Planning for 2018; Tree Fruit Advice

General Fruit Growing
#1

After moving some dwarf apples where I can trelis the lot of them and getting a better grasp on how much space i need to allocate for a 6-8 foot tree, I think I’ll have room for 4-6 new trees before I simply run out of full sun space.

I’d like to get a mulberry, a jujube, some combination of plum/nectarine/peach/apricot, and maybe a pear. I live in Richmond, VA on the 7a/7b border and my yard is rather clay heavy but with good drainage due to the slope & drainage ditch.

I’d like to get multi-grafted trees, so I was hoping for variety suggestions for my area that I can keep a lookout for when I’m browsing or suggestions for nursery that carry a good selection. I know I could get a single type and graft, but I’ve never grafted before and I don’t really want to depend on learning how.

Can anybody recommend me some varieties? Or maybe tells me that apricots or nectarines simply won’t work in my area?

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#2

It looks like Edible Landscaping is about 90 miles west of Richmond.Possiby check out their website or give them a call about some plants. Brady
http://ediblelandscaping.com/products/buyPlants.php

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#3

No other advice from Mid-Atlantic growers?

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#4

I am in Raleigh, which is still a bit south of you, but I expect you might do well with similar varieties as I do. My trees are small and didn’t produce this year with the cold snap. I have mostly focused on trees from the NCSU breeding program due to their selection for diseases in our area as well as for late blooming to try to avoid late freezes. They are available through many regional sources.

Vegetatively, all my stone fruit have grown vigorously. Fruit production has been challenging. Personally, I understand not wanting to rely on grafting, but unless you just want to order a custom grafted tree, you will probably not get a multi grafted tree with the varieties you may want.

Grafting is wildly satisfying and far easier than some people make it seem. It’s about 70% timing, it seems, and parafilm opens up the timing window dramatically. When you are just growing trees in your backyard, you do have to plan for how much you are willing to fuss, but I personally think planting vigorous healthy seedlings and managing the varieties and vigor yourself with grafting and pruning is the most satisfying option.

I am growing a variety of purchased trees and grafted trees. I have peaches out of NCSU program and a few from stores and online nurseries. I have a standard third acre suburban postage stamp with:
Contender, Reliance, Redhaven, Hale Haven, Georgia Belle, Carolina Gold peaches
Beauty, Bruce, Excelsor, Black Ruby plums
Dapple Dandy pluot
Garden Annie, Royal apricot

I had beautiful blooms this year but only about two fruit and the squirrels got them.

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#5

Thanks. I have noticed that wildlife protection is pretty important for small scale growers.

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#6

Birds and squirrels definitely. I actually have deer that walk up and down the sound wall the highway behind my house and they haven’t yet come in the yard. I imagine that may change if we have a bad winter some year.

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#7

So what are the dimensions of the area you have for the trees? I ask since growing multi-variety trees I think works better if you have more width. Otherwise, I think you are better off grafting one type on top of an existing tree to give you 2 varieties. I’ve done that with some pears I’m keeping rather narrow because they are next to a path. That seems to work well for keeping the tree balanced through pruning while letting each variety have enough growth that they should be productive. Otherwise, the varieties I tried grafting on lower branches just don’t get the vigor to do much, particularly if the tree is on dwarfing rootstocks.

For specific varieties, I’m in Arlington, VA and I have Girardi Mulberry which is dwarf, tasty and produces a lot of fruit for its size, so probably the best for your situation. I would keep that a single variety.

For peach, I like Contender since it seems to do better with the late frosts we’ve been having that nuke a lot of stone fruit around here. It doesn’t get as red, so I have heard it is less of a target for birds as well. My 2nd leaf tree set a lot of fruit when most trees I saw in the neighborhood and at the community gardens were either bare or only had a few peaches. Of course, squirrels got the peaches, so I need to work on that. You could graft a early season peach to it, like Earliglo or GaLa, or you could try a plum, but apricots are for sadists.

For pear, I like Seckel a lot, both my current young tree and others my mom grew when I was growing up. Harrow Sweet is productive quite early and has a great reputation. I really enjoyed the few I bought from a vendor at the farmers market. I have 2 HS trees and they set a lot of fruit this year, but I didn’t spray or bag in time and their were codling moth larva in all of them before I knew it so I cut them all off and haven’t gotten to taste them from my own tree yet. If I had just one tree, I’d do Harrow Sweet on the bottom (on OHxF87 rootstock) and graft in Seckel to the top at about 6 feet. Seckel is naturally dwarfish, so that should help keep the size down. Seckel are also harder than most euro pears so seem less of a target for bugs in my limited experience. Both of these will ripen on the tree without rotting inside, which is a big deal for me, since the whole pick them early and store in the fridge, then counter to ripen routine is too confusing.

And of course there are Asian Pears. If you like their flavor and texture, I’d actually do one of those as well, probably Korean Giant, because I think pears are generally easier than many other fruit so it is nice to have something easier to be successful with. You could put 20th Century or another variety on top for something earlier in the season. Pears are super easy to graft, so even if you are just starting you should be able to make it work most of the time. Many pears take a long time to start baring fruit, particularly some of the euros, so the ones I listed above also fit my impatient nature.

I don’t have Jujus, but I think the suggestion of going to Edible Landscaping is a good one. From what I’ve read I would probably go with Li, but again, I have no direct experience.

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