The Fruit Orchard |
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The Fruit Orchard was begun in 2008 with other trees added in 2009 and 2010. In 2020 there were only 2 fruit trees left in the orchard. Many were removed because of gummosis. Others were removed because of decline from lack of sufficient water over the years.
The trees in the orchard include:
(Click on each one to find additional information.)
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2010 Removed 2019 |
2011 Killed by gophers 2019 |
2011 Removed 2019 |
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2008 Removed 2020 |
2008 |
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2008 Removed 2018 |
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2008 Removed 2019 |
2008 |
In addition to the fruit trees that are planted in the Fruit Orchard, there are others around the property. Most of those were planted before 2001 by the previous owners of the property. On the west side of the house there are three fruit trees watered by drains from the entire garage roof. There is a sour cherry, a very large apricot and an asian pear. In the rear the house behind the wall of the flower garden there is a peach tree that was started from a pit. In the front of the house are three Greengage plums. Two are suckers from an older one.
At the southeast corner of the house is a Luscious pear tree that I planted in the spring, 2010. It bregsn doing better in 2018 because of the planting of the 2 Colorado junipers next to the existing pinion pines. By 2020 it had grown as tall as some of the junipers! By 2020 one of the junipers had to be removed leaving only one left in the back of the house.
The total count of fruit trees in 2021 was 10 which included those in the orchard and all of the others around the property.
2023 Activities
All of the fruit trees produced many flowers. Probably because of the wet winter that we had. There was no monsoon in the summer (first time), so all the trees suffered. I had to hand water throughout the summer. The apricot, sour cherry and old peach tree did pretty well, but fruit was more sparse and smaller than usual. I put up apricot jam and froze sour cherries and peaches for later use.
2022 Activities
The Flavortop nectarine, the Harglo apricot and the Greengage plums all had flowers, but produced no fruit. The sour cherry had some fruit but because of the early drought they were much smaller than usual and I chose not to pick them. The old apricot tree had about 25-30 nice apricots. Both the Luscious pear and the old Asian pear produced some fruit. The Old garden peach produced the most fruit and had to be thinned as they matured. I froze much of the fruit for later use and made 15 small jars of peach jam.
2021 Activites
The Old garden peach tree produced more than it had in the past. The Luscious pear and the Asian pears produced as well with the fruit maturing in early September. There were sour cherries as well but not as many as in the past because of the dry spring. None of the other fruit trees produced this year.
I fertilized the fruit trees in the orchard in early March with Yum-Yum. The Flavortop nectarine had more blooms this year than ever before. The Harglo apricot didn't flower and was very late putting on leaves. The Old garden peach had more blooms than usual and we were hoping for lots of fruit from it this year. The Greengage plums were full of blossoms as well as the Luscious pear and the old Asian pear. The old apricot had very few blooms and didn't come out with leaves until May. As usual the sour cherry began blooming last during the last week of April.
The sour cherry, Luscius pear and the old Asian pear all had fruit. The others did not produce this year. Sour cherries were picked on June 27 and black currants on July 10.
2020 Activities
Fertilized some of the fruit trees (Luscious pear , Greengage plums, Harglo apricot, Granny Smith apple and the Flavortop nectarine) with Yum Yum Plant Food watering it in on March 25. None of the trees are showing any spring bud opening this early.
By early April several of the trees are making flowers or have buds. So far the Old garden peach and the Flavortop nectarine have flowers. The Harglo apricot and the old apricot have had a few flowers, but not many. Had to take out the Granny Smith apple since it was not growing vigorously because of gopher damage.
By early July the trees that were left are growing well. They are getting a weekly watering until the monsoon rains start in mid July. The only tree that produced fruit was the old sweet cherry. Six cups of cherries were picked on both June 24 and 27. There are plenty of them, but they are smaller than last year.
Monsoon rains began in late July. The trees are all surviving, but not thriving. Only two left (the Harglo apricot and the Flavortop nectarine) on the left side of the house. Neither of them have ever had fruit. The Braeburn apple tree stump has produced growth that I have been watering. The growth looks really good, but since it came out of the root system I am sure it is whatever kind of stock was originally used. Maybe in the next 3-5 years I will know! The Gala apple also put out stems and leaves from the roots of the cut tree, but since it has not been watered regularlly the leaves have dried up. The Luscious pear , Greengage plums are doing well. The pear has now out grown the juinper behind it. All four of the trees (sour cherry, sweet cherry, large apricot and asian pear) are doing well on the west side of the house. Not many flowers on anything this year except the sour cherry. I picked several bags of them to put in the freezer for later use in making jam.
