Edible Articles: Prunus

Fields: Help with Cherry tree | Wilting sour cherry | Freeze cherries with pits? | birds vs cherries | WTB-heirloom cherries etc.-need source | Which cherries make the best wine? | Nectarine tree no fruit problem help please! | Can I grow a peach tree from a peach stone? | Tzim Pee Tao peaches | peach tree blues | Thinning peaches | Planting Peach Pit ?? | help with plum tree's | PLUM TREE | apricot resource tashkent
Keywords: Almond

Help with Cherry tree

From: pollinator@aol.com (Pollinator)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Help with Cherry tree

From: cricketrah@aol.com (CricketRAH)

>I bought by husband a cherry tree the year we moved up here, 1990. It is
>growing well and blooming now. It has never produced cherries though! HELP!
>Is this normal or what might I need to do? I have fertilized it. There are
>little sweet ants on it, are they harmful at all? Thanks.

You say it has blossoms but no fruit.

Do you have another cherry blooming at the same time (a pollenizer) to provide pollen. Sweet cherries are usually self incompatible, that is they cannot be pollinated from their own pollen.

Also, do you have pollinators (bees)? They are scarce in some areas of high pesticide use. Count yourself very fortunate if you have a beekeeper in the neighborhood, especially if he will defend the bees against pesticide misuse.

Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA
*

From: cricketrah@aol.com (CricketRAH)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Help with Cherry tree

>From: pollinator@aol.com (Pollinator)<BR>

>You say it has blossoms but no fruit. Do you have another cherry blooming
>at the same time (a pollenizer) to provide pollen. Sweet cherries are usually
>self incompatible, that is theycannot be pollinated from their own pollen.

That may be my problem, it is all by its lonesome, although there is an orchard with them about 3 miles away. Too far away to help?

>Also, do you have pollinators (bees)? They are scarce in some areas of
>highpesticide use. Count yourself very fortunate if you have a beekeeper in
>theneighborhood, especially if he will defend the bees against pesticide
>misuse.Pollinator@aol.com Dave

Yes we have lots of honey bees and bumble bees... lots of beekeepers in this county. In fact, one year I was thrilled to have a colony in my deer feeder!! SO COOL!!! Yes, it is a shame what pesticides have done. Hasn't helped my bluebird population either. I don't use pesticides though, and my veg garden, unfortunately, suffers from it. Haven't seen a potato plant produce yet! :(
*

From: pollinator@aol.com (Pollinator)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Help with Cherry tree

From: cricketrah@aol.com (regarding pollenizers for a lone yard cherry tree)

>That may be my problem, it is all by its lonesome, although there is an
>orchardwith them about 3 miles away. Too far away to help?

It's probably beyond the limit. Honeybees are the best possibility for long distance pollination, as bumblers and most solitary bees have very short ranges. Honeybees may range two or three miles in times of dearth, but normal range is probably about a half mile. Even if you consider pollen transfer by jostling within the hives, that only makes about a mile for the normal range.

I'll bet your orchard owner would let you snip a branch with a dozen or so flowers. Carry it home without a lot of knocking or shaking. Then cross pollinate your blossoms by hand. Do it in the morning, when the pollen has not had time to dry out, and use fresh blossoms with obvious pollen on the stamens.

Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA The Pollination Scene: http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html

Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles) http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm
*

Wilting sour cherry

From: "Myra" <Myra@nospam.com>
Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.fruit
Subject: Re: Wilting sour cherry

Steve Ziegelmeyer wrote in message <3553DF4F.66E2@in-touch.net>...
>I have a problem. I planted a Montmorency Cherry tree in my yard last
>year. It look good for a few weeks, even bloomed and produced a few
>small cherries, then suddenly all of the leaves wilted.

Steve, We had the same thing happen to 2 of our NorthStar Cherry trees. We are in Minnesota and the trees also did not have great drainage. We took a branch into a local nursery and they pointed out that there were also lesions on the bark.

The treatment unfortunately called for us to dig up the 2 young trees, we liberally sprinkled copper sulfate in the dirt, added mulch for better drainage and planted again. We also treated the remaining trees with copper sulfate and keep the ground around them well cultivated. So far we have not seen a return of the disease. It was sad because as you noted, the trees looked healthy and produced fruit and then very quickly wilted and stopped growing.

Myra
*

Freeze cherries with pits?

From: cybrczch@hotmail.com (Rich Sukovaty)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Freeze cherries with pits?

