Fruit tree questions
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My wife is the farmer, I’m just the hired hand.
Wife says dig a hole right here we will plant this tree, I dig.
Seriously, my wife knows her stuff for sure, and she gets her fruit trees at the Ace Hardware in town.
They are four to six feet tall in 5 gallon buckets, I don’t know brands or anything.
She leaves the little variety ID tags on, if I remember I’ll go out and look at them for you.
The important thing is to find out which varieties grow best in your area.
She uses Ace because we live fairly remote, to go to a real nursery would be at least an hour drive away.
Wife says dig a hole right here we will plant this tree, I dig.
Seriously, my wife knows her stuff for sure, and she gets her fruit trees at the Ace Hardware in town.
They are four to six feet tall in 5 gallon buckets, I don’t know brands or anything.
She leaves the little variety ID tags on, if I remember I’ll go out and look at them for you.
The important thing is to find out which varieties grow best in your area.
She uses Ace because we live fairly remote, to go to a real nursery would be at least an hour drive away.
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I've planted fruit trees.
I picked a peach tree first, because I was buying Red Haven and Crest Haven peaches at the farmer's market and the peaches were so juicy and delicious. I asked the people at the stand, Ela Family Farms, where I could buy a Red or Crest Haven peach tree? They said that they bought theirs from Stark Brothers. https://www.starkbros.com/?utm_sour...lUlIraKDjS2n7_wOqKeklUYXXKsXUh3hoCXwQQAvD_BwE
You can order from them online. I bought a dwarf Red Haven first and planted it in the same year, in the spring. The following year it was loaded with peaches. People marveled at it.
The next year I bought a dwarf Bartlett pear. It has produced pears every year since then.
We went from 80 degrees one day to 20 degrees the next and the Red Haven peach tree died. There were a couple of peach seeds from that tree that sprouted and are now trees. I moved one of them. One of them has a few dozen peaches on it this year.
During the pandemic, I ordered another dwarf Bartlett pear. It is doing well, but so far no fruit.
Then a couple of years ago, I got a couple small apple trees. One did not make it. It was a Honey Crisp. The deal is that you are supposed to plant two different varieties to get apples to produce. The other that I planted and is still growing is a Red Delicious, not my favorite kind of apple. This year I planted a Stayman Apple that I got at Costco. So far it is doing well.
"Stayman Winesap apples release a subtle aroma with cinnamon undertones and have a sweet, tart, and vinous flavor with savory, fruity, tangy, sprightly, and spice-filled nuances."
From what I have read, Stayman can be used in a variety of ways, for cooking and eating. I had never heard of Stayman apples before I saw this tree. I wanted an apple tree and they had three choices: Red delicious, yellow delicious and Stayman. I didn't want the red or yellow delicious, so that is how I ended up with the Stayman. It was not expensive, but I am not sure of the price. Maybe $20?
Best of luck with your fruit trees.
I do have a few citrus trees. I started some from seed and ordered some online. They will never be planted in my yard, but maybe eventually in a greenhouse.
I picked a peach tree first, because I was buying Red Haven and Crest Haven peaches at the farmer's market and the peaches were so juicy and delicious. I asked the people at the stand, Ela Family Farms, where I could buy a Red or Crest Haven peach tree? They said that they bought theirs from Stark Brothers. https://www.starkbros.com/?utm_sour...lUlIraKDjS2n7_wOqKeklUYXXKsXUh3hoCXwQQAvD_BwE
You can order from them online. I bought a dwarf Red Haven first and planted it in the same year, in the spring. The following year it was loaded with peaches. People marveled at it.
The next year I bought a dwarf Bartlett pear. It has produced pears every year since then.
We went from 80 degrees one day to 20 degrees the next and the Red Haven peach tree died. There were a couple of peach seeds from that tree that sprouted and are now trees. I moved one of them. One of them has a few dozen peaches on it this year.
During the pandemic, I ordered another dwarf Bartlett pear. It is doing well, but so far no fruit.
Then a couple of years ago, I got a couple small apple trees. One did not make it. It was a Honey Crisp. The deal is that you are supposed to plant two different varieties to get apples to produce. The other that I planted and is still growing is a Red Delicious, not my favorite kind of apple. This year I planted a Stayman Apple that I got at Costco. So far it is doing well.
