Harvest Fruits by Look and Feel, Not the Calendar

The calendar says July (or, in gardening parlance, "Fruit Pickin' Time!"). But our cool, wet spring has slowed the harvest of the backyard deciduous tree fruits. One taste would let you know that this is definitely not a typical year. 

Flavor Supreme Pluot, Fully Ripe

Even though the Flavor Supreme pluot crop (a cross between a plum and an apricot) is usually ready by now, a sample bite might cause you to spit it out. And it did.


 It's easy this time of year to give in to the uncontrollable urge to pick, eat and wince. How can you tell when fruit is ready for harvesting? One way is to download the fruit harvest chart from Dave Wilson Nursery. The problem with relying on that chart: your location, and weather conditions, can vary from the suggested harvest times on that chart. Here's a sensory guide for the most common fruits and berries grown in backyard gardens around here. This year, because of the cool, wet spring, you can add a few more weeks to the harvesting schedule for each variety.

Suggested dates apply especially if you live in the low-lying areas of Northern or Central California. 

   • Apples - Harvest varies from July to October; look for bright red color or a delicate blush overlaying the yellow base. Fruit should release easily from tree with the stem intact.

   • Apricots - Mid-May through early July; color changes from dull greenish-orange to bright yellow-orange; Flesh is tender and yields to gentle hand pressure.

   • Blackberries - Mid-June to early August; color changes from red to black; berries release readily, are soft with tender skin and are easily damaged. Place in refrigerator as soon as possible.

   
• Cherries - Mid-May through mid-June, depending on the variety. Net the trees at the first sign of birds eating the fruit. Sample a cherry every few days until they pass your taste test. Keep the stems attached when picking to avoid damaging the fruit. Snipping instead of plucking will keep next year's fruit spurs intact.

  







 • Figs: two harvests, usually: mid-summer and early fall. Harvest figs when their necks wilt and fruits droop.

  • Mulberries: Information from the California Rare Fruit Growers: White and red mulberry fruits (and hybrid fruits) are ready for harvest in late spring. The fruit of black mulberries ripen in summer to late summer. The fruits of white mulberries are often harvested by spreading a sheet on the ground and shaking the limbs. A surprising quantity can be gathered from a comparatively small and young tree. Black mulberry fruits are more difficult to pick. As the berries are squeezed to pull them loose, they tend to collapse, staining the hands (and clothing) with blood red juice. Unwashed the berries will keep several days in a refrigerator in a covered container. The ripe fruits of the black mulberry contain about 9% sugar with malic and citric acid. The berries can be eaten out of hand or used in any way that other berries are used, such as in pies, tarts, puddings or sweetened and pureed as a sauce. Slightly unripe fruits are best for making pies and tarts. Mulberries blend well with other fruits, especially pears and apples. They can also be made into wine and make an excellent dried fruit, especially the black varieties.

 • Nectarines - June to September; most common skin colors start out as yellowish-orange and mature into an orange, red or reddish-pink color; flesh is usually yellowish with red tinge near the pit. Cool immediately.

 • Peaches - Mid-May to September; same conditions as nectarines. Newer varieties may be bright red in color with an orange tint.

 • Pears - July to October; ready when fruit is full size but still green in color.  Ripen harvested fruit in a cool place (50-70 degrees) until color turns light yellow-green.

 
• Plums, Pluots - June to September; color may be solid or mottled red, dark-blue or purple. Flesh is firm yet yielding to gentle hand pressure. Cool fruit immediately.

 • Raspberries - June to September; color is red to black, depending on variety. Flesh should be soft, aromatic, juicy; should release easily from cap.

 • Table grapes - August to October; Fruit turns from green to reddish-amber, black, bluish, or golden yellow depending on variety. The berries will tend to crush easily and shatter when ripe.

