluot for eating quality but that can vary depending on growing conditions. I love my Summer Muscat grapes this year. They are about as good as anything but with small berries. And sweet cherries can get kinda boring and small with a pit after I eat enough. Figs can be very good but mine are mostly getting moldy thru the eye this year.

Flavor Finale is worth getting because it is late and good quality. Flavor Supreme has superb quality for me but can wash out in really hot weather according to DWN. It's major issue is poor set, the bees refuse to visit the flowers. Each year when Arctic Star and Flavor Supreme ripen in late May I'm thinking which is better and it usually ends up Arctic Star. Flavor King usually is a highlight of the summer. It reminds me why it's by far the best flavored plum/pluot.

So you have a great start with your current lineup. You'll just have to see what suits your taste as you can grow it.

Fruitnut,

Not a problem and no offense taken. I always enjoy reading your posts. Here are a couple more from this year's crop - think this is the sugar speckling you are speaking of. I don't know the brix - a tester is one of the items I want to get on my wish list. Just know that everyone says they are the sweetest they've had.

letsski:

Yes those are nice looking fruit. My Arctic Rose has never panned out. It's on Citation and is having the stunting problem nectarines sometime have on that root. Glad yours are working for you!!

Fruitnut,

What is your preferred rootstock for nectarines?

I think I share your tastes. That looks really delicious and just the right texture and juiciness. I love sweet, but it can definitely get too much. And dripping down the chin isn't a positive to me either.

Its one of the reasons I much prefer European plums to Japanese and that I love sweet apricots.

tmunson:

Overall I've had great luck with Citation. Just this one Arctic Rose that refuses to grow or set fruit. Don't be surprised if that happens but it's not common. DWN can't answer why but they don't recommend Citation for commercial nectarine.

Krymsk 1 has worked well and is very dwarfing. But it's not widely available. It is sensitive to water deficit which can be helpful in obtaining high brix. It can also be an issue if the deficit goes too far.

And I'll agree with the others on one point. Brix can be too high after a while. I'm about sugared out at this point in the year.

So I screwed up on my description of my Nectarine; it's actually an Arctic Star, not an Arctic Rose. It is on Citation. Just found the original tag.

Arctic Star is a DELICIOUS nectarine! Does anyone have any experience with Burchell Nursery varieties? I'm thinking about trying some of their varieties.

To anyone interested in acquiring an Ortanique Tangor, Four Winds carries them, just shoot them an email. I am having one shipped to my local OSH.

Wow, Four Winds does not show they have the Ortanique tangor on the online store anywhere. That is good to know. The only grower in the state of California that I was aware of that grew the Ortanique right now (and other somewhat rare citrus), was Monterey Bay Nursery. A great, great wholesale nursery that is now having difficulties with these rare citrus due to the more stringent CDFA guidelines for quarantines and treatment. Very sad. Not sure if Dave at Bonita Creek Nursery is still growing them or not. He is a big CRFG member in San Diego and a nice guy, but hard to get a return call or email from him. He's kind of a one man show, and very busy. Another option if you like a citrus with a grapefruit overtone is the Wekiwa (or Lavender Gem) tangelolo, Yes, that is correct, tangelolo. Clausen's Nursery here in Vista grows them from their own budwood, as they used to actually grow this variety commercially about 30 years ago. In other states the flesh can be lavender tinged. Mine aren't, but they are delicious. Just a hint of grapefruit and very sweet. Make excellent eating out of hand citrus as well as juice.

A source for those in California that would like to order a Sandra Rose cherry (on Krymsk, which is a great dwarfing rootstock) is Schlabach's Nursery in New York. They WILL ship to California, whereas other out of state nurseries that grow Sandra Rose are not willing to ship. And those that will ship (C&O, Fowler's and Van Well) didn't bud any Sandra Rose up for 2013, I called all 3. Their phone number is 866-600-5203, and their mailing address is 2784 Murdock Rd., Medina, NY 14103. No web site as they are Amish-owned (so you're lucky they've got a phone number.) Very nice folks. For me down here in S. Calif, I really need very dwarfing rootstock for my cherries, as they grow like maniacs. Colt is not dwarfing enough, way too much pruning for my taste.

Fruitnut, the best stone fruit this year for me, besides my Minnie Royal and Royal Lee cherries was my SpiceZee nectaplum. Oh, and my Flavor King pluot. Out of this world good. Especially the SpiceZee, which was extra sweet (sorry, can't report on brix as I don't have my refractometer yet). But, for me, who does not like tart stone fruit, it was just perfect. Still looking for a Golden Sweet apricot, no luck there. Or Honeykist.

