Fruit Harvest from season to season

[applestar]

Oooh, thank you !potatoes! I'll PM you.

[applestar]

...persimmons, figs, raspberries...

[applestar]

Wild and Alpine White Soul strawberries have started coming in, and Cherries! White Gold first, then Emperor Francis

The cherries are supposed to be trained into fan-shaped espalier... as you can see, I have let them get away from me I'm hoping it's not too late to cut those overgrown leaders down --- should I do this before or after harvest?





There is a robin's nest on the latch side of the gate in the Blackberry arch arbor. You can see the white blackberry blossoms starting to bloom. They don;t show interest in the white cherries but the red strawberries bear close watching and I will need to protect them with netting soon.

[JONA]

I would do them sooner rather than later applestar.
It will give the rest better light for next years fruit bud.
Looks like your going to have good feed through the coming months.

[applestar]

I spent all morning pruning the two cherry trees (White Gold and Emperor Francis) as JONA recommended, as well as two pear trees (Seckel and Magness) one apple tree (Arkansas Black), and one persimmon tree (Prok) -- all espalier -- as well as semi-dwarf Enterprise apple.

The persimmon was overgrown like the cherries and threatening to shade out not only its own branches but also the AB apple espalier next to it. The pear trees had developed some fireblighted branches, and JONA had recommended cutting them off as quickly as they are infected in another thread. They are also showing surprising number of cedar-apple rust spots this year. They are resistant, but I think it's the extra pressure from the new cedar tree my neighbor planted on the other side of the side fence. I will need to be more regimented about spraying them.

The Enterprise apple had a bunch of small twiggy growth that had wilted brown leaves -- I thought they are fireblight, but new growths have been growing way past the wilted leaves. I'm not sure if it's because Enterprise is one of the most fireblight resistant apple varieties, or if these were caused by something else -- maybe aphids. I went ahead and trimmed off almost all of the branches that had the wilted leaves, new growths and all.

Maybe the persimmon, but I think more due to when the Arkansas Black was blooming and having an unexpected cold snap with hard frost, the apple has only three fruits on it that I could find. I think the bees were not flying due to the weather.

On the other hand, MAGNESS is loaded this year. Very promising. Good number of fruits on the Seckel as well but not extraordinary.


Yesterday and today -- not a whole lot, but even so, my two DD's are actually already reaching the point of not finishing the day's harvest. This means DH and I get to eat some of the cherries, too. Extras will be frozen for cereals, baked goods, smoothies, etc. A few Emperor Francis were ready today.



I would have a lot more strawberries in my basket except something -- I think chipmunk -- has discovered the strawberries. And the idiot creature doesn't know when to pick them -- I'm finding dozens of bitten off unripe pale orange-red berries on the ground.

[applestar]

Cherry trees after pruning... (click to zoom)

[JONA]

Looking good Applestar.
Can you net it if you need to?

[applestar]

Between the mulberry which is located nearly at the opposite corner of the property beyond the house -- which is starting to ripen (red turning almost black) and all the wild and cultivated strawberries, only thing bothering these white/yellow cherries are excessive rain causing splits and that grey mold thing that I can't remember the name of. I'd say 1 in maybe 6 cherries are affected. Very rarely a bird peck but not taken as far as I can see.



So I don't think I need to net them. The cherries are almost all harvested as of today -- Emperor Francis cherries seem to ripen pretty close together.

I've pruned a bit more. There is long branch reaching for the sky that I want to stake down if I can....



It's the strawberries that need serious protection, though I don't mind sharing the wild strawberries -- they are June bearers, and although prolific, will dwindle in fruit size. Slightly larger elongated fruits are Sweet Charley, I think. Another June bearer -- that patch is being decimated by the chipmunk and/or vole nibbling not quite ripe berries. Netting doesn't help unless I can somehow tightly secure the bottom to the ground. (I may need to move them to a framed raised bed.)

The largest fruits I currently have are Seascape -- jut starting to ripen. I came up with a new method to protect them -- these clear clamshells. I cut a notch or two near the hinge to accept the fruit stalks. I have some that have ventilation holes and some that don't. So far so good. The heavy acrylic tube is from a broken birdfeeder. Not pictured, but I'm also trying a PET OJ jug with bottom cut off and a small notch for the stem.


About 4 ripe raspberries today. Temporarily put up last year's faded aluminum pan birdscares over the few clusters that are blushing. I need to get my DD's to draw and decorate fresh scary eyes and teeth, and hang them properly with string (I used grass seed stalks since that's what was available).

[JONA]

Your so lucky there Applestar.
We've a few cherry trees that we planted around our glasshouse as mainly decoration for their blossom. As a result we let them grow quite tall so we can't net them. The minute they start to take on colour......their gone!
We never manage to get one.
Starlings and blackbirds seem to be the major culprits.
The cheeky birds even get through the glasshouse vents to have a go at the peaches and apricots.

