Bud Break - Santa Rosa Plum

The buds on the Santa Rosa plum are the first to break this spring (Feb 13, 2016). It is loaded with buds. All the other fruit trees are loaded too - peach, apple, nectarine, and apricot - but the pear tree looks to have another bloomless year.  Diva.

Average Santa Rosa

Santa Rosa Plum

The Santa Rosa Plum grows perfectly in the Southern San Joaquin Valley.  Perfect.  Hot, long days all summer long don't even dent this tree's performance.  In fact, those hot days encourage the Santa Rosa to thrive producing sweet, juicy fruit. 

Dave Wilson is my grower of choice.  Here's their descriptor:

Most popular plum in California & Arizona. Juicy, tangy, flavorful. Reddish-purple skin, amber flesh tinged red. Late June in Central Calif. 300 hours. Self-fruitful.

The 300 hours means the requirement of hours below 45° F needs to be at least 300 hours.  That's the chill hours. Those chill hours help the tree go into a nice, deep sleep and produce fruit that will set and develop good quality.  No problemo here in Bakersfield.

Each year since planting the deciduous trees, the Santa Rosa has been the first to break bud.  2013 is no exception.  Here's the accumulated history:

• February 20, 2009
• February 14, 2010
• February 24, 2011
• February 11, 2012
• February 16, 2013

For statistics freaks, today (February 17) is the average date for the buds to break on Santa Rosa.  Hope the fruit will be above average.  Once the trees are in full bloom, then fertilization will begin.

March usually brings winds in the valley.  The winds thin the fruit naturally.  Sadly, last March the wind about knocked out the entire crop.  I can't stand the wind.  Dust, dirt, broken limbs, birds' nests knocked down, Valley Fever spores.  It's just a mess.  Let's all hope that the winds won't be so vicious this year.

Here's to an average or better than average year for Santa Rosa.

 

Peaches Take 3rd Place

Today, the peaches (O’Henry) opened their buds.  Peaches follow plums and apricots.  The conciliation prize will, most likely, go to the apple (Granny Smith) tree.  The Warren Pear tree has never bloomed.  This year looks like a repeat performance.  The Fantasia Nectarine looks pretty puny.  If old Fantasia doesn’t get its act together, it is in extreme danger of being replaced.

Who Put the Ape in Apricot?

Blenheim Apricot is the 2nd fruit tree to blossom in the garden this spring.  It follows behind the Santa Rosa Plum.  All the trees are scheduled to be fertilized this week.  No rain or freezing temperatures predicted to get in the way of bees coming in to do their thing. The sap is flowing in all of the trees with some oozing out where it can.  Some is oozing where a certain dog applied his teeth leaving puncture wounds. I hope that the temporary blockades will keep the dog from pruning this tree any further allowing a bumper crop of apricots for 2012.

Another Winner!

The Santa Rosa Plum is once again the first fruit tree in the garden to break its bud.  Here’s the history:

• February 20, 2009
• February 14, 2010
• February 24, 2011
• February 11, 2012

2011 was the 1st year this tree could hold fruit.  Production was vigorous.  Temperatures have been very warm so early in the season and rain has been almost nonexistent.  The trees were fertilized on February 20, 2011 through to October 29, 2011.  Fertilizer was applied every 4 – 6 weeks between those dates. I plan to pick up some fertilizer next weekend and apply the 1st feeding of the year.Manual irrigation will most likely continue on through the growing season of 2012. 

This year, the tree was pruned to encourage healthy espalier growth.  Dormant spray was applied 3 times:

• January 1, 2012
• January 19, 2012
• February 5, 2012

Even though the dog is using his own pruning technique on the trees, I’m hopeful for a bounteous year of tree fruit.

Santa Rosa Wins Again!

The Santa Rosa Plum is the 1st fruit tree to bloom for the 3rd year in a row.  So far, no fruit has lasted to maturity.  The tree was planted January 12, 2009 as bare root stock.  This tree has taken really well to espalier pruning.  Along with the apricot tree, the plum is suited to zone 8-9 in Bakersfield, California.  The long, hot summer days and the cool, moist winter season must work well for the Santa Rosa.

This has got to be the year I get to taste a plum from this tree.  There is an abundance of buds ready to follow the lead “breaking” bud.  There should be a load of white petals floating through the garden once the honey bees have done their thing.

