Want to make sure the apricot or plum you selected was a good one? Join me on this Desert Horticulture podcast to learn what I know about the varieties that do the best in a desert climate. And this includes aprium and pluot! Join me in Desert Horticulture and my many years of growing fruit in the Mojave Desert. 

Listen to my podcast, “Selecting the Best Apricot and Plum while you read through this list.  Apricot – Most apricots do well in southern Nevada and have wonderful flavor Recommended rootstock: Nemaguard preferred but others have performed adequately over the long term. Top Choice ·       Blenheim (Royal) – early ·       Flavor Delight (Aprium; actually a plum apricot hybrid but fruit marketed as an apricot) very early ·       Gold Kist – very early ·       Moorpark – early ·       Royal Rosa – excellent landscape tree, very early Notable Mention ·       Canadian Blenheim White – early ·       Chinese – early ·       Early Golden – early ·       Flora Gold – very early ·       Katy – excellent landscape tree, very early Under Review (Early results are good on all) ·       Autumn Glo ·       Early Autumn ·       Goldcot ·       Harcot ·       Tomcot Aprium – Plum apricot hybrid that does extremely well in our climate Recommended Rootstock: Nemaguard but others have performed adequately over the long term. Top Choice ·       Flavor Delight – See apricot since the fruit is marketed as an apricot, very early Plum – Plums do well in our climate. The most common fresh plums are Japanese plums. Recommended Rootstock: Citation but other rootstocks have performed adequately over the long term. Top Choice ·       Santa Rosa ·       Santa Rosa, Weeping – landscape tree form of Santa Rosa ·       Emerald Beauty Honorable Mention ·       Beauty ·       Burbank ·       Burgundy ·       Elephant Heart ·       French Improved – Prune ·       Italian Prune – Prune Under Review ·       Catalina ·       Green Gage – European plum Plumcot – Apricot plum hybrid Under Review Plum Parfait Pluot – A very complex hybrid of apricot and plum that has developed a very high sugar level and complex flavors when tree ripened Recommended Rootstock: Citation but other rootstocks have performed adequately over the long term. Top Choice ·       Flavor King ·       Flavor Queen Honorable Mention ·       Flavor Supreme Under Review ·       Dapple Dandy ·       Flavorosa ·       Flavor Delight ·       Flavor Finale ·       Flavor Grenade ·       Geopride

Selecting the best nectarine and peach tree is confusing – there are so many different varieties to pick from! This podcast helps you sort through some of the varieties that grow best in our desert climate. Learn some tips about selecting varieties by an expert who has grown dozens of varieties and conducted blind taste tests on each to determine which are the best. Learn why nectarines take an extra commitment when growing this fabulous fruit in a desert climate.

Read this extract from my list of recommended fruit trees while you listen to my podcast titled, “Pick the Best Nectarine and Peach”. Connect to it through my blog. Nectarine – Nectarines do well in our climate but vary in fruit quality and some taste pretty bad. Recommended Rootstock: Citation but others have performed adequately over the long term. Top Choice ·       Arctic Star Honorable Mention ·       Arctic Glo ·       Arctic Rose ·       Desert Dawn ·       Desert Delight ·       Double Delight Under Review ·       Arctic Gold ·       Garden Delight – Miniature ·       Goldmine ·       Independence ·       Liz’s Late ·       Necta Zee – Miniature ·       Panamint Peach – Peaches do extremely well in our climate and have received praise from internationally recognized chefs. Recommended Rootstock: Citaton but others have performed adequately over the long term. Top Choice ·       Babcock – White, mid season ·       Eva’s Pride – Early season ·       May Pride – Early season ·       Mid Pride – Mid season ·       Starks Saturn – Donut peach, white flesh, mid season Honorable Mention ·       Arctic Supreme – white flesh, mid season ·       Desert Gold – ·       Earlitreat – Earliest producer ·       Early Amber – Early season ·       Early Elberta – ·       Elberta – Mid season ·       FlordaPrince – Early season ·       Red Baron – Showy flowers, good landscape tree, mid season ·       Red Haven – Mid season Under Review ·       Arctic Jay – White ·       Carnival ·       Double Jewel ·       Elegant Lady – White ·       Fairtime ·       Gold Dust ·       Harken ·       Indian Free ·       July Elberta (Kim) ·       Nectar White – White ·       O’Henry – Late season ·       Rio Oso Gem ·       Snow Beauty – White ·       Snow Giant – White ·       Snow King – White ·       Strawberry Free – White ·       Sugar Lady – White ·       Summerset ·       Sweet Bagel – Donut peach, yellow ·       Tra Zee – Late season ·       Tropic Snow -White ·       White Heath Cling – White ·       White Lady – White Peach, Miniature – These are typically peaches which are genetic dwarf and fruit quality is often not as comparable to standard peach trees. Top Choice ·       Bonanza – Mid season Honorable Mention ·       El Dorado – Mid season ·       Pix Zee – Mid season Under Review ·       Honey Babe ·       Garden Gold ·       Garden Sun