[applestar]

JONA -- Couldn't you at least protect lower branches somehow? Maybe net entire branches rather than tree.... That seems a shame. Any way to string or hang birdscares... or have the local birds learned about the seasonal bounty and won't be discouraged?


Steady harvest of the tiny, fragile, flavorful wild strawberries -- none of the patches are particularly big, some in full sun, some in shade, some even in dense shade, but results in slightly different harvest time. First to harvest patch has dwindled to what I call bird-size tiny berries the size of my pinky nails and I'm not even bothering to look there any more, but denser shaded ones are now producing what I call "the first berry" which is typically the largest fruit.

Also Sweet Charley are still producing though almost gone (Lost a large % of the Sweet Charley to chipmunk depredation of almost-but not quite full ripe berries until I started protecting them in clear clamshells, too -- but I found out the berries stop ripening or get cooked in the clamshell during the clear skies blazing sun mid-90's+ heatwave), Alpine White Soul, and Seascape make (and will continue) occasional contribution.

Occasional mulberries, red Prelude raspberries have been coming in. I need DD's to make more flashing and noise-maker birdscares and move the toy snakes and old black soaker hose piece "snakes" around more frequently.


-- see the lone cherry in the yellow basket positioned at an angle? It's an Emperor Francis that had been hidden undiscovered in the very middle of the tree. Look how red it is! I wonder if this means I HAVE been picking the cherries underripe? I'm going to try bagging them next year to see if that will protect them to ripen more on the tree.

Started to bag the blueberries that are showing color, but it looks like blackberries will be plentiful enough again this year as long as I bag the first berries that turn red to discourage the birds so the initial blackberry trusses will have chance to ripen to full black.

[applestar]

EVERYBODY likes blueberries!

Chipmunks and catbirds figured out they can enjoy the berries by chewing on them from outside of the mesh bag.


Netted the shrubs with DD's help on Sunday. Used the pop up hamper we use for keeping eclosed Monarch Butterflies to cover the Top Hat blueberries in the container.

[applestar]

Almost all of my varieties are bearing ripe fruits right now. I think 4 or 5 of them are represented here.
- Elizabeth (with the biggest somewhat rounded berries)
- Top Hat (small-flattened berries)
- Blue Jay? (Largest flattened berry)
- Low-bush wild species selected for larger fruit (larger round berries)
- standard Low-bush wild species (smallest round fruits)

[applestar]

Since I disqualified the 4 berries with sun scorched druplets yesterday, I declare these 5 to be the OFFICIAL first blackberry harvest of the season



...more to follow...


...this kind is NOT acceptable

[imafan26]

My strawberries are flowering again in July. Hey, better late than never. The lemon, calamondin, and kaffir lime have fruit and are flushing new leaves.
Now is the best time of year to get mangoes, tangerines, and lychee. Someone brought some nice Hadens and a bag of lychee to my orchid meeting.

[gumbo2176]

I only have one fruit tree left in my yard and it is an old fig tree that was mature when I bought my house in 92. I've had some great years and some not so great years of fig production from that thing. This is one of the not so great-----actually not so good years as the tree has produced very few edible figs this summer.

Last year at this time I was picking loads of ripe, sweet figs off my tree and having to get outside at daybreak to beat the birds to them. This year they are ripening at a much slower rate, not even close to sweet and production is way off. It is one of the worst years for figs I can remember since I've been in this house. There will be no fig preserves being made this year if counting on my tree alone to supply the figs.

Well, just like we say for the New Orleans Saints-------"Wait till next year."


Edited to add this: I checked on-line to see if I can find out how long fig trees can live and the range is pretty varying depending on which site I read. Some say 25-30 years and others say around 50 years. I know for sure my tree is over 25 years old since it was here and mature when I moved in my house in 92 and the widow lady I bought the house from is long deceased and she and her husband had no children.

So I'm just wondering if anyone has any first-hand experience or knowledge in this matter and can narrow the time frame down since what I've found on-line is so far ranging.

[applestar]

What happens if you take cuttings from aging Fig tree and grow them -- are they going to show senescence according to their age, too?

[applestar]

THIS is what I'm talking about -- BLACKER THAN BLACK! And oh so yummy. The druplets surrounding the the stem scar of the fruit should be completely black.

[gumbo2176]

What happens if you take cuttings from aging Fig tree and grow them -- are they going to show senescence according to their age, too?

I know it is common practice to take cuttings from fig trees to start new ones, so I wouldn't think it should matter if the cutting came from an old tree. Earlier this spring I had to trim a good bit of new growth from around the base of the tree and on many of the lower branches so I could get my mower around the tree to cut grass.

Up until Hurricane Katrina blew down a huge pecan tree on my neighbors property in 05, that fig tree had been shaded most of it's life and received limited direct sunlight. This caused the branches to grow out from the main trunk fairly low and reaching out (think of an upside down crab) with the limbs growing only a foot or so off the ground for several feet before heading upwards. Once that tree was gone, all new growth off those branches started growing straight up All of the lower branches are in the 7 inch and up diameter range.

I have a feeling it is just that time in its life.

