Citrus and Peach trees

[PeakOiler]

My peach harvest has begun. So far I've picked 21 peaches, a total of 1.972 kg (4.34 lb), average weight of 94 g/peach. I've eaten three. Yum!

I haven't used any pesticides once again and I've used only rainfall and collected rainwater for the trees. Only a few were pecked by birds, but those "bad parts" can easily be sliced away. I'm also weighing the processed amount, i.e., without the pit (in other words, the edible amount). I am making sure I don't eat too much at any one time in light of my Type II diabetes. One peach per day is OK.

I'll be harvesting peaches over the next few weeks or more.

[PeakOiler]

Deleted-double post.

[PeakOiler]

I've harvested about 6.838 kg (15 lbs) of peaches in five days. That's just from 2 of 13 trees!

I'll be freezing some of the processed peaches for the next batch of peach wine in my solar-powered freezer!

I checked the local grocery (HEB-Georgetown) prices for Texas peaches today and they want $1.98/lb. So I have over $30 peaches so far. There are dozens more that are still too green.

I've now paid back my electrical use (for pumping some collected rainwater) by producing more caloric energy from the peaches than the energy from the grid, or any fossil fuels, to produce those peaches...


Flow systems do work, once the infrastructure is in place...

[PrestonSturges]

We watched a big rabbit eating one of our peaches and a little baby rabbit would come and sniff it, and the big rabbit would give it a little bop on the head to shoo it away. This happened about three times in a couple minutes.

[PeakOiler]

The wild rabbits around here have been feasting on the fallen peaches and any damaged peaches I've been leaving on the ground while harvesting. They're getting fat!

YTD: 129 peaches harvested. Still a lot more...

I'm going to take some of them to work today and pass them around. I know of at least two coworkers who are willing to pay for them.

[PeakOiler]

Well, enough coworkers put enough cash tips (in my tip cup on my desk at work) for some peaches that more than covered the amount I spent on gasoline for my 92-mile round trip commute today. I wish I could do that every day!

I gave a lot of peaches away too.

This evening I harvested another 78 peaches weighing 6.5 kg (14.3 lb). That brings my YTD total to 207 peaches. And all these are essentially from just one peach tree! Yikes! There are still hundreds on the other 12 trees!

If I can't eat the peaches, I might as well make a little money...

[PeakOiler]

It seems I have found a niche market for my extra peaches: My workplace. I've been getting great feedback and many requests for more. I will oblige them as long as the peaches are "marketable."

Many of the imperfect peaches I'm slicing, pitting, peeling and freezing for the next batch of peach wine, which shouldn't be too far away now. I need more bottles. A couple of coworkers are interested in buying some wine too, but I don't know if I need a license for that.

YTD: 49 lbs, 22.4 kg, 256 peaches, not counting what I'm about to go pick this evening...

[furrybill]

PeakOiler I'm totally jealous of all those peaches!

We've had crazy weather here. There were 80-degree days in March, April and May. There was no frost in May but temps got real low. A cherry and plum tree both go fooled and bloomer too early - a cold snap came through and they dropped the flowers - no fruit this year! Another cherry tree was so stressed by the swings in temperature that it died. I planted 3 paw-paws, a nectarine and a couple more peaches a couple weeks back, hopefully they'll do well. Have to get my trellis built for the hardy kiwi. The peach tree is my favorite. It bloomed early and yet didn't suffer from the various cold snaps. There are tons of peaches on it - I'll have to thin them soon. So far as I can tell the apples, raspberries and blueberries were unaffected by the weather except to thrive.

[PeakOiler]

Good luck with your peach trees furrybill. Weather (late frosts, wind, drought, etc.,) has often taken it's toll on my peach trees. This year I'm having a good harvest, but I don't think I will break my record of 494 pounds in 2010.

Meanwhile I'm taking some extra peaches to work tomorrow, where I continue to get asked when the next peaches will be ready. Many of my coworkers are still leaving donations @ $1/lb., or more.

This is peach tree #8:



This one is on peach tree #7:



These I weighed yesterday:



The scale reads 366 grams (0.81 lb).

Edit: I just weighed another 32 peaches, 3.4 kg.

YTD: 36.1 kg (80 lb.) from 406 peaches.

[PeakOiler]

Last week I sold enough peaches at work (as well as giving many away to coworkers) that I bought a 10' x 10' canopy at a local retail store. Today I bought a 6' folding table for the "future peach stand" for $10. Then I sold $10 (@$1/lb) peaches to the guy that sold me the table. I kinda like this.

I harvested another 16.4 kg (36 lb) peaches this morning.

Last time I checked the local grocer (HEB), Texas peaches were selling for $1.48/lb. And my peaches are organic.

I still have to process a lot of the unmarketable peaches - bird or wind-branch damaged peaches that is. I currently have more than enough frozen processed peaches for the next batch of peach wine.

My peach harvest chart is peaking for the season... I may post that later.

YTD: 90.3 kg, 199 lb., 910 peaches.

[PeakOiler]

Today my nearest neighbor, who lives about 1/4 mile away, brought me some cash for some extra peaches I was leaving at his gate. I gave him even more peaches, since I still am a little overwhelmed with the good harvest.

