2020 gardens......

[LPS]

Sounds like a bloody mary waiting to happen Glenn.

[HD]

Going to pick the Parker pears over the next couple days. On one variety description it recommends they be picked green and allowed to ripen inside. The Patten pears are a little later but will probably pick them too. Getting a lot of help from the GD squirrels that are wrecking 3 or 4 a day right now. Find chewed up pears strewed around the yard & see they've been helping themselves up in the tree too. Enough of that crap. This new crop of squirrels has really been a bunch of little a-holes chewing up nectar feeders, getting into "squirrel proof" feeders and now this. Bet they'll taste pretty good tho. Will pick some of the Honeycrisp apples too. Have never sprayed the fruit trees here either. About the only thing I notice are occasional apple maggots but they're pretty rare. I pick up the ground falls religiously and the sheep gobble them down.

Black stuff on the fruit HD? Got any pics? 

[glenn57]

UGH that don't look good.

[Dotch]

UGH that don't look good.

Gee, brilliant observation glenn...

Pears are relative newcomers to the fruit growing landscape here in MN but there are getting to be more, increasing the likelihood we could see stuff like scab showing up. That's sorta what it looks like from the CT release. The variety Bartlett has been around since the 1700's so breeding programs weren't breeding for or aware of some of the diseases. About the only disease mentioned in MN publications is fireblight. If it is scab betting that properly timed fungicide application(s) containing mancozeb would do the trick. 

  https://portal.ct.gov/CAES/Fact-Sheets/Plant-Pathology/Disease-Control-for-Home-Pear-Orchards#:~:text=Fabraea%20leaf%20spot%2C%20also%20known,fruit%2C%20and%20twigs%20of%20pear. 

[glenn57]

  just helping out!!!🤪

[Dotch]

One more thing HD, if you want a positive ID on whatever it is, you might be able to submit it to the Plant Disease Clinic on the U's St. Paul campus. Have submitted lots of dead & diseased plants over the years but never any fruit so you'd probably want to check with them 1st.

Submit a Sample | Plant Disease Clinic:

https://pdc.umn.edu/submit-sample

[The General]

Ate one of them today.   They seemed fine to me 

[Dotch]

Kinda like glenn. A little rough on the outside but OK on the inside...

[The General]

Kinda like glenn. A little rough on the outside but OK on the inside...

Exactly   and it didn't give you the craps either. 

[glenn57]

Boy I sure feel the love here!!!

[mike89]

Boy I sure feel the love here!!!

if the shoe fits wear it!!!   

[Dotch]

glenn would think something was wrong if we weren't giving him crap! 

Pear harvest went well. Some were way up there so had all I could do to reach them with the picker. Got over a 5 gallon pail full and threw 15 - 20 pears that the birds & squirrels had ruined over the fence to the sheep. That'll learn 'em! 

[LPS]

Those pears are beautiful Dotch.  I didn't realize pears could be grown up here that nice. 

[mike89]

my grandpa had pear trees in Mankato in the 60's..  they were good.. 

[roony]

Looking good Dotch. Anyone can grow apples but it takes a real man to grow a pear.

[delcecchi]

stopped spraying the apple trees a few years back,  no change   so why at least here..

I stopped spraying my apple trees when I retired and started spending summers up nort.   Most of the apples are pretty bad.  This year somewhat better for some reason.  Maybe because the deer are eating all the windfalls so the bugs don't reproduce.   

Have a honeycrisp tree, never got a decent apple off it.   Honeygold pretty good this year but need another week or so.   Another tree that I forget what it is, zestar maybe, did ok this year.   

[glenn57]

Meh, I just get my pears in a nice box. blueberries, cherries and peaches too.

[Dotch]

Those pears are beautiful Dotch.  I didn't realize pears could be grown up here that nice.

And the squirrels & blue jays probably got the very nicest ones!   

Did a little looking. Does anyone grow pears up where you're at Barry? There's a variety called Ure that was discovered/developed at the Morden Experiment Station in Manitoba. It needs a pollinator and the Golden Spice variety developed here in MN works. Both are hardy that far north. Trouble is it takes a few years to get them to bear. Was a little surprised that HD has a Bartlett tree that has survived MN winters. That's a zone 5 variety more in line with central IA. That said there are rumored to be some peach trees in Waseca. Sometimes in the right environment you can get away with things. A friend and I tried growing peaches that were reputedly zone 4. We babied them thru 2 winters before they biffed it. 

Del: We used some Haralson's today for apple crisp and the scab is the worst on them it's ever been. Didn't get the leaves raked & ground up last fall, mainly because they stayed on the trees until well after the snow flew. May have to consider the spraying option if it happens again. Our Honeycrisp has been a work in progress. It had a double leader out of the chute that was a pain to straighten out. Once I did it'd bear a few nice apples the birds, squirrels or deer would get then the next year not bear at all! It pulled that stunt several times & pissed me off to the point that I almost cut it down. Pruned the ever living snot out of it last spring in an attempt to cure it or kill it. It pulled its head out of its butt and actually had decent quality and quantity on it. Figured it'd revert back to its old ways again but noooooo! It has beautiful apples & lots of them. Plus it actually developed into a nice looking tree. Go figure. 

