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Post by mskrieger on May 9, 2016 9:59:02 GMT -5
<begin rant>
Used to be reliably cold enough around here that the peaches wouldn't bloom until late April and we almost never had hard frost damage to fruit set. This year they were in full bloom in early-mid-April (because it had been so warm) when we got temperatures down to 26F, maybe a touch lower.
No fruit. Arggggghhhhh.
Two years ago this actually happened to the apple trees, which was unheard of because they used to bloom so late. (Our last frost date is May 15, but last hard frost 26F usually occurs in April and apples don't bloom until early May here. Or well they used to follow that schedule. Now, who knows?)
Evil global warming. Ruining my orchard. Now I guess I know what you guys in the mid-Atlantic and upper South have to deal with all the time, eh?
<end rant>
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Post by mskrieger on May 9, 2016 12:31:04 GMT -5
and if anyone else in the same straits...the PennState extension office helpfully published a guide to pruning peaches in a year with no crop: extension.psu.edu/plants/tree-fruit/news/2014/considerations-for-pruning-peach-trees-with-no-cropThe UConn extension office, interestingly enough, blames the lack of a crop on the -10F temperatures we had over Valentine's Day weekend. Says the trees were already dehardened by the warm winter season, got shocked+stressed by the (normal) cold of Valentine's Day and thus will set no fruit, even if the bloom looked normal. (I didn't cut open any flowers to see if the hearts were normal or blackened...would've been a sure, but depressing, sign.) |
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Post by reed on May 9, 2016 16:09:57 GMT -5
got shocked+stressed by the (normal) cold Yep, that's how it works and not just with peaches. Winter without cold and just a couple (normal) temps in spring does a lot of things in. A lot of my garden is going to be late this year. A month ago I was tilling and complaining in dry 86 0 F, last few days in the 40 0 s and wet, wet, wet. Anything not planted still isn't and some planted may have to be done over. Welcome to the new mother nature as they say. Actually the same mother nature I think, she's just in a real, real bad mood and it will be a long, long time till she gets over it. [add] on the up side, things fell in place this year for my peaches, got lots of em for the first time in years, assuming they don't rot or mold. |
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Post by philagardener on May 9, 2016 19:29:01 GMT -5
and if anyone else in the same straits...the PennState extension office helpfully published a guide to pruning peaches in a year with no crop: extension.psu.edu/plants/tree-fruit/news/2014/considerations-for-pruning-peach-trees-with-no-cropThe UConn extension office, interestingly enough, blames the lack of a crop on the -10F temperatures we had over Valentine's Day weekend. Says the trees were already dehardened by the warm winter season, got shocked+stressed by the (normal) cold of Valentine's Day and thus will set no fruit, even if the bloom looked normal. (I didn't cut open any flowers to see if the hearts were normal or blackened...would've been a sure, but depressing, sign.) The advice from PennState seems like "keep calm, carry on", mostly. It is unfortunate that a lot of folks lost their crop this year . . . |
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Post by mskrieger on May 10, 2016 9:19:34 GMT -5
Glad to hear your peaches look OK, reed! |
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Post by Gianna on May 10, 2016 21:58:03 GMT -5
This year there are some fruits forming on the Babcock peach, but not many. The two previous years virtually nothing. Not only no fruits those two years, but very poor leafing out. I feared the tree might die. But fortunately this year it is looking quite good. For a Babcock to not fruit here, very low chill, is very unusual.
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Post by steev on May 10, 2016 23:05:59 GMT -5
None should be taken in by the "Global Climate-Change Hoax"! It is the Will of God that you have no peaches; confess your sins and submit to God, who can repair your damages, if you are truly repentant (terrified); get right with God, and your trees will miraculously re-sprout the "lost" peaches; those whose lands are being flooded by sea-rise, due to glacial melting, are simply not adequately repentant; God can raise sea-levels differentially, depending on the piety, sect, or creed of the local populace.
