Saturday, June 18, 2011

Apples and Avocados

I was checking out my blog stats and it looks like there is a lot of interest in Day Avocados and Columnar Apples so I thought I would write a one year update on mine.

Columnar Apples

I bought two Columnar Apples March of 2010.
Northpole M-7 -  "Northpole™ - a very large, bright red McIntosh-type fruit that is crisp and juicy. It is ready for harvest in early September."

Scarlet Sentinel
 M-7 - "Scarlet Sentinel™ - has jumbo-size red and yellow fruit with sweet, crisp, very juicy flesh. It ripens in late September and stores well until February."

The Northpole™ was first to set blooms on March 17 2011. Scarlet Sentinel™ had a few blooms on March 17th and didn't continue blooming for three weeks which was not good timing since the Northpole™ had already finished blooming. I didn't think either one of them were pollinated but was surprised to find two apples forming on the Scarlet and one on the Northpole™. Next year I will need to try and get the Scarlet Sentinel™ to bloom at the same time as the Northpole™. So do I feed one and hold back the feeding on the other to try and time it or do I let nature do it's thing and see how it goes?

Northpole

Scarlet Sentinel

Columnar Apples.
If you click on the photo you
can see where I circled the apples.



Persea americana ‘Day’ “Avocado"
‘Day’ avocado is by far the easiest avocado to fruit in a pot. Plants will fruit at about 3 feet in height and will produce a medium-sized tapered-neck avocado that is easy to peel and has a delicious, buttery sweet taste. The fruit will hold on the plant for six months with ripening occurring from July to September. Another plus for ‘Day’ is its cold tolerance taking temperatures down into the low twenties. We sell grafted plants that will start bearing fruit in 2 to 3 years.

My Avocado arrived on March 31, 2010 in a 6 inch pot looking very healthy at just under 2 feet tall. Today (June 18 2011) she is in a 16 inch pot and stands at 3 feet tall with lots of new growth everyday. She does not like to be fussed over. No over watering and fed about four times a year. She likes as much sun as she can get and came through with flying colors after she got caught in a hail storm this past winter.

Persea americana ‘Day’ “Avocado"
March 31 2010
Persea americana ‘Day’ “Avocado"
June 18 2011

New growth.
  

3 comments:

  1. This is sooooooooo cool! I MUST DO SOME GOOGlING. Where did you purchase your trees?

    I'd love to grow more potted fruit trees beyond my citrus and figs. The reason I haven't planted any in the ground is that I don't anticipate being in our home for more than a few more years. This could be the solution.

    Also, do you have any pruning advice for the apples?

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  2. Hi Thomas - I bought my apples on line from One Green World. You may want to check around for the best price. I'm seeing them offered at Logee's as well.

    http://www.onegreenworld.com//index.php?cPath=1_12&sort=2a&page=3

    Prune to keep it's shape. You can let it grow out a bit more to get more fruit.

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  3. Also, try Forest Farm and Trees Of Antiquity. My two favorite nurseries!

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