Introducing myself to Scott's forum

Sooooo true!!! :flushed::grin::stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes::rofl:

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Ha, too late!
My wife has put me on a cool down period. I seem to get to gun ho about things, such as turning my entire back yard into a garden and now my entire side yard into an orchard. My three year old recently asked my not to plant anymore trees in the front “cause that’s where we like to play.” I concurred.

No one complains though when they are eating a constant supply of fresh produce picked that morning!

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I’m a divorced father of 4 adult children, day job as a communications engineer, run a plant business (selectedplants.com) if curious), and love to grow muscadines, walnuts, and pecans.

Over the last 15 years, I planted about 50 pecans and a few hundred black walnut trees on 130 acres of land I own near Hamilton, Alabama. I also have quite a few fruit trees of peach, plum, apple, etc. One of my weaknesses is growing seed to see what they turn into. I have several apple trees grown from Red Delicious seed that will either make decent fruit or be grafted to something else. I have one peach tree that is good enough I may try to get it into commercial production. I also have an extensive list of pecan varieties adapted to growing in Northwest Alabama.

Between gardening and my trees, I have too much to do.

Have fun folks! I am.

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Welcome Darrel! What muscadine varieties do you have?..that’s one of my favorite plants I have growing. There’s a bunch of folks here really into heirloom tomatoes too!

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“too many trees and not enough time” … That is a common refrain here. WELCOME !!!

Like some of us say… “WHY JUST DO IT WHEN YOU CAN OVERDO IT?”…

Mike

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Hello,

This looks like a decent forum you all have here. My name is Dan. I live in NY’s Southern Tier and have some trees here in my yard and the rest at the family farm in central PA. My interest is primarily about growing and grafting apples, pears, Am. persimmons, and paw paw trees. I also plant various native fruiting shrubs and bushes. I am running out of space to plant so I may have to buy a farm here in NY soon. I’ll give away a bunch of grafted apple trees this year to make room in my nursery beds. Part of my planting is focused on wildlife and deer hunting. I will make my own ciders as my trees start producing. I started my apple orchard 3 years ago. My persimmon, paw paw and chestnut orchards are still forming. I am fascinated by the columnar apple tree mutation. I am growing out seedlings to see if I can create some useful new columnar trees.

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Welcome Dan. You will fit in here just fine.

Tony

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Welcome Dan.
I joined a few months ago and have learned more on this forum than years of scouring the internet and reading multiple books. Be sure to put up pictures. Pictures rule.

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Hey Dan, where exactly are you? I’m in Putnam County but am guessing you are somewhat northwest of me. Regardless, I’ve been growing fruit here for over 25 years and experimenting with a wide range of species and varieties on scores of orchards and sites, so may be of assistance to you even as you are to me.

Welcome aboard.

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Welcome Dan!

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Welcome Darrel. We are slowly gaining a few people in Alabama. Good to have another local. On another note whenever we are getting bad weather seems like Hamilton is the first to be in it’s path. Bill near Logan Martin Lake in Pell City.

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This is the place!

I am a little west of Binghamton.

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I didn’t know that was considered NY’s S. tier. It is upstate western NY to me-another world, and offers much different conditions for growing fruit than mine.

I’m sure we still have lots to learn from each other.

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Hi Everyone! Also - a big thanks to Scott . . . and all those who work on keeping this forum alive.
I am a newbee - but was drawn to the forum when I began to be interested in trying other pomegranate varieties, other than Wonderful and Grenada. Since then . . . I have found out that it is about much more than poms! What a great resource and friendly community. Thanks to all!

My screen name is KikiVA . . . but my real name is Karen Kinser. I am an artist - a painter, with a home studio. My husband and I live on 11 acres, comprised of swamplands (on 3 sides), a 3.5 acre man-made irrigation pond (dug to build a road), and about 5 acres of cleared land - on which we built a house 30 years ago. Since we first moved here - just south of Virginia Beach, VA - I have tried to grow many different fruits. Endless plum varieties. Apples. Peaches and nectarines. Paw Paws. Persimmons. Grapes. Raspberries. Blueberries. Cherry trees. Pears. Without SPRAY, it is virtually impossible to grow most of these. There are more bugs and weeds and fungi here in Virginia than you can imagine! As Capt. John Smith wrote back to England . . .
‘Virginia is a verdant HELL’.
He was right. But we keep trying. Just for the fun of it.

So . . . one day I decided to try Pomegranates. What the hell? Maybe they’d grow. (And I was tired of paying top dollar for a box at Costco, from CA, that may - or may not - be good ones.) I read that the pomegranate has few known pests. Easily discouraged diseases. Why not? And after several tries and a lot of ‘pot bound - in ground’ and die-back . . . we now have 2 healthy, producing trees. One is a Wonderful. The other, more productive and better tasting, is a Grenada. Or, at least, that was what it said on the tag. Now that I read more descriptions of ‘Grenada’ - I don’t think that is what I actually have. But, whatever it is . . . it’s great.
I have ordered 10 more varieties to try - and don’t expect that they will all make it. So, it will be a work in progress . . . and I expect, a lot of fun. I will keep you all ‘posted’.

I plant vegetables every spring & summer. I had my first gardening experience in 1973, as an art student at University of Florida, when I signed up for an easy elective with some friends. ‘Vegetable Gardening 101’ (or something like that!) And we had a ball! I’ve had a garden of my own ever since!
When we first married, in 1976, and lived in rental apartments, in Louisville KY and then, Williamsburg VA . . . we rented plots, in the community gardens, that were offered there. One summer, it was ‘me’ and a bunch of old guys in Kentucky . . . sharing gardening tips and weeding together! That was pretty funny!

A true gardening milestone, for me, was purchasing my first TroyBilt Pony rototiller! We owned that until this past summer, when we sold it to someone for a song.

Anyways . . . I am glad to be here. Glad to still be gardening. Glad to have found some kindred spirits with way more knowledge and experience than me . . . and glad to participate when I have something to say!
Thanks for being ‘here’. - karen kinser :sunglasses:

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Welcome aboard Karen.

Tony

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Welcome, Karen. Glad you join the group.

I love pomegranates, too, but growing them in my zone 6a is a challenge even in pots.

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That’s funny, and pretty descriptive of the low coastal areas - not the rest of the state, LOL. So welcome fellow Virginian. I’m up in Yorktown, just 20 minutes from Williamsburg.

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Welcome to the forum. You will find you have some members or at least one in your general direction.

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Welcome aboard, its a great group filled with experienced growers and backyard orchardists.

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