Citrus and Peach trees

frankthetank · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 4:39 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

Peakoiler-

How much rain do you have so far this year?

Up here rain/snow early in the season doesn't really count because the ground is frozen up until March or so (later this year). Pretty much everything that falls April-November goes into the ground. We don't really have to worry about a lack of rainfall in these parts. Last major drought was something like 1988 from what i can remember.

We've had:
May 3.5 inches
April 6.74 inches

I have over 1000 sq ft of rooftop (probably closer to 2000 sq ft with the attached garage) so thats a lot of water!

I've collected about 200 gallons just to have on hand for the blueberries and containers. Everything else can be watered by the sky.

I counted about 9 baby peaches... Oh well. I guess i'll at least have some seed to start more trees next spring.

edit:
I bet i've ate over 25 peaches so far this month (store bought). Ive noticed they are coming form Georgia, South Carolina and California. The California ones have been the best tasting.
_________________
"Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07

PeakOiler · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 6:03 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

frankthetank · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 6:54 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

Weatherunderground has you at 8.76 inches since Jan 1... Lowest temp of 24F and a high of 98F... Your 7 day looks

HOT!

Guy that works with my wife is from south TX. I always wonder why he doesn't move back. Sometimes i let him know what the weather is like. I think he's from way down there, near the border.

For some reason this area of the country (N. IA, WI, parts of MN) has just been wet for years now. Last August 15.1 inches of rain fell in 24hrs in Hokah, MN about 10 miles from here. I ended up with around 10 inches.
_________________
"Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07

frankthetank · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:26 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

Here's my peachless peach trees. I think there is about 8 peaches total on the 2 trees. They look great for such crappy spring weather.
_________________
"Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07

PeakOiler · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:55 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

PeakOiler · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 7:52 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

This baby pink grapefruit is only 1.5" (3.8cm) in diameter:

It will be ready in December if it survives. A few others are even smaller. The other citrus are coming along. I may eat my first home-grown orange this fall!

All four pineapple are still alive, as well as some baby pomegranate and more Meyers lemon sprouts:

_________________
About my avatar: Guess.

frankthetank · Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 6:02 am Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

I've got 3 pineapples going. Next spring i have to be careful when i put them outside so i don't kill a bunch of the leaves like i did on mine earlier this spring.

That citrus looks perfect.

I have a seedling of a Kumquat seed i planted back this winter. Man..its a slow grower. I need to repot it soon. I've read that they don't do well on their own roots, and from what i learned, thats true. I had a bunch of seedlings to begin with and they all died.
_________________
"Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07

PeakOiler · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 8:26 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

Here's an update:

The weights listed are the raw, sliced-up, processed weight (without pits.) (What I actually ate.)

They were small but very sweet. Not enough for canning or pies. There are two peaches left on one tree that are almost ready. I put some bird netting around them and they're looking good. A late freeze, a bad wind storm, and the drought really took it's toll on the harvest this year. But some is better than none.
_________________
About my avatar: Guess.

coyote · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 1:34 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

We've learned the importance of thinning the fruit. We have a peach tree in our plot that was quite prodigious this year. I thinned the fruit twice, trying to be brutal about it - but there was still so much on there that we lost a major limb under the weight this week. Just cracked and then came down.

We've gotten lots of fruit from this tree, but none of it is particularly tasty. It's okay. We took over this plot in April of this year, I can see the tree was not pruned properly. I will try to do that this fall, and some fertilizer, and see if the tree does better next year. I'd rather have one fifth the fruit, but have it be tasty and nutritious. And I'd rather not lose any more branches! I thinned the tree a third time this week, throwing away many rather promising looking fruits, to avoid losing any more of the tree.

This thing has been rather a lot of work so far.
_________________
"If a path to the better there be, it begins with a full look at the worst." — Thomas Hardy

frankthetank · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:37 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

My seed grown peaches are about 2 feet tall now. The last 4 weeks they've really starting growing pretty good. I have over 10, with 6 Reliance seedlings in the ground and the rest in containers. I need to protect the seedlings in the ground over the winter. Probably put a small piece of fencing around each one and fill it with leaves.

One thing i've noticed with peach seedlings is they tend to have a lot of yellow leaves.
_________________
"Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07

PeakOiler · Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:19 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

My 1,000th post. Wow. What do I get?
A half of inch of rain from Dolly. Smile

(I love tropical storms.)

I've processed 38 peaches, with just a few more in the frig. So the peach harvest was about a fifth from last year.

Meanwhile, the citrus are hanging in there:

And here's a close up of a few grapefruit:

On July 12th, I counted 21 lemons, 9 limes, 4 grapefruit, and 1 satsuma. I'm not quite sure why the yield is lower, but I suspect some soil nutrients may be lacking, perhaps some got too cold during the winter months, 100+F heat in June (which didn't occur last June IIRC), so I will try some things different as time goes on. They really need to be in the ground, but I don't have a good greenhouse built yet...
_________________
About my avatar: Guess.

Ludi · Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:17 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

We let the birds have our pathetic tiny peaches. Sad

_________________
No original ideas are contained in this post.

PeakOiler · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:38 am Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

Today I harvested my first Persian lime of the season. It weighed in at 94 grams, and 48 grams are left as shown below (after eating the first half.) I think I will start a tradition of having a shot of tequila with each year's first lime. Cool

Two of the Meyers lemon trees are blossoming again and the hummingbirds are busy.
_________________
About my avatar: Guess.

PeakOiler · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 1:36 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees

Rats. I'm out of tequila.

Here is my final total for peaches in 2008. I ate all 41! Droughts bite.

Edited image to include harvest date column.
_________________
About my avatar: Guess.