Thin Fruit Now for a Better Harvest This Summer

Here in California, the late winter wind and rain may result in a less than stellar production of fruit from peaches, nectarines, plums, pluots, apriums, apricots and other deciduous fruit trees that attempted to set their blossoms during the ferocious storms of March. And peach trees were especially hard hit with peach leaf curl, which may curtail the amount of fruit on the peach and nectarine trees.

Unthinned pluots

The goal now is to be able to harvest the best fruit from what may be a meager production. And if you are looking to harvest bigger pieces of fruit from your trees and vines this summer, Now's the time to take action. THIN YOUR FRUIT! Here are some tips from the experts at UC Davis:

For table grapes: Thin out the bunches so that there is at least six inches of space between each remaining bunch of table grapes. "As a rule of thumb, your vine should have not more than eight clusters per cane or 25-30 flower clusters per vine for Thompson Table grapes," explains UC's Pam Geisel. 

Cut off the "tails" from the remaining bunches at that same time. This is the lower one-quarter to one third of the bunch, where it begins to taper down in size.This will send more energy to the remaining grapes on the bunch. The book, "The California Master Gardener Handbook" advises that fertilizer can be applied for each grapevine when the berries are about a quarter-inch big, usually in May. The same book advises gardeners to apply about 50 gallons of water per week per vine, during the hottest months (June through August) here in the Central Valley of California. Apply less (about 35 gallons a week) during May and September.

Thinned pluots

For apples, European and Asian pears, apricots, peaches, plums, kiwifruits, persimmons and pluots (pictured to the left, unthinned, and then thinned): space fruit evenly along each branch, with perhaps four to six inches between each piece of fruit. More importantly, be sure to leave the largest sized fruits on the tree or vine. The best time to fertilize these crops is in August, when the trees are setting their fruit buds for the following year. The UC home orchard specialists recommend applying either seven pounds of a 16-16-16 fertilizer or 70 pounds of steer manure per tree.



 

Because of their small size, cherries are not usually thinned from backyard trees. Also, nut crops, such as almonds and walnuts, are not thinned.

 




And this valuable tip from the experts at Louisiana State University: when thinning fruit, keep looking at the tree; don't look at the ground. Seeing all that fallen fruit may dissuade you from the task at hand.

Bare Root Fruit Trees: Choosing and Planting

What is a bare root fruit tree? A young fruit or nut-bearing deciduous tree, offered for sale in the winter. “A stick with roots”. Fruits include apples, apricots, apriums, cherries, figs, mulberries, peaches, pears, persimmons, plums, pluots, nectarines and pomegranates. Nut varieties are also available bare root in the winter, including walnuts, almonds, pistachios, filberts, chestnuts and pecans. Vine and bush fruits are also for sale in the winter, including blueberries, grapes and kiwi. Citrus is an evergreen plant, available year round.

 

Why grow your own fruit? For better health and better taste. Nothing beats the taste of home grown fruit! What follows are some tips for

turning this...

 Into this!                                                                                                Or this!

 

Shop local. Your local nurseryperson knows your soil and growing conditions, and will carry fruit tree varieties that will do well in your area. Of those, choose fruit trees that you enjoy! Wondering which ones taste the best? Master fruit tasters have their favorites listed online, at davewilson.com, a wholesale grower of fruit and nut trees. Consider getting several trees that will ripen at different times.

Before You Buy, Plan Ahead. Fruit trees do best in a sunny location with good drainage. They need eight or more hours of sun. Six hours of sun is pushing your luck. Wet soils are a major cause of fruit tree failure. 

 

If that hole you dug doesn’t drain within 24 hours, build a raised bed, at least 4’ x 4’x 12-16” high. Cherries and apricots need the best drainage for success. The fruit trees most tolerant of slow-draining soils are apples and pears.

Don’t be too concerned about a crooked top. After you plant a three to five foot tall bare root fruit tree, you can cut it off at knee-height. That way, the fruit-bearing branches will be lower, within easy reach. If you don’t let the tree get taller than seven feet, that fruit will ALWAYS be easy to reach.