Got another batch of peach wine started today.

Tomorrow I'm taking a bunch of peaches to a friend's birthday party to be passed around to the guests. Guests were encouraged to bring something that goes well with peaches, such as ice cream. I'm giving my friend and his wife a bottle of peach wine.

Cheers!


YTD: 108 kg, 238 lb from 1,031 peaches, and I haven't weighed the ones I picked this morning.

[PeakOiler]

A couple of days ago I found one baby grapefruit on one of the little trees and the tree has also blossomed again. It seems pretty late in the season for it to blossom. Citrus are weird.

Fortunately the peach harvest season is almost over. YTD 1,078 peaches weighing 118 kg (261 lb). I think there are only about tree peaches left to pick. Whew!

btw, I did use 2.47 kW-hr of electrical energy as fuel (for electric water pumps) to help produce the peaches this season. ($0.30 of electricity.)

[PeakOiler]

My final peach totals were 1,100 peaches, weighing 120,5 kilos (266 lb).

I made a peach pie using stevia extract instead of sugar. Turned out quite well. I still have to limit the portion (1/8 pie slice per serving). Froze most of it.

It's almost time to rack the current batch of peach wine a second time.

[PeakOiler]

I've begun harvesting some of my citrus.

So far, I've eaten one navel orange, (two remain). Below is the largest orange that is still turning from green to yellow. It'll eventually turn orange over the next couple weeks:



I've got nine grapefruit on the way. They'll be ready to pick in the next 4-6 weeks. Here's one of them:



I've already picked about five lemons. More are almost ready:


I ate one satsuma mandarin (tangerine) this morning (it was delicious!), one is in the fridge, and about 32 more are almost ready. Here's some of them:



I think I'll get over 70 citrus fruits this year!

[PeakOiler]

Our first freezing temperatures of the season around here are mostly from mid November till the end of the month. I've already brought the minneola tangelo and pineapple into the house right next to the 6x6 ft. south-facing window. (The picture was taken at night).



That little tree has seven fruits on it! I had to use an old sock to help support the fruit.

I plan on bringing the lime, two grapefruit, and the avocado trees into the house. The rest of the citrus trees will go out to the greenhouse or in a temp hoop-house again (right against the house), and I might just transplant one of the lemons and one more satsuma into the ground this fall. I've already started construction of some enclosures using material from the salvaged carport. I want to configure a chiminea (or two) to help warm the in-ground citrus when needed. wip

[PeakOiler]

A picture of some of the Citrus and Peach Trees on Dec. 1:



You can see in the picture three of the 13 peach trees, which have now lost nearly all of their leaves, and some of the citrus on the front deck/porch. Some of the lemons and satsuma can be seen near the center of the pic.

The front yard is essentially brown from the lack of rain. YTD rain 16.55". Normal use to be around 30" per year. One of the seven 1,550 gallon rainwater tanks, behind the lattice, is ready for a recharge. (See the two 3" downspout pipes from the gutters along the metal roof?) I'm down to less than 3,000 gallons of collected rainwater. I hope we get some good winter rain. We'll see.

You can also see some of the 3/4" PVC irrigation pipe outlets near the base of the trunks of two of the peach trees.

The sheet plastic is currently pulled back from the PVC pipe "hoop-house" framework on the deck to let more sun onto the citrus.

[PeakOiler]

The first pink grapefruit I've harvested this season weighed 604 grams (1.33 lb). I haven't eaten it yet. It's currently in the fridge.

Shown below are a few of the others that aren't quite ready yet.





I added a little bit of sphagnum peat moss to each of the pots today.

[PeakOiler]

Today I juiced a dozen lemons yielding 500 ml. That brings my YTD total to 799 ml. I froze the juice in the solar-powered freezer.

Still nine lemons in the fridge and about 20 left on the trees. Some of these Meyers lemons are getting pretty big.

Ate half the pink grapefruit that I harvested on 11/27 today. Excellent.

Covered the citrus trees with Plankets today in preparation for the possible freezing temperatures Monday and Tuesday night.

[PeakOiler]

I mentioned earlier in this thread that I was working on some enclosures for the in-ground satsuma trees. I'm still not done, but this is what I have so far:



A chiminea next to the enclosures can help against Jack Frost too. You can see about half the chiminea in the picture.

I am enclosing one side with metal salvaged from the carport damaged in a storm last May and the other sides with plexiglass or equivalent. A very large shipping crate is currently around the satsuma tree I recently transplanted. I'll use the Plankets to cover the trees, as well as burning an incandescent light when the temperatures dip below freezing:



When the threat of freezing weather is over in a few months, all the enclosures can be easily dismantled.

I still have a lot of salvaged material to use:


YTD I've harvested 95 citrus fruits, my new all-time annual high!

Family and friends are getting a lemon in their Christmas stockings.

[PeakOiler]

Today I'm going to bake two more peach pies using fruit harvested earlier this year for the holiday get-togethers. I still have about 20 pounds of frozen peaches.

I need to start another batch of peach wine.