Goumi berry
2 Likes
Since the OP is zone 8, Iād say rabbiteye blueberry. For me, I babied them the first year to get established then neglected. The only care an established bush needs is pruning out old wood and netting if you want to beat the birds to berries. The caveat, we have bad droughts compared to surrounding areas, but a bad Virginia drought is nothing compared to a normal summer for some of our western friends. You may need to water if you are in a truly arid place.
Muscadines, other than heavy critter pressure, have been great for me. I donāt think I ever watered after planting.
Blackberries* probably cultivar dependent. I have an unknown thornless I got from a neighbor that I have never sprayed with anything. It does require a lot of water when ripening fruit though so unless you get plenty summer rain, I wouldnāt call it bomb proof. I know some folks do struggle with disease also.
3 Likes
I have been trying to grow Cornelian cherries for nearly a decade without ever seeing a single fruit from any of the 3 varieties. Canāt get raspberries to do much, either. Most small fruits need bird protection here. There is not a free ride on much of anything. Worms, birds, mice, rabbits, squirrels, gophers, deer, late frosts, weeds, all go after your fruit. Nothing is bulletproof here.
1 Like
Anything that needs processed/picked in a short window to be palatable?
Bitternut hickory, elderberry, persimmons, pawpaws, anything else like that for you?
FEIJOA!
They donāt even seem to mind me over watering them 
1 Like
I imagine zone 4 is pretty rough for fruits. My Cornelian cherries donāt need any protection from insects, birds, or critters. Itās the only stone fruit Iāve heard of that requires literally zero care.
Itās a smallish tree (maybe 10 ft) so some height control once every few years will make it easier to pick but itās not completely necessary. I donāt know what variety it is but itās older than I am and has been a heavy producer every year in spite of the early bloom and late frosts.
If it wasnāt so finicky regarding the picking date I would have planted more varieties. Tree days before the cherries are ready they are inedible and a day after the fruits are on the ground. The fruit donāt all ripen at exactly the same time so you donāt have to eat 20lbs of fruit at once 
.
2 Likes
Kittageskee and Sundance apple trees, pretty bullet-proof. Kiefer pear- I see very, very old ones around here completely untended. In-ground figs for the warmest zones, say 8A and warmer. I had Black Satin blackberry years ago that Iād bush-hog every few years trying to get rid of it, didnāt phase it. I hear Triple Crown blackberry is equally vigorous.
3 Likes
Id say jujube, kumquat, goumi and feijoa for high production hassle free growing in a small space
1 Like
Figs
2 Likes
Iām also in 8a, the hot and humid southern USA. in soil with low organic matter. Iāve got about 10 years experience growing apples, pears, blueberries, native persimmons, figs, peaches, plums, muscadines, pawpaws, nanking cherries, canadian bush cherries, and blackberries. From easiest to hardest.
Native persimmons-trees (60 chromosome) want to grow tall and straight even in full sunlight. Can get some ugly fungal or bacterial leaf disease, but produce good (if seedy) fruit anyhow. Fruit drops when ripe, which is handy since it tends to be out of reach. I donāt do anything to care for them.
Figs-only significant pest is ambrosia beetle, which doesnāt show up most years. Easy pruning. Easy to tell when the fruit should be picked.
Pawpaws-only significant pest is ambrosia beetle, which seems to attack only young trees during very wet springs. I think my trees benefit from their location to the south of mature oaks and pecans. They get a lot of sunlight in the spring and early summer, but in the heat of the summer a lot of shade because the sun in higher in the sky and oaks/pecans provide about 80% shade. I donāt prune them, but do thin the fruit. Fruit drops or is very easy pick when ripe. Need water when young and also seem to benefit from top dressing with lots of organic matter. Racoons and/or possums an occasional pest but I get an abundance of fruit in a short time so I donāt mind sharing.
Rabbiteye blueberries-need very high organic matter and good drainage, and water when young. Birds can be a problem, as the fruit changes color several days before it should be picked.
Blackberries-Birds like them. Have to be pruned and supported somehow. Need water in summer droughts. Cane and crown borers were a consistent pest. I eventually pulled them but may try again in a different location.
