Friends here in 8A E. Shore MD asked me what fruit to plant in their half acre __
no-spray food plot to supply a local food bank.
What no-spray fruit sells best at farmers’ markets? Am guessing pawpaw and persimmon are hard to move due to soft consistency and no consumer experience with them. How about ripe figs? No spray apples will lack eye appeal, but pears might be popular? Blackberries?
Yeah I think early blackberries to avoid SWD, FB resistant pears, and closed eye figs are probably your best bet
Food banks want easily stored and distributed food. Non refrigerated. Easy for everyone to recognize, cook or eat.
My vote: only apples. Ugly apples are better than pears people need to ripen.
Right, apples, but ugly no-spray apples with sooty blotch, flyspeck, plum curculio bites, etc? Won’t recipients want grocery-store perfect apples?
My experience with produce at food banks is most people don’t know how to use a lot of types of produce, even normal in idea produce. It’s actually kind of surprising. Most people just skipping over the boxes of fruit and veggies entirely, while I take piles to can and preserve. And anything needing refrigeration, going to waste if not taken ASAP.
So if pears grow better or look better, sure grow those. But stick to very familiar stuff. And nothing that needs refrigerated.
I know this centered around fruiting trees/bushes, but maybe annual crops like sweet potatoes and winter squash could be better options. Seminole pumkin types would probably be tough enough to be grown with little to no effort.
Shin Li pear comes to mind for a fruit tree though, very tasty and stores well.
Might be okay with softer fruits if they could be processed before distribution, or hosting a u pick of some kind in conjunction with the food bank.
I like the early blackberry idea as well, easy to freeze, make into jam/jelly, or cobblers.
for quick fruit, grow highbush blueberries. they are easy to grow as long as you have acidic soil . and are very productive. they can take a little bumping around and store better than other bush fruit. most people like blueberries and they require little processing to use in desserts and such. another one is groundcherries. my granddaughter, niece and nephew absolutely adore both. just grow them in-between your bigger fruit trees.
My thought was plant everbearing summer and fall apples and finish off with winter storage apples…
Good ideas, thanks. The picky consumer! Yes they’re planning a lot of veggies so fruit would be a side bonus.
Pasteurized half pint jars of fruit.
Many years ago I used to work for a very large produce company, I used to be the shipping clerk and in one location there was a Food bank across street from the warehouse.
We used to give them anything you can think of vegetables like cukes, peppers ( all different kinds and types) tomatoes, watermelons, cantaloupes, potatoes etc. Food banks have walking coolers where they keep vegetables that are big enough to drive a forklift. So I think any kind of fruits would be really good for them.
Maybe Black Raspberries or any other Kind of Raspberries? Blackberries would do well.
Diseases Resistant Apples or Pears?
I can’t think of anything else that doesn’t have a lot “Consumer experience”.
If you include Squash/Pumpkins, Melons & Watermelons as fruits, those would work well.
Williams pride and pristine apples are great disease resistant apples that produce in late summer. goldrush and black oxford are 2 great winter storing apples to round out the harvest. on semi dwarf rootstock they could produce in 2 to 4 years depending on the size of tree planted.
hardy/ arctic kiwi is another one that produces big crops and is fairly easy to pick / handle. need to educate yourself on how to prune them though.
But don’t hardy kiwis have the “Consumer knows nothing about them problem” too?
I mean most people just eat junkfood here 
& count tomato sauce on pizza as a vegeable 
.
I wonder how pomegranates would do in that area, as long as the disease that effects them is not around that area I’d think that they’d do good there.
I’d imagine that pears would do good there, as well as figs.
Early season crop… almost everyone likes and knows how to eat… strawberries.
Then… raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, mulberries…
You would have to go with varieties known to store well.
Cantaloupe, watermelon
For fall crops… Jujube, Pear, Figs, Asian non astringent persimmons.
TNHunter
Great ideas.
just offer some to folks in a bowl to try with the name on it. once tasted they will likely buy some. very kid friendly fruit.