[applestar]

July 15-19 -- the basket holds approximately 1 quart. I've only been picking as much as I feel like.

[applestar]

Aaaaand today. The blackberries wouldn't all fit in my usual square basket. DH peered in over the gate before going to work this morning, looked around the gate arbor, etc. and said "Too much! You don't need to grow so many."

A lot of the berries had been damaged by the heat, some by JB's. Bagging is useless and detrimental in 90°F weather -- I pulled the bags off a bunch of unharvestable trusses. Best berries had ripened drooping in the shade. Bagged in-the-shade berries were the best -- unblemished and no bugs to bother them. I left obviously bad berries and beautiful big black berries at the top of the trellis that I couldn't reach without a ladder for the birds and animals.


...little bit of blueberries, too.

[imafan26]

It has been hot lately with just a tease of rain. The citrus are loving it. They are flushing new shoots and the calamondin and meyer lemon are putting out flowers and fruit. Calamondin will be in fruit for most of the year and meyer will fruit 3-5 tiimes a year.
The guava are also out and the tangerines are ripening. I even found a strawberry today. Unusual this late in July.

[applestar]

You really must have different fruits to harvest all year round! I'm trying, but not easy.

I thought I'd catch up with more blackberries that came in -- they are winding down though. I might still get about a cup a day for until maybe next week.



I've started several pints of blackberry liqueur -- vodka, rum, and spiritus. I think I might like the rum best, but we will see. Also non-alcoholic sugar syrup cordials for the kids. Still have 2 or maybe 3 full 1-gallon bags in the freezer....

[JONA]

Samples please Star......gratefully received!

[applestar]

[applestar]

I started 1.5 pint elderberry liqueur today with same recipe -- organic sugar and rum. I need to grow that herb for sore throat - horehound? Would they combine to make good cold remedy or is it better to use separately?

Also peaches. My other peach tree -- Carolina Belle -- died this year after great show of spring blossoms.

But the volunteer yellow peach has been growing more -- tiny little tree about 4 feet tall and 5 feet across, but sporting about a dozen fruits that I have been protecting with clear clamshells... harvested the first fruit today:

[applestar]

Picked another peach today. Colorful tomatoes, too.

[applestar]

Harvested these 8 peaches plus the apple. 12 peaches in the house now after two (and 2 earlier runty ones) have already been eaten and 4-6 more on the tree.

[Nyan]

Hey Applestar,

Can you grow the Ark primocane blackberries that far north?

I have one Ark45 (thorny, erect) bush that has great berries on the primocanes up until frost each year.

Good size, firm and very sweet berries too! My daughter has pronounced them the best blackberry she has ever eaten.

[applestar]

Hm. I don't know, but you know what? I'm not going to get any more thorny blackberries. There used to be a big patch of WONDERFUL but super thorny blackberries on this property. It was so hard to take care of that I finally gave up and have replaced with this thornless Triple Crown. Even after all this time, I still have odd shoots of the thorny variety coming up here and there, which I cut down to the ground.

If I had more room, I would try more thornless varieties. Actually I had originally intended to get other varieties to try after planting just THREE Triple Crown plants. But they have fully established now and are rapidly taking over every inch of available space along the southwest side of the garage.

[Nyan]

Yeah, I don't like the thorns either. I got the Ark45 the year before they introduced the thornless type (Ark Traveler? I can't remember...) which was a bummer...
I can agree with using the thornless, but the one plant (trailing Natchez I think) I started with a few years ago has turned into 4, 50ft and 3, 40ft rows, and I'm so tired of tying up those twenty foot trailing canes. Guess I should have bought an erect variety...

BTW, Jealous of your peaches, mine got completely frozen out this spring.

[applestar]

Daily strawberry harvest for the past week (strawberries are floating in 2 gallon bucket of water)

[applestar]

It depends on the fruit and how well they do from year to year, but typically, the fruits are offered to my two daughters to eat fresh as much as they want, and what they don’t eat gets frozen, especially short storage like these Wild strawberries (they turn mushy in 6 hours). Some fruits like figs and persimmons never make it to the freezer.

The frozen fruits are used for smoothies. I get over abundance of blackberries so those are processed into juice, sauce, baked goods in addition to best and perfect ones that are frozen for later use.

Since I have fruits that are in season practically the entire growing season, I hardly ever have to buy fruits during the growing season... only what I don’t grow, or what I can’t store fresh due to special storage needs. My dd’s live on fresh fruits all summer.

[applestar]

Today’s harvest with smattering of cherries (which didn’t do well this year) and a few beginning to come in red Prelude raspberries:



...The harvested berries half-filled the 10.5 inch wire basket exactly like this on Monday... a little bit less yesterday only because I gave about 3/4 pint to a neighbor.... I’m starting to get groans rather than cheers from my DD’s who are tasked with removing the stem end and freezing what they don’t eat fresh....

When it gets to this point, I don’t need to hesitate to save the best ones for them, and eat my fill of the berries, too even the reddest red ones and big ones.