The Blairmont Apple Project

 Finally got in another 2 loads of soil in. Have Plumbago and Celeste figs to root. 64 French and LSU figs to plant. A bevy of Southern and low chill apples to graft. A big mix of Southern pears and fire blight resistant pears also. With a sprinkling of various Asian and oddball pears as well{Pyrus Pyraster, a wild and vigorous disease resistant rootstock}. Flowering in the Apple trees is off. First was Centurion Crab. Then Pink Lady. And now Yates. Pink Lady has a few apples growing. It appears one of my trees labelled Dorsett Golden is actually Golden Delicious which was hand written on the reverse side of the tag. It clearly is leafing out very differently then either my other Dorsetts and Anna.

 Kind of bummed both of my regular Shockley trees are not doing well. Got a lot of recent die back on the tree the goat broke. And my other tree is looking dry as well. Of course we also brought in Shockley Grizzle strain. And the scions we very small. So they are in ICU like condition. Watch and wait. On the flip side the Blairmont is leafing out well. Disharoon , Parks Pippin and 1st of May too.

 Been checking everybody growing out there. Most of the Blueberries are coming back well after a bad year of rabbit damage. 4 plants are still tiny with little or no leaves though. Yet still alive. My P.2 rootstock I nervously cut to the ground to stool are finally sending up shoots. Next year I should have a good supply of rootstock to harvest.  Plan on stooling P.18 and M111 as well. The G.257 sample promised by Geneva appears to have got wiped out from budget cutting. As well as our mostly rootstock germplasm from GRIN. Maybe next year. P.14, MM109 and MicroMalus is not available elsewhere. Rooting by cuttings is going very well with Lord Burghley and Gasconye's Scarlett. Empire and Appletown Wonder also seem positive. I think my Mank's Codlin are not likely to make it. They were quite small.

 Finished up grafting some minimalist size scions via whip and tongue today. Hall was particularly annoy as it was a bit woody and wanted to break apart. At any rate got all the "Root by cuttings " apples going. Appletown Wonder was a disappointment as half of it was dead. I did manage 1 4 inch piece that was still alive.  Also got Empire and Gascone Scarlet done. I fear my Manks Codlin are possibly dead. Despite wrapping and constant hydration they are weak looking. It is clear 2 rooted as has Lord Burghley. Kimrome, Etter's Gold , Annie Elizabeth are some others grafted. Most top worked as we await more soil to be picked up.

 Is growing from one of the cuttings. I can see at least two thick side root starts of the 3 buds buried. 2 of the 3 above the soil buds can not get more green tipped without leafing. They are literally all green. I peeled the tape off the scion and will move it to a part sun area that I can control watering tightly. It will be great to try the fruit; but on own roots that will probably be years away. I mainly want vegetative growth for now anyway.  The planted Florahome peaches do not look the best. Definitely tip die off. Weird they greener up the trunks nicely. I guess we will increase watering on them.

 

 It is that annoying time of year when you see eeks of progress. But it is a while until things are in full swing. I get most annoyed with the non-progress of the supple and quite alive rootstock. With a small subset of root by cutting test subjects; I will only need about 26 rootstock this year. While only 17 are left from last season. Plus I need another 10 pear rootstock to plant out scions. Speaking of our Namesake Blairmont; it to is among the lazy that refuses to break bud. Still limber but smaller then most. Need to settle on who we will cross with it soon. Leaning hard toward Pionier this first season. It too is a late-early season apple. Slightly smaller sweeter fruit. Hope it embues some of it's handsome dark color to the offspring. Both are well thought of dessert types. Pionier seems to be a bit more care free and mild mannered as a grower. With some luck; maybe one of the seeds will better storage times some. My original thought was to cross any successful offspring wi...

 While Centurion crab took the first apple bloom of the year on March 3rd; I have been waiting for the first standard apple action. Anna and Dorsett Golden would be odds on favorites; but no. My money was on Yates which greentipped bud on Feb.27th. And now has 6-7 buds that way. But it was not to be. This morning Park's Pippin unleash a nice big king leaf. And this afternoon Pink Lady joined it with a small leafing. Another surprise is Disharoon. Which suddenly green tipped about a dozen buds.

 Been planting new pears and plums. Hoped the new Golden and Methley Plums would still bloom while my Mariana was in bloom. Golden just missed it. Maybe they will sync in next year. So now that we have Bartlett and Moonglow; we have some scions to top work them. Fansil, Warren and Diamond are coming courtesy of Fusion power (poster name} from growing fruit. And a stick of Summer Blood Birne pear is coming on my apple order from Peninsula Fruit Club in the Northwest. Not much activity on apples other then ordering more grafting tape and picking up 2 more truck loads of biochar soil to build my soil mix from. Other things included a large patch of potato eyes covered with weathered goat manure/hay. We have 3 long wooden planters awaiting seeds and bulbs. I could not resist a pack of Rhubarb to plant in one.  Been walking the plants journaling progress. Leafing, initial bloom, full and end bloom. Can't wait to get grafting. Though I will likely be short on apple rootstocks. ...

