Might be a plan, Fruitnut. I'll check around. Maybe my local nursery can order a bundle if I can sell them on a variety. They may know some farmer's market growers who might like to trial a variety. Last year they got a "stray" in a bundle of Pluots and I bought it after it leafed out and it became obvious that it was bundled with a different variety. Still had the rootstock tag. Think it's Splash, but we'll see. To me, that's gambling. Now that we're all lusting after Flavor Treat thanks to Fruitnut, I noticed that Dave Wilson has a picture of Flavor Treat at their site, but it's not in their list of either commercial or home varieties. Strange. And Patty, now is the time when you start planting in the yards of friends and neighbors. I'm considering that with a couple of plums from which I want budwood. They should pollenize my trees from across the street, too. I bought a Flavor Grenade for one friend this year, and hope to get another friend a Flavor King. You have to assess how "into" gardening they are and pick easy or more challenging varieties depending on their expected level of care. And maybe drop by for dormant spraying and painting trunks every year. I think this is also a good idea with vegetable and melon seeds. Give a gardener you know seeds of premium varieties in return for a little produce, or buy seed for a local nursery to grow out, with an agreement that they'll call you when plants are ready.

Hey Ari, I might have some buds from last season dormant stored sticks and this season new growth but I have no idea what I'm doing in budding/harvesting new growth yet. Just me send me an email. I think I'm going to give budding a try this season too. My peach grafts are the only thing that seem fussy to take so I may try some budding for them. I should probably make a new thread for some budding questions I have instead of hijacking this one.

I've always felt that I needed the good mechanical pull that a budding rubber provides, and to keep it from drying out I think it needs to be sealed with parafilm or wax. Parafilm is my first choice because it breathes a little. But it's not enough by itself to make me feel secure! I used the Ace rubber tape this year on clefts and felt like it worked really well. Rubber tape or bands or rubbers all seem good to me. I think that if you use the wide budding rubbers or tape and overlap thoroughly then the parafilm/wax precaution is probably redundant, but it's cheap redundancy and I do it. I use wide and long rubbers also because it's easier to wrap them off- you have so much to work with, and they're cheap enough that you can afford to cut off excess. Like MiHiGirl I'm in the Rockies, but not at a mile high! We're at 3200 ft, give or take a couple of feet. But it's definitely an arid environment: we get about 12-13 inches total precip per year.

Glad to find others in Hawaii to share info with. I live in MT. View on the Big Island. On average it takes three years for a fruit tree to start producing after planting. I've had Florida Prince peaches for 5 years now.They started producing about 2 and a half years ago.Peaches and nectarines need heavy pruning each year to produce strong fruit wood each year. I prune out all dead and crossing branches first creating a vase shape. They produce flowers on last years summer growth, prune these down to three strongest buds. To get larger peaches you have to thin the fruit to every 2 to 3 inches. They are also hungry trees. Fertilize in January and again after fruit set with a higher phosphorous fertilizer. This is the third year I've had my Anna Apple and it is so loaded with fruit I've had to do alot of thinning. It seems to set fruit and flower at the same time. It started in January, I've harvested some apples and it is flowering still. I think it's great that the fruit will be ready for a prolonged time! I have a Hood Pear that does okay but really needs to cross pollinate to set more fruit, So I'm putting in a pinneapple pear this year so I can have more fruit. Here's a trick to get more pollination of your fruiting flowers- grow flowers around the tree- marigolds,asters and borage bring in the bees.More bees more fruit set. Also even when a tree says it's self fruitful it will benefit by having another tree nearby. Selffruitfuls can have better fruit set with the same exact tree variety planted nearby. Pears and plums benefit from another verity that will flower at the same time nearby. I also have Katy apricot, Methley and inca plum,and Einshemer apple, but they have only been in a year. You really can't know for sure if it will do well where you have them until that magic 3 comes and goes. also chill hours also work at 55-65 degrees , but you have to double the chill hours for that tree (eg. einshemer apples chill hours on the tag say 100 or less , that means it will need at least 200 hours at 55-65 degrees here) Hope this helps!