Speaking of citrus, you might want to consider adding the Seedless Kishu mandarin. By far the best tasting mandarin going. Excellent. Tiny fruits, but completely seedless. You can pop a half a fruit in your mouth at a time. Just the best tasting mandarin I've ever eaten. Sweet and complex.

Hoosier, thanks so much for the info! I will have to track down a Kishu and a Wekiwa. My understanding is that Four Winds grows a variety of trees not shown on their website, and that emailing them and asking is the best way to go. They are a bit slow to respond, but are very helpful.

Any idea of other varieties that Schlabach's carries or what the price is to get one tree shipped to CA?

Golden Sweet apricot is available through Burchell Nursery, I would contact them and find your local retailer to order one for you, that's what I did.

Thanks for the tip on the Golden Sweet, tmunson. I have Schlabach's 2012 catalog, so what in particular are you interested in? I can let you know what their lineup was for 2012, I expect it will be similar for 2013. A single cherry tree is $16.00 and the shipping is based on dollar totals. This falls into their second tier of shipping, $16-30 order, so shipping would be $10.50, put a $5.00 boxing fee. You'll love both of those citrus choices for sure. Very interesting and very delicious.

Patty S.

I'm interested in their peach and nectarine offerings... If you have a minute to let me know what they have, that would be great.

Sure, here's the rundown for nectarines and peaches. Peaches are all on Lovell, no mention for Nectarines, but I imagine they are also on Lovell:

Nectarines:
Easternglo
Flavor Top
Fantasia
Saturn (Peento flat peach)
Sweet Cap (Peento flat peach)

Early Peaches:
PF1
Desiree
Earlystar
Reliance

Mid Season Peaches:
Red Haven
Starfire
PF Lucky 13
Glo Haven
Coralstar
Contender
Harmony
Loring
Gloria
Veteran

Late Season Peaches:
Madison
Baby Gold
Crest Haven
PF 28
Autumnstar

White Peaches:
Blushingstar
NJ252

Now, all that being said :-) These all may require chill hours that are beyond what you have in N. Calif since Schlabach's in in Upstate New York, not far from Rochester (can you say SNOW?) So, you may need to consider some of the Dave Wilson Nursery/Zaiger varieties. What is your USDA and your Sunset zone? I can give you my stone fruit lineup if you'd like. Many very experienced folks on this list like Fruitnut, harvestman, denninmi, econ0003, Scott Smith, Olga to name a few have helped me to make wise choices for my particular micro climate and chill hours. I am in a rather unusual area, where I happen to get quite a few more chill hours than other areas that are just a few miles away from me, yet rarely ever see temps below 32 degrees (i.e., a lot of winter night time hours from 36 to 46 degrees). So, I am able to grow a few "borderline" stone and pome fruits that folks just 3 miles from me cannot. I would check your chill hours to make sure. We have a very nice web site here set up in the state of California, where you can check your local weather station to see about what your chill hours might be:
http://fruitsandnuts.ucdavis.edu/chillcalc/index1.htm

If you're under, say 800 ch, then many of the above varieties may not produce or produce well for you. Let me know, and I'll give you my stone fruit lineup.

Patty S.

I'd love to hear your stone fruit lineup! According to that website, my area averages about 1100 chill hours, which I think is pretty good?

Plenty! You can grow anything, then. You must be up in the foothills?? Here's my lineup, thanks to the great folks on this forum:

Apples:
Anna (M111)
Pink Lady (M7)
Dorsett Golden (EZ-Pick EMA111)
Red Fuji (M111)
Fuji (?)

Pears
LATE
Seckel Pear (OHxF333) S
Comice Pear (OHxF97) S
Concorde Pear (OHxF87) S
Moonglow Pear (OHxF333) S
Fondante de Moulins Lille Pear N
Pineapple Pear LEC
Rescue pear (OHxF333) RT
White Doyenne E. Pear (OHxF333) RT
Suij E. Pear (OHxF333) RT
EARLY
Jiugnos Pear TM (OHxF97) N
Bella Di Guigno Pear (OHxF333)RT
Butirra Precoce Morettini Pear N
Citron de Carmes Pear N (OHxF333)
Aurora Pear (OHxF 513) OGW
Ubileen Pear (OHxF 513) OGW
Doyenne de Juliette E.pear (OHxF333)

Cherries:
Carmine Jewel Bush Cherry
Crimson Passion Bush Cherry
Minnie Royal (Colt)
Royal Lee (Colt)
Royal Rainier (Mazzard)
Craig's Crimson (Mazzard)
Lapins (Colt)
Sandra Rose (Krymsk - Schlabach's)