Viragrow: Heavy Metal Concerns in Compost Made from Municipa…: Viragrow thought this Fact Sheet from Cornell Composting might be interesting to those who have concerns about heavy metals and human health…

I hope you enjoy this summary on the past 40 years of research in organic agriculture.

Join me in this episode of Desert Horticulture. I will talk about planting tomatoes in Cole soils, using pheromone traps for fruit trees, making raisins, when to plant flowering plum tree, and how to correct grapes that are producing so well. These topics and more in Desert Horticulture.

Q. What type of fertilizer do you suggest for table grapes. Mine have been in ground 3 years now and the production has been less than I hoped. I have been using compost and worm castings twice a year. A. The problem may not be the fertilizer or how much you are applying but how the vine is pruned. There are two general methods of pruning grapes. Some grapevines are pruned using the “spur” method while others are pruned using the “cane” method.             Grapes that should be pruned using the cane method may produce little or no fruit if they are pruned using the spur method. However, grapes that require spur pruning WILL produce fruit if they are cane pruned. I am thinking you have a great that may require cane pruning but you spur pruned it instead.             The difference between the two is the amount of last year’s growth left attached to the vine. In spur pruning, last year’s growth is cut back severely, leaving less than an inch remaining. In cane pruning, last year’s growth is cut back so that about eight or 10 inches of growth remains attached to the vine.              Bottom line, if you are not sure how to prune your grapes, leave last year’s growth 8 to 10 inches long. Last year’s growth will be a different color than the older parts of the vine. Sometimes it’s reddish-brown and sometimes it’s yellowish-brown. When the fruit emerges, re-cut the cane to a better length.

Q. Is it too late in the year to replace a flowering plum tree? Another in my yard is starting to blossom. A. Whether to plant a new flowering plum tree or not has nothing to do with its flowering time. The best time to plant is just before new growth begins in the spring which is a week or two before flowering. But there is nothing wrong with planting any time during the spring of the year. It just so happens planting time also corresponds to flowering time as well.             Another great time to plant is during the fall months when temperatures are beginning to cool, when it is not yet cold, and before leaf drop. In the Mojave Desert in the spring begins around the first week of February, give or take, and the Fall begins toward the latter part of September.             I’m curious about why you are replacing a flowering plum tree. If this was because of borers that tunnel into the limbs and trunk, then you are fine planting in the same hole. These insects do not get into the soil but spend their entire life above ground.             However, if you are replacing this tree because of overwatering problems then it’s best not to plant in or near the same hole. Root diseases like collar rot stay in the soil and could pose a future problem for most trees and shrubs planted there. Plant several feet from this area.

Q. What type of grapes should I grow to make raisins? Is there any special trick to making raisins or do you just dry the grapes? A. Traditionally, Thompson Seedless is used for raisins but you can use any seedless raisins (usually table grapes). Whichever taste of grapes you like make good raisins. Allow them to dry on the vine (unless birds or ground squirrels are a problem) or remove them from the vine and dry them by themselves.             Remove the berries from the bunches and remove the stem from the berry.  If there is a secret to drying fruit in the desert, then it is to control the temperature used for drying. I made a solar dryer a few years ago but the air temperature in the dryer was too hot. I ended up using this dryer but put it in the shade rather than in the sun.             Cover the drying grapes with cheesecloth or any breathable material that helps keep birds and dirt off it. Temperatures should be below 140F, but suggestions will vary. Generally, the lower the temperature and high wind movement the better. So, drying them in the shade in open air in the summer is about perfect here. Just avoid high temperatures (above 140F) and dry them as quickly as possible.