North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Drevniok <colleendaly@videotron.ca>]

   Hi Toni,

      I am not sure exactly what my plans are. I noticed that another 
NAFEXer from Quebec  (zone 4b,5a) was
   waiting for her Reliance buds to show some life as of the 11th of 
May. I believe that Reliance peach
   trees are not long lived in the north but I was hoping for 10 years 
or so. I got mine form Siloam Orchards but
   I believe Eric stopped selling them because they were just too 
unreliable as a cropper/survivor. As I said
   last year (2008) I had a bountiful crop; the year before (2007), 
however, there was zilch to speak of - do
   they tend towards being biennial I wonder?

      I am going down to the Niagara region in early June - perhaps I 
will shop around for another Reliance or try
   to find a PF 24 (?).  Anyways it was worth growing the Reliance if 
only for that one wonderful summer bounty last year!

      I am not sure but of of out of a population of over 200,000 
inhabitants in Gatineau I think I would have won
   the "most peaches grown in a single year" award !


   Sincerely, Peter Drevniok, Gatineau, Quebec  - zone 4b

  
  

Toni Pralle wrote:
> <<      I am having the exact same thing happening to my Reliance. Last
> year I had a bumper crop on my tree (5 years since I planted it).<<
>
> Yup. 5 years.Surely they last longer than that! Those came from
> Gurneys/henry fields. Where did you get yours?
>
>    <<This year it has about 12 blooms on the bottom branch with a few
> leaves; the rest of the tree looks dead.  <<
>
>
> I don't even have that. I'm going to let it go for a while longer.
> What are you going to do? Do you suppose it would do any good to prune
> the branches back to 6 inches or so?
>
>
> <<<However,
>    during the previous winter  (2007/2008) there was so much snow that
> it broke a main lateral leaving a huge crack - this
>    no doubt did not help matters.>>
>
> I have finally figured out how to beat the rabbits. Shhhhh!!! I put a
> woven type of snow fence around all my trees last fall. I thought it
> would be some protection from the wind, too. I have the new Reliance
> from Gurney's/henry fields planted and also the two nicer trees from
> Van Wells. I keep throwing money down a rat hole! Remember that movie,
> The Money Pit? I feel like I'm living it.
>
>
>
>