It's a Pear!

Warren Pear

The miniature espalier orchard was planted in the winter of 2008-2009 and has never produced any fruit.  Not even a blossom developed eight Spring seasons to follow.  The tree is the handsomest tree in the espalier line.  Beautiful bark, nice form, and dancing leaves have kept Warren for the ax all this time.  In this part of the garden, production is a must.  Warren must have read my mind as I considered removing the tree and replacing with something that isn't a moocher.

I spoke with a Dave Wilson Nursery representative that encouraged me to be patient.  The tree  can take as long as seven years to produce.  The calendar and my ultimatum must have been the right combination of stress for old Warren to get its act together.  The drought may also have played a role in generating blossoms this Spring resulting in one pear.  ONE PEAR!  This fruit has been watched almost daily.  Varmints were my biggest concern.  Harvesting the fruit at the right time was my other concern.

The pear was harvested on September 3, 2016.  I feel like a plaque should be erected to commemorate the long awaited success.  A post to Maybelline's Garden will have to do.  The fruit was flavorful with a nice texture.  I'm optimistic that future harvests should wait until after Labor Day.  Perhaps mid September.  The original tree tags from Dave Wilson Nursery did not list suggested harvest dates.  Here's what the original labels state:

WARREN PEAR   Excellent quality dessert pear - and highly resistant to fireblight.  Medium to large, long-necked fruit with pale green skin, sometimes blushed red.  Smooth flesh (no grit cells) is juicy and buttery with superb flavor. Good keeper.  Cold hardy to -20°F.  From Mississippi.  600 hours.  Self-fruitful.

OHXF 333 ROOTSTOCK  European and Asian pears on OHxF 333 are dwarfed to about 2/3 the size of standard, or about 12-18 ft. if not pruned.  Widely adapted, diseased-resistant.  Trees on OHxF 333 may be held to any desired height by summer pruning.

The last fruit tree awaiting harvest is the Granny Smith apple.

Orchard Update



 The garden orchard isn't big at all.  All the deciduous trees are espalier pruned to shadow the garden fence line.  (The citrus grow on the opposite side of that fence line with the raised beds on the same side as the espalier trees.  All these trees were planted in January 2009 as bare root babies.

Warren Pear

The Warren pear has refused to bloom. This is the 4th year in the garden without so much of a hint of a bud.  The leaves are beautiful, glossy, and green.  In fact, the pear tree is known as the diva of the garden.  It really is a great tree to form an espalier.

Granny Smith Apple

Old Granny Smith was thought to be a gonner due to sun scald.  Using tree wrap saved it and now the tree is producing nice fruit.  This spring, there is an abundance of blossoms - the most in it's short life.  This is the last tree to bloom in spring and the last fruit to ripen at the end of summer.

O'Henry Peach
 

O'Henry had a bad case of sun scald like the apple tree.  The tree wrap did a great job.  Last summer I concentrated on developing a nice canopy to naturally shade the limbs.  This year, wrap will be applied to any tree that needs it.  And, this peach tree is blooming like made so there is hope for a good crop of fruit.

Fantasia Nectarine

Last year, the nectarine had to be replaced.  Same variety - better production.  The previous tree had rare blooms and when it was removed there were no roots.  None.  This fantasia has about 15 blooms this spring; but something is nibbling on them.  Ants?

Santa Rosa Plum

Fruit is already forming on the plum tree.  There are an estimated 5 billion blossoms on the tree this spring.  That's a very rough estimate.  I'm hopeful to be able to make plum jelly this summer.  Santa Rosa was the 1st to bloom; but it's not the mightiest producer.  No sir.

Blenheim Apricot

Even though the apricot had to undergo some major surgery recently, that did not stop the fruit production.  This tree is the 2nd to bloom but is surging ahead as far as production is concerned. Dried apricots are my favorites.  I'm hopeful.

Marvelous!

Our Warren Pear tree is the garden diva.  Or should that be Devo?  It grows beautifully and is probably the best type of tree for espalier pruning.  The branches naturally take to this type of pruning.  The bark is a nice olive, green-brown.  The leaves are glossy with long stems allowing them to flutter in the breeze.  It really looks marvelous. 

