Disasterous rainfall

Morettini

The non-stop rainfall we have been experiencing for the last couple of months has had a disasterous effect on the pears. Cultivars that are usually fairly robust and reliable have been affected by scab for the first time, and pollenation has been very low. Morettini is usually very healthy in growth, but nearly every fruitlet is completely covered with deep scab lesions. Beth is affected in both leaf and fruit, Winter Nelis and Josephine de Malines don't have a single fertilised fruitlet on the whole tree. Fondante d'Automne has just a couple that I could find. By contrast, Bishop's Thumb, Comice and Conference so far have bumper numbers of fruitlets, but overall I think it will be a very bad year for pears at least. A lot of the apple blossom was by contrast spoiled by unseasonably hard frosts but so far the fruit seems to have set. Fingers crossed that the season isn't an entire washout.

Today's pickings

Total 4 boxes. Smaller quanitities (1-2kg) of Ellison's Orange, Sunset and Egremont. Very disappointing yields from apple cordons. I need to do something to reduce vigour, I might start with root pruning.

Crop: Comice

A good quality crop of Comice, some nicely blushed from the (non-existant) sun. Moderate crop of 4kg. Box filled out with Glou Morceaux, probably about 2 kg worth (can't be bothered to measure small quantities on young trees).

Crop: Comice

A decent innings for Comice this year; 5 kgs picked today, plus I missed a couple at the top of the tree and have eaten a couple, so total is probably about 6 kgs, 14 lbs. All good quality, of large-size, with no damage to any of them. So large, they will not fit in the compartments of my storage trays.

All three varieties are single trees, grown as double oblique cordons on QC rootstocks.

Re. storage, I find the fruit boxes from Lidl's excellent. They even have ones with trays specifically for large pears. I've even been known to BUY pears from Lidl's when we have run out, as the imported Abbé Fetel variety they sell out of season is one of the nicest commercial varieties; similar to Concorde, it is far superior to the ancient cold-stored conference or imported green Barletts sold by all the other supermarkets. Abbé Fetel does need quite careful storage otherwise it can 'go over' very quickly; I keep mine in the fridge. 

The Cup is back again...

The Kirkley Trophy for outstanding fruit exhibit is back home with us again. Not sure how much we deserve it looking at this photo, but all classes were quite well subscribed this year. It is getting expensive having it engraved each time!

Doyenne de Comice

A heavy crop of Comice this year. Some of the fruit is beginning to yellow slightly on the tree, so I think now is the time to start picking. Also, time to select some for the village show on Sunday. There are a number of very large, flushed ones that have few blemishes, so perhaps they will be in with a chance of winning the cup again this year.

Summer pruning/deleafing

I meant to take a 'before' photo, but I got carried away with opening up some light and air into the Comice/Concorde/Conference/Beth row of cordons and the russet apple cordons. All tall extension growth not wanted for tying in (i.e. none now that the frame is complete) has been taken back to about 6-9 inches. This is purely to allow light in to ripen the fruit and air to circulate. I never cut back too radically at this stage as if the weather continues to be mild and wet, the pruned wood will sprout again, even if a terminal bud has formed. I will prune again in September when I'm sure there won't be regrowth.

Red Comice - espalier

Having removed the top tier of this espalier, I'm really pleased to see strong extension growth in just about the right place to establish another tier to the espalier. I love the colour of this variety's foliage, almost a coral red maturing to bronze. It's particularly vibrant with the other colours in the front garden (Red shrub roses, valerian and Lysimachia ciliata 'Firecracker'. Cropping hasn't been terribly good so far, but I think it will improve with time.

Red Comice: blossom

I planted this one as I particularly wanted decorative foliage as the espalier is in my front garden. I later grafted on another layer of Max Red Bartlett, which also has red-tinted foliage and pink flowers (of more later). Both flower usually much later than the normal varieties. It's more delicate in growth than the normal Comice, but is spurring up nicely now and the growth is attractive and healthy.

Comice: Blossom

Another favourite, I allowed this tree to become rather over-shaded by a rampant loquat. It is showing signs of recovery now, with more blossom, more evenly spaced over the whole cordon. In full flower today, April 11.