In article <6k4jvr$e9f$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, erickmi@usit.net wrote:

>Just moved to a house with 4 sour cherry trees- covered with cherries. We're
>going to have to freeze most of them. Does anyone know if we can freeze them
>with the stems on and pits in? It sure would be alot easier than pitting
>before freezing.
>
>Any help is appreciated...

You could, but then you would also be freezing any worms etc. in the cherries, and you'd still have to pit them after they thawed, which would be a bigger mess than pitting them fresh. My advice is to invest in a cherry pitter (available at garden stores and houseware stores) and freeze them pitted. Last year my mother froze 33 of the 3-lb butter tubs of cherries off of her single tree, and that's not counting the cherries she gave away to us kids.
*

birds vs cherries

Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.fruit
From: mzenier@netcom.com (Mark Zenier)
Subject: Re: birds vs cherries Sender: mzenier@netcom16.netcom.com

In article <1998061700361400.UAA29551@ladder03.news.aol.com>, Rasultan <rasultan@aol.com> wrote:
>Does anyone have experience of protecting tart cherries beside using nets on
>semi dwarf montmorcey cherry trees? There are also bird feeders in the area in
>central Maine. I have no problems using legal chemicals on the cherries if
>needed.

I use net. A couple of tricks learned over the years.

Use three or four poles, topped with a bleach or laundry detergent bottle to prevent snagging, that extend above the crown the of tree.

Shape the net by rolling opposite sides up, end view (O__O) , which can then be moved up over the top of the tree with a minimum of cursing and fuming and then unrolled to drape over the tree.

Don't wear any clothes with small buttons.

Mark Zenier mzenier@eskimo.com mzenier@netcom.com Washington State resident
*

From: "counides,n" <beefalo@micron.net>
Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.fruit
Subject: Re: birds Vs cherries Reply-To: beefalo@micron.net

Gary Matson wrote:
>
> This may not work in your area, but for us, in Northern California, it worked
> great, but with sweet cherries. Bird damage was almost total for a couple of
> years until a mulberry I had planted to shade the chicken yard came into
> bearing. The birds hang around the mulberry tree and we now have essentially
> unblemished cherries. I had never had a truly dead-ripe Bing until the mulberry
> started producing. There is even now (many years later) a volunteer sweet cherry
> growing right next to the mulberry, and the birds leave it alone until the
> mulberries are gone, then they right away clean up what is left of the by then
> overripe cherries. If mulberries ripen at the same time as cherries where you
> are I highly recommend it.
>
> Gary Matson--interior northern california

This is very good news! My cherry trees are currently under nets but I have a two year old mulberry planted in my chicken yard. I hope my experience will be as successful as yours.

Naomi Counides Associated Beefalo of Idaho
*

WTB-heirloom cherries etc.-need source

From: dgholston@aol.com (DGholston)
Newsgroups: alt.agriculture.fruit
Subject: Re: WTB-heirloom cherries etc.-need source

>I'd like to buy heirloom/antique cherries from a grower of these varieties, for my personal consumption. Can anybody recommend a source of already grown fruit that ships to or within California?<

Try these:

Sonoma Antique Apple Nursery 4395 Westside Rd. Healdsburg, CA 95448 (707) 433-6420

Greenmantle Nursery 3010 Ettersburg Rd. Garberville, CA 95542 (707) 986-7504

Don Gholston
*

Which cherries make the best wine?

From: zaida424@aol.com (Zaida424)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.winemaking
Subject: Re: Which cherries make the best wine?

My experience with using Ranier cherries was less than memorable, or maybe more than. They do have a tendancy to taste 'off' even when the fruit is not overripe, stick with Bing, they give a lovely, fullbodied flavor


From: drmoore@silvernet.net (Dennis R. Moore)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Peaches in Hawaii?

On Fri, 17 Apr 1998 23:45:45 +1200, Laurie Meadows <laurie.m@xtra.co.nz> wrote:

>What peach cultivars are reccomended for Hawaii, if any?

The old time favorite was called Okinawan peach by my old time neighbors. I don't know if that is the proper cultivar name. This is a small, white fleshed, cling stone peach with excellent flavor. There are a number of newer, low chill requirement cultivars from florida and california which may do well in Hawaii, particularly if you garden up mauka.
*

Nectarine tree no fruit problem help please!

From: "ebb" <n7su@micron.net>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible,uk.rec.gardening
Subject: Re: Nectarine tree no fruit problem, help please!

