Tuesday, May 09, 2017

Apple Blossoms. 5.7.17

I lost track of apple blossoms due to continuous rains.  I think the early ones may not have pollenized as well, due to rain, chill, and fewer pollinating insects.  The later ones might be better.

Completely done blooming:
Gravenstein
Pristine
Airlie (Arlie?) Red Flesh (same as Hidden Rose)
Golden Sentinel
Red Sentinel
North Pole.

At peak or a past peak:
Liberty
Jonagold
Sutton Beauty
Baldwin
JonaRed
Priscilla
Queen Cox

Early to mid peak bloom:
Rubinette
Prairie Fire Crab (purely ornamental, no usable fruit at all)
Chehalis
Goldrush

A couple of grafts have just one or two clusters of flowers, so probably not good to judge, but are blooming now:
Newtown Pippin
Porter
Akane

Of grafts from 2015, there are some blooming this season -
Priscilla
Porter - one or two clusters

Grafts from 2015 that have not bloomed yet-
Granite Beauty

Grafts from 2015 that did not thrive, looked sick, so I removed:
Redfield.

Grafts from 2016 that are blooming - this is fast!
Goldrush
Arlie Red Flesh - nice dark pink flowers.  Rubinette also has dark pink flowers.






Monday, May 08, 2017

Pollinating Pawpaw flowers. 5.7.17

 I've been hand pollinating the pawpaw flowers for two days.  One of the challenges with pawpaws, is they don't self pollinate, bees are not attracted to the flowers, and most if not all require pollen from a genetically different variety.  The flowers first are receptive to pollen with a glistening stigma, then the stigma becomes non-receptive and the anthers bear pollen.  My observation is the flower is open and potentially receptive, one or two days before the pollen is shed.  The flowers do not open on the same day, instead blooming over a couple of weeks.  So if the temperature is not right, or if there is rain, all opportunity is not lost.

My trees for these varieties ("Sunflower" and "NC-1") were planted in 2012.  This is the third year they have bloomed, and this year is clearly the most prolific.  I also planted the variety "Rebecca's Gold" in 2012, it was then eaten off by a rabbit or deer, recovered, and this year is the first year that tree has bloomed.
In addition, I planted the variety "Mango" in 2015.  It bloomed in 2016 but not this year.  I planted the variety "Allegheny" in 2016.  It is not blooming.

Pawpaws do not transplant well, so they are planted when very small, and it takes more years to bear, compared to most fruit trees.

I should add that I have yet to see a ripe pawpaw in my orchard.  Will this year finally be the first?  I have noted that on the first, and sometimes second, year that many fruit tree varieties bloom, they do not set fruit.  Pawpaws are not native to the cooler maritime Pacific NW, and may have more challenges here than hot humid mid continent summers.  However, there are usually some ripe pawpaws at the Home Orchard Society fruit show, so I know that some people get them to grow and bear.

I use a paint brush to collect the anthers and pollen from flowers with ripe pollen, letting them fall into a white cup, then use a paint brush to transfer to flowers of the other tree.  Sunflower started blooming 2 days before NC-1, so this has been one-way so far.  However, Sunflower is also sometimes described as one of the rare self-receptive varieties, so I pollinated those with that tree's own pollen to see what happens.

Persimmons about to bloom. 5.8.17

New Growth with Flower Buds, Saijo Persimmon.  5.7.17

New Growth with Flower Buds, Nikita's Gift Persimmon.  5.7.17
 Persimmon trees are wise to the ways of Spring.  They wait to be among the last to bloom.  New growth has started.  Flower buds form in leaf axils of new stems.  It may be a month before they are fully open, but with nice warm weather and sunshine, possibly sooner.

I've never seen Chocolate persimmon bloom.  Since this cultivar has both male and female flowers, I'm guessing two shapes of buds represent the 2 sexes of flowers.

This will be the first time for Yates American persimmon.  Will there be fruit this fall?  If so, that will be my first taste of American persimmons.
New Growth with Flower Buds, Coffee Cake Persimmon.  5.7.17

New Growth with Flower Buds, Yates Persimmon.  5.7.17
Edit 5.31.17  I had incorrectly stated "Chocolate Persimmon."  This graft is the variety "Coffee Cake".  To make it even more confusing, "Coffee Cake" is probably more accurately called "Nishimura Wase", while "Chocolate" is probably  more accurately called "maru".  I tried to find scion for chocolate persimmon this year, but did not find any.  "Coffee Cake" needs a pollenizer for its best flavor, and neither Saijo nor Nikita's gift make male flowers, while "Chocolate" does.

