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Old May 18, 2015   #61
heirloomtomaguy
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Originally Posted by Worth1 View Post
The big box stores sell trees here that will never produce fruit they will never bloom.
Most of them will just say peach cherry or apple.
You have no idea what they are or the chill hours required.
One peach had over 1200 chill hours, really Central Texas below the escarpment I dont think so we are in the 500 to 700 chill hour area more or less.
Worth
I know how that goes. Home depot and lowes sells apple trees with 1200 chill hour requirements as well as blueberries that require 800 chill hours. We were lucky last year if we hit 200 chill hours. People keep on buying them without knowing and keep on wondering why their plants dont produce. Poor practice.
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Old May 18, 2015   #62
Worth1
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Originally Posted by heirloomtomaguy View Post
I know how that goes. Home depot and lowes sells apple trees with 1200 chill hour requirements as well as blueberries that require 800 chill hours. We were lucky last year if we hit 200 chill hours. People keep on buying them without knowing and keep on wondering why their plants dont produce. Poor practice.
I flat out walked up to a couple at one of the stores one time and told them not to buy a cherry tree.
They asked why and I told them about chill hours and fruit production.
The lady said well I like the blooms and dont care about the cherries so I am going to get it.
I then told her they wouldn't get blooms they would just get a tree with leaves every year.
She bought the thing anyway.

Worth
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Old May 18, 2015   #63
heirloomtomaguy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Worth1 View Post
The big box stores sell trees here that will never produce fruit they will never bloom.
Most of them will just say peach cherry or apple.
You have no idea what they are or the chill hours required.
One peach had over 1200 chill hours, really Central Texas below the escarpment I dont think so we are in the 500 to 700 chill hour area more or less.
Worth
Quote:
Originally Posted by Worth1 View Post
I flat out walked up to a couple at one of the stores one time and told them not to buy a cherry tree.
They asked why and I told them about chill hours and fruit production.
The lady said well I like the blooms and dont care about the cherries so I am going to get it.
I then told her they wouldn't get blooms they would just get a tree with leaves every year.
She bought the thing anyway.

Worth
Gotta love stubborn people. They think you dont know because you dont work there. Jokes on them because the people who work there have no clue about plants.
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Old May 18, 2015   #64
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Whoops. Somehow i accidently double quoted.
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Old May 18, 2015   #65
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I have written here before about a local mom and pop plant store in Cleburne, Texas. I was looking at the varieties of plum and peach trees they have to offer. The varieties are the same as the ones recommended by Texas A&M Agriculture. Then I found out they get their trees from East Texas. When it's time, that's where we are planning on buying them.

We try to stay away from buying plants of any kind from big box stores. It's actually kind of funny, but we found cactuses/cacti with fake flowers glued onto them at Walmart.
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Old May 18, 2015   #66
joseph
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wormgirl: Look for a Pacific Northwest Muskmelon in next spring's catalog from Carol Deppe. We are collaborating on a muskmelon project for your climate.

Tomato juice is so gaggy to me that I won't drink it regardless of peer pressure or family obligation. Put tomatoes into a stew or a sauce and I enjoy eating them. Lots of added ingredients... I really love Chicken Cacciatore, especially if it includes mushrooms. Lycopene and perhaps other flavor components are fat soluble, so I suspect that their taste gets moderated by the oils that I always add to cooked tomatoes.
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Old May 18, 2015   #67
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Originally Posted by AlittleSalt View Post
I have written here before about a local mom and pop plant store in Cleburne, Texas. I was looking at the varieties of plum and peach trees they have to offer. The varieties are the same as the ones recommended by Texas A&M Agriculture. Then I found out they get their trees from East Texas. When it's time, that's where we are planning on buying them.

