Once sooty blotch is there, about the only thing you can do is rub it off with a doobie pad and some baking soda. Goldrush is the ultimate magnet for it but it fortunately doesn’t effect flavor, although unscrubbed apples just get worse in storage.
Hello everyone. I’m very excited to have found this forum. After lurking around the forum and taking in as much of the advice that I could find I figured it was time that I pulled the trigger and officially joined. So here I am!
To be completely honesty I am a complete neophyte when it comes to growing fruit trees. I have some experience growing fig trees (in the ground and in containers) and I have been vegetable gardening since I was a child, but I have zero experience with running an orchard - backyard or otherwise. This fall I put in 7 fruit trees in raised beds (plums, apricots, pears and a cherry) and am hoping that things go okay (or at least not disastrously bad). My wife and I also have some raspberries, currants and gooseberries that we have been growing for some time along with all of our veggies.
It would be great to meet someone with any experience growing fruit trees in Zone 7 - I live in the Richmond area. My wife is German and one of the things we would love to grow are the various euro plums she grew up with (mirabelles, etc.). Any advice on growing euro plums in my part of the world would be highly appreciated.
Hopefully in a few years I can actually give some helpful advice. Thank you all for being so gracious with your knowledge and experience.
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Welcome Paul, to the forum. If you are in Richmond, VA, I think your closest forum members may be @JustAnne4, and there are others, like @scottfsmith, @Matt_in_Maryland, @hambone, who are in Maryland, and @blueberrythrill in NC. Not too close to you in distance, but prob will have similar growing conditions to yours.
I’m new at this too, but the folks on here are very helpful and welcoming, and the best part is all the advice is free! I started some fruit and nut trees here on our farm in Kentucky this spring, and learned a lot from people on here.
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Welcome, Paul! I think you’re going to enjoy the forum. We have a fair number of folks that are in your general area, so you’ll get lots of great advice, no doubt. I noticed in your comment that you said you put in “a cherry”. Just checking to see if your cherry tree is a self-pollinated. If not, you may want to plant an appropriate a cross- pollinator, so you get fruit. I have 4 Mirabelles in my yard, but I’m out in S. California, so can’t give you any advice on how they would grow in your area, but one of our list members did have several Mirabelles north of you, and grew them very successfully (mrsg47). Hopefully, she’ll reply to your welcome post and give you some advice on them. She is no longer living in the states, but she’s experienced with Mirabelles on the east coast of the USA.
Patty S.
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Welcome Paul
The variety of cherry that I planted is “Black Gold” and it is supposed to be self-pollinating. Hopefully that is the case!
It’s wonderful to hear that someone has had success with Mirabelles on the East Coast. Hopefully I can get in touch with them at some point in time.
Thank you for the warm greetings Patty!
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Welcome Paul! I am in Maryland and have been growing Mirabelles. The main problem with European plums is they will rot on the tree as they ripen if you are not very diligent at that point about spraying. It takes 3-5 years for the rot spores to build up so often it looks easy at the start, but in a few years it turns impossible! The second problem is curculio, they usually find your tree earlier. You need to get a specialized spray for the rot, for example Monterey Fungi-Flighter.
My favorite is Reine des MIrabelles, its not exactly a Mirabelle though, its more like a Gage plum.
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Welcome aboard!
I’m adding to Scott’s comments as I grow Mirabelles as well, and I am in zone 7a RI. Mold is a problem, but Monterey FF really works. I spray for fungus and curcs, religiously or else I wouldn’t have one piece of fruit. My biggest ‘fear factor’ with all fruit in our zone is late frost. Last spring we had a killling frost, and my 40 tree orcharch had little to no fruit. Happens!
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Big D! I have bumped into many of the folks on this thread via NAFEX and elsewhere - so glad to find you here. Thanks for sending your articles - good to see you out and about doing what you are good at.
I’ve eliminated 7 apples from this yard -2 on the way out next winter, and am picky. Things need to handle our weather and low humidity. In a few more years I’ll have some really interesting apples for you to try. Maybe you already have them on your branches!
Nutting Bumpus is an apple, seedling of Duchess of Oldenburg and arising in the state of Maine, to my understanding. If some people look it up and seek it out, that is a worthy goal to me. I’ve yet to have the pleasure, either to go to Maine or try Nutting Bumpus.
After most of the five kids were grown the idea came to me to try raising a couple apple trees in my big back yard. That was about fall of 2007. None of the original purchases remain here. Several languished here and later died at the hands of others to whom I gave them, hoping a higher elevation or better soil would make the difference in sustaining the tree and yielding fruit. One I sold, after deciding something else cried to take up that spot.
Keeping ducks out back several years enriched the soil so that the turf has a 5 to 6 inch deep root mass. They were good for most things, although blueberries still merely cling to life.
Apart from Dave Benscoter, no one is growing any of the apples I have chosen in eastern Washington. Some day I hope to compare notes with him. The great challenge here is finding cultivars that can handle our low humidity and ripen fruit in 150 days or less. People will try growing Fuji and Granny Smith and seem puzzled they never come ripe.
I do not spray, although I tried some calcium, meant for tomato blossom end rot, in a hose attachment on Sturmer Pippin last summer. I’ve crushed eggshells and spread them around its base for worms to drag down. I do that for all my apples, but Sturmer seems to need it most so far.
Since I hope to devote more time and energy to writing, I am looking for fruit that require little time and effort apart from what can be expected seasonally. Redfleshed and russeted may not even need to be wrapped in footies against coddling moth.
