I would have to drive for 5 or 6 hours…
My recent trip to Florida reminded how bad the cost of living is elsewhere, I’m not going anywhere!
A year ago my son bought an extended trailer with a 40x20 addition, property has a pole barn too. On 40 acres, for under 100K. It is in Kalkaska though, so if you like to hunt deer, you’re cool. Zone 4 a solid 4, I swear the whole state is dry and it’s snowing in Kalkaska. I want to move a little north, but hug the lake and stay in zone 6a.
Prices around the Punta Gorda, Fl area aren’t bad. Some cheap lots. Depends on if you want to be on a canal or not. My brother was just down at his buddy’s house. Lots of Michigan folks down there by the sounds of it.
I couldn’t handle a Florida summer. Maybe when i’m old. I can hardly handle a summer in Wisconsin when the humidity kicks in. Up here we can still get cold fronts moving through in July/August that drop the humidity and cool us back into the 50Fs at night…you don’t see that in Florida for 9 months of the year.
Me either, but if I retired there, i would be here from April 1st till January 1st. So only 3 months there a year. That is what I need. I might just stay, I like it here better anyway. Too much trouble for only three months. Maybe I’ll just vacation a lot in the winter instead.
Talking about peaches I’m in zone 6 and we get 32 inches of rain, This warm late winter isn’t hurting me either. It’s pretty good conditions, I just need more land. Not for commercial, I’m keeping all of them! I would like about an acre, and I would be good.
Yeah…you can rent down there all over. I know this guy i know actually has his house rented this entire month. I think a lot of homes just sit vacant all summer. Give me a week in Cozumel every winter and i’m good.
This winter has been nothing…Dec was cold, but Nov and Feb were very warm and Jan was decent… no complaints. Piece of cake.
I was just checking some peach buds and they still look good (this is on outside growing trees)… An acre would be more then enough for me. I just hate cramming everything in like i’m doing now. Its a jungle. I have a lot of variety which i like, but some of the good stuff i’d like more of just to give more away or even sell some (Flavor Supreme, Flavor King)…
La Crosse had 44.76 inches of rain in 2016…which is a record …avg is 33 inches.
What are the most labour intensive / time consuming / repetitive tasks you (anyone in this thread) experience running an orchard? (I realize this can vary wrt what specifically you’re growing but I mean in general) Just curious - it’s been mentioned a lot how the work will “grind you down”.
My least favorite job is removing the 2nd year raspberry canes after fruiting. You get all scratched up, its usually the hottest, most humid part of the summer. Summer before last I knelt on a yellow jacket nest while doing it, they flew up my pants, under my shirt, I practically dislocated my shoulder flailing, they got me good-ruined my day to say the least
Should have done backflips and cartwheels! I’ve been there. I got swarmed by the german wasp things late one summer and one stung me right in the middle of my forehead…that was the worst sting i can remember. I hate those things. I need to trap them hard this year because they sting my late stonefruit.
I ran over a bumble bee nest with the brush hog and I got lucky because they all stung the exhaust instead of me.
Isn’t it funny how they do that, I guess it’s the heat they sense?
Hi Clark, I prefer http://www.plantmaps.com/index.php to research hardiness zones since it is much more conservative (and realistic), IMO, than the USDA. While USDA regards my area as a 5A, PlantMaps considers it a 4B. Weather stations nearby with 120 yrs of records have recorded extreme minimums approaching 4A to 3B (-35F) even if it only happens every 50 yrs.
It was a big nest and once I saw them disending on the exhaust I was glad they were not after me. I think they were drawn to the heat.
My brother and I worked at a dairy farm when we were young. The farmer had a red clover field that had bumble bee nests in it. My brother wouldn’t mow it unless he had a cab tractor, they say bumble bees hurt like hell.
A friend and I ran over a bumble bee nest while using a riding lawn mower. They weren’t fooled by the machinery at all. They chased us about a quarter mile until we got into our truck. I got stung 5 or 6 times and my friend got stung about 12-15 times because he was a little slower than I was.