Stu wrote in article
> I have recently bought a dwarf nectarine tree, about 4ft tall, and have it
> in my greenhouse. It flowered in February - I pollinated it by hand - but
> since it flowered there has been no sign of any fruit.
>
> Have I done anything wrong or will the fruit appear in time?
>
> Many thanks for any advice.
>
> Stuart Davis

Did the flower stems fall off? If not, the fruit is on the base of the flower, a small green nubbin.
-- ebb http://netnow.micron.net/~n7su
*

From: Alan Gould <agolincs@agolincs.demon.co.uk>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible,uk.rec.gardening
Subject: Re: Nectarine tree no fruit problem, help please!

In article <6i5fsf$kgf$1@taliesin.netcom.net.uk>, Stu <sPAMdavis@netcomuk.co.uk> writes
>I have recently bought a dwarf nectarine tree, about 4ft tall, and have it
>in my greenhouse. It flowered in February - I pollinated it by hand - but
>since it flowered there has been no sign of any fruit.
>
>Have I done anything wrong or will the fruit appear in time?
>
>Many thanks for any advice.

You sound to have done everything right. The fruit form at the base of the flower as the petals die off. Ours are about the size of a pea at the moment, hundreds of them. You just could have a blind tree if it was grown from a stone. Joan says be patient, they will come......

-- Alan and Joan Gould | alan@agolincs.demon.co.uk
*

Can I grow a peach tree from a peach stone?

From: "Don Chapman" <don@bio-organics.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Can I grow a peach tree from a peach stone?

When we lived on a site with more land, an elderly neighbor would often bring me sprouted peach and nectarine seeds to plant. As he obviously enjoyed it, I went along with the idea and planted them all, extending my drip line to the new trees.

Most of them turned out to be ordinary good peaches, and a few were smooth-skin nectarines. All were good and began bearing in their second or third year. One was a very unusual peach that didn't ripen until late September and was almost black-skinned. It was absolutely delicious - kind of a combination of sweet and tart that neighbors begged for.

It's now been grafted onto rootstocks and is being evaluated as a possible new commercial late peach, and could end up being patented.

If you have the room, by all means have some fun with seedlings. At worst, you'll probably have good eating fruit and maybe something even better!

Don Chapman <don@bio-organics.com> Bio/Organics Supply Center 3200 Corte Malpaso, #107 Camarillo CA 93012 (Near ocean N. of LA) <http://www.bio-organics.com>

Stu <sPAMdavis@netcomuk.co.uk> wrote in article <6iauet$g0l$1@taliesin.netcom.net.uk>...
> Hi all
>
> I am wondering if I would be able to grow a peach tree from from the stone
> of fruit bought in a shop.
>
> Would it grow into a peach producing tree or would it be "blind"? and what
> would be the best conditions to get it to work and how long would it take.
>
> Thanks to any peach tree growers out there for any advice!
>
> --
> Stu
>
> :Antispam - to reply by email remove CAPITOLS from reply address.
*

Tzim Pee Tao peaches

From: dgholston@aol.com (DGholston)
Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.fruit
Subject: Re: Tzim Pee Tao peaches

>Has anybody ever tried "Tzim Pee Tao" peaches? What size is the fruit and what is the flavor?<

I believe this is one of the so-called Peento peaches, also called Donut or China Flat peaches. The fruit is smallish to large and flattened endwise, or severly oblate in shape. There is some interest of late in Asian markets in California for the fruit but it often suffers from blossom-end scars, cracks and susceptiblitiy to rot. The best fruits are sweet and somewhat low on the acid side and sometimes have an interesting slightly "bitter" quality. The best of these flat peaches is probably Saturn (or Stark Saturn to avoid confusion with a different variety also known as Saturn). This peach is described as having large, showy double pink self-fertile flowers and very sweet large yellow fruit with melting white flesh. Low chill (400 hours) and early blooming. Stark Saturn is available from mail order sources.

Don Gholston California Rare Fruit Growers http://www.crfg.org/
*

peach tree blues

From: dgholston@aol.com (DGholston)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: peach tree blues

>I think my peach tree has 'peach leaf curl'. Some of the leaves are all blistered and others are dying off and all dry. Does anyone know any organic ways of dealing with this?<

It is too late to do anything about it this season. The tree will recover and ultimately shed the affected leaves. But you had better be prepared to do something about it next year. The tree should be sprayed with a lime-sulfur or a fixed copper preparation shortly after leaf fall or just prior to bud break, ideally both times. I don't know how "organic" these are (they sound more inorganic to me), but they work. Continued infestations of peach leaf curl can ultimately kill your tree. Good luck.