I want to build two nest boxes for violet-green swallows, the most common of their kind in these parts. Once they reside here, they might take care of most coddling moths. That is my kind of pest control.
Those cultivars that are in place now are the result of copious reading: Morgan, Facker, Burford, Manhart, Bunker, Watson, Merwin, Swenson, Jacobsen, Bultitude, Coxe, Beach, Alworth and others whose names escape me just now. Most apples here are multi-purpose. Médaille d’Or is the exception, and I hope our summers will promote ripening so it yields in time. If not, Dabinett will probably get top-worked onto it.
I relied heavily on NAFEX and still keep up with it via Facebook, along with the North American Scion Exchange. Sometimes I dabbled in other furims: HOS and the predecessors to this site.
Thank you again for your efforts, Scott.
Two of the trees out back are from cleft grafts I made in '12. Lest you think I am adept at grafting, however, the take rate in top-working has been disappointing so far.
Spokane has some advantages over other areas in that most disease and insect pressure is light. I am thankful. Planting Edelborsdorfer, which dates to 1175 in Germany, makes me feel like a youngster!
DaveL
Hi all from the foothills of Denver Colorado. After reading many of the posts on this forum, I may have some interesting challenges ahead of me. Thanks to everybody so far with such great support and the info I have learned on GF. Hopefully my backyard orchard can survive!
Before moving to the western part of the Denver metro, we used to live in East Denver. Here is where my wife and I were out walking the neighborhood and came across somebody’s urban backyard orchard…apples, plums, peaches plus many more trees I wasn’t able to identify while peering over their fence. This is where I came to the realization that growing fruit in Denver was a possibility. That spring I planted two apple trees and one pear, espaliered given the limited space we had on our lot. Unfortunately, before any harvests, we had to move. I was able to grow two very small pears though 
. (my wife made fun of me by saying I finally grew a pair/pear)
Fortunate for us, we were able to score a suburban house with a fairly large backyard up along the Denver foothills. Immediately I plotted what we could possibly grow. Our new house was a few degrees cooler given the higher elevation putting us on the fringe of 5a. Also, we went from the heavy clay soil of Denver to more a sandy clay that is hard as a rock. Some other challenges we now face are the abundance of deer and Elk in the area. Deer will eat leaves, but the Elk will eat any young, unprotected trees down to a nub. I’m persistent so we will see how our new orchard does. Late frosts, erratic temperature swings, and hail will all be a concern as well.
After moving into the new house, I planted some apple and pear trees. Surprisingly, I found a neighbor of ours that had successfully grown a peach tree with a healthy yield. I have now added peach trees, apricots, and cherries to the mix. Only time will tell if all these tress will survive and produce. Our trees are now 2 years since planting and about 6-7 ft tall. All of them are fenced in with 5ft welded wire, ~4ft diameter rings.
For those truly interested, here is what we are growing:
Suncrisp, Honeycrisp, Ben Davis
Bartlett, D’Anjou, Red Sensation
Goldcott, Sungold
Contender, Redhaven (potted, paid a whopping $5 for it!)
Montmorency, BlackGold
Persian Lime and Clementine… indoors in the winter.
I’m looking forward to sharing our experience and continuing to learn from everybody contributing to the forum. Thanks again and see you soon!
Dan
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BTW, here is my very optimistic fruit harvest schedule. This may take a few more years, and a bit of luck to achieve.
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Welcome aboard. Looks like you are already on the road to some great fruit days ahead.
Foothills,
Welcome aboard. I am in zone 6a, formerly 5b. My Honey Crisp ripens around mid Sept to early Oct.
You are in a colder zone. Not sure if your HC could ripen in mid Aug. that is the ripening time of my William!s Pride, an early apple.
I like the Lady in Pink even if she isn’t pink
Welcome foothills grower! My grandparents were in Fort Collins and they did very well with sour cherries and peaches. I still remember climbing the tree as a kid to pick the fruits high up, and helping my grandmother can the peaches.
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Welcome Foothills. I am in your neck of the woods, a bit north and probably up hill from you. What elevation and exposure is your place?
I am at 8300’ W of Boulder, and have had good luck so far with a variety of apples, a couple of pears, sour cherries, apricots, and some berries. I have not had any luck with peaches, so if they grow and fruit in your locale I’d think you are a bit warmer and lower down than me.
Deer and elk (and the occasional moose or bear) can be a problem here. I started out with 5’ wide concrete reinforcing wire mesh cut from rolls and made into a circle around my trees. You need to stake them in our winds, but they mostly eliminate the deer and elk damage (still need to contend with voles and gophers). Their main advantage is they are cheap, the rusted metal is not as noticeable as shiny wire fence, and they are easily moved or expanded.
Good Luck. Looking forward to comparing notes.
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Like a moth to a flame, I am attracted to this group! I hope I can catch on to the format. Residing in NE Indiana on 4-1/2 acres. Growing mostly disease resistant apples.
Previous memberships: NAFEX, Midfex, Indiana Fruit and Nut Growers. Tiring of travel, started Three Rivers Fruit Grower Club with some local friends. That club has become a very satisfying adventure. Learned grafting from the good folks of Midfex 10 years ago.
Growing B9 rootstock. Teach grafting workshops locally. Topwork my original big-box store trees and for friends and neighbors. Never met a fruit grower I didn’t like. Nice to have found you.
Scott.
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