I live in Canada, but I have an extremely mild (9b) winter climate. I always prefer to plant in the fall. However, according to Abraham Lincoln you can’t always believe things you read on the internet, (I think he was referring to Facebook).
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We’re definitely on opposite ends of the spectrum here! Of course, I don’t like it if someone is acting entitled to free stuff, but usually to my mind the more people who enjoy my hobby the better, and I’ve nearly always got more cuttings and suckers than I can handle if my plants are doing well. So I like to lower the gateway for newbies with my excess stuff. I’m also pretty active in the Buy Nothing groups and have gotten and given a lot of things that way over time.
Actually just gave away three enormous ornamental bushes to an old guy with a spade and pickup truck! I had been thinking about removing them for forever, but I hated the thought of digging them up or using stump remover or killing them. He had them out in an hour and a half, for free, without me ever touching a spade, and I know they’ll be happy on his property.
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Haven’t used facebook in over a decade. Only good thing i’ve seen it used for is selling stuff.
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you can’t always believe things you read on the internet, (I think he was referring to Facebook).
Dr Ieuean Evans (also a Canadian) (founder of the Evans Cherry) who is a scientist with great credentials in Canada says… “Peach seeds are exact clones of their parents” (also says that nectarines and peaches are the same).
Im not a Dr. and not a plant pathologist, and not a crop scientist and i havent created my own cultivars…
So you would have to have better credentials than him to prove him wrong technically?
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A quick search for apomixis in Peaches yielded nothing of note. They do self pollinate readily though, so by extension would tend to come fairly true from seed. There are stable seed grown lines of peaches too. I’m thinking of some of the rootstocks such as Siberian. Nectarine is generally regarded as a subspecies of peach I believe. I’ve grown peaches from seed and have found ones with almost no fuzz. I grew out seed from a couple of flats of Red Haven peaches from a local orchard and got 2 white fleshed seedlings (so not that true to type!) but they’re both high quality fruit, and one has almost no fuzz, nearly a nectarine.
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To return to this - if they care enough and want to figure it all out, they’ll end up here eventually. I found my way here by google searching endlessly about how to take care of my new fruit trees. I had no idea what to do with them or how to take care of them - but I wanted to.
And because it is DEFINITELY a lot of knowledge and skill, I am very, very grateful to everyone on this forum. Having fruit trees has always been a dream of mine and I’m really glad that I have you all to keep me from messing them all up.
This is brilliant.
I’m going to post and see if anyone wants a few bushes I have that I hate (and some trees). Everyone around here seems to love those hibiscus tree/bushes and I think they’re awful; 75% of the year they look terrible and 20% of the year they’re dropping goey flowers everywhere.
After realizing how clever the 5 rules to reduce maintence thread was - not just the original advice but a ton of the follow up - I’ve been trying to increase mowable area and decrease everything else. I am mulching with wood chips since that’s what seems best for my yard.
ALSO, all you all slamming on young people “these days”. I work with college students and my brother is a high school teacher. I really believe that most of the “kids these days” are hardworking, kind and generous to a fault.
I will say that the last couple of years the students I get seemed pretty messed up from the pandemic “learning” and “school”. Regardless of whether closing schools was necessary (which I don’t care to debate) it happened and many of my students spent over a year of high school isolated and trying to learn online. It seems to have badly affected many. Oddly, my younger nephews (elementary school) don’t really seem to be affected at all anymore - they barely remember it.
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So fairly true (American) means exact clone (Canadian)?
I found it odd on the video because its obviously edited to be sure that his point is clear. Like he went out of his way to say that statement.
Most of the world figures Canadians are exact clones of Americans, but we’re really only cousins, (only more polite).
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Couldn’t agree more on kids these days! I worked part time for an ice cream shop for a few years while I was getting my business off the ground and worked with a lot of really lovely, responsible college-age young adults and teenagers.
Will warn you that you might go through some duds giving away “you dig” plants depending on your area; people not showing up and or coming unprepared! It’s very locality dependent as well. You have to supervise them usually and I always feel too guilty not to grab a shovel, haha. But yes, I’ve found it to mostly be a good way of getting rid of plants I don’t want!
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I have gotten a ton of useful things from that very specific local garden group over the years, and given away a lot of things too. I got cattle panel when I couldn’t go get it- someone brought it! I’ve gotten mulch, horse manure, perennials that people were splitting, rhubarb.
I’ve given away starts, seeds, leftover harvest, pine straw and cones, even traded a pair of shears for someone coming and sharpening like a dozen of my tools for me.
sure there’s people that just take, but I don’t have a problem with it really- plenty of people give and take and it seems fine though a lot of people are flaky about picking things up.
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You are better off for it for sure.
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My grandma loves day Lillies. They have sentimental value to her because they bloom when her mother died. For me I have always had the mindset of they bloom 1 day then go so I can’t justify them as easily. Some people love fruit trees like me while others like my grandma prefer flowers. It is all preference when it comes to gardening. We have had the debate of fruit/veggies vs flowers in this house for years now.
