Cold, wet spring (forum)

Julie starts with ...
It has been the coldest September for 94 years I heard the other day! Last time we had a cold, wet spring I had hardly any apricots, and very few plums. They didn't get pollinated.

So if you have problems with fruit this summer, this might be the reason. It could also mean fruit will probably be expensive to buy, in WA anyway.

Time: 18th September 2009 6:03pm

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amanda says...
Hey Julie - that's interesting as I have 4 plum trees (same age, food etc all planted together) the Sunrise Gulf and the Gulf Ruby flowered perfectly in sync and are loaded with fruit. The Santa Rosa and Satsuma started to flower (much later) in sync them just stopped dead. It's really odd as they haven't done anything since - it's like they have had some kind of shock?
The other thing I noticed is that my peach and nectarine tree are loaded but my apricot had few flowers and no fruit. My dwarf nectarines are covered in flowers but my dwarf peaches haven't pushed a single flower or leaf yet. It seems all the later stuff has failed maybe - so perhaps u are spot on Julie?
Ironically enuf' the custard apples have lots of flowers - and they are sub-tropical!!?? I find it all a bit strange...

Time: 18th September 2009 9:29pm

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Julie says...
I'm sure it's a bit warmer in Geraldton than Perth amanda! So you might be OK.

Time: 19th September 2009 5:23pm

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Itdepends says...
Got some sunshine today and the bees were out- hoping for more sun soon :)

Time: 19th September 2009 10:44pm

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amanda says...
Hey Julie n all..these are the two plum trees I was talking about - they have been like this for over a month now!
I am sure it is the weather - like u said Julie!?
Pictures - Click to enlarge

Picture: 1
Picture: 2

Time: 24th September 2009 9:37am

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Jimmy says...
Itsa wierd season all right, my plums flowered a month ago, then the almonds, now my apples, apricots and citrus are flowering this week.

Time: 24th September 2009 11:06am

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amanda says...
Hi Jimmy - I defoliated my apples a few weeks ago - but still no activity (leaves or flowers)!??

Time: 24th September 2009 4:19pm

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Jimmy says...
Thats cool, my trees in the ground have not flowered but the ones in the pots have. This is because the pot soil warms up quicker.

Time: 25th September 2009 10:44am

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amanda says...
Ah! thanks again Jimmy - u are a very helpful man! There has been a distinct change in the 'feel' of the weather here over last few days...(it has been pretty cold - even for Gero!) and the winds have picked up...so I might see some action now - fingers crossed!?

Time: 26th September 2009 10:23am

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amanda says...
Well... a balmy 28oC yesterday and hail forecast for 2morrow..? Just when the trees thought it was safe to fruit...!?

Time: 28th September 2009 9:21pm

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Julie says...
Checked on my plums yesterday - not one! The Newcastle apricots have about half the usual crop, another apricot (Moorpark?) seems OK. Peaches, which come later,are doing alright.

So just the plums suffered really.

Time: 1st November 2009 12:55pm

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amanda says...
Hey Julie - same here! My early plums are fine n got lots, but the later ones (that started to flower then went dormant for ages) missed the boat - only a cupla fruit. My dwarf peaches have just started to shoot - but no flowers :(

Time: 1st November 2009 11:11pm

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Julie says...
It's happened again - no apricots! The Newcastle early has none, and the Moorpark has about 1/2 a dozen. No jam this year!

This really has been a very unseasonal spring, very cold and wet.

Time: 8th November 2011 8:45pm

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About the Author Julie
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amanda says...
Same Julie :-( Two of my plum trees are flowering now though...far too late. Even my low chill peach and nectarine are a bit light this year...
I thought it might be because our winter was so warm..? (was here anyway..) wet - but warm with all the cloud cover at night...
My flowering was all over the place...

Time: 9th November 2011 10:02am

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Julie says...
I'm sure it is to do with lack of pollination amanda - no bees in such cold, wet weather at flowering time.

Time: 9th November 2011 9:00pm

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amanda says...
Julie - I have no lack of bees at anytime of the year - truly! At the moment my tropical nectarine has fruit the size of a golf ball - but still putting out new flowers right now. The flowering is all up the creek, to my mind. Way out of sync.
Last spring was wet and cold and I had great results...but the winter was really cold and dry. Clear nights make for cold nights. This winter was quite balmy in comparison :)
I will be really interested to see how our so called "low chill" stone fruit perform with our warming temps..?


Time: 10th November 2011 12:17am

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Jimmy says...
Are these young trees?

Time: 10th November 2011 10:52am

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amanda says...
Hey Jimmy - mine are all 5 or 6yrs now...is that still classed as young?

I am noticing a big difference this year (I did a big prune in early autumn but took out whole branches mostly (sob sob!) for re-shaping due to the wind-lean effect...this shouldn't have affected them tho..?)

Gees - the early peaches I have tried in the shop these last two weeks are truly awful as well...they refuse to ripen..? What are they doing to them?

Time: 10th November 2011 5:31pm

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Jimmy says...
Nah, thats getting on, young trees are like young humans they go for sexual reproduction whenever they can, older plants do it in the right season. ha ha

Most of those low chill stuff would be the new non melting sub acid fruit. I hate them as they don't ripen and stay crunchy, blurgh! Overipe fruit just go blurky around the stone.

Time: 11th November 2011 12:31pm

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Itdepens says...
Wet spring has put a real dampner on yields, made the news a couple of nights ago because of the impact on Xmas cherries. I've seen the impact in my trees at home, plums and apricots are well down, peaches look ok though and apple blossom is looking good- as long as we get some sunshine now to get the bees out.

Daniel

Time: 11th November 2011 9:55pm

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amanda says...
Ah Jimmy! On my 3rd different lot of peaches and they are still the same...todays two have been on the bench for a week now and they are still pretty crunchy...

"non melting...??" far out!? Lets hope they don't hang around...I won't be buying them in future. I reckon they rely on the fact that people don't take them back to the shop and complain...?

Time: 14th November 2011 9:31pm

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Jimmy says...
non melting is what the asian market wants along with low acid, thus we grow them export the cream and WA gets the leftovers.

Time: 15th November 2011 11:37am

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