At least my deer dont climb the trees 
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Hi Fellow East Texas growers,
Question about Kakis, have you lost any asian persimmons to SDS here in East Texas?
Pedro
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I personally havenāt but donāt want to jinx it by saying thatā¦ā¦.
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Did yāall know the SFA campus has a full grown, bearing jujube tree? Iām going to see when they produce and try some out. From the pictures it seems not too many people know about it and they just throw down fruit.
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That looks like Li which is an on again off again cultivar. When it is good it is really goood and when not it resembles eating styrofoam. Much better varieties out there for fresh eating!
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How are everybodyās trees doing this summer in ETX?
My very very young orchard is doing fantastic, with some of the trees hanging on a bit of growth that they got earlier in the season (new pear trees), and others exploding with growth (mulberry, Asian persimmon, figs, jujubes).
I may post some pictures later
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Vegetative growth on the trees has been fantastic. The fruit, not so much.
We planted a bunch of trees last year and had the first fruit off both a Redskin and Elberta peach. The Redskin tasted okay, but the Elberta, despite being the prettiest peach weāve grown, was very watery and the texture was bad. The fruit fibers were so swollen with water they were no longer holding together. Was an odd sight seeing them look more like cooked pasta than the tight fibers Iām used to. Elberta flesh was more pink. I have pictures under 2025 on my IG @newfredoniafarms
Anyway, Iām still happy for the leaves really getting a chance to burst out, and I donāt have to use that irrigation system I spent so much time putting together lol.
I saw SFA showed jujubes on their trees. They were big and green. I have them in my calendar as being ready in like 3 weeks.
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If youāre by SFA campus, jujubes should be falling all over the place now.
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let me know if youād like to trial any scion i have on my trees here- itās a similar heat in summer but we get a lot more chill hours and might be a lot more dry than E Texas
i would have trailman, himrod grape, Wolf River, gravenstein and Whitney if any sound appealing. message me in winter to remind me to send them if youād like any! Iāve got a good handful of fig varieties that might grow really well there in ground, mine are potted because of the winter cold but there they j would likely flourish outside
next year i should have more variety, but mostly plum and grape so the apples can get a year off from cutting.
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Just popping into this thread to see if there are any other growers near Texarkana/Mount Pleasant? Iām in western Bowie County, about 15 minutes from Oklahoma and 30 minutes from Arkansas.
Hi!
I am near Henderson, Texas. I would love to connect with more people nearby!
I am more of a natural / permaculture kind of guy, without being too hardcore about it.
I shared this in the figs post, but wanted to share this here too.
This is a Chicago Hardy fig, a tissue culture (they say they grow slower than cuttings), planted in June of 2024.
This is the same tree in August of 2025:
If you want a few cuttings Im willing to share
Pedro
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Hi East Texas growers!
I want to ask everyone about rootstocks in Pear trees.
Of course, the most recommended for our area is Calery.
I have, however, some big box store trees with mysterious rootstocks, and Iām not sure if they are OH&F or any other.
Have you had any luck with rootstocks that are not Calery in East Texas? I am on sandy soil.
Pedro
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Iāve tried a few varieties on the standard OH rootstocks and every one on those rootstocks grew poorly or not at all and died on me in short order. Within two years. Havenāt tried enough samples to be sure, but that was six trees. Callery still going strong. No issues there. It really is the rootstock of choice in the deep south for good reason.
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I had some problems with Callery so I tried OHxF97 and those are growing like beasts for me. Those are Seckel, Warren, Magness, Plumblee & Elaine.
Im in Hunt Co, above Greenville so I donāt have sandy soil, blackland prairie soil and I plant in raised beds.
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Hi Pedro,
East Texas grower in Lufkin. So are we calling this latest once in a lifetime event Icemagedion.
I have one or two pears and an Asian pear on 87 all growing about 15 years. They fruit but due to birds and/squirls never gotten ripe fruit. They got about 10-12 ft tall before getting fireblight last year that killed back to about 8 ft. Also have some 97 that is 8-10 ft tall and barely grows. Years before getting those two I had a 333 topped out at about 8-10 ft. it lived about 20 yrs.
Plan to retry efforts to get dwarf/short pear trees this year. Will be using 87, 333, and Quince again.
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Hi Arbyhaze,
Historic event indeed! My orchard is about a year old and Iām kind of concerned for some of the trees, especially Asian persimmons, figs, pomegranates, and mulberries. Our low was about 15F, but Iām not sure about the effect of the ice around the branches for so longā¦ Hopefully itās ok.
Iām expecting the branches of figs and pomegranates to maybe die off, as they are young, but I think they can come back from the roots.
Regarding pear, I am on sandy loam so I switched all my trees (I think) to calleryana.
What is it like where you are at? I hope you are staying warm.
Pedro
It looks like our apples, blueberries, plums, peaches, and mulberries all made it out fine. I had a Gala tree turned into a lower-case n with ice and was super worried about it, but when it thawed it sprang back up again. Looks good now.
Iām not sure about the pineapple guava or the Crandall currants, but the goumi did very well.
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They have the list on that page I linked. Iām mostly going for pollinator attactors this year.
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