Warren Pear

Unfortunately, not one blossom has ever been produced.  A description from Dave Wilson Nursery up in Reedley, California states:

"Excellent quality dessert pear - and highly resistant to fire blight. Medium to large, long-necked fruit with pale green skin, sometimes blushed red. Smooth flesh (no grit cells) is juicy and buttery with superb flavor. Good keeper. Cold hardy to -20°F. From Mississippi. 600 hours. Self-fruitful."

Since Warren is self-fruitful, shouldn't there be blossoms all over the laterals?  The tree is 4 years old.  All the other variety of trees have produced something.  Some more than others. Warren needs to start earning his keep.  He won't get replaced just yet because he's such a marvelous diva/devo in the garden.

Any insight into my barren pear tree is appreciated. 

Fruit Trees

Most all the fruit trees are producing great this year.  They are 3 years old and trained espalier to keep them manageable, tidy, and productive.  Organic fertilizer is applied about every 4 - 6 weeks.  Irrigation occurs as needed.  I use a moisture meter to determine when to soak the basins.  Pruning/pinching happens as needed and it’s been needed quite a bit lately.  So far, the trees have been pruned 3 – 4 times this spring.  The goal is to encourage a dense canopy over the open branches to avoid any sun scald to the fruit, trunk, or branches.  The wire cable seen in some images is used to train the espalier.  When the branches mature, it will be removed.

Plum - Santa Rosa

Plum – Santa Rosa:  This is the western most tree and maybe the hardiest.  The fruit is really developing nicely with the weaker ones thinning out naturally.  Thank goodness.  Thinning is taxing to me psychologically. Seeing the smaller, weaker plums take a dive for Darwinism helps me out.  Thanks weaklings.

Peach – O’Henry

Peach – O’Henry:  Pinching the tender new growth of the peach tree is a snap and can be do simply using my fingernails.  By pinching the tips, new growth is forced elsewhere helping to form a thicker shade canopy.  The peach isn’t the most vigorous tree but the fruit is really good.

Apple – Granny Smith

Apple – Granny Smith:  Not many fruit was produced in 2010 on this tree.  2011 looks to be way more successful.  These should be ready to harvest in August.  Old Granny had sun scald troubles.  Umbrellas will be used to shade any trees that are showing signs of being sensitive to the sun.  The umbrellas will go up nonetheless to comfort a whiney gardener with swamp pants.

Pear – Warren:  Sadly, I didn’t snap off a picture of Warren.  There are no fruit but the foliage is looking great.  Pears are some of the easiest trees to espalier train.

Nectarine – Fantasia

Nectarine – Fantasia:  Poor thing.  This is the 1st year any fruit has formed.  Sadly encouraging.  This tree suffered major sun scald.  I thought it would need to be replaced this past winter.  But it seems to be producing.  The goal is to encourage more leaves and make it stronger. 

Apricot – Blenheim

Apricot – Blenheim:  One of my favorites.  “Who put the ape in apricot?”  Name the movie.  This is really exciting to have a healthy apricot tree.  Blenheim sits at the eastern most point on the line of espaliers.  It is as vigorous as the plum.  New growth is regularly pruned/pinched.  Only recently has it begun to shed weaker fruits.  There are still plenty of beautiful, healthy apricots that should be ready in a few more weeks.

Another application of fertilizer is due in the next few weeks.  The trees were last fertilized during the 2nd weekend in April.  Heck.  This weekend seems like a fine time to feed these hungry babies.

Espalier Progress

Most all the trees have buds breaking.  Today the Warren Pear finally joined the others.  Sadly, it seems that all the buds are leaves.  References state that fruit may not be produced up until the tree’s fifth year.  This pear tree was planted in January 2009 so there is still hope…just not this year.

Warren Pear

One of the trees grafted earlier this year was the Fantasia Nectarine.  It needs more lateral branches because of sun scald (I have determined without any formal training so…).  So far the grafted scions have not shown signs of life ; but the upper branches are bursting.  No fruit has been produced to date; but this may be the year.  This tree was also planted in January 2009.

