Author Topic: Today’s Harvest from the orchard  (Read 14808 times)

simon_grow

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Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« on: October 19, 2018, 02:33:35 PM »
I have a tiny yard but it still produces a good amount of fruit. Not too long ago, I teamed up with Brad to set up a big orchard and we hope to be harvesting wheelbarrows full of fruit in the coming years.

First, here is a picture of my harvest from several years ago. I love this picture because of the diversity of fruit and contrast of colors between the different varieties of fruit.


Here is a picture of fruit harvested today. This is only fruit from today. There are still a ton of fruit that I was too lazy to pick. There is also a lot of fruit that are still ripening. I chopped up the White Jade pineapple yesterday but it would have been beautiful in the background. The bananas, guava and key limes are from Brads place.

I should have added a few stalks of San Diego Yellow and Asian Black Sugarcane but too late, I already juiced them.

Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2018, 02:46:24 PM »
The Desertenyi Pomegranates are excellent again this year. Not just this year but year in and year out. The juice sack is huge compared to most other varieties and the seed is super soft and hardly noticeable.






Parfianka is excellent as well and has more acid balance. People wanting a bit more tart will like Parfianka. The seeds are super soft. This variety is much much better than Wonderful.





Simon

skhan

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2018, 02:48:23 PM »
Great job.
Nice to see all the colors.
Are those Asian pears?

simon_grow

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2018, 02:54:14 PM »
Yeah, I have Hosui, Kosui, Shinseiki, 20th century and a few more I can’t remember at the moment. They’re much sweeter and crunchier than the supermarket fruit.

Simon

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2018, 02:55:24 PM »
Wonderful fruit basket, Simon.
I have parfianka and sirnevyi pomegranate trees,
Have not gotten single fruit in last 2.5 years despite
Fertilizing. Thinking to yank them out.

-FruitFool

spaugh

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2018, 02:57:10 PM »
Wonderful fruit basket, Simon.
I have parfianka and sirnevyi pomegranate trees,
Have not gotten single fruit in last 2.5 years despite
Fertilizing. Thinking to yank them out.

-FruitFool

That sounds really strange.  Poms are prolific with very little effort here.  Did they bloom?
Brad Spaugh

simon_grow

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2018, 03:07:49 PM »
Also, did they go dormant? Don’t give your tree too much Nitrogen. My Pom trees get so heavy with fruit that branches snap from the weight of fruit.

You can give them some 0-10-10 or 3-10-10 now but this should be the last feeding with anything with Nitrogen in it. You can give Kelp emulsion and minors and trace. As the leaves dry up, change yellow in color and start to drop, back off on watering.

Once they go dormant, water very very little. Sometimes I’ll go 2-3 months without watering. If it’s dry, I’ll water about once per month.

In Spring when you see new growth, slowly increase watering and start feeding with 0-10-10 or similar again. Avoild overwatering and too much Nitrogen. Both can cause excessive growth at the expense of fruit.

Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2018, 03:15:51 PM »
This Sugarcane juice was juiced yesterday. It is the San Diego Yellow variety. I added a lot of Calamansi because I love the flavor and preserves the juice so well. I juiced the Sugarcane with the peel on and it’s hard to believe this juice is still so yellow and vibrant in color after one full day.

One thing that my friend did mention about the San Diego Yellow is how long it takes to oxidize and turn brown. It is the Reed of Sugarcane. For those not familiar with Reed Avocado, you can cut it open and it won’t turn brown for a day or more.




For those visiting Brad today, ask to try a sample of the juice. The juice I brought over to Brads place was juiced today so it’s even fresher than what I’m drinking now.

This is the last batch of Sugarcane I will be bringing over to Brads. It’s a lot of work chopping the canes, cleaning them up and driving them over. I may have more in the future but I’m not planning on it.
Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #8 on: October 19, 2018, 03:19:57 PM »
Here’s the Asian Black Sugarcane. It’s too beautiful a plant not to post a picture. Picture taken one minute ago.

Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2018, 03:29:01 PM »
The first Gary Mango off my tree. I touched it and it fell into my hands. It already has a Coconut smell to it. It is a tiny mango.


Here’s are some Venus Mangos. They all came from a single graft that turned out to be a giant panicle holding 6 fruit. I know the shape isn’t the typical Florida Venus but Mangos here are very different. I wrapped the Mangos in a styrofoam fruit wrap and this appears to have given the skin different blushes of color. I just touched the fruit and they fell off, 4 out of 6.

We’ve had very hot and dry conditions lately and I believe this is causing the faster ripening of Fruit, especially Mangos. I found this Lemon Zest on the ground after I returned home from Brads place.



This is the first and only fully formed Lemon Zest Mango harvested from this particular Florida tree. I believe it is large enough now to outgrow Phomopsis and hopefully it will start producing more fully formed fruit and fewer of the round but ultra sweet Nubbin fruit.
Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #10 on: October 19, 2018, 03:33:06 PM »
Here’s a picture of the tree. There’s still 2 Venus fruit holding on a graft towards the bottom.



Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #11 on: October 19, 2018, 03:36:43 PM »
Raja Puri Bananas from Brads place. First time trying them and they are delicious. They have the slightest bit of acid balance to give the banana base flavor some extra complexity.