Apricots, Pluots, Plums, Apriums, Nectarines:
Blenheim (Royal) Apricot (ultra dwarf-Pumiselect)
Autumn Glo Apricot (Citation)
Spice Zee Necta-Plum (Citation)
Cot-N-Candy Aprium (Citation)
Tasty Rich Aprium
Flavor Rich Aprium (Citation)
Goldkist Apricot (Myro29)
Flavorella Plumcot (Citation)
Flavor King Pluot (Citation)
Flavor Finale Pluot (Myro29C)
Dapple Dandy Pluot (St. Julian A)
Burgundy Plum (Citation)
Emerald Beaut Plum (Citation)
Stark Saturn Donut Peach (Nemaguard)
Sweet Bagel Peach (Lovell)
Flat Wonderful Peach (Stark Redleaf) G
Galaxy Flat Peach (Lovell) OGW
Sauzee King Necatrine (Citation)
August Pride Peach (Nemaguard)"
Autumn Rose Peach (Lovell) OGW
Arctic Star Nectarine (Citation)
Snow Queen Nectarine (ultra-dwarf Pumiselect)
Desert Delight Necatrine (Nemaguard)
Bella Gold Peacotum (Citation)
4-in-One Peach (Mid-Pride, Eva's Pride, Flordaprince, ? On Nemaguard)

That's my pomes and stone fruit line up, at least for now :-)

Patty S.

Patty what a list! Do you have a 'pick your own' orchard, or is the orchard just for you? Fantastic list or really nice trees! Mrs. G

Thank you, Mrs. G. This is all my own orchard, intensively planted due to only having about an acre. I keep everything pruned down to no taller than 8' (I'm a wee bit height impaired at 5'5", and I've banned ladders from my garden). I decided I wanted variety over quantity, so I keep things in check size-wise and keep small canopies, in favor of many varieties that provide a long span of fruit over the fruiting season. I have to give credit back to many great list members here who helped me to pick some of the best varieties that ripen at varying times, and not to be afraid to push the envelope a bit for some of the higher chill hour trees, which actually did well this year for me. Found out that the snails, squirrels and rats particularly like my flat peaches and nectarines of all (and the Sauzee King nectarine was very good, too, the few I got). My only disappointment was the Bella Gold Peacotum. Weak grower, no fruit this year. So, I'm hoping for some fruit next season from this interspecific. Whatever extra fruit I have, I give to family and friends. I'm also going to learn to put up low/no sugar fruit as well. That's the only downside to extra stone fruit - how to put them up or save them without a bunch of extra sugar. We did just cut up and freeze some, as we can then make smoothies with them. A really excellent and simple way to save fruit with just its own goodness, and not ruin the healthful qualities with a bunch of sugar.

As an aside, my Prime Jim blackberry is producing a second round of incredibly delicious berries!! I'm sure this has to do with the 1st year and 2nd year canes, and shockingly, the birds, rats and squirrels have not discovered this vine, so all the fruit so far has been mine to eat!! Nothing like going out in the morning and picking a big handful of super sweet, no chemicals added blackberries and plopping them on top of my (high protein) cereal!! Oh my gosh, that's what it's all about. Love it.

And, this is just my stone and pomes :-) I have many pomegranates, blueberries, blackberries, bosenberries,lingonberries, honeyberries, figs, and over 65 citrus trees on my property as well. We could survive the apocalypse here, lol!!

Patty S.

I think you could survive anything! Do you have help? I too have an acre, but mowing the lawns (which I do not do)trimming all the privet (which I do not do) is so time consuming. Good gravy! Your property is loaded with trees. I went to the website Trees of Antiquity, and now NEED a gourmet French apple. Oh well, make it 15 trees! Your list is inspiring. Mrs. G

Just called Schlabach's and didn't get an answer. I left a message requesting a catalog and stating that I would like to place an order, so we'll see? Thanks for that tip, Patty. Now... any sources you know of for Honey Blaze or Honey Royale Nectarine trees? ;)

Yes, you'll most likely have to leave a message. They probably have a "barn phone", which means they don't really use a telephone being Amish, can't have one at the business, but for emergencies, they've got one in the barn. Hard to explain unless you understand the Amish culture. They will call your back, they are very good about that. Very nice people to work with.

And, no thoughts on either of those two varieties, but Fruitnut, olpea, franktank, or harvestman may know.

