This apple tree in the corner has never fruited. And I figured that it was because it was in such a sheltered spot that it didn't recognise the seasons. But last year, I pruned it quite heavily, hoping for a good harvest. And in mid-August, I found that two of the grafts were full of little fruiting spurs!
I was so excited! APPLES FROM MY OWN TREE!
...and then one by one they started...disappearing.
The blossoms were gone, not fallen or died, just the tops eaten clean off!
Time to do some sleuthing! Going out one night, I found slugs all over the tree, climbing up to do damage to my flowers! ARGH! I disposed of the slugs I found, treated the tree for slugs (grease banding, salt banding, copper wire), but the blossoms continued to vanish! Nooooo!
Considering the tree, I realised that a lot of the higher-up leaves had been chewed off. Rats, perhaps? Or mice? I started netting the tree against rats, and now - now! - I have a few blossoms that will hopefully cross-pollinate to set fruit.
I just have to keep on taking the netting off during the day and replace it in the evening. Once it has blossomed and set fruit, I can leave the netting on all the time, it's just getting to that point that's tricky, because the bees and pollinators need access to the flower to do their thing. They also need access to all the pollinating groups at the same time.
At any rate, the two early grafts of the tree are probably an Akane and a Golden Dorsett. I say probably because the label long ago fell off and now I don't actually know which fruit they are! There's at least one Granny Smith in there, but I unfortunately cannot remember the last one, and although I bought it from Fruit Salad Trees; it was at least 6 years ago and I don't know if they carry records that long.
In other news, the early stone fruit along the front driveway have been netted. Crops look promising this year, although the curl leaf blight has struck again - I don't think I sprayed it early enough. Except that I'm not sure it lost its leaves early enough this year to spray. My friend Steph has a herb (horehound) that she swears stops the leaf curl, so I'll have to collect some off her, maybe?
There are flowers happening on the 'dual plum' tree. Although really it's a plum/plumicot tree: Mariposa plum and Flavor Supreme plum-apricot hybrid. Actually, the flowers are only happening on one side of the tree. Which is a little frustrating. And I don't know which side it is, either! Guess we'll find out when they ripen...
Don't know if the cherry will blossom, let alone fruit. It wasn't very good last year, which might have been the dry season, but this season is looking a lot wetter and more hopeful - back to the La Nina pattern, which is a warm and wet spring to early summer over here on the East Coast.
I've done some grafting, which is going to be an exercise in interesting. This time, I took photos to remember what graft is where! That's a post in and of itself, I think.
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