We try to stay away from buying plants of any kind from big box stores. It's actually kind of funny, but we found cactuses/cacti with fake flowers glued onto them at Walmart.
I was wondering if anyone else noticed the fake flowers on the cacti.
Not only does Wallmart sell them but also the other two big box stores.
My biggest complaint is they say cacti collection.
I have seen people say oh look it is blooming.
I will say look closely it is glued on.
If you aren't a cacti collector like myself you dont know how cold hardy they are or even what they are.
If my cacti, yucca and agave cant make it outside they have no place here at my house.
Not at this time anyway.

Salt one thing you have to be careful about is having too low a chill hour also.
Then what happens is the trees bloom too soon and then get froze back.

Since most peach trees dont require a pollinator you can chose some with chill hours on the upper and lower side.
This will help you get peaches almost every year.

I am just a little too far north for the flat white Saturn type peach I love so much.
I think it is around 300 to 400 chill hours.
One way to get around this is to paint the trunk white.
This will reflect some of the heat off of the trunk and keep it from blooming too soon.


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Old May 18, 2015   #68
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I've seen the trunks painted white a lot around here.

Methley and Bruce are a couple Plums recommended for here.
Redskin, Loring, and Harvester are 3 peach varieties grown around here.

Joseph, one of our smaller orange varieties is looking like it's about to start producing soon. It is Valencia.

Correction: It has three green tomatoes on it - I had to twist and bend a little more to find them.

Last edited by AlittleSalt; May 18, 2015 at 01:12 PM. Reason: Correction
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Old May 18, 2015   #69
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlittleSalt View Post
I've seen the trunks painted white a lot around here.

Methley and Bruce are a couple Plums recommended for here.
Redskin, Loring, and Harvester are 3 peach varieties grown around here.

Joseph, one of our smaller orange varieties is looking like it's about to start producing soon. It is Valencia.
That sounds about right for your area.
I have Loring or Harvester a little too cold for this area.
I dont know which one lived as one of them got a gall right at the graft so I pulled it up.
The other is doing so so the darn deer keep pruning it.

Worth
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Old May 18, 2015   #70
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Joseph, I will look for that melon! I was not aware of Carol, but I just signed up for her email list. Thanks for mentioning it.

Salt, I think that policy of not buying plants at big box stores, is probably a really good one. Next year I hope to have a seed-starting station indoors for the tomatos at least! And as far as start quality, the best ones I've gotten this year were from a farm that sells starts. The ones from the box stores just don't quite compare.
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Old May 20, 2015   #71
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I planted the orange/yellow tomatoes into the garden today that I've been collecting from the farmer's market and local nurseries. It's still 2.5 weeks earlier than I typically plant tomatoes, and 4.5 weeks before our last spring frost the previous two years... But whatever. If they survive, great, if not, then it was an experiment anyway. I'm intending to use them primarily as pollen donors onto either Ot'Jagodka, or onto an [F2 DX52-12 X Ot'Jagodka] hybrid.
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Old May 20, 2015   #72
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You haven't been following Jerry Baker's advice and peeing on your tomatoes, have you? :-)
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Old May 21, 2015   #73
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Quote:
Joseph wrote : It's still 2.5 weeks earlier than I typically plant tomatoes, and 4.5 weeks before our last spring frost the previous two years

I suppose you have just got a small number of those tomatoes. If so in case of frost you can cover them with some kind of blanket, antifrost plastic sheet etc. for the night and save them. Good luck !
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Old May 21, 2015   #74
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I then told her they wouldn't get blooms they would just get a tree with leaves every year.
She bought the thing anyway.

Worth
That reminds me of the proverb "don't try teaching a pig how to play the piano. You waste your time and pi$$ off the pig."
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Old May 21, 2015   #75
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Part of my philosophy towards tomatoes is that I want to select for traits that work for my climate. Frost/Cold tolerance is high on my list of selection criteria. So I don't cover tomatoes. I'm not specifically doing a frost tolerance test on these tomatoes, but I won't be disappointed if some of them end up getting killed by frost. It would be sad though if all of them did...

And it really sucks to have to commute 25 miles to the farm.
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