Bomb Proof Fruit Trees

General Fruit Growing
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Well, maybe you are like me…we bite off more than we can chew. I don’t do any gardening to speak of, I pulled it out and put in more trees. You have to be a slave to the garden. Bomb proof trees are important unless you want to be a slave to them.

When I started in '07 I was told you can’t grow this or that tree unless you spray them. That was a lie. You don’t need to spray them unless you are after perfect fruit. And if a tree needs breastfeeding to produce…it is cut down and replaced with a non-fussy tree.

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I know exactly what you mean. For people for whom fruit growing is a major hobby, spraying once a week is not a big deal compared to all the other work they do in the garden. It’s a small price to pay for having the best fruit in the world.

For professional farmers it’s also not a problem, because they just have somebody spray all the time and it’s not a big deal considering how little spraying costs compared to how much profit it generates.

It’s for people like us who don’t have much time but still want good fruit that disease resistance really matters. Most of my bullet-proof fruit has some cosmetic damage on the leaves or fruit or both, but it doesn’t seem to affect the fruit quality.

I’ll also second mulberries as the most delicious disease-free trees that I know. They do get shield bugs competing with us for the fruit though. I wonder if it’s possible to spray against them.

Figs are great too, but choosing the right variety matters more than with mulberries.

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I see no mention of Italian plums, but 25ish years ago, I bought one at Walmart for $10 and gave it to my dad for Father’s Day. He’s done practically nothing to it and every year, tons of plums and the tree is healthy. He cut the top off with a chain saw a few years ago when it was getting too tall. That’s the extent of the pruning that he’s done.

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I just got a John’s and an Adam’s elderberry, to make syrup with at some point.

We have a dozen paw paw seedlings that are dormant, in 12” talk tree pots. I am letting them grow more before picking a spot for them.

We have persimmon’s too, I am glad you find them both easy.

I guess I’m getting impatient and we have a lot going on so I’m sure we will get rewarded with some thing at some point, but it seems like some types of plants really take off and some seem to not be as vigorous in the same categories.

For instance, we went on a cane berry collecting spree in 2023 for the 2024 season.

All three of our Jewel plants died, but the Bristol took off and even had some thicker canes! None of them died. Neat looking red canes too. So if someone were to ask me what black raspberry I would recommend, I would automatically choose Bristol because it seems to grow well. It might be that Jewel was dead when I got it. I have no way to know. I don’t know how the berries themselves compare.

We have quite a few different types of cherries and our first year on the ground the Utah giant actually gave us a about a dozen cherries that had wonderful flavor, but were smaller and our little Bing was covered in cherries and it has a thin trunk. We actually took them all off so that it would focus on more growth because it started looking a little sad. It’s a tiny little tree. I couldn’t believe how many cherries were on it. Then we have other cherries that didn’t try to do anything so if you asked me, I would tell you that I think Bing and Utah Giant like it here.

So I was just wondering what everyone else has that really seems to be easier than their other things. Doesn’t die or have a lot of problems and maybe is precocious things like that. I love reading other peoples fruit reports because it helps me choose better things from others experience.

We’ve had two apricots die so far. I have no idea why. I just picked up a Moorpark from Costco and other apricot we have is a Harcot. I hope they do well.

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Glad to hear about gooseberries, thanks!

I have not gotten currants yet, considered pink champagne at one point.

Any favorites in currants?

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You are the second person that has mentioned Aronia. I will have to look up what that is. Thank you.

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I had to laugh because I’ve heard so many things about Cox’s Orange Pippin that I avoided it, but I did get some of its children and hope they do well.

I am happy to hear that about pawpaws. We have a dozen little seedlings in tree pots that have already leafed out once with us and are now dormant. I was just trying to let them get a little bigger before picking a spot for them.

You have no idea how happy It made me to read that deer don’t bother them.

I am going to cut the tree pot away when we do plant, to avoid hurting the tap root.

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We have some blueberries, but they got eaten down by deer so we protected them and they have grown back and now look like they are budding. I hope we get some berries this year.

We will see if our muscadines survived the winter soon.

Aren’t gourmi those neat little berries that look like they have silver flecks in them?

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Thank you, I will look into that one if my current peaches and nectarines don’t do well.

I get peach leaf curl and have a hard time fighting it.