Don Gholston
*

From: Diane Perry <melangell@earthlink.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: peach tree blues

Ghazala Malik wrote:

> Hello
>
> I think my peach tree has 'peach leaf curl'. Some of the leaves are all
> blistered and others are dying off and all dry. Does anyone know any
> organic ways of dealing with this?
>
> Thanks

At least yours will recover. I think that my peach tree is dead thanks to the El Nino. It rained so much out here in Northern California, that the pot it was in got too much rain. All the leaves and blooms dropped off and the branches started to die back. It looks like a twig stuck in a large pot. Any suggestions anyone? Since it looks like the trunk is still alive will it recover next year and sprout new branches (It is a genetic dwarf grafted on dwarfing rootstock).

Thanks.

Diane Perry melangell@earthlink.net
*

From: Gary Cooper <biggary@utdallas.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: peach tree blues

On Sun, 10 May 1998, Diane Perry wrote:

> Ghazala Malik wrote:

> > I think my peach tree has 'peach leaf curl'....

> At least yours will recover. I think that my peach tree is dead thanks to
> the El Nino. It rained so much out here in Northern California, that the
> pot it was in got too much rain. All the leaves and blooms dropped off and
> the branches started to die back. It looks like a twig stuck in a large
> pot. Any suggestions anyone? Since it looks like the trunk is still alive
> will it recover next year and sprout new branches (It is a genetic dwarf
> grafted on dwarfing rootstock).
>
> Thanks.
>
> Diane Perry
> melangell@earthlink.net

If the trunk is still alive, you may get it to put out new growth by pruning it back to just above a live bud. Do this now, not next year. Don't cut back to below the graft, though, or you'll only get growth from the rootstock, not the top part (you may get some shoots from the rootstock anyway, which you'll want to prune off). And, obviously, protect it from getting waterlogged again, or drying out completely.

Gary
*

Thinning peaches

From: Pete & Janine <pjerlandsen@home.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Thinning peaches

Ilana Stern wrote:

> We have peaches! An unusual occurrence here in Boulder,
> where our peach tree has produced twice in the past 9
> years. Amazingly enough, no late freeze or windstorm
> disturbed our tree, and we have zillions of marble-sized
> peachlets.
>
> Any recommendation on thinning the fruits for optimal
> production?

The fruit should be thinned to about 5 inches apart. It is hard to do when you think of all of the fruit you will be taking off but it will give you some really nice sized and tasting fruit without the breaking of the branches. My peach tree is only 4 years and I must have already taken off about 800 peaches all the size of marbles. The branches were already dragging on the ground.

J9
*

From: "Susan K. Wehe" <swehe@ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Thinning Peaches

Not mine. If they set 500 too many peaches, they won't drop a single one. I go through the tree and thin the peaches by hand. My husband and son helped this year, as the two high branches I couldn't reach last year both broke due to the weight of the fruit.

susan

Patricia Graham wrote:

> Don't peaches have a "drop", a naturally occurring thinning process?
*

From: billk2@aol.com (BillK2)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Thinning Peaches

I used to raise peaches in VA. The old fellow, 92 and still farming, that had the orchard before me told me to thin the trees until you could throw a cat through them without hitting a branch. After the first tree I went back to him to find out how to catch the cat. : } Good Luck

>> Don't peaches have a "drop", a naturally occurring thinning process?
*

Planting Peach Pit ??

From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak@inil.com>
Subject: Re: Planting Peach Pit ??
Newsgroups: alt.agriculture.fruit

Dry the peach pit and hold it until this winter in a dry state. Then put it in a bag of slightly moist peat moss. Put the bag in the crisper of your refrigerator. When Spring comes, plant it. It should be in the crisper for at least two months. That will meet the seed's chilling requirement for germination
*

help with plum tree's

From: bsussman@xtdl.com
Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.fruit
Subject: Re: help with plum tree's

In article <1998041803220000.XAA08221@ladder03.news.aol.com>,
basswood@aol.com (Basswood) wrote:
>
> I have two plum trees that have a fungus on it called Black knot. Itskilling
> the tree any ideas's where I can get information about how to save the tree's??
> Bob mau

Go to http://www.caf.wvu.edu/kearneysville/searchpage.html and search for 'black knot' - start reading. Move fast and VERY thoroughly.

wvu is just one of several really good fruit tree related sites...they have the claim on pest/disease/etc stuff although there are some other good ones like virtual orchard.