Muscadines-have to be trellised, and have to be pruned hard every year. Benefit from heavy fertilization. Needed water this past year during the drought.
Pears-limited experience. Ayers has produced consistently. Fireblight has to be scouted for and pruned out. Water spouts need to be pruned yearly. Lots of free rootstocks (naturalized callery seedlings) available for grafting.
Plums-Chickasaw cultivars and hybrids grow quickly and produce quickly. Plum curculio the only major pest but it is a real problem. Brown rot a problem with most varieties unless pruned very openly.
Peaches-Trees grow quickly and produce quickly. Brown rot a huge problem unless sprayed consistently. Lots of pruning required. Stinkbugs, plum curculio, and other insects a consistent problem. Home grown peaches, at their best, are much better than anything I can get at the store or farmers markets, so I keep growing them.
Apples Fireblight and summer rots a huge problem. Cultivars supposedly fireblight resistant such as Enterprise and Liberty have eventually developed fireblight problems. Iāve failed to control both fireblight and rots with open pruning and many organic treatments. Trees need significant pruning because they want to produce a lot of vegetative growth. Streptomycin sprays will control fireblight but many sprays required. Last year had excellent summer rot control with a few sprays of boscalid + pyraclostrobin fungicide, but one yearās experience is not enough to go on. Various insects also a problem, and the birds stark pecking at any apple that turns red, leaving an ideal spot for rots and insects to attack.
Nanking cherries/bush cherries- Something in the soil kills the plants after a few years. Brown rot hits the fruit. Not very productive, and the birds like the fruit before it is ready to pick.
7 Likes
I am sorry that I asked a question and then havenāt responded. Iām just exhausted, but I will be looking at every post and responding in the near future.
1 Like
For me, currents, blueberries, raspberries, and probably honeyberries (only had honeyberries for 3 years). Elderberries grow well but I leave those for the birds because they taste awful. Most of my trees are a bit young to say for sure. Aronia never produce (pretty sure its the soil they donāt like). Popular grapes tend towards too acidic for wine (thinking Frontenac) but some of Elmerās grapes are pretty good (Voles are really hard on grapes). Birds only hit elderberries and take some honeyberries as far as I can tell.
1 Like
my aronia are carefree and produce like crazy but theyāre growing on the edge of my septic leach field. 
2 Likes
I havent been fertilizing, but thats changing this yearā¦ well this spring anyway.
@LarisaLee - Larisa, my Liberty apples STINK! LOL
They are very young, so maybe they just havenāt come into their own, yet. But so far . . . bland as can be. Only a handful of the apples I have are āwinnersā for me. Goldrush. Ashmeadās Kernel. King David. Iām waiting on quite a few more of my grafts to bear fruit. Canāt wait to get an American Gold Russet. And I have others that I am very curious about . . . Richared, Crimson Crisp, Sansa, Akane, Mendocino Cox Pippin to name a few.
What other apples do you grow? 
- Pomgranny AKA Karen
2 Likes
I just got to elderberries delivered today. I havenāt even opened the box, but I was thinking they would be more for a medicinal use.
We do have a dozen pawpaw seedlings and some persimmons. Two Nikitaās gift and one Saijo in the ground and we just potted up some rootstocks for our American persimmon scions.
What varieties of pears and apples do you think are easy?
2 Likes
I almost bought currents once, but I do have gooseberries. One poorman and one black velvet to be exact. We do have a lot of berries of different sorts, I was wondering what fruit trees others found easy and rewarding. All of our fruit trees are very young. We did get nectarines last year, but they had a lot of damage and were really small - very first time fruiting though and snowed on while in bloom.
1 Like
We have all kinds of cool birds here and we have a pair of ravens that we cohabitate with. I am glad we are a higher elevation because the ravens hang out in pairs but if you have crows they can really get large numbers.
One day we had a Northern Goshawk hanging out.
1 Like
I will research liberty apple thank you.
That Himalayan blackberry sounds like it has brutal thorns. I ordered some Kiowa to put in a row, I was hoping it was too thorny for deer to eat.
Now thereās one Iāve never heard of! How nice that you have an in-house professional berry taster. 
1 Like