Kitchen Garden. 5.8.17

It's been sunny and warm for three days. This was a good time to cultivate the kitchen garden. The potatoes and onions that I planted earlier this year are doing well. I hilled up the potatoes. With rain and winter, it was difficult to cultivate the garlic, which I planted in the fall. I weeded a couple of weeks ago, and today it just needed light cultivation. I planted out some collard greens seedlings, surrounding each with a dusting of blood meal that I found in the garage. The idea is to repel rabbits, which are prevalent in my garden. Then some organic slug bait. Slugs love cabbage family plants. Last year's collards are blooming. I intend to save seeds from those.


Collard Greens in Bloom.  5.7.18
I have mustard green seedlings to plant. 

The tomatoes are growing nicely in containers in sunroom.  Ditto for peppers.  Yesterday the soil temperature was 80 F, so I planted sweet corn, Trinity hybrid which is reported to tolerate chill, and which did well in 2015 and 2016.

More Lilac Blossoms. 5.8.17

 I  love this time of year.  Every day it seems something else blooms and demands attention.  Most of the lilacs are along the property's edge, intent is to have a blooming hedge when they fill in.

The  bottom photo is a lilac that was on the property when we bought it.  The bush was gigantic, with fallen over trunks several inches in diameter and around 15 feet tall.  I cut out the injured and dead  branches, and the shrub responded with vigorous, strong growth.  It's once again a massive lilac bush.  Deer don't touch it, unlike some of the newer types.




Sunday, May 07, 2017

Lilac Blossoms. 5.6.17

 These are the lilac bushes that I moved about 35 miles in Jan 2015, to the Battleground yard.  I think these bushes were about 10 years old, and very tall and heavy.  I took as much soil and root as I could.  I watered during the dry parts of summer.  All 10 of the bushes survived.  I think that's about all you can expect during the first year.  They are a bit scraggly but should fill in over the next couple of years.
 Meanwhile, we get to enjoy some flowers this year.  Deer usually don't go much for lilacs, but they ate some of the new succulent, lower growth, from these. 

The red/pink lilac is a modern Korean lilac, "Bloomerang™", promoted as reblooming and compact.  Nice flowers.   This is newer, about one year old.





Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Apple Blossom Time. 4.25.17

Gravenstein.  4.25.17
 Apples have a wide range of blooming times, and there are a lot of triploid apples that not only require a pollinating variety, but do not pollinate others in return.   Only the diploid ones can provide pollen.  So if there is a triploid, you need two pollinating (diploid) varieties that overlap bloom time with the triploid.

Here is how my varieties look so far this year.  The numbers are my guess, and the designations are (triploid) for triploid and (d) for diploid, based on my memory.  I might be assuming some as diploid for lack of better information.  I spell out "triploid" to make it stand out better.  I might be missing some.

Full bloom.
Gravenstein (triploid).
North Pole (d)
Golden Sentinel (d)

Many open flowers, 25% to 50%.
Pristine (d)
Queen Cox (d)
Liberty (triploid)
Priscilla (d)

Golden Sentinel.  4.27.17
Some open flowers, less than 10%
Ornamental Crab Prairie Fire (d?)
Rubinette (d)
Airlie Red Flesh (d)
Sutton's Beauty (d)
Jonagold (triploid)

Buds present but none open yet.
Baldwin (triploid)
Chehalis (d)
Summerred (d)
Akane (d)
North Pole.  4.27.17

Prairie Fire Ornamental Crab.  4.27.17

Airlie Red Flesh.  4.27.17

Priscilla.  4.27.17

Jonared.  4.27.17

Pristine.  4.27.17

Queen Cox.  4.27.17

Rubinette.  4.27.17

Liberty.  4.27.17

Liberty on M27.  4.27.17


I don't know if Prairie Fire can serve as a pollinator.  The tiny crab apples are worthless, but it's a beautiful tree when in full bloom.

Some of these are 1-year old growth from grafts, such as Airlie Red Flesh - covered with flower clusters (also sold under trademark name "Hidden Rose"), Baldwin with lots of flowers, and one flower cluster at end of stem on Newtown Pippin (not open yet).

With daily rain and chill, I feel some concern that none of them will pollinate.  Considering how early Gravenstein was, I cut off a stem of flowers from North Pole and left it in the Gravenstein tree.  I don't know if that will help. 

Monday, April 24, 2017

Garden Blackberries. 4.21.17


As a reward to myself for hauling 7 loads of brush to the yard waste recycler / composter, I stopped in Lowes and found these Arapaho blackberry plants on sale half price.

Cultivated blackberry varieties have much better garden characteristics and better flavor, compared to the invasive wild ones.  The plants are much smaller, often thornless, and the berrys sweeter.