2019 Activities
This was the best year for fruiting so far. There was no late freeze that usually kills the flowers on the trees. The extra rain in the fall and early summer also helped. The fruiting began with the old sweet cherry tree. Then there was a bumper crop on the sour cherry, the old apricot and the old peach tree. Finally the Luscious pear and the old Asian pear produced a lot of fruit. Even the new Greengage plum tree that came up from the roots of the older one a couple of years ago had some fruit on it. I did, however cut down the Everfresh Angelys Anjou #7 pear and the Braeburn apple trees that had been struggling for a number of years. This leaves only the Harglo apricot the Granny Smith apple, and the Flavortop nectarine in the side orchard. There are only 12 fruit trees left that are still thriving on the property. It seems that water is the key to growing fruit trees here in Eldorado!
2018 Activities
Not a good year for fruit trees! As of the middle of June we have had less than an inch of moisture since the first of the year (usually about 4 in by now). Hoping for a good summer monsoon! The trees that are left need more water than I can give them to produce much fruit. The only ones that have fruit are the old sour cherry (which has less fruit and what it has are very small; picked on June, 14) and the old Damson plum in the back flower garden. Some of the others have a half-dozen or less. We now have only 17 fruit trees; 7 in the orchard; 4 on the side of the house, the old peach and plum, 2 pears (Everfresh Angelys Anjou #7 pear and the Luscious pear),and 2 Greengage plums.
2017 Activities
Most of the trees bloomed in April and May. Not many blooms on the apricot trees, Damson plum, peach trees in the orchard, Fuji apple, nor Greengage plum. Fruit was set to some degree on all of the others except the necterine that has never set fruit. One of the Mishirasu Asian pears was in decline and had to be cut down. By June the trees that still had fruit were the old sour cherry, the Damson plum in the back flower garden, the Everfresh Angelys Anjou #7 pear, the old peach on the other side of the back garden wall, and all of the apples except the Fuji apple. The Mishirasu Asian pear that is left has fruit, but the tree does not look very good.
By July the other Mishirasu Asian pear and the Centennial crabapple were removed. Each of them failed to thrive in the hot/dry weather we had in June. Monsoon began the second week of July.
A good amount of Damson and Greengage plums were picked in August, but not as many as the year before. The Old peach tree however did the best ever enabling us to freeze many batches of peaches to use for preserves during the fall and winter.
2016 Activities
All of the trees bloomed in April and May according to their blooming schedules. The nectarine and the Damson plum did not make any fruit. Most of the peach trees did not make much fruit with the exception of the Reliance peach. The old apricot tree bloomed, but most of the blooms were killed by frost, however some of the lower branches did have some fruit. All of the apples, the Centennial crabapple, all of the pears, the and both of the cherry trees made fruit. The Greengage plum and the old Damson plum both had a lot of fruit.
2015 Activities
I put Yum Yum on fruit trees in orchard. Some Apricot - Prunus armeniaca trees are blooming in town, but none of my fruit trees are coming out of bud in early March. At the end of March I put one bag of Back to Earth Cypress Mulch on each fruit tree and watered it in. By the end of March many of the trees are beginning to break bud- all the apples, all the pears, the peaches, the crabapple and the apricots. The first application of Maxicrop spray was applied as the buds began to swell in late March. Further applications were applied at two week intervals.
2015 was the third year in a row that a late freeze killed most of the flowers, so not much fruit. The only trees not affected were the sour cherries (which produced a bumper crop). These were picked from June 26 to July 16 as they ripened. The Fuji, Braeburn and Gala apple trees each had a few pieces of fruit.
2014 Activities
There was no fruit this year on any of the trees except the old sour cherry. Two late freezes killed all of the blossoms in the spring. I did begin an experimental activity to try to save the trees from the same fate in the years to come. Supposedly the treatment takes 3 years to complete, which will be in 2017. It involves using a Kelp Extract called Maxicrop. It is a water soluble kelp extract used as a foliar-applied plant stimulant extracted from fresh Noregian Ascophyllum. It is to be applied six times in the spring and summer typically May, June & July.
The benefits are cumulative from one year to the next and protection from cold temperatures in the spring increases.
1. First spray at full bud stage.
2. Second spray at petal fall.
3. The 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th sprays are applied approx. every 2 weeks.
2013 Activities
There was no fruit this year. Two late freezes killed all of the blossoms in the spring.
2012 Activities
| Winter | Spring | Summer | Fall |
Planting a Fruit Tree
All of our fruit trees were planted by Reyes Moreles. He can be reached at 505-501-0253. He also is a great gardener and can do many other jobs around the house and garden.