The spring came quickly this year. Pruning of the trees was just done when they began sprouting. For the last I’ve done it was even a bit late for my taste as the bark began to come off which effect one would appreciate for grafting works.
The mild temperature in February and March caused most of the trees to start blooming quite early especially the pear trees were fast.
We have another younger pear tree. That one was blooming a bit later. I’m curious – the young tree will carry fruits for the second time this year. The few pears harvested last year were really good and of reasonable size while those from the older tree are quite small as the tree is itself.
At the same time the old plum tree has also gone in flower. They are always early so that was not surprising. The tree produced a huge amount of flowers and there was only one cold night but no frost. This is great because the plums are excellent. Sadly the tree has some serious fungi disease which will lead to robust cuttings somewhen in the future. Reminds me that I really have to make a clone from it. But we’re here in the present. The tree is alive and delivers every year. Last year’s harvest was not as rich as always. Maybe this year’s harvest will be huge?
The cherry was early as always. On the one hand good as this avoids pests. On the other hand the blossom is often caught by night frost in April. The cherry harvest stays always ridiculous. It is kind of annoying because the tree takes quite a lot of space meanwhile. Its flowers are great every spring though.
The apple trees. We got five of various age and size. In detail they should be mentioned in further posts. They got to flower over the last two weeks. The old one just a few days ago. And that’s worrying me at the moment. The temperatures have fallen dramatically right now with possible night frosts to come. It is too early to be sure what happens.
Today the weather was quite chaotic. Typical for the month April here. So let’s see what it will look alike at the end of the week. It will be so cooled down that I suspect less pollinators to fly. That’s bad on its own. Hopefully there’ll not be a crisp night that destroys too many open flowers.
[EDIT] Update:
The old ‘Jakob Lebel’ apple tree is in full flower now. Cold nights ahead. I am quite concerned. Other apple trees that bloomed earlier seem to be save meanwhile. Also pear, cherry and plum are yet building fruits. The quince has made its flowers but they’re mostly still closed.
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