Fruit trees

[Bait O' Eggs]

My apples trees are coming on strong with a ton of fruit. My cherry trees are incredible this year. My plum trees are looking like the freeze when the blossoms were out did them in, not enough plums to make a snack. Peach tree is like a desert with nothing on it after a huge year last year. Asian pear may not be able to support itself with the amount of fruit coming on.

How are your fruit trees doing?

Here is a pic of one of the cherry trees. I had dinner under the bing tree tonight, stood there and ate till I was full

[jmg]

Looks very very tasty!!

[Fish Mode]

Oh wow amazing tree BOE! We've many a fruit tree but its unfortunate very little amounts of picking are presented this year. Previous years plum tree were blooming and producing like crazy. This year, not even enough to share with the neighbors... I'm not so very sure, but I have a feeling the bees have something to do with this, or rather, nothing to do with this.

Do you mind me asking how you go about maintenance-wise to get that much cherries growing? Our cherry tree never really produces on any level...

[Hookset]

Nice cherries Roy, sure beats the $5 lb. at the store. I sure wish your tree was in my yard instead of the lousy ornamental cherry tress we have, need something to eat rather then just look at.

As for the plums, I was talking with a friend who had the same problem with almost no fruit. We figured most of the blossoms fell off with the cool windy weather we had this spring. When the tress were in full bloom, it looked like it was snowing with the wind gusting over 20 mph.

Nothing better then good eats from home!!

Gregg

[Bait O' Eggs]

I have done nothing special to get the cherries. It is a big tree, probably 12 inch caliper at the ground and the tree is taller than the house.

This year I planted an apricot, nectarine, couple more asian pears, bartlett pear, fuji apple, another bing cherry. Hopefully in a few years they will start producing. The other 7 apple trees are loaded this year, going to be a lot of applesauce in my future.

[Headhunter]

Roy,

At one of my last houses we had a cherry tree that would produce every year. Some years better than others, but every year the birds would pick it clean fairly quickly. How do you keep them away as they get ripe?

Jim

[Liquid Asset]

Originally Posted by Headhunter

Roy,

At one of my last houses we had a cherry tree that would produce every year. Some years better than others, but every year the birds would pick it clean fairly quickly. How do you keep them away as they get ripe?

Jim

Man...that's my question too! They picked us clean this year!. I'm thinking some kind of netting.

LA

[Pelhament]

I just moved into our first house last month, and the cherry tree in the front yard has tons of fruit on it. I find the neighbor kids have been helping themselves most days, but the one in the back yard isn't quite at full stride yet. I think I am going to have to do some harvesting this weekend.

[CATCH AND EAT]

Birds did in my blueberry tree this season. It was really loaded early and I should have put the orange netting on it. Birds have made a big comeback this season.

[garyk]

Originally Posted by Bait O' Eggs

How are your fruit trees doing?

Worst fruit set in 18 years....the always heavy bearing Jiro and Brooks plum trees have ZERO fruit. Peach tree has ONE peach. Zero apricots. Zero persimmons

The only trees with a good set are walnut, medlar, a King apple and a columnar apple.

[Chrome Bumper]

We had unsettled weather during flowering. I stick an aluminum ladder it the cherry trees to spook the birds.

[Woody]

What, no cracks about weather Roy planted dwarf fruit trees?

[gweedo#1]

Originally Posted by Headhunter

Roy,

At one of my last houses we had a cherry tree that would produce every year. Some years better than others, but every year the birds would pick it clean fairly quickly. How do you keep them away as they get ripe?

Jim

pellet gun did the trick for me growing up...I fought for my cherrys..starlings didnt have a chance..

[sprigkiller09]

Originally Posted by Headhunter

Roy,

At one of my last houses we had a cherry tree that would produce every year. Some years better than others, but every year the birds would pick it clean fairly quickly. How do you keep them away as they get ripe?

Jim

Honestly this works....shotgun!!!

Seriously though. Shoot a couple and hang em in the tree. It has worked for me in the past. Cherries are one of my fav fruits and the starlings sure as heck arent getting more than me.

[Thumper]

The sweet cherry trees are disasters. Second-poorest crop in about 10 years. But the pie cherry tree is loaded.

BOE --- we hate you. My gosh, what a treeful!

[Chrome Bumper]

I think it is legal to shoot starlings.

[Jennie@ifish]

Roy, that is the most beautiful thing I've seen on LIG, lately! WOW!

My asian pears are fruitless! Even after buying more mason bees!

Our apple tree is fruitfull! LOL

Raspberries are full! Man, tons of them! Strawberries are good and full... blueberries are really heavy and full too! Great berry year!

Jen

[Jennie@ifish]

Your cherry tree is now my desktop pic! I love it! YUM!

[CATCH AND EAT]

Who's gonna harvest the top half of the tree?

[wilsonriverfisher]

your plums sound like they are suffering from a blight! A twig blight or bacteria blight. The weather we had this early spring and spring sure made a mess of most of the cherry trees around the northwest. Not only blights but it seems that shothole fungi is pretty bad this year as well. People with fruit trees in the NW really need to at least have the trees sprayed with a Dormant Oil/copper spray. alot of Insects/fungi do not die over tthe winter but instead go dormant until the conditions are right and they will come on just as strong as the last active cycle. Blight's will make the blooms dry up shrivel off and die and most of the time the shute will go with it. The weather here can be a really bad breeding ground for all sorts of pests and it only gets worse as the year goes on. The trees have alot of enemies like Leaf rollers, wood borers, aphids, mites, blights, shothole and the list can gon on and on. With all the problem cherry trees I have seen this year you should feel lucky you have cherries or plums. I think i have seen only maybe 20 good looking cherries this year.

oh yeah your cherry looks real good!

mike

[Bait O' Eggs]

I did plant dwarf and semi dwarf trees so I could reach the fruit

Here are a few more pics of some of the bounty I look forward to. I wish the camera could do justice to the amount of fruit on the trees, I just cant get a pic all the way around the tree

One of the Blueberries



One of the apple trees which are so loaded the branches may not support them



A full shot of the one cherry tree which is loaded, not sure how to harvest those those way up there. I have already picked all the ones I could reach



And a shot of the asian pear tree





I dont seem to have the flock of birds around the house this year that were here last year.

[Jennie@ifish]

Man, oh man... I was going to offer to pick the fruit you can't reach, but I see you already joked on yourself.

The offer is still there, tho.

[Chrome Bumper]

Kill two birds with one stone, harvest and prune. Cut the cherry branches off and pick the fruit standing on the ground. Its good for the tree.

You could put Jenny in the tree, she'd scare the birds off and eat less than a flock of starlings.

[Thumper]

Harvest and prune is a great idea. We used to do that back in the day that we actually had cherries.....

[fortywinks]

Roy, you know who is eyeing those Cherries.

For us it is zero for plums, zero for asian pears, smallest crop of Bartletts in 20 years, but for Rome, Red Delicious and Granny Smith apples it is a bumper crop. Apple trees were so loaded that we had to lop off some branches last week to lighten the load or we would be in for some major limb collapse, and I prune the trees religiously every winter.

You do know about pruning don't you? No, not with a chain saw either!

We do have some volunteer cherries on our property but the birds make short work of those. Blueberry bushes are beginning to ripen and they are big and plump. Birds do get some of those too, some years worse than others.

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[Bait O' Eggs]

Originally Posted by fortywinks

Roy, you know who is eyeing those Cherries.

Tell Rose I already have the ones picked she can reach

I should be around all weekend, if Rose wants some cherries she knows how to get here, its only a couple miles and your more than welcome.