Patty S.

tmunson, try contacting Bay Laurel Nursery to see if they are planning on offering either of these nectarines for 2013. I know in the past they have had Honey Kist on Citation. Maybe if you special order them both right away, they'll have time to bud some up for you. Let me know.

Patty S.

Okay, just trying to make this thread a bit longer, not really quite long enough, lol!! tmunson, looks like the Honey Kist was on the DWN SOFT Order Program last year, and likely will be on for 2013 (no new SOFT Order Form posted yet on DWN), so check with Bay Laurel and if they aren't planning on stocking it, they can order for you via the SOFT program. Think is available on Citation through the SOFT program.

Patty S.

Honey Kist was on the SOFT program, but Honey Blaze and Honey Royale (both DWN varieties and both fruitnut's favorites) are carried ONLY by Adam's County Nursery as far as I can tell, and they don't ship to CA. I contacted DWN directly and they said that I would have to order 50 trees to get those two varieties, as they are only available for their commercial customers (ugh).

"any sources you know of for Honey Blaze or Honey Royale Nectarine trees?"

I was just going to mention that Adams carries both of those, but didn't know if they'd ship to CA.

Unfortunately Adams will not ship to California, olpea. I wonder if there are any other sources out there. Now, not to dismay, tmunson. We can try to put together a group order with DWN and see if any of our local CRFG chapter members would also like to participate. I would think that between our forum and perhaps two CRFG chapters, we could find a total of 50 people to buy each variety. I'd be willing to buy one of each, and I would also be willing to contact my local CRFG chapter and see if anyone is interested in participating. We just need to pick a shipping location to ship all the trees, then be willing to ship part of the order to each other for CRFG members to pick up their trees. I know several forum members have done this successfully. As long as we stay within the state of Calif we should be fine. We would charge additional for an shipping costs incurred to cover that, but I'm willing to put the leg work in to break even and end up with two trees. You can contact me off the forum as well if you want to see if we can get enough advance interest to get the trees all spoken for.

Patty S.

Mrs. G, I have a gardener that comes in once a week and just does the ornamentals. And my miniscule patch of grass (holding out, grew up with a lawn in Calif, but those days of cheap water and lots of lawn are LONG gone here, lol!) So, I do all my fruit trees myself. Getting ready in fact, to build a couple of trellis for some Dragonfruit cuttings my neighbor gave me. I have to dig two mighty big holes and dump in about 4 bags of GrowMulch for them. They like it rich, and my soil is basically DG. So, that's the next big fruit tree project on the dockett. That and the perpetual digging of more fruit tree holes (my husband may divorce me after this next and last round, lol!) He's the official "hole digger". I'm the planter, caretaker and pruner (although he's pretty good with the Felcos, too.) Once the trees are shaped, the pruning becomes less. And, our disease pressure here is far, far less than most all other parts of the USA. My biggest pest problems are snails, and worst disease issue is PLC, which is terrible here. The rest are pretty minor stuff- Pear Saw Fly, some later season fungal stuff & powdery mildew on my grapes if we get monsoon weather in the summer (no rain, just awfully humid). My only regret is that I didn't make the effort to try to get these trees special ordered all on smaller, more dwarfing rootstock, like Krymsk, New Root 1, etc. The upside - lots more fruit, the downside, lots more pruning. I will say, the few trees I have on Pumiselect may be too dwarfed. Huge, significant difference between those two or three I have on Pumiselect, and those on Citation. It's a lot of work, especially since I still work full time. But, I work from home, and so does my husband, so we buy ourselves about 3 hours a day to get to put to the yard, instead of battling the S. California freeways.

Patty S.

Patty,

Where did you get the trees on Pumiselect? How tall are they?

Thanks,

gary

I have a Blenheim apricot and an Artic Star nectarine on Pumiselect, and interestingly, I got them from my local Lowe's. I saw them during bare root season and labeled as "ultra-dwarf". I wanted to experiment with them to see how they grew, compared to Citation and St. Julian rootstocks. Let me think for a bit so I can remember who2011 the grower is. I didn't record that on my spreadsheet, unfortunately. I do remember contacting the grower to ask them what rootstock they used for their "ultra dwarf" bare root stone fruits, and that was the answer. They are VERY small. About 1/2 the height of my other stone fruits on Citation and St. Julian. The Blenheim did not produce any fruit, the Artic Star had about 4. This was their first season (planted in February 2011). So, hoping for more fruit next season. I'll re-post if my old brain can remember the grower. Someone fairly large here in California.

Patty S.

Raja pears win the contest for the biggest producer of fruit from a young tree. Must have had 25 ppounds or more of fruit from my 5 year old tree this year.