Of the varieties that I have tried so far, there hasn't been much chance to evaluate fully.  Last year I bought 6 Prime Ark Freedom® plants, which bear on first year canes as well as second year canes.  Being fully thornless, the deer and rabbits liked them, but the main thing was  the plants did not survive the freeze.  The berries were big juicy berries last year, but only 2 plants survived the winter.  The tops did not survive, so the berries this year will be primocane berries.  Ebony King plants survived the winter and have nice starts of floricanes now, so I'm optimistic to have a taste this year.  The only Columbia Star plant survived, and has starts of floricanes, so again maybe there will be a taste this year.  These Arapaho plants will need a year for evaluation.  Plants from big box store have the advantage of no postage, and you get to inspect the plant, but the disadvantage of limited selection of varieties,and they are often no in great shape.  Shipped plants may also not be in great shape, so I appreciate being able to inspect the store bought plants.  Plus they were on sale.
Ebony King Blackberries, 1 year old.  4.21.17
Of the others, 3 of 3

So of the ones I planted last year, I got a taste of Prime Ark Freedom, they were good but most did not survive the winter.  Ebony King and Columbia Star survived, and we  will see how they do and how they taste, if this year if good.  Ebony King is nearly thornless and needs protection from deer.    Ditto for Columbia Star.  Columbia Star is trailing, so needs support.  I think the same is true for Ebony King, but not Arapaho.   Arapaho is thornless too.
Columbia Star Blackberry, 1 year old.  4.25.17

Prime Ark Freedom Blackberry, 1 year old.  4.25.17
 The new growth on these looks pretty lush.  I think there is promise there for some nice blackberries, at least a taste, in 2017.

(Photos updated 4.25.17 for better pics with more clarity)

Here is some descriptive info about Ebony King.  It's hard to find info about this variety, even though it's on many nursery catalog websites.  The info is from USDA/ARS at Corvallis, website:

"Place of origin and originator unknown. Introd. about 1940 by Krieger's Wholesale Nursery, Bridgman, Mich. Parentage unknown. Fruit: large as Eldorado, which it resembles; skin black, glossy; flavor sweet, tangy, good; ripens early. Bush: upright; hardy; resistant to orange rust"

From various websites, Ebony King is cold tolerant,  disease resistant, vigorous, nearly thornless or reduced amount of thorns.

.This old variety is not patented or trademarked as far as I can tell.  It is way past any possible patent expiration date.

Here is some info about Arapaho.
Summarizing from Edible Landscaping website, "earliest ripening thornless variety... ripens its fruit in a 4 week period...Plant Patent # 8510... thornless, erect, self supporting canes, good fruit quality, earliness of ripening and its ability to establish a full fruiting row quickly. Zone 6-8"

From Texas A and M University website: "released in 1993 by the University of Arkansas, is an erect growing, thornless variety that produces a medium sized, firm, high quality fruit over a four week season. Arapaho is very productive, has no thorns, and is resistant to both Double Blossom and Orange Rust. Arapaho is a lower chill variety suitable for zones 8-9 and above."  So Arapaho looks like a pretty good choice.  According to the US Patent Office, "A plant patent expires 20 years from the filing date of the patent application."  I'm no lawyer but to me that means the patent for Arapaho expired in 2013.

Info about  Prime Ark Freedom®:   Primocane ("Prime"), from University of Arkansas ("Ark") free of thorns ("Freedom?") released in 2013 although I don't have the patent date - I assume this one is patented and therefore can't be reproduced.  I thought this one sounded good because it is primocane as well as floricane bearing, so potentially early and late crops each year.  According to University of Arkansas, "the world’s first primocane-fruiting and thornless commercial blackberry introduction. It is intended primarily as a home garden or local market plant. It has very large fruits with good flavor, and is very early ripening on floricanes, the earliest of all Arkansas blackberry varieties."  Since universities now patent, trademark, and license their releases, I don't have a lot more faith in their release descriptions than I have for commercial nurseries - interesting to read, but they have a profit motive so take with a grain of salt.

Information about Columbia Star Blackberry - this time from Oregon State University - "very high- quality, high-yielding, machine-harvestable,thornless trailing blackberry with firm, sweet fruit that when processed are similar in quality to or better than fruit from the industry standards ‘Marion’ and ‘Black Diamond’."A patent was applied for and granted in 2013 so still under patent #US PP25532 P2 .
Arapaho Blackberry, New Planting.  4.25.17

Friday, April 21, 2017

Apple Blossom Log. Plum Blossoms. 4.19.17

Of the apple trees, the first to bloom, is Gravenstein.  About 10% to 20% of blossoms are open. 

Gravenstein is the first apple to bloom.  4.19.17
Of other varieties, the next are North Pole and Golden Sentinel, each of which has a few open flowers.

None of the others in my yard are open, although there are some buds that look close.

Of the plums, virtually all of the Asian and Asian x American hybrids are done blooming.  Ember is winding down.  I have what I think is Prunus americana, but might not be, grown from seeds.  That one is just starting.  I don't think it will do much good as a pollen source if it waits until the others are done blooming, before it starts.

Green Gage Plum is a little past peak bloom, and Stanley Plum is at peak bloom.  They may boost each other by cross pollinating, although both is considered self pollinating. My other European plums probably wont bloom for a couple of years, so time will tell.  Or not.