Pay attention to the bud union. This is the spot where the tree variety is attached to the rootstock. It should be straight, not bent.

Look at the roots. They should not be brittle, damaged or cracked.

Walk away from bare root trees that:
• Have tunneling around the bud union (they might be borers).
• Oozing, dark colored bark (might be bacterial canker).
• Have been at the nursery for more than two years, if they are in containers. If in doubt, ask the nurseryperson.

When you get the tree home: Treat it nice, immediately. Don’t let the roots dry out. If you are going to plant later that day or the next day, place the tree in a bucket of water or cover with a wet blanket. If it is going to be several days before you plant, bury the roots into soil (“heeling in”). This can be in your garden soil, compost, potting soil, or even a pile of wet leaves.

Dig a $50 Hole for that $20 Tree.
The hole should be wide, not deep. About four feet wide and as deep as the rootstock portion of the tree. Loosen the six feet of surrounding soil outside the hole to that depth. Feeder roots travel outward, not downward.

Plant the Tree Correctly. Set the tree on a slight mound in the middle of the hole, and gently coax the roots to face outward. Look for  a color change on the tree below the bud union; the tree should be planted no deeper than that. Ideally, plant the tree with that mark about an inch above the existing soil line to allow for settling. Set your shovel handle across the hole to determine that point. Use only the soil that came with the hole.

Top With Mulch. After planting, surround the tree with three or four inches of organic mulch; the mulch should extend out several feet. Mulch feeds the soil, suppresses weeds, cools the soil in the summer and helps maintain even moisture, too. Don’t let mulch touch the trunk, though. That can lead to rot problems.

Fertilize? Wait until the tree is actively growing, choosing a fertilizer that lists fruit trees on the label. Whichever fertilizer you use, read and follow label directions.

Add Water. Carefully. The primary cause of fruit tree failure is poor irrigation: either too much or too little water. Use a moisture meter or a soil auger to determine how wet or dry the soil is at root level. Or, grab a handful of the soil at a depth of 8 to 10 inches to determine how wet the soil is. Start doing this when that new fruit tree begins to flower. And, do it before you water.

  

Give the tree some sunburn protection. Paint that bare stick with a 50-50 mix of interior white latex paint and water; or, purchase tree whitewash at a nursery. That new tree is very susceptible to sunburn, which can lead to a cracked trunk…an entry point for insect and disease problems. 

In a few years, with a little bit of care, your kitchen counter will be overflowing with homegrown, healthy fruit.

Try a Pluot for a Sweet Smile

    The mild days of spring 2009 are starting to make this summer a great one for luscious, sweet, homegrown fruit. The cherry crop was excellent; apricot aficionados are very happy; the blueberries here in the Central Valley of California are the best ever (“ever” being about a decade, since the introduction to our area of the southern highbush blueberry, which is much more heat tolerant along with a lower winter chill requirement).
    
And now appearing at farmer's markets, some supermarkets and ideally in a backyard garden near you: the pluot. This plum-apricot cross is probably the sweetest, juiciest fruit you can grow. Pluots have predominantly plum parentage and smooth skins like plums.

     The sweet taste of homegrown pluots is preferred by many to the taste of the varieties available in stores. In other words, the pleasant taste of a store-bought pluot does not do justice to biting into one, freshly picked from the backyard orchard. And that is especially true for the Flavor Supreme pluot (right).



    "When people see a pluot for the first time, they think it is just another plum," says Ed Laivo of Dave Wilson Nursery. "Then, they taste it and their eyes get wide. The wonderful flavor catches them totally off guard."

     Yes, Ed is a salesman. But what he says about first reactions to a pluot only hint at the excitement that the initial taste generates. It’s always a treat to take a box of home grown pluots, especially the Flavor Supreme pluot, into the radio stations and wait for the feedback . My favorite response this year: when a couple of the female news reporters bit into the pluot for the first time, they had, we shall say, an “animated reaction”. How animated? An engineer came running into the newsroom exclaiming, “Who’s having an orgasm in here?!?” 

