Pickin' cherries

[jamshundred]

I have two sour cherry trees very close to my house.  They are heavy with fruit.  I've been pickin' cherries for a couple of days.  Pick one. .  . eat one, which is the only good method of course.   ( By the way, to pit the cherries I use either a small straw or a coffee stirrer that you can get at many marts that serve coffee, and is a smaller in circumference and stronger plastic than the usual drinking straw - and you just insert the straw in the end of the cherry and push the pit out the other side).

The other thing I've noticed are the old homestead apple trees.  They are also laden full of apples.   And many, many, mulberries.

That had me thinking in two directions.  First, old timers always said when the berries and fruits were heavy expect a long hard winter.  

The other thing I was thinking was the early "spring" we had in February when all the trees were beginning to bud and some early blossoming trees actually did blossom.  There were dire predictions that the produce would be negatively affected.  Instead, everything is bountiful this spring.   Could the heat wave in February actually have created this bounty?

[otf]

Judy, I don't know the answer to your question about the plentiful fruit, but your third paragraph pricked my ears up!

[genebo]

When the hard late frost hit here my fruit trees were in bloom and they are now barren. Same thing every spring since 2013. We buy our fruit, now.

I remember a day about 5 years ago when a bunch of kids from the church nearby came to pick plums. They were all up in the branches, picking juicy plums and dropping them to their mothers on the ground. That one tree filled two 5 gallon buckets with fruit that day.

It has struggled since then and finally gave up last winter. It is a dead bunch of dried sticks and memories.

However, this is a record year for hay. I have already filled all my storage for next winter and still have 2 more cuttings this year.

A couple came today to get hay for their goats. They brought a flatbed trailer, 5 x 10. They started hoping they could get 20 bales on it. They put a big tarp on the bed and started stacking hay. They stopped at 38 bales, wrapped them with the tarp and put straps across both ways. They only had about 10 miles to go. The trailer was stacked higher that it was wide and looked a little wobbly. They got it home, though. They might be back tomorrow for another load.

And I still have hay bales sitting in the field! You better come get some in the morning. It's supposed to rain tomorrow night, so any bales left in the field tomorrow will have to be picked up and squeezed in somewhere.

[otf]

Gene, you still have that hay building alongside the pasture, don't you?

[lakeportfarms]

We are going to have a bumper crop of apples this year. The blossoms appeared around mid May, and a few days later we had some mornings in the upper 20's, but not cold enough long enough to damage them. Especially on some varieties, I see many tiny apples starting to form.

Last year we had very few apples. Areas inland of us had a good year, but we were too close to the cold lake with a consistent wind and we didn't get many blossoms during May. More importantly it was too chilly for the bees to get out and pollinate during the critical time in mid to late May.

I am going to gear up with the bottles and other supplies for making the cider this fall. We'll probably dedicate at least one large chest freezer for the cider. On a snowy cold winter day, sitting next to the wood stove sipping hot cider is the best!

[karenp]

My grandmother had a sour cherry tree. It brings back memories.

[genebo]

Gale, I do have the hay barn. It's one of those metal garages, except I got it a little bigger and with a pitched roof instead of the curved edge roof. It's not too bad looking and it holds a lot of hay. Are you thinking of getting some square bales? Come on!

I planted a pecan tree on one side and a chestnut tree on the other. Then I left the gate open when I was putting hay in the barn loft and Cujo wandered out. He polished his horns on the chestnut tree. I believe he knocked off every chestnut.

The squirrels will be disappointed.

[jamshundred]

Still picking!   I do not ever recall there being so many cherries or them lasting so long.  Today I tried my hand at drying cherries.  I think my oven thermostat is off.  They burned hours before they were suppose to be dried.  Drat the luck.  It is labor intensive picking and pitting cherries.

i am seeing other folks talking about,flowers and plants that are profusive this year. 

Hmmmm.  I wonder about the blackberries in my neighbors bottom.  I DO love blackberry cobbler!

Just as I was getting desperate and fearing drought, as the weather man has said rain every day for days and it has been hot and dry we finally got a good soaking this afternoon.  Thank heavens.  I count every blade of grass.

[Deleted]

we are getting real bad here less than an inch of rain in the last month. they keep putting rain in the forecast and then taking it out before it gets here. 

[genebo]

Do you know what kind of cherries they are?

I need to remove the plum tree that died and replace it with something that will produce. Maybe a cherry tree?

[lonecowhand]

Cherries are now just a delicious memory as our Temps approach 110 degrees here, last week I noticed the Santa Rosa plums were ripe, but had other chores and delayed, now they are mostly on the ground!

Bill

[genebo]

It was a Santa Rosa plum that yielded so heavily and then died. My problem isn't heat, but moisture. The fruit trees are planted close to the banks of the pond and the humidity level stays high. I think it is ripe for a fungus disease to get them.

I need to check to see if a cherry tree might do better than the plums and peaches and pears have done.

Or am I just out of luck? Condemned to a life of store-bought fruits?

[lonecowhand]

Genebo, It could be the water table close to the pond that limits the lifespan of your fruit trees. They are notorious for dying of "wet feet".

  Maybe yours expired in a wet year. Perhaps try one or two types higher above the pond. Is there a high spot at least 3 feet above the pond high water line? If not, and you are inclined, or feeling industrious, you can artificially mound the soil in a planting berm to lift the crown and main roots out of the wet zone.

Of course I don't know how old your trees got, either,most of the plum family(peaches, plums, cherries) are relatively short lived, in commercial orchards , they'll only keep some varieties for 10 years, before production and health declines enough to warrant a new planting.

Cherries, especially sour or pie cherries,(Montmorency) which are hardier, can live for many decades, as will apples and pears. Go for high and dry!

Bill

[karenp]

This thread had me looking at sour cherry trees on line. I was wondering what kind, Montmorency was one of the ones I was looking at, How would they do if they weren't completely in full sun?

[otf]

Wow, lone cowhand Bill, you are a wealth of knowledge about trees and things. I know very little about them. Tipping my hat to you!

[jamshundred]

Gene - - Mine are Montmorency.   

Karen,  My two trees are very close to the house.  They do get sun, but only 10 fee to the right of them is a HUGE Maple tree so there is some shading effect.  They are on the north side of my house.

I do NOT have a green thumb.  Anything that grows here is a gift of nature, not of nourishing.   I tend to plant too deep or too narrow, or water too much or water too little, and fertilization. ... forget it. . . same issue.   Bill tried to make a herb gardener out of me, but I still have to buy the plants, I have yet to have a successful plant from seed.  I even fail with chives which grow to a point and then collapse.  Ever hopeful, I do have some petunias that are beginning to look promising, and two very small basil plants that may yet make it!

[lonecowhand]

Hi Karen, Montmorency is the standard (sour) baking cherry that make great pies,cobblers, and dried cherries. The best thing about the variety is that they are self-fertile, you only need one tree. Almost all the sweet cherries (like Bing )are less hardy, and need a correct pollinator variety nearby.

Seems I've never been lucky enough to have full sun! There's always trees shading in the morning or evening, you can just expect a little less production as you get more shade.

I tend to squeeze too many plants in. I go by the "some fruit is better than no fruit" school of thought!