Any input on these?:

Harko
Rio Oso Gem
Silver Logan
Honey Halo
Supreme Red #1
Liz’s Late
Spicezee nectaplum

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I have no idea what mulberry variety I have in my yard but it produces a huge amount of great looking fruit every year. Even if we have a drought, high heat temps, or even tons of rain. The tree just cranks out the fruit every year. I’ve been here 20+ and it has not missed fruiting any year. My cars can attest to that.

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Some people call them chokeberries. They are native to much of the eastern United States. The fruit, which is somewhat astringent, is packed full of antioxidants. When you cook with them the astringency disappears. I and my children don’t personally mind it; it’s not near as bad as something like persimmon. They wouldn’t be the sort of thing you’d want to make a pie out of free-standing, but they are good in muffins. We also make a juice out of them, and mix it with cooked elderberry juice for a immune boosting and refreshing drink. We sell some of our excess at a local co-op. Autumn foliage is pretty too, reminiscent of a burning bush, though not quite as gaudy.

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Most people like white and pink currants because they are nice and sweet. I have Primus, Zitavia, and Pink Champaign which I think are comperable in flavor.

I was unhappy with reds for some time. I have Cherry, Improved Red Lake, Original Red Lake- none of which I liked (small, difficult to pick, seedy, and not sweet). Rovada, however, has larger berries on long strings. I currently reccomend Rovada for reds. I also have Rubina and Jonkheer van Tets that should fruit this year.

I have a bunch of blacks, which are generally a love-hate type of fruit. I love it. My favorite is Minaj Smyriou (over Consort and Black September), but I have a bunch of other blacks that may rival it when they fruit (which should be this year).

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Omg… they are growing wild here. I bought a portion of someone’s run down farm. They planted a Bartlett, a Seckel, two Italian plums, one crabapple, one russet apple, and two walnuts. I had to cut down the seckel, apple, and crab. The Bartlett needs serious work. The walnuts don’t pollinate each other. But the plums, OMG… they have spread everywhere. Their dropped fruit sprouts AND they have runners. I used to think I would pot and sell the seedlings but I am so sick of them now I mostly mow them down.

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I’ve seen people report Spicezee nectaplum gets peach leaf curl worse than some of their others. It’s a Zaiger release, and being on the bone dry West coast they don’t seem to breed for disease resistance very much. I still ordered a scion this season though. I love nectarines and make bad decisions.:grin:

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You’re in Shasta county, right? I used to live there! I’ll try to list some of the things that worked well…

We had blackberries, apple, pear, loquat and apricot.

Blackberries were the Himalayan thorny types that grow all over the area- I like them a lot- I don’t care about the thorns- I still like them!

The loquat grew like mad in a kind of part shade damp area near me. They were pretty huge and untended. I really liked those too. I think they’ve got a great flavor.

The Apple were some sort of older varieties and the trees were grown tall enough the deer couldn’t get them. We used a pole with a basket to pick them. They didn’t get much treatment but were pruned a bit. Pretty bomb proof.

Here in VA, I have 3 different neighbors who have a “bomb proof” apple tree. Large, old, maybe not the top taste- but pretty good- and seem to thrive on neglect. All three slightly different.

Pear (also grown tall) I had were referred to as “yellow pear”, a summer pear, and “frost pear” a fall pear. If you ask around, I bet some local people would give you Scionwood from varieties that work there. Pears are really easy to graft. The yellow pear was mostly green or maybe I just never waited till they ripened properly.

I don’t remember seeing any peach trees in my area- but I think if you check that you are getting enough chill hours for the variety - they should work. Spray copper for leaf curl. Also, I think you’d have to irrigate peaches. Same with apricot. I don’t think either is bomb proof- but they’re worth the effort.

I think pawpaw will be tough in Shasta County. mine really like humidity (I’m now on the east coast). But it’s worth a try.

Nearly every thing else I grew had to be in a fenced in and also watered at times.

I never managed to actually grow raspberries or strawberries there, though they should grow pretty well. Again- they don’t like to be dry.

Looking forward to hearing how some of the stuff you’re trying works out!

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The Goumi is none evasive but some of its relative are. They have some flecks but the ones I have are mostly red when they ripen. Sweet Scarlet and Red Gem are the two smaller varieties. Tillamook/Carmine is about twice as large.

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I have not tried any on your list. My needs are PLC resistant and short season. Hope yours perform well and give you joy

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Pomona currant (red) is supposed sweeter like pink champagne, i will receive 1 this spring.

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