 Fixed 5 trees in a more sandy version of our potting mix. Carefully selected cut areas. Trimmed bottoms. Sacrificed the two buds to the bottom on each piece. Wet them. Touched dried the sacrificed zone. Dipped them in rooting hormone. Planted in labeled pots and watered.  With any luck we should get 2 Lord Burgleigh and 3 Mank's Codlins. Let us keep the fingers crossed. Eyeing another order to add Gascoyne's Scarlet, Appleton Wonder and perhaps Empire. With Etter's Gold, Kimrome and Annie Elizabeth coming to fill out the root stock left on hand. Which should conclude our orders this year. Shockley-Grizzle and Langleigh Delight are still in the fridge.

 So I wondered who would take the title as about 4 varieties have big swollen buds. However today Centurion crab decided to grace us with it's bright red flowers. Just beating the scion of Pionier of Romania that is grafted to it. And Anna and Dorsett Golden. Also made an impulse buy of a Pineapple Guava tree I found for $20. Have no idea which variety it is. Will as the dealer the next sale he shows up at.  And probably will buy another. Good looking bushes they say do well here.

 New plants and scions arrive! Temperate Orchard Conservancy had 4 of the 6 apples I ordered. The scion wood was very good quality. But some was small; and they added an extra piece to make up for it. Here I got Mank's Codlin, Lanleigh Delight, Lord Burghley and Shockley-Grizzle strain. In a compulsion buy I spied a great looking Dorsett Golden in breaking leaf. Being pleased with my other Dorsett's I could not resist the $21 price. Later the wife spotted some nice bare root Florida King Peach tree budded like crazy. Bought a pair. A few days later we were in a big box hardware place. Getting the vapors from the crazy prices. $80 for fruit trees? No thanks. yet they had Strawberry pints at $2 Bought 6. Only to find we need another 6 for the strawberry pot we have. Then we noticed Pear trees. All with the high price. Then I found a well leafed out Bartlett Pear. Likely shipped there by accident as we rarely get the 800 chill hours Bartlett needs. It was $30 so we bought it. The ...

 Today's apple is one of the old Senior Citizens of Georgia bred apples. Often overlooked. Yet a proven reliable croppers. Like the other senior citizens; it predates the Civil war. Some sources reference a Kentucky Nursery selling it in 1870. But I have found 3 older catalog references, one in the circa 1825 time frame. Color can clearly vary; likely due to sun exposure: Here from Horne Creek/NC almost a tannish yellow. Or: From the Joyners at Horse Creek/NC; much more blushed and striped red over a yellow/orange base. Either way plenty of brown dots pervade. Quite a beautiful Apple. King Solomon is an apple that could be called a chubby medium. Not quite usually large. And it can Ripen from August to September. It is said to be a meaty apple with a small core. But can become bilennial. {Thin!} It is a vigorous tree with a spreading habit.  Flavor wise it is a definite subacidic apple that is fairly juicy. Has a courser grain. And a nice aroma. It is often said to be a flavor...

 Well I decided it would be good to talk about what apple varieties we plan on having and what are here.  Starting with Mank's Codlin. A very proper and well know type of cooking apple.  I have high hopes for Mank's Codlin as it has many interesting qualities. It is a pitcher which roots by cuttings. Always nice. It also grows in poor soils well; but only grows to a modest size. It makes heavy annual crops. It does well in  cold and wet climates. It makes a medium size, a bit bigger actually; apple. It is an August apple which keeps for 3 months. It is in Pollination group 2. It is a good apple to bake or makes a great sauce. Like other Codlins it can be picked the size of a walnut and cooked. Having different textures and clarity of flesh depending on the picking date. It is said to be the sweetest of all the tartish Codlins. And can be eaten fresh off the tree at full ripeness. Mank's Codlin is highly perfumed aromatically. It can range from green to yellow with a ...

 Greetings and hoping you are all warm and safe. Here we got 4-5" of snow and now have a series of very cold days for us. Of course the kids have enjoyed there first 2 snow days. The goats and dogs would be glad to see it go. The apple trees seem ok and even sold a pair of extra trees. Also ordered a small Scion order. Bringing Georgia's Kimrome and Shockley Grizzle to the collection. As well as 4 interesting UK apples. Langleigh Delight, Lord Burghley, Mank's Codlin and Willingham Cropper. Perhaps I will get one more small order done this year. But far less then last year.

 I've noticed Park's Pippin has a habit of setting lots of small spurring branches.  Hope that bodes well for future crops. This is on M111 so no telling what year it sets fruit.