So much for satire. Things are undeniably (unless one is a dogma-blinkered loon) getting "different". This is not the "Things will be different when I'm in charge!" that I promise. This is our Great Mother responding to our stupidity and short-sightedness; we really need to clean up our act toot-sweet (toute-suite, pour les Quebecquois)!
Join the 12540dumont and templeton stampede to support "steev for Grand Poobah"; any one of you could be a fifty percent increase in support for my noble enterprise; how's that for an opportunity to feel significant?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 10, 2016 23:20:51 GMT -5
if you are truly repentant (terrified); get right with God, and your trees will miraculously re-sprout the "lost" peaches; Therefore should I take it as a sign of my righteousness, that one year tent caterpillars ate my cherry tree to stems only, and that it re-sprouted and flowered for the second time in the same growing season? Cause once righteous always righteous?  LOL!!! I didn't get fruit from either flowering, because the first got eaten by caterpillars, and the second was too late in the season. But I sure loved the out of season cherry flowers. My apricots have set a heavy load of fruit this year, after just about every apricot blossom in my valley got frozen last growing season. |
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Post by steev on May 10, 2016 23:54:44 GMT -5
Righteousness is no guarantee of profit; in fact, often quite contrary to it. The impious may well suppose that our submission to some assumed Higher Authority is of little, or no, avail. Personally, I am convinced that we are subject to forces over which we have little or no control, and which are little concerned about us; nor do I know why they ought to be. Accordingly, while I spend lots of time on my knees, I'm weeding, not praying.
Sorry you weren't adequately righteous, Joseph, or God would have brought that second flowering to fruition, regardless of season (one might suppose).
So far, it looks like I'm also going to have a bumper crop of stone-fruit; I know Lucifer is Lord of the Flies, but I don't recall hearing specifically who is lord of the bees. I think our Great Mother is in charge of them (why we ought not to fuck them up), pending authoritative correction of my naïve conception.
Actually, I think I'm expecting an embarrassment of riches, stone-fruit-wise; my landlady forbids me to can, the chef next-door has moved, and I've not drying facilities. Crap. I'm caught between no produce and ability to cope. Oh, well. Wish I had a pig; wish in one hand,,,
Hmm; maybe I can dump some of this prospective bounty on Holly.
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Post by blueadzuki on May 11, 2016 15:22:17 GMT -5
So far, it looks like I'm also going to have a bumper crop of stone-fruit; I know Lucifer is Lord of the Flies, but I don't recall hearing specifically who is lord of the bees. I think our Great Mother is in charge of them (why we ought not to fuck them up), pending authoritative correction of my naïve conception. Beelzebub is Lord of the Flies, not Lucifer. Actually, I think Apollo is in charge of bees, or maybe it's Frig. But on the whole I sort of agree. More and more I feel like the world is going through a live action performance of Harlan Ellison's short story "Ecowareness" |
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Post by MikeH on May 11, 2016 17:16:10 GMT -5
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Post by steev on May 11, 2016 23:05:42 GMT -5
All those demons look much the same to me; Lucifer, Beelzebub, Pazuzu, whatever.
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Post by blueadzuki on May 12, 2016 5:13:28 GMT -5
Or why I prefer to worship Cthulhu, at least HE is easily recognizable (well there is Kthanid too, but still.....)
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Post by MikeH on May 12, 2016 5:15:30 GMT -5
All those demons look much the same to me; Lucifer, Beelzebub, Pazuzu, whatever. There's never a shortage - new kid on the block. |
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Post by mskrieger on May 12, 2016 9:14:48 GMT -5
I'm considering voting Cthulhu for the presidency this November. After all, why settle for the lesser evil? And for steev and Joseph Lofthouse, I'm sure you two know the rule: Roses are red, Apricot fruitlets make us grin, But if we have a really heavy fruitset, We must certainly thin. Take my envy and my baseball bat and get to it, boys. |
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