"Stayman Winesap apples release a subtle aroma with cinnamon undertones and have a sweet, tart, and vinous flavor with savory, fruity, tangy, sprightly, and spice-filled nuances."
From what I have read, Stayman can be used in a variety of ways, for cooking and eating. I had never heard of Stayman apples before I saw this tree. I wanted an apple tree and they had three choices: Red delicious, yellow delicious and Stayman. I didn't want the red or yellow delicious, so that is how I ended up with the Stayman. It was not expensive, but I am not sure of the price. Maybe $20?
Best of luck with your fruit trees.
I do have a few citrus trees. I started some from seed and ordered some online. They will never be planted in my yard, but maybe eventually in a greenhouse.
Definitely find out what grows best in your area, your local ag extension can answer that! I wanted peach trees when I first moved to where I'm at. So I went to a local peach orchard and they were happy to tell and show me the different trees they had and which ones were easiest to grow!
Check in Your Small loco Establishments and can 
Found some steals, here and there...!!!
Found some steals, here and there...!!!
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We have a decent sized orchard up here. We have cherry (3 types), apple (4 types) plum (3 types), and peach trees. It's important to choose your trees from a local nursery so that they'll be climatized for your area. That may not be an issue in a more mild climate. We also have 4 varieties of grapes, 3 varieties of raspberries, strawberry, and blackberry bushes. We have a big problem with hornets, grasshoppers and birds. Every year we lose a tree or some vines to snow, freezing temps or grasshoppers. Last spring our last snowfall was June 22nd. Many years our first snowfall is in September. Weather and vermin are always a big challenge for us.
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Until 2015 I had a 200tree commercial peach orchard. I, like most commercial growers buy from companies in McMinnville Tn. There are more than 300 nurseries in the area. It’s literally the nursery capital of the world.
Some are whole sale only, they supply retailers like tsc, lowes, h. depot. Others sell retail to the public. I don't remember who I bought from, too long ago.
Run searches on McMinnville tn nurseries or peach trees etc. You can get any kind of shrub, tree or flower you're looking for. Look for companies who've been in business since the 50’s or 60’s, old and established. There are plenty to choose from and they all ship.
This one specializes in peaches, plums and apricots, and has been in business since 1959.
https://vaughnnursery.com/
Some are whole sale only, they supply retailers like tsc, lowes, h. depot. Others sell retail to the public. I don't remember who I bought from, too long ago.
Run searches on McMinnville tn nurseries or peach trees etc. You can get any kind of shrub, tree or flower you're looking for. Look for companies who've been in business since the 50’s or 60’s, old and established. There are plenty to choose from and they all ship.
This one specializes in peaches, plums and apricots, and has been in business since 1959.
https://vaughnnursery.com/
I think we probably have an Ace Hardware in the city. We had a cherry tree at our old house but the birds always got to it before we did.
You're doing pretty good. We had a cherry tree at our old house but while we waited for them to ripen the birds picked it clean. I know they sell nets that go over the trees but it's extra work. I want to grow raspberries and blackberries too. We made out good with them at our old house. The soil is not so good here though so we'll have to work it and maybe get some topsoil. Ugh. I hate snow. I know some people like it but the older I get the less I like it.
I didn't know that about TN - thanks for the tip!
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are you moving to Florida? If yes, oranges, mangoes, guavas, tangelos
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The birds get all of our sweet cherries too. They leave the pie cherries alone though. Plus they never touch the choke cherries.
Birds can be pests. We have them constantly making nests over our porch for some reason. Never heard of choke cherries. I don't want to put work in and then feed the wildlife. I thought of getting a greenhouse but they're probably expensive. I have to look into it.
We're going to go back and look and make a decision. It's really hard but I love the long growing season. I don't know how you could leave there! I would love to grow all those fruits.
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I bought fruit trees that were standard, and even with attempts at pruning, they got too big for me to handle. If I was doing it over, they would be dwarf or possibly mid sized that I could reach the top or throw netting over.
My first investment when we bought this house 40 years ago was a small orchard. No regrets. Stark did right by us, good stock. I’ve been told that bare root is better to start off than one in a pot. From my experience, that’s true.
Birds love mulberries, so I planted one in hopes of getting more of the cherries. Didn’t work. We just got more birds.
My first investment when we bought this house 40 years ago was a small orchard. No regrets. Stark did right by us, good stock. I’ve been told that bare root is better to start off than one in a pot. From my experience, that’s true.
