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Post by txdirtdog on Jul 16, 2011 16:23:32 GMT -5
Well, after a severe lack of rain, I moved the garden sprinkler points around a little a few weeks ago. A pomegranite tree that had bloomed some earlier in the spring was now benefitting from the sprinkler and suddenly started blooming again. Ok, since I don't know much about pomegranites, I figured I'd let it go and see what happens.
We had an hour of gentle rain on 7/13. Today I noticed that my Meyer Improved lemon tree which bloomed this spring and had decent fruit set, but with the drought had dropped all but a handful of small lemons is about to bloom in a large way.
My question is about the lemon. With it being July, will the fruit even stand a chance of ripening by say the usual November time frame? Will this stress the tree dangerously?
I don't think I've ever had a fruit tree try to bloom in mid-summer. now I've got 2 doing it.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2011 0:04:25 GMT -5
My apple sapling put out a small round of second blooms, but there was no pollination. It is the first time I've seen a tree do that.
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peppereater
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Post by peppereater on Jul 17, 2011 0:48:04 GMT -5
Drought stress can do that, I've seen it happen to Bradford Pear trees all over the city of Norman, OK in bad years, it will probably happen again this year. Some pants and trees seem to do that worse than others. I've seen a feeble effort to blossom a second time with peach trees some years. I have a Meyer Lemon I grow as a houseplant, they're not hardy here, and it will bloom a couple of times a year, especially following fruit drop caused by owner neglect-it's easy to miss a waterng and have a potted one do that. Any abnormal amount of stress regardless of the cause can trigger a survival or reproductive reaction in things including animals. I've heard that studies show even humans undergoing starvation experience heightened reproductive response, it's nature's way to attempt to prolong survival of the species. Another example of this is something I've read about growing asparagus in the deep south. Growers are advised to give the plants a period of drought to induce dormancy, because they need dormancy to produce new edible shoots, and they don't get the cold dormant period they should in zones 8 or 9 from sub-freezing temps.
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Post by txdirtdog on Jul 17, 2011 12:17:12 GMT -5
Well, I guess I'll let the lemon tree do it's thing and support it by watering - which I haven't done much this season hoping it was well enough established. Course the drought changes my original plan.
Peppereater, thank you for the insight. Especially as it applies to the asparagus. I did not try to start it this year, but do plan to attempt a bed. I had not come across the idea of stressing them into dormancy yet.
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Post by coppice on Jul 17, 2011 13:02:24 GMT -5
I dunno the home ground for your lemon, pomegranate (home) is like Iraq-Iran. I find with Mediterranean woody plants, azalea indicum, TX ebony kept indoors as tender bonsai through the winter; that all are easier to evoke a fake second spring from.
Ascribing it to drought stress is at least as good an argument as I'm making.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2011 2:28:42 GMT -5
Come to think of it, I did once have a potted loquat put out two rounds of fruit in one year. The second batch was less than the first. Usually the tree only bloomed and fruited once each year.
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Post by txdirtdog on Jul 18, 2011 10:37:42 GMT -5
Thanks for that info dogwoman, maybe - just maybe if this new round of blooms set any fruit, they'll still ripen. We'll see.
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