Fantacia Nectarine

Not only are the fruit trees coming to life, the Red Flame Grape is stirring.  Farmer MacGregor is the master pruner of this vine as it matures over the arbor he built.

Red Flame Grape

All of the fruit trees and the grape vine have been fertilized but they really needed some mulch to set them up right for the hot summer ahead.  I went and got a few bags, came home and cleaned out the garden wagon, then got busy.

The trees are almost ready to face summer.  The only thing left is to rig up some kind of shade structure to protect this mini orchard from more sun damage.

 

Note:  If Kellogg would like to send me more Gardener & Bloome, I would shamelessly post the benefits of their product that is 15% chicken $h!t.  Even though it’s super stinky, it seems to help the garden grow.  Until then, I’ll continue to buy the stuff at my local nursery. For every gardener still living in winter, the reflection on the bag of Harvest Supreme is not a flash from the camera…it’s just that Lucky Old Sun.

 

This Bud’s For You

With the moist winter we’ve been experiencing and the warmer, longer days, the buds in the garden are bursting or on the verge.  Today there was light rain in the San Joaquin Valley and a dusting of snow in Tehachapi.  It was a nice surprise to top off an afternoon drive up the hill.  Before the drive, we went to the citrus tasting at White Forest Nursery.  The only thing I bought was a couple packets of Teddy Bear Sunflower seeds. 

Here is the promise of spring:

 

 Strawberry

 Dandelion

Lilac (lobelia in background)

 Chrysanthemum

Santa Rosa Plum

O’Henry Peach

Granny Smith Apple

Warren Pear

Fantasia Nectarine

  Blenheim Apricot

Lantana – Purple

Oxalis

Lantana – Yellow

  Begonia

Azalea - George L. Taber

Lemon – Variegated Pink

Pruning Before & After

This is the 2nd year for the espalier trees.  All are stone fruit trees.  They are irrigated the same and fed the same “Dr. Earth”.  Some perform better than others.  This evening, it was time to break out the pruning shears and make a few snips.

Always start with sharp pruning shears that are clean.  I use rubbing alcohol to clean mine.  It evaporates quickly leaving no chance for rust.  I have a couple of sharpeners in the shed to keep the blade sharp.  They’re cheap and very portable.

That’s it for pruning advice except to clip at an angle with the blade close to a joint.  The very best resource is

Santa Rosa Plum This tree really thrives in this climate.  Fruit did form this year but the immature tree was unable to hold it.

O’Henry Peach   Both years this tree has produced fruit.  This spring there were about 3 dozen peaches but a wind storm knocked the fruit from the young branches.  This is a tasty variety of peach.  Only a small amount is pruned so the leaves can continue to shade the fruit.

Granny Smith Apple  Only 1 apple this season and not much pruning.  Here the top lateral is being formed.  In the photo on the right the longest vertical branch is now making a gentle turn to the right to begin developing laterally.

Warren Pear  This tree along with the apple bend easily and grow easily to an espalier form.  There was damage to the leaves earlier in the spring and an aphid attack a couple of weeks ago; but the pear is continuing to form.  There have been no blossoms.

Fantasia Nectarine  A score of “not-so-great” has been handed out to the nectarine.  Only 3 lateral branches have formed with sparse amounts of leaves.  It did bloom this spring; but no fruit has formed yet. 

I believe the branches have been sunburned.  Any diagnosis and recommendations are welcome.  I will either learn to graft with this tree or start all over with a new tree in the winter.  Like the peach, the nectarine doesn’t get much pruning to allow the leaves to shade the branches.

 Blenheim Apricot  This must be THE most vigorous of any of the fruit trees planted as espalier.  I’ve given it a number of prunings this summer.  Small fruit did form in early spring; but immaturity ruled and I’ll just have to wait for another year.

I was chasing sunlight by the time I was cleaning up the apricot pruning.  That’s how it works in the summer…the sun chases you until you go inside then you chase the sun until it gives up.