The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[robhuncor]

I was curious about the quince and found this - apparently there are quite a few varieties, some of which are only ornamental, and others that vary in their sweetness and softness.
https://www.albemarleciderworks.com/orchard/fruit/quince

Mary, thanks for the link. I must have planted my tree about 30 (!!!) years ago. (Good grief - how is that possible!) I have no idea what variety but the fruit is big and lumpy and hard as rocks. The flowers in spring are gorgeous but I don't spray and there is always some insect boring into the fruit which could be cut out if they weren't so darn hard! In 1987 there was a freak snowstorm in my area on Halloween. The leaves were still on the trees and there was massive tree damage in the area. My young quince tree split right down the middle into 4 or 5 sections. I didn't prune it and it continued to grow like that so it is now a big gnarly mass of twisted trunks and branches. My mother's tree never got like this so hers must have been a different variety.

I also have a flowering quince bush - totally different thing. Not edible. It has beautiful orange blossoms which is rare . Most of them are red.

 

[speckledhen]

Do they blossom? I know pears require a pollinator that blooms at the same time. Overfertilizing with nitrogen will reduce blossoms. And they need quite a bit of sun.

I found this on an almanac website:

We planted a Bartlett and an Ayers pear tree 5 years ago. Each we roughly 5' tall at planting. Both are 14' tall now. 2 years ago the Ayers tree produced 5 pears. The Bartlett has never produced any blooms or pears. Last year neither tree even produced a bloom. This year the Ayers has a few blooms but none on the Bartlett. What am I doing wrong?
NO FLOWERS OR FRUIT
reply
Submitted by Almanac Staff on March 29, 2016 - 11:15am
Check that you are not giving the trees (or lawn surrounding them) too much fertilizer, which will encourage leaf growth over flowering, and also encourages fire blight. Also check that you are pruning correctly. Examine each plant for stresses, such as disease.

If you live in the deep south, it may also be that the trees are not getting enough chilling hours (below 45F). Ayers is hardy in Zones 6 to 8, and requires about 350 to 600 chilling hours (sources vary). Bartlett is hardy in Zones 5 to 8, and requires about 800 chilling hours.

Well, we never fertilize them at all, none of the three. The only fertilizer they get is if the chickens poop nearby and it washes past the tree, LOL. The Bartlett does not bloom. The Orient had a couple of blooms once or twice, literally a couple, but never had pears. DH knows how to prune and graft and we've pruned them as required, certainly they get enough chilling hours being up on the mountain. So, I have no idea what the problem is. Apparently, the Moonglow has no issues and it gets more pears every year. They are planted in a row so they can cross pollinate each other.

 

[GingersHuman]

Hi! I found your thread a week or so ago, and have read the entire thing! As well as being informative, I feel attached to all of your chickens now too. So, hi from your neighbor here in NC!

 

[speckledhen]

Hi! I found your thread a week or so ago, and have read the entire thing! As well as being informative, I feel attached to all of your chickens now too. So, hi from your neighbor here in NC!

Hi! Glad you're enjoying the Atlas's thread. What part of NC are you in? I'm practically in Murphy.

 

[GingersHuman]

Hi! Glad you're enjoying the Atlas's thread. What part of NC are you in? I'm practically in Murphy.

You'll have to google our tiny town, Saluda, NC. We made a trip out to Murphy a couple years ago.

 

[speckledhen]

You'll have to google our tiny town, Saluda, NC. We made a trip out to Murphy a couple years ago.

Ah, okay, you're on the other side of Franklin where my friend crazyhen lives. Seems like it's about 3 hours from me. Glad to know you!

 

[getaclue]

My grandmother used to make pear preserves with the Moonglow pears. I think I remember her saying that some years, they seemed to be a bit juicier than others, and they had to be boiled down more to get it thick enough. She would fuss at me, because I used to love to pick, and eat them. She would tell me to go grab one of the "eating pears", but I preferred the "cooking pears" to eat.

 

[speckledhen]

My grandmother used to make pear preserves with the Moonglow pears. I think I remember her saying that some years, they seemed to be a bit juicier than others, and they had to be boiled down more to get it thick enough. She would fuss at me, because I used to love to pick, and eat them. She would tell me to go grab one of the "eating pears", but I preferred the "cooking pears" to eat.

Thank you for the tip. I'm going to try the jam and mash them up and boil them longer if they don't seem to be getting thick enough. I loved spiced pears. Had to buy groceries today. May get back to the pears tomorrow. I can't let them go to waste, not our first really great crop!

 

[GingersHuman]

I always leave pears in my dark pantry to ripen a couple days before eating or cooking. Seems like it helps soften them.

 

[speckledhen]

I always leave pears in my dark pantry to ripen a couple days before eating or cooking. Seems like it helps soften them.

The rest are still in the 5 gallon bucket with a lid on them. Maybe it will help. Pears do tend to ripen better off the tree.



Well, Hector is trying my patience, or should I say, he has me at the end of my rope. I was walking from the barn entry door down the aisle when I heard someone running behind me. When I whipped around, Hector was running at me, all flared up. When I turned, he halted immediately, but I had the impression he was trying another sneak attack. He was not running to catch up to his girls or anything of the sort, it was only me and him in the aisle at the time.

I've never had to do any "training" of my other males of Atlas's line at this age. If they bite when they are 8 weeks old, no biggie. That is usually easy to stop if they are not aggression-prone in the first place, but it wasn't with Hector. He eventually quit biting, but he hasn't entirely stopped wing-dropping, though he did for awhile. He's back at that again.

I've always said that an aggressive male will become leery of you if you use a rake on him or something like that and you may think you've "fixed" him, but he will only bide his time and get you by surprise one day if he's truly prone to aggression. I hope that this is not what I'm seeing, but I'm becoming disheartened. I have run him all over with a switch, I've made him wait while his girls go out the door first, etc, and for a couple of weeks, he was getting out of my way when I walked, but I will not, absolutely cannot allow these sneak attacks. If I cannot trust him, I cannot keep him. And I hate it beyond words. I will try to set him up to do it again, give him the opportunity, but one flog and he's out.

ETA: I saw him and Apollo and their girls free ranging for a bit like they were one group and it made me think maybe they could get along eventually, with Hector in charge. But, then Hector chased me and after that, he attacked Apollo (I stepped in between and "walked" the little snot around for a bit)