Bonne Chance - Brandon
*

PLUM TREE

From: dgholston@aol.com (DGholston)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: PLUM TREE

>Hi there. Does anyone know what is infecting my plum tree? They appear to be little black blisters with pale markings along each branch. When I pop them, yellow ooze comes out. It's been 3 years since I planted it, got a few flowers last year but no fruit. Lots of flowers this year and now these blisters.What are they?<

This is very likely scale of some kind. Spraying with a light oil or oil and malathion will give some control.

Don Gholston
*

apricot resource tashkent

From: Robin Barber <robinb@slip.net>
Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.fruit
Subject: apricot resource tashkent
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 17:15:51 -0800

> Apricot exploration in the Soviet Union. In
> 1990, I was fortunate to join Calvin Sperling and
> David Ramming on a second official fruit exploration
> to Central Asia, this time for apricots. That year,
> among 633 apricot cultivars in the collection at the
> VIR Station in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, about 95% had
> lost their crop due to a late spring frost. Although
> we were disappointed not to see more fruit
> variability, this climatic event provided a natural
> screen for spring frost tolerance. We collected
> seeds and scions of several cultivars that bore some
> fruit in spite of adverse spring temperatures. The
> trait of late bloom, or frost tolerance, provides a
> genetic solution to the most limiting factor for
> expanding domestic apricot production beyond the
> very restricted climatic zone where our cultivars
> are adapted. At a period when most cultivars, if
> they had a crop, would have already been harvested,
> there was 'Zima Stoiki' (= winter hardy) with a
> heavy crop of very immature fruit, obviously late
> blooming as well as very late maturing. Late fruit
> maturity, also seen in the cultivar 'Oktoberski', will
> contribute to new cultivars with ripening periods
> extending far beyond the 5-week span in early
> summer of current American cultivars.
>
> Several Central Asian cultivars, collectively called
> "luchak," have glabrous skins, a trait previously
> unobserved in American cultivars or germplasm
> collections. This glossy appearance, sometimes with
> a bright red blush, represents an entirely new, and
> especially attractive fruit type. Should this trait be
> determined by a single gene, as is the case for
> glabrous peaches (nectarines) it should be possible
> to repeat within a fairly short time period the
> successes achieved in nectarine breeding, i.e., the
> creation of a whole series of large-fruited, glabrous
> apricot cultivars with a wide span in ripening
> periods.
>
> Another trait of interest was high soluble solids, a
> trait that greatly enhances the quality of both the
> fresh and dried product. By contrast to American
> cultivars whose soluble solids register about 12deg.
> Brix, Central Asian cultivars range above 20deg..
> Historically, in Central Asia there has been strong
> selection pressure for very sweet fruit because
> there was no other source of sugar.
>
> Also, sweet, edible seeds is a common trait which
> has been selected through the centuries by local
> people whose goal has been to maximize food
> production on a limited amount of tillable land. A
> unique trait that was said to occur in a local
> cultivar, one which we did not see or collect, is an
> endocarp (the hard part of the pit) that is so thin
> that it can be cracked with one's teeth.
> Incorporation of edible kernels in new duo-purpose
> domestic cultivars would certainly enhance orchard
> profits and provide a new nutritional product for
> American consumers.
>
> In the Zailinsky mountains near Alma Ata, we had
> the opportunity to visit the wild apricot forests
> with Tatanya Nicolaievna Sulova, a botanist who has
> studied variation and made selections from among
> these trees. Wild apricot forests grow in some of
> the same general regions as the wild apples but at a
> somewhat lower elevation. At about 1,060 m,
> apricot trees merge into the lower limits of the
> range of apples. These wild populations occur at the
> northernmost range of this species and are clearly
> more cold hardy than Central Asian cultivars which
> can be grown only in milder climates farther south.
> In one extremely cold winter in Alma Ata, wild
> trees survived mid-winter temperature of
> -43deg.C, whereas trees of cultivars perished. Most
> of the wild fruit have bitter seeds and is small, but
> size varies considerably as do all other traits such
> as color, time of ripening, and quality. This year
> when most trees were severely attacked by
> Coryneum blight [Stigmina carpophila (Lev.) M.B.
> Ellis], some of Tanya's selections were practically
> free of symptoms, a trait she has observed
> consistently over several years. This may be a
> valuable source of genetic disease resistance to
> incorporate in new domestic cultivars.

top of page