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anotherlinda

So Cal folks - fruit trees are budding...

anotherlinda
10 years ago

Hello.
I live in Temecula and have several container grown citrus and apple & plum trees and in-ground roses too. Everything is budding now - way too early in the year. We never had winter here this year, just a few coldish days but more in the 70's & 80's. Do I fertilize now or wait?
Thanks in advance.
Linda

Comments (10)

  • Hermitian
    10 years ago

    Oh yeah, this warm winter weather has most of my deciduous fruit trees budding.

  • farmerkevin
    10 years ago

    Same here. One of my nectarines is budding, my apricot is budding/has some fruit set, navel orange has blossoms, one peach tree has bud swell, an my dwarf lemon is gonna have a bumper crop. Very very strange.

    I'm more worried that the early fruit set will die off if a late frost were to hit.

  • Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
    10 years ago

    I doubt that a late frost will hit. We are in drought, so we'll just harvest earlier. My vineyard has not budded yet, but my figs, peaches, apple, plum, and apricots have, and all the citrus are blooming.

    The big worry is if the water will be enough if we cut back.

    Suzi

  • tim45z10
    10 years ago

    My pom, avo, apple and orange trees are all budding.
    Unfortunately, my loquat did not bloom this. I hope it was because of the weather.

  • MrClint
    10 years ago

    I've been thinning 'Desert Gold' peaches for a while now:

  • MrClint
    10 years ago

    'Arctic Star' nectarine fruitset this morning:

  • paleogardener
    10 years ago

    At this point I don't think a late frost is going to happen. I really thought we would have one this month.
    Pomegranates are in bloom everywhere & my citrus are blooming.
    Significant rain is forecast for the end of this week but we are still 5 - 6 days out...

  • farmerkevin
    10 years ago

    Yeah, I didn't think late frost was going to hit by this point, so I went ahead and planted my 3 avocados. My friend is going to be over later to do laundry, but before they do laundry, we are going to re route the washer drain to the avocados. They are the heaviest waterers I have, so hopefully the washer water keeps them alive.

    I did pick up a banana pup, but I'll be putting those in clay for the water retention.

    Almost all my nectarines (5) are flowering, my pomegranate has a couple blossoms on it, plum has a blossom or 2 my apricot has small green fruit already.

    Only things that haven't swelled yet are 1 peach, my pecans, and my Santa Rosa plum. Oh and the Asian pear and apple are showing signs of maybe swelling. I doubt I'll get apples this year. Not enough chill time. My dwarf lemon has a bumper crop, but the tiny ones have turned yellow already. My eureka lemon has a few fruit on it already.

    Good news is the grapefruit that was absolutely disgusting last year has turned sweet this year. I was ready to tear it out, but this crop is delicious. Go figure.

    Oh and my strawberries have small strawberries on them. They're supposed to be June bearing.

    But my blueberries are doing great, even though they are on almost no water. They're just mulched heavily. Now that there is fruit set, I have to water more though.

    Farmers almanac says not until 2017 will we see lots and lots of rain again. So 3 more years of this. I can deal with that :)

  • la_kitty
    10 years ago

    Our apricot has bloomed!

  • rustico_2009
    10 years ago

    My blackberries bloomed without leafing out much first, which is what usually happens. I am worried about a less than stellar harvest. Maybe they will be alright, but usually they fruit heavily in mid may to early June.

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