I live in Boise, ID, and although this climate is not perfect, it is very good for growing fruit. Hot dry summers and cool to cold winters. It is listed at zone 7a, but a rating of 6b or 6a is probably more accurate due to unpredictability. West of Boise near the border of Oregon and Idaho still has fairly cheap irrigated land for sale that would suit an orchard nicely. I have thought about buying a few acres and building a greenhouse, but I enjoy living in the city too much and I already have too many hobbies in my little yard 
I wanted to share this in case someone is looking for a very remote section of property with water. This is a rare find nowadays 800 acres, Mountain City, NV, Property ID: 8667062 | Land and Farm
Mountain City , NV | Elko County, NV
$860,000
800 acres
Remember the joke about the 2 guys being chased by a bear. one says …" You can’t outrun a bear!"
The other puffs … “I only have to outrun you” 
Mike
I used to live in that area, it’s amazing country! Not really a climate suited to growing trees though, just grass/cattle.
I wanted to resurrect this thread to have a discussion about a fairly unique opportunity I have been presented. I will keep the details on the location vague for the sake of keeping my opportunity open. 
I may be able to purchase a decent amount of land (50-100 acres) for a VERY good price. By that, I mean about as much as a quarter/half acre lot would cost in my neighborhood. There are many caveats though. The properties available have significant legacy mining impacts on a good portion of each piece. I believe at least 10-25% of each property would be conducive to fruit growing; Autumn olive is there currently to repair the soil. I would likely focus on pawpaws, persimmons and possibly blueberry /lingonberry/cranberry to take advantage of the existing acidic conditions (free acid water!!)
For perspective - my current lot is 1/8th acre and having even a couple usable acres would be a game changer for my, uh, we’ll call it a pawpaw habit. My goals for the property at this time would be to hunt/forage and also to start a pawpaw breeding program using improved cultivar seeds initially and also growing cultivars to perform specific crosses down the road. I currently view this as a hobby project but if it would turn into a full time commitment I’d happily take that opportunity. I know how to plant a tree and run heavy equipment amongst a myriad of other skills so there are plenty of things from my current experience that will transfer.
I have worked on both properties available in the past few years for my current job but I am not intimately familiar with the details of either.
I have considered the legal liability aspects of this endeavor and would likely be discussing it with a lawyer prior to purchase (mine drainage, possible underground mine fire at one site, legacy coal spoil piles etc). I’m considering the benefits and disadvantages of forming an LLC.
There is also the caveat that the seller would retain mineral rights for the property to harvest the existing coal spoil at any time, although by current market conditions I forsee that being an unlikely scenario in at least the next 10 years, if ever, unless natural gas becomes scarce (both have booooom and bust cycles)
Fruit growing wise, I think there are patches that likely have great soil and others that are pretty horrible mine spoil a couple feet down, but for the most part have been reclaimed on the surface to native grasses and small shrubs at one of the sites. The other has one gigantic, gaping, horrible pile of waste coal that could be utilized by a circulating fluidized bed combustion plant if it was economical to do so.
For reference - I am not as concerned about the liability aspects (although they could be discussed briefly) as Pennsylvania has pretty decent Good Samaritan laws for landowners trying to be helpful for environmental impacts. I’m more concerned about discussing the fruit growing aspects of this crazy vision I’ve developed and whether you all think I’m worse off than @clarkinks for even considering trying this. No offense intended Clark, you’ve certainly proven many a neighbor wrong about your ability to succeed.
If it makes sense to start a new thread for this I’ll gladly do so, but I figured this was very relevant to a portion of the group that might come across the opportunity to purchase “polluted land” and any considerations to make.
Side note- IF this pans out, and that’s a big IF, I would happily solicit as many seeds as possible from improved pawpaws to start my research, likely Neal Peterson style on 1-2 foot centers for fruit quality testing purposes.