Nectarine Blossomfest 2012

The nectarine tree is always the first to blossom on the balcony. I guess you could argue that the lemon and the lime both really take that honour as they had blossoms well before the nectarine, but given they don't seem to ever stop blossoming I thought I'd take them out of the competition.

The first hint of flowers came a few week's back and I posted about it in GBBD. I'm still surprised this guy stands up to the conditions, I mean he lives so close to the airconditioning unit! Then again it blows out, not sideways, so he is actually pretty sheltered.

More and more blossoms joined the bloomfest, and even leaves began to poke through.

 

Now only two things remain, and both of them waiting games:

1. Will any of the blossoms turn to fruit?
2/ Will curly leaf strike again (highly likely)

Culry leaf is a major problem in Melbourne with certain stonefruit. It can be somewhat combatted with spraying but the timing has to be right and half the time curly leaf hits anyway. It weakens the tree a bit, and there may be less fruit, but I find it rights itself most of the time. Last year the plant got curly leaf early in the season, then shed those leaves and grew new, non-visibly infected ones. It went on to produce 3 lovely nectarines (one was a surprise) and seemed relatively happy and healthy.

The tree has way more blossom than last year, but that doesn't always translate into more fruit. So many factors are at play here, weather, pollinators, and luck. Fingers crossed I get a few goodies.

What's blossoming in your garden?