Help me pick a few more fruit trees

General Fruit Growing
#21

Thanks Kevin, for a “novel” reply, hah.

Well, your success with the supposed forbidden fruits of KY is encouraging, especially with cherries and nects. We’re not really into plums or apricots, so we won’t have to worry about those.

If I had to say what we wanted to add to our fruit plantings are prob some blueberries, raspberries, Asian pears, a few more peaches, maybe some nects.

We have wild blackberries, some raspberries, and yesterday while digging drainage channels in the apple orchard, I came across some wild strawberries. Not many, but that was cool. Tried one, was a bit small and tart. So my wife and I were searching in those weeds for some more. Found some plants, but no fruit on them.

We also have maybe 3 old apple trees, but don’t know variety for sure. Wife says they might be Milam’s. The fruit was really small, but that’s because they hadn’t been thinned enough. Most of the fruit was too high anyway to get too. They really need to be pruned drastically.

We planted about 20 strawberry plants earlier this week, don’t know how they do, doubt that they’ll produce anything this year.

Wife said they had gooseberry bushes on the farm, but they were done away with years ago. There were also some apple and plum trees that succumbed to some kind of sudden blight maybe 15 years ago.

We are in NE Ky close to the Grayson area, BTW.

End of novella #2.

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#22

Yeah, I’m close to a lot of history here. A lot of bad stuff went down around here. I live in an 1840s townhouse. The churches on my street acted as triage hospitals for Civil War casualties.

I’ve tried to visit ACN but they are exclusively mail-order. Occassionally they will host special events by invitation only.

Boyer’s is close by and they accept visitors, so I often go there.

#23

Must be kinda cool to surrounded by so many historical sites, even though I guess for someone who’s been there a while, the novelty wears off.

I checked out Boyer’s website, and if it’s the place near Cashtown, PA, looks like a fine place to get a fruit, or other, tree. Very nice variety to pick from, especially apples and peaches. Must be nice to have so many fine nurseries close by. Prob lots of quality orchards around there, too.

We’re maybe looking to add some blueberry plants maybe next year; you seem to have many, what are the ones that have done well for you? I would like to get some plants, but it’s prob too late to get them now, plus I’m sure my soil would need to be amended, prob not acidic enough.

#24

Ochlockonee rabbiteye has done really well for me- producing late-season blueberries, from August until as late as October, which surprises me as my orchard is far north for a rabbiteye. It cross-pollinates with Vernon or Climax. I got good bushes from Ison’s.

Boyer’s is a great place; the stock and produce is excellent; and the people are friendly. But their customer service (follow through) is sub-par. Their website is outdated, but has helpful reference information. You need to call for their catalog around New Year’s. It changes every year. And you have to hound them to stay on top of your order. But they have top-notch stuff. They allow folks to pick up orders onsite if they wish to save on shipping expenses.

White Oak Nursery is also close by. Another hidden gem. Gotta call for their catalog. Top quality.

#25

I’ve always wanted to visit Kentucky. The only state east of the Mississippi River I still have not yet visited. I’ve read books about the life and times of Daniel Boone (like me, another Pennsylvanian originally), and all the natural wonders there.

#26

Thanks for the blueberry rec’s. We have wild blackberries and raspberries growing on the farm. The BB’s are quite widespread, I actually had to take some out when I was plowing a new tomato patch. But, there are plenty left over. My wife picked a bunch a couple years ago, and made jelly out of them.

The raspberries are less numerous, not enough to can, and are really tart. I would like to get some new plants of those, too.

She went to Ohio a couple weeks ago to visit some of her kinfolk, and they sent her back home with about 20 strawberry plants. So, we got those in the ground this week, but I don’t know what type they are, and doubt they’d produce any this year. Found some wild SB’s in my apple patch, which is cool, but they are really small.

Wife recently built a grape arbor for some vines growing down by the barn. I don’t know if they’re wild or not, but they’ve got little clusters starting up on them, as well as the blackberries.

There’s also some old apple trees on site, two of them have bloomed and set fruit, the other did not. The old trees are really tall (20’+), and desperately need pruning. They produced a lot of fruit, but it was very small, but this year I’m going to thin out the clusters I can reach. If there’s 5-6 fruitlets per cluster, how many should be removed?

She said they’re called Milam’s. Haven’t seen to much info on the variety, but found this on them. Have you or anyone else reading this seen or heard of them?

http://www.milaminvirginia.com/milam_apple.html

The berry plants I’m wanting will have to wait until next year. I need to figure out where they’re going, and get samples of the soil, and then amend it, if necessary. We have the space, just need to plan it out.

My energies have been used to get our fruit and nut trees in the ground, plus our usual spring gardening chores. I’ve been hardening off about 50 tomato plants this week, and will need to get another 20 tom’s and 20 or so pepper plants ready soon after. We started those inside in March in peat pellets, and been growing them under lights since. Would like to get those in the ground soon, but the rains have been hampering that, soil’s too wet for that now.

Are you doing any veggie gardens along with your fruit efforts?

Yes, KY is beautiful, I’ve seen quite a bit of it, especially the Lexington to Louisville areas. Plus, seen a lot of the western parts as we go that way when we go back to OK to see my kin. Ive heard the most scenic parts are down in the SE section, but I haven’t been down to see that.

Speaking of Boone, there is a Fort Boonesborough down in that area, you might like to check that out if you’re ever in this neck of the woods: