NY Going To have Another Bad Year For Fruit

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

heh, could be something in the water around here. hopefully not because of the PFOA's they have been screaming about from the few plastic factories around here that are now in trouble with the contamination.

a coworker of mine last year traveled by car down to FL & insisted they took a couple of cases of Poland Spring water (from Maine) with them since she already hated the taste of FL water-both tap & choices of bottled. while walking around Disney a few other groups of people noticed this & asked her where she got them from! being all excited that they could get it locally she had to dash their hopes & tell them she had to bring it with her from our area.

oh, almost forgot. UNH will have their open greenhouse in a couple weeks. maybe i can pick the brain of Dr Loy for you if you have any melon related questions? i met him a couple years ago when i was looking at the projects they have growing/working on.

he usually has tons of vines growing vertically & producing fruit mid March in the greenhouse! really neat to see them that time of year, & even neater when you can smell they are almost ripe enough to pick!

 

[digitS']

Johnny's has a catalog picture of Sarah's Choice melons ...!

Yeah, I was just reading about a hard likker awarded New Hampshire "Spirit of the Year" recognition from the NH Liquor Commission. Wow. Do agencies in other states give out likker awards?!

Better not use that Poland Water for orchard ice cube application! Likely, too valuable ...

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

MINUS 7? As in seven below zero, Fahrenheit? Good Heavens! That's cold for March!

It snowed a little here but most of the storm was a little ways south. It blew NE and the Interstate 90 pass into Montana was closed, may still be. More snow in our forecast. I had thought that the lilac buds were swelling when I looked a few days ago but ... that's about the only "floral" indication of a soon-to-be spring that I've noticed.


They were a Galia melon, Mary. What I discovered last year with our near-freezing mid-June weather (sandwiched between days of record & near-record high June temperatures) --- was that Goddess melons were better able to handle those whiplash temperatures. Goddess just shrugged June off .

I had a moment of panic when I looked at the new Stokes seeds. I had written that I'd order Goddess from Stokes. No, it wasn't there! I checked Jung's order (package is still at the post office) and breathed a sigh of relief ... Goddess has become a popular cantaloupe and is available at Harris, Johnny's, Osborne and Jung's - places I often buy seeds. The University of New Hampshire has more of these early melons and a couple new ones came on the market just recently! If I wasn't so risk-averse with the melon choices, I'd broaden my variety selections!

There's our problem with fruit. Not so much it's warm, then it's cold over the course of several days or weeks. That was June, 2016. Every year, it's warm days, then cold nights! That's an arid climate/altitude thing ... For example, I might get a watermelon plant to live right through the season but it will never ripen a fruit. Often our June weather is so cool that melon plants will just (mercifully) die! But, even if they don't die they may struggle through an entire season. Thankfully (Thankfully!), the U of New Hampshire seems to have inadvertently put my gardening conditions into their equations. It's probably something in the water they drink or the air they breathe - kind of like ( @Chickie'sMomaInNH ) , "Gee, maybe we can spread ice cubes in the orchards to keep these fruit trees from blooming before there is a guarantee of continuing warmth!"

Steve

OOOPS no 7 degrees. not -7.

 

[digitS']

My DD will be in your neighborhood on a business trip tomorrow, Cat'.

I hope the weather isn't too harsh and single digitS' would be harsh. So many cramped hours in the air, first of all, they might have to carry me off in a stretcher. But, dehydration ..

. ya know, with the airlines's total unwillingness to use humidifiers on planes because of the water weight - it's cruel! Even for someone from the Wild West.

Steve

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

looks like another week here of 40-50 degree days.

 

[digitS']

Well,

DD is starting from here and we haven't seen 50°f .

.. since November.

Steve

 

[PhilaGardener]

We lost all of our early (ornamental) cherry blossoms, some early viburnums, and early magnolia blossoms in this last cold snap. Spring may be three weeks early but winter isn't done yet!

 

[Nyboy]

In Southern NY where I grew up we had a large magnolia in front yard. The tree was so beautiful when in flower, every couple of springs frost would take the flowers right before blooming. I love magnolias because of that tree and planted several .

 

[catjac1975]

My DD will be in your neighborhood on a business trip tomorrow, Cat'.

I hope the weather isn't too harsh and single digitS' would be harsh. So many cramped hours in the air, first of all, they might have to carry me off in a stretcher. But, dehydration ..

. ya know, with the airlines's total unwillingness to use humidifiers on planes because of the water weight - it's cruel! Even for someone from the Wild West.

Steve

The single digits were at night. I think it will be in the 30's today. If it's Boston-I she she has time for a little fun.40's tomorrow.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

If this IS going to be a bad year from NY fruit, I think it could be the end of a lot of the things I like to get from the summer farmers markets for good. Last year's mess already meant no mirabelle or greengage plums came to the markets. Another year like that could easily lead most of the farmers to decide that going for such non mainstream produce just is not worth it, and it could see it getting to the point where I never seem them there again EVER. And it's not like I can get either at the supermarket instead. And I don't have room for the trees to grow them myself. Looks like I am going to be stuck.