Bob, you have one hella of a list of fruit trees. That’s awesome. I was thinking of getting a Flavor King and an Emerald Drop plout trees. Do you have clay soil too? My soil is like cement when it’s dry but it drains.
I just got done pruning, mulching, watering, and dusting the trees off with diatomaceous earth to get rid of the aphids. It was relaxing. I never understood why my family growing up liked gardening. A few years ago, I visited my mother and she had planted fruit trees. She picked apples off her Fuji tree even though they weren’t ripe and I was blown away b/c I’ve never tasted an apple so good.
I found Kevin’s site online and bought his ebook and then I got hooked. Bought a few trees from Kevin (some I threw away b/c I left them in small pots too long and I though they were dead but now i know they were just dormant). After I finally rototilled my side yard, I planted them a year later and they survived. I even let low side branches grow out even though I knew I should have pruned them but was too excited to get them on my M111. They were pruned off today.
Now I am trying to fight off the rabbits and the neighborhood squirrel (one crafty one). I setup a trap but he managed to avoided it. I was so upset at that one squirrel b/c he was responsible for eating my pomegranates just before they were ready to be picked. He eats them right on the tree and takes a big bite and goes to the next one.
I planted my trees about 6 feet apart. I read that the M111 is 80% of a standard and that scared me b/c I planted them so close together and about four feet from my side wall. I know i can keep them from getting too tall with pruning but I don’t want stumpy looking trees. Anyhow, I’m very inexperience to all this.