First peaches

My earliest peaches in 2018 are Orion and Springtime.  Orion peach was introduced in South Africa. USDA Wolfskill station holds this accession.  Springtime peach was introduced by the Armstrong nursery in Southern California; the scions are usually available at the CRFG winter exchanges.
Both are white and cling-stone fruits.  Orion stone can be separated in some fruits.  My trees were planted/made two years ago.  Last year, I could not tell if I liked Sprintime.  This year, the fruits are of excellent flavor.  My only complaint is that they are small.  I should be thinning them better. Orion produced one fruit only last year, and it was very pleasant and sweet.  This year, the Orion tree was heavily affected by the leaf curl, however it made lots of fruit. Unfortunately, most fruits have some bitterness in them. I picked the fruits after we had two days of over 100F in May.  They could be stressed by the heat, or the tree simply didn't have enough leaf mass for the number of fruits produced. I'll continue growing Orion, but Springtime is the winner in the early peach category this year. The pictures are from May 30. Orion has more round shape.

Orion (left) and Springtime

Check our sales site if we have the scions available reallygoodplants.com

More on Guaruja Red Surinam Cherry fruit variability

While I was out traveling for a few days, my Surinam Cherry "Guaruja Red" (named by me) ripened a good amount of fruit. The fruit size is from 5 mm to over an inch. Most fruit had one seed, but some were seedless, and some had two seeds in them. When fully ripe, the fruits are sweet and pleasant. The pictures are from May 30, 2018

Check our sales site if we have the cuttings available reallygoodplants.com

Surinam Cherry "Guaruja Red". Fruit variability

This was my largest single day harvest of fruit from my seedling tree that I named Guaruja Red.  The tree is a four years old seedling, that first fruited two years ago.  It is a vigorous grower, and it's around 8-9 ft high now.  The fruit size and shape vary significantly, from very small, 4-5 mm to over an inch in diameter.  Small and medium fruits are seedless, and the large fruits are seeded.  The seeded fruits have more pronounced ribs. On May 22, I collected the first seeded fruits this season.  All fruits before this date were seedless.  The pictures below show the variability of fruit collected on the same day.  The fruit quality is very good, sweet and complex.

Check our sales site if we have the cuttings available reallygoodplants.com

Loquat tasting on May 22

Early season loquat tasting. Napa Library is the only one that is fully ripe now.  Kando is getting there, and Argelino may need more time.  McBeth seems to be flat.  Will re-taste the latest three in a week or two.

Left to right: Argelino, Kando, McBeth, Napa Library

In the order of my preference on this date:

1. Napa Library

2. Kando

3. Argelino

4. McBeth

Napa Library is a graft from the tree growing by Napa Library.  It produces small, but very sweet fruits.  Seems to be early too.

Late May Citrus

This is the last citrus post for the season.  The previous five posts can be found here:
http://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2018/04/early-april-citrus-tasting.html
http://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2018/02/mid-february-citrus.html
https://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2018/01/late-january-citrus.html
https://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2017/12/late-december-citrus.html
https://fruitsandgardening.blogspot.com/2017/12/mid-december-citrus.html

By the end of May, only three citrus varieties were available on my trees:
Valencia, Rhode Red (a Valencia too), and Nagami Kumquat.  The tasting and pictures are from May 22, 2018.  Valencia seems to be more complex and better tasting than Rhode Red.  This may be due to the immaturity of the Rhode Red graft. Both oranges are very juicy, especially Valencia.  Nagami Kumquat is pretty good now too.

Left to right: Valencia, Nagami kumquat, Rhode Red