Depends highly on the kid honestly. I do my work as long as I get paid for it. I have had debates with supervisors about getting paid when I am forced to work during my lunch hour due to a last minute customer/customers or employees bothering me to try to get help during my breaks. Other than that I work hard. When I worked at Home Depot I worked with a lot of young people and a lot of old people. Many of them would just kind of Mosey around in both groups and let the few hard workers spin their wheels trying to get everything done. That was in both the young and old groups though and in fairness they were paying people 11 dollars a hour and most people did not see any future there.
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If I may ask a question in facebook format:
Which groups Suck and which ones dont? Help Me
Which are your favorites?/ Least Favorites? Now that we have complained…maybe there are some that are better than others…
Hobby Fruit Growers- I really wish that this would branch off and have a newbie group as well. Every day there is a post of someone that bought a mostly dead tree on clearance and wants the full how to. Also the i just noticed after 30 years that i have an orchard in my backyard post. 20 percent give or take are good posts with good info…but the newbie stuff to me clogs it up.
Stone Fruit Forum (Peaches, Pears, Apples, Plums, Cherries) - Mostly all help me posts… a few selfies of harvests.
NAFEX- Seems to be alot of folks selling their hard to finds … which i like. Good honest questions and answers on things for the most part as well.
Growing Rasps and Blackberries- nothing but ‘help me’ posts for a long time. Alot of flowering and fruiting pics and the poster has no idea the variety… Theres a few good posts here and there.
Backyard Blackberry Growers- redundant to growing rasps… but the posts from a few years ago are very good… those folks are gone.
American Berry Growers- weird group that the moderator acts like The Wizard of OZ. Posting or interacting is like joining a cult…and he is the leader.
Mulberry Growers- if you like mostly seeing pics of stuff you cant ever grow unless you live in the tropics its pretty good.
Fruit Trees Anonymous- THE place for ‘help me’ ‘what is this bug’ ‘can i spray this’ ‘draw a picture where to prune’.
Growing Strawberries- mostly all ‘help me’ posts.
Elderberry Groups- i cant read them anymore. A lady asked what to spray on her ladybugs and her bees because she wants to sell the flowers has me done with it. Too many recipes and strange medical concoctions for me as well.
Edible Ribes (Currant, Gooseberry, Jostaberry) and all other Berries- Good group but not enough members… so its pretty slow.
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Nice summary @krismoriah. Only one problem, you have to be a Facebook member to find and read any of the small percentage of useful posts. Joining Facebook aint never going to happen, so those groups are ALL non-starters IMO.
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well in some ways i dont blame u… there is a workaround that i think im going to do myself. Im going to create a business page for my small nursery/farm and only join the groups that i like…so when i am toggled onto my business side i only get to read and enjoy what i like. Rose colored glasses mode im calling it. 
I have bought alot of stuff from the small nurseries on FB that dont have websites… so if im being honest thats one of my main reasons for even having FB. I like marketplace too… we used to have a local paper called the Ad Bulletin that had everything from chickens to rusty nails for sale… I have bought and sold alot on Marketplace. So its a handy tool for me personally. The local papers are dead… if not for FB i wouldnt even know about some of the u-picks and orchards near me.
If not for FB i wouldnt have about 20 cultivars of things that i grow. Im getting a new cultivar saturday from a very small nursery in the midwest that only sells at his local farmers market… no website, no ebay just FB. Luckily he has Square and we were able to do business. He is happy and so am I.
So yeah FB sucks…but it can be a useful tool if you know how to use it.
Most of it is entertainment not educational nor productive…
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Ain’t that the truth?
Two of the best groups are the jujube group and the chestnut group. You have to wade through some newbie stuff in both, but both groups have very knowledgeable growers and researchers with tons of experience, and many cool photos. You won’t see much nonsensical stuff in either group.
The jujube group is called “Jujube Growers”.
The chestnut group is called “Chestnuts as a tree crop - Castanea species nut trees”.
“Grow All the Fruits” is also an enjoyable group. It focuses a lot on tropical fruits but also has some posts about a variety of temperate climate fruits as well. What makes it a good group is that there are many very knowledgeable fruit tree growers and few nonsensical posts.
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I prefer not to join groups on there that are global or show tropics. I try to only join regional ones or local ones, or groups that cover areas similar to mine
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I tried non regional and regional Facebook group. I think it was gardening for beginners and Colorado Gardening. Colorado gardening was and is pretty good because there are local people who have grown things here for years. There are some transplants but they learn. You still get the picture for attention or what is this post but that is the extent of it. For the beginner gardening group I was not very engaged in it because it was too broad. I don’t know if I was kicked out due to inactivity or left.
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As Grouch Marx once said " “I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members.”.
No great loss there.