On the bucket list for next year: A Honeygold apple tree & possibly a Luscious pear tree.

And glenn, since you have all this free time on your hands, why don't you go pull up your neighbor's garden to help him out, ya putz!     

[glenn57]

  I have no idea where the nearest garden is from me. Not a real one anyway. and I ain't retired yet.

Hey.... I could come down and help you. I only work from 9 till 2 though.

[roony]

I have no idea where the nearest garden is from me. Not a real one anyway. and I ain't retired yet.

Hey.... I could come down and help you. I only work from 9 till 2 though.

And you take a 5 hour lunch break

[glenn57]

I have no idea where the nearest garden is from me. Not a real one anyway. and I ain't retired yet.

Hey.... I could come down and help you. I only work from 9 till 2 though.

And you take a 5 hour lunch break

how'd you know.

[LPS]

Our garden turned out pretty darn good for the novices we are.  I think we will plant Roma's next year.  This year our tomatoes are so juicy that there is not enough tomato to go with it.  lol  Actually so juicy they aren't that good in a salad.  Almost fall apart. 

[delcecchi]

Dotch, Honeygold is my absolute favorite apple.   My trees are mostly getting pretty old, like me.   I've still got the honeygold that I planted in fall of 73 growing and producing.    Outlived several of the other apples.   Also have a couple I don't remember what they are... 

Two full sized haralsons that got away from me and are now like 35 feet tall... 

Couple zestar! I think the northern spy bit it last year...   And the Honeycrisp tree is doing ok, but the apples seem very susceptible to bugs and disease, so this year there are a bunch but they are all lumpy and about the size of walnuts.

Since I am only a couple blocks from an old orchard turned into houses, still having bug issues although this year was better for reasons unknown.   

Tried Northstar cherry years ago.   Got a few cherries once.   Normally it turns out that the robins will eat them pink instead of waiting for red...  And netting the three was a pain.   The plums succumbed to borers in the same time frame.   So Apples it was. 

[roony]

Been a good apple year here. Even the two Honeycrisp trees have some nice apples and they are delicious. Other varieties we have are State Fair, Sweet Sixteen, Cortland, Haralson. Harolred, and Fireside. I should probably get the old cider press out but we still have lots of frozen apple juice. Del, you are inspiring me to plant a Honeygold next spring.

[LPS]

Man I bet actual pressed apples would make an awesome juice.  We may have to try that next year.  We only get about 2   5 gal pails of apples but that would be fun to try.

[roony]

Last time we used it we had neighbors bring apples too. I believe we made over 50 gallons of apple juice and some pear juice also. Its pretty good stuff. A five gallon pail of apples makes a little more than a gallon of juice

[KEN W]

Honeygold is also my favorite. Had quite a few last year. None this year. But the tree is growing nicely. Had some Zestars to eat this week. Grand kids loved them. Also had Chestnut Crab this past week. They ate all of them also. Small but love the crab apple flavor that is different than any other apple.

I have 2 pear trees I planted last year from St. Lawrence Nurseries in New York, They are both self fertile. They only sell hardy standard trees. Both are rated for -50. But could take awhile to produce fruit.

[Dotch]

Thanks Ken! Looked at the St. Lawrence website & was impressed by the number of apples & pears they had. Still looking to acquire a Patten Greening someday. It was primarily a pie & sauce apple, now an heirloom. Was one by the old granary when I was a kid. Was never sure of its origins but turns out it was an IA release. Old publications like these fascinate me & along with giving me a lot respect for those who did the work of selecting the varieties all those years ago.   

  https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093&context=iaes_circulars   

[delcecchi]

Honeygolds do tend to bear every other year unless you are diligent thinning them.   I have noticed that.   I was never very diligent at thinning stuff.   

I had a beacon and when it bit the dust, replaced it with a state fair now that you mention it.  I had forgotten that one.   I think it passed on a few years ago.   

STill have a spartan from Jungs of wisconsin...   some sort of macintosh variety I was told.   

[deadeye]

Many years ago I started planting apple trees on my property.  I probably should have but never did keep track of what I planted.  The first ones were a lot of crab trees that came in plant bands.  Trees were about a foot tall.  For the past 5 or 6 years I have been planting bare root apple trees each spring.  Probably have about 60 of them now.  I think I counted 20 something of the crabs I planted years ago.  There also a smattering of apple trees started from seeds from apples we ate in stands.   

Here's a list of the varieties we planted in 2020 and 2019.
Only thing is they are planted in various spots and I have
no idea what are the names specific trees.  Didn't look
for the older lists so who knows what's growing where. 

2020
Goodland
Haralson
Norland
Prairie Magic
Yellow Transparent
Chestnut  Crabapple

2019
Frostbite
Halalred
Gravenstein
Norland 
State Fair
Zestar
Malus Dolgo Crab


Spring picture of crabs in full bloom.




Strange how the turkey blind took on the purple color of the apple tree.