Crop: Vista Bella

A good crop from M27 cordon of Vista Bella, I haven't picked it or weighed it but there will be sufficient to keep us happy until the next variety ripens.

Flavour is good. When first picked are crisp with a good balance of acidity and sweetness, which quickly mellows to a softer, more strawberry-like sweetness particularly on fruit with extensive blush. The skin is thin, with no trace of bitterness, so often the problem with early red varieties. The fruit quickly goes soft, mellows but then looses flavour, so they must be eaten quickly. The season lasts for 2-3 weeks at most, which is about right for this time of year when there is plenty of other fruit available, but home-grown apples are still a treat. Best eaten straight from the tree, as they drop or part easily.

Squirrel damage

This has been an awful year for squirrel damage, with significant losses on some varieties. All the apples on the Worcester Pearmain were removed or damaged, the blighter then moved further up the garden to the pear cordons. Worst affected was Winter Nellis, where 2/3rds of the crop were nibbled and subsequently lost to brown rot. Nearly as bad was Devoe, where very few of the fruits escaped being bitten. Some bite marks will heal and go corky as with scab damage, but I doubt they will keep well. 

It took me a long time to catch the culprit, as there were several squirrels around and the fruit-nibbler was also the most wily. Plus my squirrel trap disappeared one night, whether taken by two-legged or four-legged vermin I don't know. I imagine squirrel trapping probably upsets some of my neighbours (particularly when they devote quite a large proportion of their income to feeding both them and the local rat population) but the losses they inflict on fruit are unacceptable, and it would be completely impractical to cage a quarter of an acre. The damage stopped immediately with the removal of the last squirrel.

Not an orchard fruit, but the first fruit of the year of any kind deserves some sort of celebrations! To my shame, I have no memory of the variety, probably Honeyoe; Marshmello seems to be virtually the only variety that is long-lived and productive in my soil. The bed had Florence but this has more or less failed completely.

Midge success!

I think the pear midge spraying experiment was a success - the only fruits affected were the first ones to set on Morettini, before the rest of the blossom had dropped; so far neither this or any other variety has developed any maggot-bloated fruitlets. My aim was to lessen the incidence, rather than eradicate it completely (the affected varieties all require thinning anyway) so I'm very pleased with the result of 'spot' treating.

Heatwave!

Within only a few days of the worst Spring frosts I can remember, we had one of the most intense May heatwaves, with temperatures reaching the low 80s. Not really a big issue for fruit, though it has hastened the waning of the Quince blossom.

Frost!

This is the first year I have noticed significant frost damage, to both blossom and foliage. A couple of pears in the front lost all their blossom overnight, and the leave are significantly stunted on a couple of others. Today I noticed quite a bit of apple blossom browned and dessicated. Ironically the earliest varieties seem to have escaped completely, as the May frosts have been more severe than those earlier in the Spring.

Blossom - Passe Crassane

I should have posted this on 17th April, I'll include it now for the record.

Harmonia axyridis - a new fruit pest?

We've been concerned for some time about the rising numbers of Harlequin Ladybirds (Harmonia axyridis) and the effect they will have on native ladybird ecology, including the predation of native ladybird larvae. However, I hadn't realised until now that they can also be pest of fruit. In addition to feeding on aphids, they will also suck ripe and soft fruit in late summer, and even damage the skin of pears. I haven't noticed any damage here, but the numbers continue to rise inexorably, so it may well become an issue in the future. 

Harlequin Ladybird Survey

Blossom - Rogue Red

I'm surprised by how late Rogue Red has blossomed, and by the length of flowering span. It's virtually the last pear left in blossom, and there are buds yet to open beside large fruitlets. I suspect this might be quite a good strategy to avoid the worst effects of pear midge, as I can't remember ever picking a distorted fruitlet of this variety. It will be interesting to see if any of the later buds set fruit without any other pollinators.

Pear Midge

Morettini is the most precocious pear, so it is hardly surprising that it is the earliest to show signs of pear midge damage, despite my spraying experiment. This variety actually blooms over a long period relatively, and the very first ones to set ('king' fruitlets) are now clearly affected. I didn't spray until 100 % petal loss, so these first fruits would not have been protected anyway. I suspect the exercise will prove ineffective anway. Picking off distorted fruitlets will be another daily task from now on.