These are the dates of the 1st bloom break of the Santa Rosa Plum:

• February 20, 2009
• February 14, 2010
• February 24, 2011

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

Winter Color

Even though it’s January and even though it’s been unusually rainy, there are still flowers in the garden.  Winter here in Bakersfield, California is probably like spring in those areas where gardeners love the summer.  Those gardeners are now probably deep in snow and longing for summer.  Not me.  I’m lovin’ winter.  Let me enjoy it.  There’s not much left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flower Power in the Veggie Patch

There’s still lots blooming in the veggie patch.  Not everything is edible; but the blossoms attract pollinators to the patch and production remains very, very high.

  The Texas Ranger busts into bloom starting in May and continues until around November.  The bees are drunk on all the pollen they are loading up.  Texas Rangers are easy to grow in zone 9.  They thrive in the dry heat and aren’t fussy, temperamental plants.

Marigolds sprouted from last season’s seeds; so I left them alone growing amongst the Al Kuffa Tomatoes and the Borlotto Solista Beans.  I need to remember to be careful when I clean these out in the fall.  There are loads of spiders in them (Black Windows included).

Okay.  All the tomatoes continue to produce.  This has been a banner year for tomato production.  Truly overwhelming.  I really thought that these plants that were started by seed on March 1 would have been finished by now and I would be preparing the beds for the fall/winter crops.  No way.  They just keep on giving.

The Serrano Peppers are enjoying the heat of summer and all the plants are loaded with lantern like blossoms.  These little butterflies flutter all through the peppers.  Grasshoppers are a problem that I believe I’m keeping under control with my grasshopper hunt each evening.  Slap.  Squish. Stomp.  No grasshopper is safe.  At the beginning of summer they would give me goose bumps.  Now, I am a grasshopper exterminator using my gloved hands and Croc covered feet as my weapons of destruction.

Black Hungarian Peppers are similar to the Serranos except they are deep purple. Cue the Deep Purple soundtrack.

The Malali Watermelon continues to produce as well.  Charlotte here will not let any bees or butterflies near this blossom she rules over.

The Lemon Squash will not stop.  Note to self:  plant two seeds next season and hope that only one germinates.

Borlotto Solista Beans have a delicate, soft pink blossom.  I think that grasshoppers find them delicious because there aren’t that many beans yet.

Thyme is blooming and the bees love it.  I need to get out there and give it a snip.

English Lavender continues to attract the bees and butterflies.  The spittle bugs seem to be gone for the time being.

The chives are starting to develop seed heads that also need to be snipped.

There it is.  A garden update on all the flowers in the veggie patch.

War Is Hell

On Saturday morning, I noticed that the apple (Granny Smith) had busted into blossoms.  Like all the other fruit trees in the garden, the blooms are one week ahead of the 2009 schedule. Wait.  The blossoms don’t look perfect.  Random holes in the leaves of the petals of the apple tree are getting me steamed.  There is a garden pest about.  I inspected the rest of the trees for damage.  WHAT?  There is a hole gnawed into one of the peaches?!  The nectarine has been hit as well.  This calls for war.  The offenders seem to be ants. Although the insects outnumber humans by a quadzillion or more, I would like to think that I have the upper hand in my garden.  It’s a delusion I’m comfortable with. Farmer MacGregor brought out his artillery and blasted the trees with pyrethrum.  He was in full G.I. Joe mode annihilating the enemy.  Pyrethrum is a natural insecticide made from the dried flower heads of chrysanthemum (C. cinerariifolium and C. coccineum). Pyrethrum was used for centuries as an insecticide.

I’m certain the army of ants will send in another wave to attack again (They are probably already out there as I’m typing this.).  We’ll continue the fight for the right to (garden) party.

Next:  I believe the citrus have blight.  This may be fatal.

The Winner Is…

The Santa Rosa Plum is the 1st fruit tree in the garden to pop.  It popped today.  The tree was planted on January 12, 2009 from bare root stock.  It bloomed on February 20, 2009.  We’re ahead of schedule this year!   It has been warm and sunny lately.  This may explain being a week ahead of last year.  I suspect bees will follow tomorrow since these opened in the late afternoon.  The pollen is almost fluorescent.  There are about 24 buds on the baby tree. These buds have a couple of flies on them and the biggest bud has a spot that looks like a burn.  All the fruit trees were sprayed with dormant oil this winter to help prevent infestation and disease.  The oil is suppose to be perfectly safe and recommended to use on these trees to eliminate borers.  I don’t know what these flies are up to; but I don’t like it.  I’ll keep an eye on this. The apricot looks like it will be the runner up.  Here’s the bud at the bothersome cut shown previously.  The sap is still formed but the bud has gotten a bit plumper.  Here it is last week (02/06/10).