North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Big Swede" <Jfrisk@pionet.net>]

Status Report from the heart of the Loess Hills in western Iowa- zone 5

We have one of the best apple crops ever.  I have 50 or so trees with about
40 varieties and they have all set on apples.  It appears that they haven't
overborn so they should be nice size.  My apricots have all set a crop. The
"Alfred" variety was blooming during the last snow storm so it has a weak
crop.  The other three varieties look good.  My pawpaw seems to have set on
well.  My Steuban grape vine froze back but appears to be shooting out some
new growth.  My persimmon is just blooming now(Early Golden) a good tasting
variety.  I eat most off the tree.  The pears have set on decent.  So far a
good year.  Judson L. Frisk

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Lucky Pittman
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2003 3:21 PM
To: longdistshtr; North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: [NAFEX] Status report


White(M.alba) mulberries are done, as are Collier and Wellington, but
Illinois Everbearing is still going strong.  Having a hard time beating the
birds to 'em, though, but my 9-yr old daughter is honing her tree-climbing
skills in it this year, so at least someone is getting some.
Evans cherry pretty well finished up last weekend.  The Chickasaw plum
thicketis still providing a quart or so of ripening plums every couple of
days.
Northern highbush blueberries aren't cropping very heavily this year, but
the rabbiteyes are loaded -still at least a couple of weeks before any of
them begin ripening here.
Pixwell gooseberry is loaded and the kids were *supposed* to pick all those
berries today before they get too ripe.
Very few apples again, this year.  Lodi has a fair crop, but they're all
pretty nasty - lots of insect damage and maybe the aftermath of a heck of a
hailstorm a while back.  None of the others have more than a half-dozen or
so per tree, scattered here and there.
Keiffer pear has a good crop set, as do the fruiting-age Asians.  Will
finally get a few Pineapple pears off the graft I fostered onto the Keiffer
several years ago - now I'll get to see if it's actually the pear I recall
from my childhood that went by the same name.  The Clapp's Favorite has set
a good crop despite having to prune out over half of the tree to stay ahead
of fireblight last year.
Haven't really checked any of the young pecans to see if they set any nuts
this year.
Don't think my Thomas Myers black walnut will bear this year - had a dozen
nuts last year.
See a few acorns set on one of the "McDaniel" BurXEnglish oaks I grafted a
couple of years back.
My Alabama dwarf pawpaw(A.parviflora) selection, "Trash Pile" bloomed and
set a half-dozen fruits - no other pawpaws big enough to bloom within a
quarter mile of it.
Hardy kiwis bloomed again this year, but no fruit set - or at least, I
couldn't find any when we were in there pruning out all the pokeweeds and
hackberry seedlings the birds had blessed us with.


Lucky Pittman
USDA Zone 6
Hopkinsville, KY

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