Ever wonder what will happen to your fruit trees?

In case something happens to us did you ever wonder what will happen to your fruit tree collection? Ever lost something that can’t be replaced? I have lost several things to time. An example of a loss was a pumpkin naturalized to Kansas that would many large wonderful tasting pumpkins which is now gone forever. Many of my fruit trees need constant care so we know what happens if we aren’t there. Think of how many orchàrdists we have lost through the years and what a loss it was! Curious how others felt about this?

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Fruit trees are only temporary, orchards age and die , homesteads are dozed, but in the case of Altoona, a member saved scion and though the mother tree has died it’s branches continue to live and will fruit in other places. I sometimes think that the topics,information, and scion shared here may outlast us or our trees.

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Nothing lasts forever. I have some newly planted apples on MM111 and a few newly planted Persimmons on native root stock. Could be those trees would be good for a century or more.

I am going to be overseas for essentially the next year leaving all my trees with little to no care. It will be an interesting test to see how they do I guess. I don’t worry much about most of them, but my Carmine Jewel cherries and all my plums have had issues with fungus and might really suffer.

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I think about what will happen to my fruit trees frequently. I have created a map listing the varieties, rootstock, and date planted as well as tagging each tree with engraved aluminum flashing with the same info. I hope that whoever ends up with my place after me has interest in fruit trees…but I doubt it happens.

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My eldest daughter called them my “pet apple trees,” a few days ago. I hope my grown children and grandchildren will find such delight in what grows here one of them will commit to taking over the property and keeping the good eating alive. As the trees begin bearing that may become the new perception: taste and smell and feel of fruit, far more interesting than Granddad’s abstractions.

With that in mind, I plan to teach a grandson to graft; invite them all to pick and cook with the fruits of my labor; teach cider fermentation (still learning myself;) and involve them in whatever ways spark their interest.

In the meantime, the mistakes I made feed the urge to share discoveries for the benefit of others. I appreciate swapping experience and knowledge gained in this forum. And scions!

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Individually what we have and grow will be lost to time. Collectively, especially due to forums such as this, our knowledge and our fruits will be preserved.

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The orchard reaches further than the trees in it.

I like to think that the genes in my improved mulberries, pears, pawpaws, etc, will make their way into the wild stock, and produce something more worth eating for foragers.

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I hope my children become interested in the farm as they get older and they manage after I’m gone. If not I will have enjoyed them during my lifetime.

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I think about it too. I’m surprised that so many others have the same impulses and thoughts.

Apricot trees are long-lived landscape trees around here, so they will survive. Peach trees are just not that long-lived, so no.

The pears I wonder about. All that time I bent the “Summercrisp” pear to the horizontal, in my mind’s eye I visualized a toddler grandchild picking fruit from it. It’s a nice looking tree, so maybe it would survive me.

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I have thought about that a lot of times. That is why sharing is very important, that is why exploring is very important. The Altoona, IA pear mentioned on this thread could have easily not been discovered or rescued if the events of Phil’s life had been different. a lot of people would have never looked at such an area of land let along considered getting cuttings. The better the fruit is the more likely the variety will stay around a very long time if it’s well enough distributed.

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Out of curiosity, I went back to my old house that I sold years ago.
I left the new owner over 50 exhibition rose bushes, all perfectly arranged
and manicured, as he wanted. Guess what!! Every rose bush was gone
and was replaced by of all things, grass. There wasn’t one plant or tree in
the entire yard. There was grass all the way from the street up to the
front door. But it’s his house now and he has the right to do whatever he
wants. But I fear that’s what’s going to happen to each and everyone of us.

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Ray,
That happened at my childhood home and I’ve got to admit I was offended even though we sold it. Not their problem it was mine so I have not sold a place since we sold that one my parents owned.

I have found you might as well just assume the new owners will destroy your orchard and yard, either purposely or by neglect. I’ve seen it happen too often. It’s just a fact of life, so just plant for yourself. If you have a favorite bush or plant, try to dig it and take it with you if you move to a different property.

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I went through a phase where I knew I just didn’t have free time, and the free time I did have, I wanted to spend relaxing, not tending the garden.

So I mowed the grass, the hedges got trimmed once a year, and we planted some annuals and hardy mums. No big deal.

The people that really annoy me, though, are people who buy all these plants and trees without doing any research and then get annoyed when they need care! People are so divorced from the concepts of gardening and growing that they think they shouldn’t have to do anything.

The one that still cracks me up is a guy who told me he’d never plant a Pear tree agIn. When I asked him why (thinking it was fireblight) he told me the pears dropped all over the ground, and if you didn’t pick them up, they’d attract yellow jackets.

As Jeff Foxworthy would say, “Here’s your sign…”

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I have 18 fruit trees on a standard 80 x 150 ft suburban lot. My wife and I off-and-on talking about moving in the next few years to change our commute.

I suspect if we actually decide to move I will take whatever trees are small enough to move with me, and cut down many of the others to replace them with grass, or at least offer some money to do that as a condition of sale. Maybe I’d probably leave the initial 4 apple trees I planted because they span the season as well as a cherry, and a peach. I can’t imagine anyone less crazy than myself wanting a Brown’s Apple, Dabinett, or Harry Masters Jersey cider apple tree.

That is my experience with a lot of my wife’s family and their suburban friends. They would rather spend time doing something else, which is fair. Not everyone wants to go to the trouble to plant and maintain an apple tree when you can get perfectly fine apples from the store. (Though if they could get a tree-ripened peach they might change their mind.) Most of those type of people would tell me I’m going to have 1) mow around all those trees, and 2) pick up the fallen fruit. Number 1 is a fair assessment, as it does probably add 30-45 min to my mowing job, but most of that time is me standing gazing at my trees. Ha!

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I never really gave it much thought, till now.

I suspect that, as with everything else on the farm, they will probably get old, rusted and gnarly along with me :laughing:.

After that, I hope that they get missed or forgotten by the new owners, the orchard is in a place where that scenario is likely. At least that way some may survive and become the next hunting ground for a yet unknown young fruit enthusiast who will be excited to explore and identify what remains. By then, some of the varieties I grow will be old indeed, and all the joy that grafting and growing an old heirloom variety brings will live on. Everything old becomes new again.

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I think about this all the time … we are on 3/4 acre and have now about 70 trees: apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, persimmon, etc.
However, we will have to go to a ranch and ‘downsize’ in the next coming years so as to have our bedroom on the ground floor, and not trip and fall down stairs. {and start a new orchard somewhere} So like @ILParadiseFarm, I also worry that the next owner will chop down all our babies and make a golf course, and somehow be happy lookin at grass. I must admit, pruning, spraying, bagging and puttering around in the orchard consumes allot of time. But it beats just plan old grass.

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I would remove everything that bears fruit…probably plant a nice oak tree as a yard tree…maybe leave a few of my conifers.

I know a guy…he was debating upgrading some old wiring in an old farm house…he told me that he wasn’t doing it because that doesn’t sell a house…only thing that matters these days is granite counter tops. I just shook my head.

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One word Rob: Shiplap. Whatever that is.

Eh, as long as the old wiring is still functional and there isn’t an active problem, I probably wouldn’t replace it either. I’d have an electrician give it a look over, maybe install some GFCIs in the bathrooms and kitchens, but as long as the circuit breakers or fuses continue to work and the wiring is still intact, I don’t see why it should be replaced just to replace it. Especially since a job like that might cost $12,000. And while it might be nice for the seller to know the electrical wiring has all been redone, I’m thinking you’d be lucky to get half of that money back when you go to sell it.