Simon

Samu

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #12 on: October 19, 2018, 04:40:17 PM »
Thanks for posting the beautiful fruits of your labor, Simon!
I used to eat (sucking the juice) sugarcane by just cracking them off with my teeth
after the vendor skinned and scored it with his sickle... :D



Sam

zephian

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #13 on: October 19, 2018, 05:03:52 PM »
Very nice harvest, great job guys!
I've not seen those varieties of pomegranates before. I have a 'wonderful' I purchased this year with a small fruit hanging on it, but I've always found them only OK. Do you purchase those varieties locally or are they grown from seeds or cutting? Pomegranates seem to grow very quickly with little care here and I want to add at least one more to my collection.
-Kris

spaugh

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #14 on: October 19, 2018, 05:24:41 PM »
You are not going to be happy but wonderful is a really sub par pomagranite.  I have one of them.  The seeds are big and hard and leave you with a mouth of seed.  Im going to yank mine and put in a new one.  Ive got a couple other types that are keepers. 

I got my plants as little starter sleves for 20$ from the local nursery.  They were dave wilson starter plants. 
Brad Spaugh

simon_grow

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #15 on: October 19, 2018, 08:51:31 PM »
Coming up in the following months will be the Cherimoya harvest.



Still small but developing nicely. I didn’t thin enough so the fruit will likely stay smaller than normal. I just hope the branches don’t snap.

Simon

zephian

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #16 on: October 19, 2018, 09:11:22 PM »
You are not going to be happy but wonderful is a really sub par pomagranite.  I have one of them.  The seeds are big and hard and leave you with a mouth of seed.  Im going to yank mine and put in a new one.  Ive got a couple other types that are keepers. 

I got my plants as little starter sleves for 20$ from the local nursery.  They were dave wilson starter plants.
Wonderful is what we are used to out here. It's a normal backyard plant out here. I can only find two types at our local nursery - Wonderful and sweet. Dave wilson website lists those two varieties at my local nursery though (Local being 45 minutes out, my town has nothing) Ill check this spring they look 'wonderful'
« Last Edit: October 19, 2018, 09:13:52 PM by zephian »
-Kris

spaugh

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #17 on: October 19, 2018, 09:32:45 PM »
Simon, thanks fo the sugar cane juice.  We have been drinking it with limes and water.  Im about to sample some with some pomagranite liqueur and then go for the key lime margarita with reposado and make some guacamole.

Brad Spaugh

knlim000

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #18 on: October 20, 2018, 10:19:34 AM »
beautiful trees Simon. How old are they?

beicadad

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #19 on: October 20, 2018, 12:39:42 PM »
Simon and Brad, congrats on your harvests! Good to see your hard work paying off.

You guys are doing the community a great service by contributing valuable knowledge and selecting the best varieties. Can’t wait to see more pics!

Future

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #20 on: October 20, 2018, 12:44:44 PM »
I need a ticket to Cali.

spaugh

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #21 on: October 20, 2018, 12:51:09 PM »
This is another project we have been working on for 3 or 4 months.  Just finished a week or so ago.  We cleared a quarter or half an acre or so of hillside and planted 50 mango trees.  The trees are on a 15x15 spacing. Theres some FL grafted trees, some FL seed stocks and some CA rootstock grafted with FL selections.  It doesnt look like much now but these trees are out on a prime location here with full south exposure and deep draining DG soil in the hottest are of coastal CA. 

Brad Spaugh

simon_grow

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #22 on: October 21, 2018, 01:38:29 AM »
I just cut open one of the Venus mango and it didn’t have any smell to it but there was a bad spot on it and the nose was getting a bit soft so I cut it open. While cutting it, I noticed that the stem end was still quite firm. This particular fruit seemed to have ripened unevenly. This fruit was not a drop.

The fruit was a nice orange color and the Brix came out at 28%! I thought I was mistaken so I took a bite and the 28% Brix was legit. The flavor profile was very similar to Sweet Tart with that Indo Chinese flavor but it is just slightly weaker in Venus compared to Sweet Tart.

I didn’t get to sample much of the fruit because my daughters devoured everything I cut up but Venus is an Excellent mango. I wish it had a bit more acidity to balance out the sugars.

The seed was completely flat. I’m not sure if this would be considered a giant nubbin or simply an atrophied seed but this mango is excellent. I’ve seen in Florida, the Mango is much larger but here in SoCal on my particular tree, I got 6 medium small fruit on one single large panicle.

Here are some pictures of the fruit and seed.







Simon

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #23 on: October 21, 2018, 03:20:12 AM »
Quince fruit, a relative to apple and pear many people today have never heard of. While quinces are usually known for being hard and inedible - they have to be cooked before you can eat them - this here is one of the rare varieties that is possible to be eaten raw. It's an obscure variety called Kuganskaya.



A regular quince (uncooked) is spongy and so astringent it feels like a mouth full of sawdust, but with this variety I could eat two thick slices without noticing any astringency. Eating it is almost like eating an apple. It is pretty acidic though.

The exterior of the fruit has a pleasant heirloom apple fragrance, even before you cut into it, although with this particular variety it's not quite as fragrant as a regular quince. Maybe there's a little hint of pear, caramel and vanilla in the fragrance too.


simon_grow

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Re: Today’s Harvest from the orchard
« Reply #24 on: October 21, 2018, 02:26:50 PM »
beautiful trees Simon. How old are they?
This tree is around 6-7 years old.

I’ve never tried Quince before but I think I may have seen some marmalade made with it at the Asian markets.

Simon