Very new to backyard orcharding and have a goal to have fresh fruit or something from my yard year round.
I’ve been adding trees but am not sure approximately what dates I may be able to harvest in a few years if all goes right. Been googling, but there doesn’t seem to be a consistent source for approximate harvest dates. I’d think grow zone would affect this so not sure where to find a resource?
I’m in Zone 7b Oklahoma if it matters.
My 2 cents is that I don’t think you’ll find anything super precise. You can google specific fruit and e.g. it will tell you that it’s an early apple that ripens in mid-August and then maybe you can adjust this if you live in some outlier climate like Alaska where growing season (probably?) starts late.
Also as someone from 9a zone I have quite a few very strong things to say about these so called “growing zones”. They are really more of “will my tree freeze to death” zones rather than “can this thing have a realistic chance of ever ripening here at all” zones, which I discovered the hard way.
So the problem with grow zones is the zone will only tell you if it will freeze to death. Even a north and south facing tree will make a major difference. I have 2 mid bloom time cherries and the bloom times do not overlap because one is the south and one is the north. If I drive up to Conifer CO from where I live it is only around a 30 minute drive but their season changes so drastically that they cannot grow much at all while the Denver area can grow so much more than them. Plus times of bloom will heavily depend on the weather for blooms. With annuals you can stagger them but perennials come out when the time is right. Not only will you have to look at times things mature but you will have to look at storage times too. If you look at apples or pears some will store for 1 month while others will store for 8 months or even a year. At least in my area growing things for a year around thing would be near impossible. The land is too expensive as you would likely need acres and acres of land to do this and you need the potential to grow many different things. Here asparagus will grow May-June, June is going to be things like strawberry and be very scarce, July is going to be cherries and some peaches, August is going to be peaches and fall is going to be apples and pears. From October to May I would be storing and eating apples and pears. You would not have the luxury of stone fruit without heavy spray if it rains a lot where you live.
I have learnt to look at harvest dates tailored to my approximate region (stress on the approximate as cherries flower 3 weeks earlier in the nearest town 13min by car away) as microclimates matter greatly. What they are good for, though, is to plan my varieties so that my harvesting is spread out, so that we have several kinds of fresh fruit at all times throughout the season and don’t get swamped with an avalanche of fruit within a week. (except in autumn when harvesting for storage)
For more accurate estimates it is best to ask neighbours - older ones. Years vary. In the last few years some apples and pears were a month early every odd year or so.
And even with superb advice; you will still face some trail and error. Keep your own notes is the best advice. Every fruit will ripen at different times in different places and climates. For us stuff ripens early usually.
If you gave a good nursery in your State… or even better very near your county… their bloom and harvest dates should be decent for your location (that is until you collect your own data).
You cant go by zones… I am in z7b southern middle TN… and I have had lots of people here on growingfruit… tell me that i have fruit ripening earlier than them… and they are in z8b.
I have an excel sheet that keeps up with fruit ripening dates… and originally some of that was from dates that nurseries provided… until I collected my own data… which was often quite different.
One Green World… says Loganberry ripens in July… but they start ripening in May here.
Ripening dates from a nursery that is way north or south of you can be way off… or if you are on the east coast and they are on the west.
Often you may be interested in varieties that your ‘best local source of info’ may not have. Some harvest timelines provided by some nurseries use a reference variety ( as in- X peach ripens 2 weeks before red haven ). So while it will still be an estimate, if you find the local nursery’s red haven’s ripen the last week in July, peach X that you’re interested in will likely ripen the second week in July (in an ‘average’ year).
I’m in a similar boat (trying to determine which additional varieties to get based on spreading out the harvest). You’ve probably already don’t this, but you can try to find members of this group that live relatively near you- then you can find what works for them (varieties, etc) and start by somewhat copying their varieties. Historically I would just pick varieties based of growers’ descriptions (fun, but not necessarily effective), but I hope to make better picks based on all the experience on this group.
Good luck
Great point on looking at the fruit varieties length of freshness/keeping! I will check into this.
A reference fruit—wow! I have a lot to learn. Do you know for other fruits what the general reference fruit is? (Like red haven for peaches…?)
And yes, I do read the grower’s descriptions—and they sound so good! Hard to know what the best types will be.
Your local university agricultural extension office is also a great resource - they will be able to provide more detailed information about what is grown in your state and when you can expect major varieties to ripen.
Honestly I find a quick google search often times provides what you will spend 3 days waiting for them. They will reference articles that are easily searchable online.
Workerbee, I should clarify, I don’t think there is necessarily a specific reference fruit for each type of fruit that most growers use. But some orchards will use one (and others may use a different reference point). Some, such as Dave Wilson’s Nursery, may compare to several different fruits [I just checked their site, and on the yellow peach section, they don’t use only 1 reference variety. I think they use a common (well known) variety that ripens near the fruit you’re looking at, and compares the harvest date to that.]
I’m a newbie here too (and while I’ve grown several fruit varieties over the past decade, I’ve grown very little compared to the others with a wealth of experience on this site). I still stand by my recommendation to find others (often on this list) that live near you and start by imitating them (what they grow, how they manage it, etc). I still hope to try new varieties, but I intend to start with what seems to work well for others. Hopefully, in 5 years you and I can post pictures of our bountiful harvests of various fruits throughout the season.
Good luck.
Kevin
Having grown for some time my fruits will ripen mostly due to weather. The same fruit may vary by over a month depending on that years weather. I find ripening charts useful for order of ripening but exact date varies every year. This year my stone fruit flowered 15 days later than last year. Thirty days later than two years ago. Most zones don’t vary this much but mine does 6b southeast Michigan.
I also find ripening times vary as plant matures. Young plants being late as they mature some not all ripen earlier.
It may be more common than you think. Last year some plants did not come out until June. One year stuff came out in March only to lose everything to a freeze. Even with nurseries I have found mixed opinions and mixed results. My fruit punch pluerries are basically all dead but my candy heart pluerry and the other pluerry I have are doing much better. Nursery were claiming fruit punch hardy to zone 5 and the others hardy to zone 6 though.
Thanks for letting me know about weather—I’m going to build a spreadsheet and definitely include notes over time. So much to learn!
I recognized the need and created one for the Zone 4 Upper Midwest:
Now you can safely decide which months you’ll be in Florida or Arizona. 