Although another Raja the deer hit is as old, but does not produce anything. So can't say 100% for sure.

Korean Giant is also another great producer for me. Don't have any old trees, so all my experience is from 4 or 5 year olds.

Keepitlow, so nice to find someone else who loves their Raja. I used to think that Hosui was my favorite in flavor, with Raja next but my actual favorite to grow since it has been a true breeze to manage from the first day. First leaf post autumn planting it produced several dozen fruit, and last year about twice that. Also last year the pears had a more complex extra special flavor I don't recall from the prior year. Anyway, I love my Raja.

Pam in cinti (zone 6, so maybe its a zonal thing)

Keepitlow,
I just got a Raja a couple of weeks back and it's on Bet. rootstock. What growing habit does it have? Medium/large tree? Vigorous? upright/spreading? Like Hosui? Or Olympic? I have my tree planted in a location and am beginning to second guess where I planted it. I'm glad to hear it's a good pear.
Noogy

Hi Noogy

My Raja has been vigorous and upright. The fruit load leads to a natural spreading form. I think my tree was several years old when I got it, but I've only had to do minimal pruning to remove crossers with light tipping of other too long branches. It is now about 8 ft tall compared to Hosui at 5 ft (both were labeled dwarf). My Hosui produces decently, but requires very careful pruning and has had some branch breakage. Olympic is new to me, just planted it in early November. I like tart, and Rajah has a nice tartness that hides near the core. First year I had a bad cracking problem on my Raja so I pulled off all the cracked fruit. It developed a whole new cropload that turned out beautifully.

HTH

Pam in cinti

Finally found my notes on Hollybrook Orchards dwarfing rootstock. They told me they use either OHFX333 or 97 for their Dwf Asian Pears. My Raja has very supple bendy branches, Hosui and Daisui Li are very brittle with no give before breaking. Not sure if that changes with diff rootstock, but wanted to give you clear info.

Pam in cinti

'The advice I would offer you is to choose for more than relative flavor and try to spread your season as much as possible. Apples like Granny Smith that can keep getting better and better into Dec, becoming like a different fruit and much better than the ones they grow inland Washington'.
Harvestman

Harvestman gave you the best advice...with my short season I do this and what a difference a apple will taste. Yes they have a shorter shelf life but it's worth it to leave a few on to try...often wonder what a apple would taste like doing this in your state.
md

Hi, tmunson! How did your George IV peaches do last year? I am trying to track someone down who is growing them, with no luck so far.

I only have one, and it gets a lot of shade. Grew tall last year, has fruit this year. Will report back when/if I get to eat some :)

Definitely keep me posted! Would love to hear how it does and how it tastes.

Hello. I was wondering how to rough estimate fruit yield per variety. I realize there are many factors involved in the determination of tree growth, blossoms, and fruit-bearing but I would like to find a rough estimate in order to determine how many trees to plant to achieve my nearest target.
Any advice for high-yielding apples and pears for cider would be greatly appreciated. Even just pointing me to another information source would be great. My online research hasn't brought me to any hard facts of fruit yield.
I am very glad to stumble upon this forum though lots of great info. Thanks!

Hello folks,

I would like to plant 2-3 trees in a relatively small yard in Maryland. I would appreciate any insight/opinion/suggestion with the possibility of growing honey crisp apples. Does it self pollinate?

Thanks

No, it's not. Honey Crisp apple needs another variety that blooms at about the same time to cross pollinate.

There are many threads on Honey Crisp apple here. You can search old ones or create a new thread with the heading about Honey Crisp apple. That way, you will likely get more responses from apple growers.

When you post, please add your zone in your heading. Maryland is likely to be zone 7.

However, if there are any crab apple trees near your house this may provide pollination without you having to plant a cross pollinator.

apricots, cherries, raspberries

grandparents used to have several shrub trees that produced the best tangerines ever, with very loose skin that easily came right off, virtually no seeds inside, and very fragrant and flavorful, nothing like the tangerines sold in stores. Imagine the best tasting orange but in a form you could easily snack on and keep popping into your mouth, that's kind of what these tangerines were like.

favorite tropical fruit is probably longan (a relative of lychee)

a freshly broken open young coconut is also good, but I do not think I would ever want to grow them myself, I'm not a big fan of palms trees in general

I love other fruit, but I usually like eating it in processed forms, for example apple sauce or Valencia orange juice, or baked plum deserts, so I think it makes more sense to grow the fruit you like to eat whole fresh off the tree.

PURPLE MANGOSTEEN