Posts: 79
Threads: 12
Joined: Jun 2010
I know several of y'all occasionally ask about chill requirements on certain plants, apples, peaches, plums, nectarines, etc...
I heard a suggestion from a grower that I trust implicitly to stimulate fruit production on these plants that require a chill time in locales that don't have cold spells. Defoliation! Simply pluck off all the leaves. This stresses the plant into a reproductive cycle. Obviously this is stressful for the plants and should be done infrequently (it was suggested every other year).
Does anyone have an unproductive plant they are willing to try this on and report back with results?
William DeBoe
Boca Raton, FL
Honomu, HI sometime 2015
Moe'uhane Oihana mahi ai
Mahi 'ai 'Ulu
Hey Bill,
Im in West Boca ! Moving to BI in a few weeks !
Posts: 6,214
Threads: 354
Joined: Feb 2006
I have heard the defoliation/deadheading advantages also...but have seen folks with low chill fruit that just let nature take its' course...
That said, we have had a peach from the Kea`au Puna Hongwanji plant sale some years back....I saw it, & wanted a peach, but I was sure that it wasn't for the area near the mission... the lady that propagated the plant was there & lives nearby, so I bought & planted the treelet...next year ou new dog strangled the treelet with her leash & I was sure it was a goner, but trimmed it back & gave it time...
Last year it had a bunch of blossoms, but I plucked them all, as the tree still looked tiny for fruiting. It strengthened a bunch last year & I pruned it. This year I allowed the flowers to set & have quite a few peaches set... enough so that I got brave & planted 2 low chill apples (Anna & Dorset...was hoping to also get an ein Sheiner, but they were Out of Stock by the time I ordered...)
I have heard that you can also place a frozen ice block near the base of the tree on the coolest nights to simulate the low chill hours (our trees are 100 hours rec. @ 49deg or less...so a block a night for a week or so would get you close to simulating that...
Anyhoo here is a pic of one of our peaches taken last month:
http://ulocal.kitv.com/mediadetail/18752706-Peach-with-a-dolphin-face?gid=79867&uid=&sort=hits%20DESC&offset=8
ADD: I re-found this nice comprehensive list of attributes for low chill & very tropic apples while looking for something else:
http://www.kuffelcreek.com/favorites.htm
Posts: 1,179
Threads: 7
Joined: Jul 2012
probably similar in some ways...
old chinese/japanese growers I knew on Oahu that grew lychee would sometimes use bailing wire and wrap it tightly around the base of larger branches of the tree cutting into the bark a bit... this tricks the tree into thinking it is dieing and they throw out a ton of fruit (to reproduce), sometime so much fruit it breaks the branches...
******************************************************************
save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
******************************************************************
save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
Posts: 1,727
Threads: 29
Joined: Feb 2006
Folks who grow asparagus weed whack it flat in order to get it to sprout all at the same time. Dunno about pulling the leaves off to shock a tree into fruiting, though. The stone fruits that we have drop their leaves anyway, so no need to pull them off.
Check out Dave Wilson Nursery's webpage as well as Bay Laurel Nursery's webpage for loads of information on low chill fruit trees.
For peaches, there is a tart "mountain" peach that sets a lot of fruit. It has a pointy end to the fruit, that seems to be one of the identifiers. Otherwise, Florida Prince does the best of the low chill peach varieties we have.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
Posts: 6,214
Threads: 354
Joined: Feb 2006
OH, I do deadhead papaya so that they grow multiple fruiting branches. Some of our papaya have had a couple of deadheading trims (I simply pinch off the very top growth). This papaya has a few new growth branches starting:
http://ulocal.kitv.com/mediadetail/18866176-Flowers-%26-Fruit-in-Carey-%26-Jim?gid=79867&uid=&sort=hits DESC&offset=34
Posts: 59
Threads: 15
Joined: Jan 2014
Yes, when I lived in Africa my husband who is a horticulturist did this to help stimulate fruiting.
Laura
Laura