Birds love mulberries, so I planted one in hopes of getting more of the cherries. Didn’t work. We just got more birds.
I was thinking of the dwarf variety too because it would be easier to pick fruit.
With fruit trees it's primarily the rootstock that determines size; that's one benefit of grafting. Any variety could be a standard size, semi-dwarf, or dwarf. That means when buying trees consider the not only the scion (the tree above ground) variety but also the rootstock variety.
Variety/rootstock selection is very important for success. Bloom timing, disease resistance, culinary aspects can all vary and lead to success or failure. Just because the tree is sold by a local nursery or retail location does NOT means it's suitable for that area. Consult with extension as Pearl suggested above.
https://extension.org/find-cooperative-extension-in-your-state/
The standard apple tree won’t survive in Alaska, so the trees we got were grafted to crabapple rootstock. Local knowledge is paramount.
I went out to harvest our chokecherry tree. Most of the robins flew away but one sat there and cussed me out the entire time I was there. I didn’t know that robins had such fowl vocabulary.
I went out to harvest our chokecherry tree. Most of the robins flew away but one sat there and cussed me out the entire time I was there. I didn’t know that robins had such fowl vocabulary.
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I think this is fairly common for fruit trees to be grafted to rootstock. On most fruit trees you can see the location of the connection of the two. I thought that they are usually grafted to apple, but maybe they are grafted to crabapple.
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The birds around here won't touch the choke cherries, but bears seem to love them. We have probably 5 acres of choke cherry trees here.
Are chokecherry black & the tree grows to thirty feet tall with trunks as large as 14 inches in diameter.
If so, that what we call wild black cherry, which is grown for lumber.
Bees & birds love them, they make good jelly also.
Prunus serotina
Thanks for the link! We only tried a cherry tree once and I was looking for something that didn't require a lot of maintenance - like you said, disease-resistant, but also something that birds couldn't eat before we got to it.
I'm afraid of attracting coyotes and bear with compost - unless I buy one of those big drums. I was thinking of having topsoil delivered since our ground is clay. A family member had chicken feed stored in one of those large sealed plastic containers and a bear bit it right open and ate the chicken feed. I am afraid of bears because of what happened to that woman in CA. How did you test your soil - are there testing strips or did you send it away?
I'm going to look into them. You're really all set with 5 acres!
My chokecherry fruit is black with a big pit. The tree is tall but not yet 30’ and I doubt that you could cut a usable 2X4 from it with all the branches coming off it. The tree starts out the summer green then the white blossoms cover it. The rest of the summer the leaves turn a dark purple. The birds seem to ignore it till the fruit matures which is how I know it is time to harvest. The only birds that I’ve seen in it are Robins.
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They grow wild here, and are un-edible, at least in my opinion. I do know some people who make jelly from choke cherries, but it takes more sugar than cherries.
The bears really like them. This time of year they leave purple poop piles all over road on the way to town.
My tree gets to 60 feet.
Yours is a Prunus Virginiana L.
A large, deciduous shrub or small understory tree, choke cherry grows 20-30 ft. tall and often forms thickets. Dense clusters of white flowers are followed by red fruit ripening to dark purple from August to September (north) or June to August (south). Shrub or small tree, often forming dense thickets, with dark red or blackish chokecherries.
It grows all over the USA, but not S.C.I guess I will have to buy one, if I want one.
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I am the Webster definition of ...black thumb...
However I did have pretty good luck planting local domestic versions and wild replants of local fruit trees, bushes.. This being Saskatoon berry, honey berry (Hascup?) sour pin cherry, black current.. This all in growing zone 2..
The trick was to plant a $5 tree in a $50 hole.. Meaning I dug holes with the tractor post hole digger, filled with chicken house or rabbit pen cleanings, potting soil mix and putting a cage around the bush to keep rabbits from girdling it or moose from browsing it to the ground..
Good luck..
However I did have pretty good luck planting local domestic versions and wild replants of local fruit trees, bushes.. This being Saskatoon berry, honey berry (Hascup?) sour pin cherry, black current.. This all in growing zone 2..
The trick was to plant a $5 tree in a $50 hole.. Meaning I dug holes with the tractor post hole digger, filled with chicken house or rabbit pen cleanings, potting soil mix and putting a cage around the bush to keep rabbits from girdling it or moose from browsing it to the ground..
Good luck..