     People like the pluot. Better than sex? Well, it is safer, and more nutritious, with three grams of dietary fiber per serving (as well as protein, carbohydrates, Vitamin A and everybody’s favorite, 15 grams of sugar). Please, feel free to insert your own joke here.


    The pluot was developed by Floyd Zaiger, who began tinkering with Luther Burbank’s hybrid, the plumcot. According to the Zaiger webpage, each year the Zaigers plant tens of thousands of new seedlings, each tree the result of a controlled cross of two parent trees from their vast inventory of breeding stock. Parent trees for seed and pollen are maintained in movable containers, allowing the Zaigers to accomplish a very large number of crosses each spring.


     Besides pluots, the Zaigers invented apriums and the peacotum (peach/apricot/plum hybrids). Also under development: white apricots, flat peaches and nectarines, albino selections and fuzzy plums. Promising selections from the primary seedling blocks are advanced for further evaluation by propagating the varieties onto rootstocks in secondary orchards. The cream of the crop varieties in the secondary orchards are evaluated each week during the fruit season by a team comprised of Zaiger personnel, industry experts and Dave Wilson Nursery representatives.


     In the annual taste tests held at the Dave Wilson Nursery growing grounds in Stanislaus County, the Flavor King, Dapple Dandy and Flavor Supreme pluots are consistent Top Ten favorites among all their tree-grown fruit.


    Backyard gardeners can extend their pluot harvest season by planting those three varieties, along with several new introductions. The Flavor Supreme was ready in late June. The Flavor Queen, a pluot with green-yellow skin and an amber-orange sweet flesh, can be harvested in mid-July through August. That's followed by the Dapple Dandy, then the Flavor King. The fruit from those trees are sure to please your summertime guests. Other delectable pluot varieties include Flavor Delight (which has an early June ripening dates), Geo Pride and Emerald Drop (late July), Flavor Grenade and Flavorich, which can produce fruit after Labor Day.


    Because they can be trimmed to stand no higher than seven feet tall, pluot trees don't require much backyard space. A sunny spot and weekly watering will suffice. Pluots can be pollinated by another pluot or a Japanese plum tree planted nearby. For a season long harvest of pluot varieties, check out this harvest calendar at Dave Wilson Nursery.

Easy Tips For Bigger Fruit

Looking to harvest bigger pieces of fruit from your trees and vines this summer? Now's the time to take action, mainly THIN YOUR FRUIT! Here are some tips from the experts at UC Davis:

For table grapes: Thin out the bunches so that there is at least six inches of space between each remaining bunch of table grapes. Cut off the "tails" from the remaining bunches at that same time. This is the lower one-quarter to one third of the bunch, where it begins to taper down in size.

This will send more energy to the remaining grapes on the bunch. The book, "The California Master Gardener Handbook" advises that fertilizer can be applied for each grapevine when the berries are about a quarter-inch big, usually in May. The same book advises gardeners to apply about 50 gallons of water per week per vine, during the hottest months (June through August) here in the Central Valley of California. Apply less (about 35 gallons a week) during May and September.

For apples, European and Asian pears, apricots, peaches, plums, kiwifruits, persimmons and pluots (pictured to the left, unthinned, and then thinned): space fruit evenly along each branch, with perhaps four to six inches between each piece of fruit. More importantly, be sure to leave the largest sized fruits on the tree or vine. The best time to fertilize these crops is in August, when the trees are setting their fruit buds for the following year. The UC home orchard specialists recommend applying either seven pounds of a 16-16-16 fertilizer or 70 pounds of steer manure per tree.

Because of their small size, cherries are not usually thinned from backyard trees. Also, nut crops, such as almonds and walnuts, are not thinned.

And this valuable tip from the experts at Louisiana State University: when thinning fruit, keep looking at the tree; don't look at the ground. Seeing all that fallen fruit may dissuade you from the task at hand.

Farmer Fred Attends a Fruit Tasting!