At this stage I’m just eagerly awaiting the day when anything will reach head-high! I’m not too worried about the mulberry, but I can see the hardy kiwis becoming a problem if I ever have to leave for an extended period of time. I’ve also heard the argutas can take many years to come into bearing, and might only be marginally hardy here in zone 4. So I might end up digging those out eventually.
Welcome Nate! When is your 1st hard freeze? Length if growing season and heat unitsnwill effect your chooces. You have some trees like gold rush that are late season and may not ripen properly.
Thanks for the note @noogy. We’re typically frost-free in the twin cities from early May to early October. According to weatherspark our average growing season is 171 days with around 2800 growing degree days above 50 F.
A nearby orchard (Sweetland) is growing Gold Rush, and it has ripened early enough for them most years. I planted it right against the south side of my house hoping that will help. The persimmon is also questionable here, but I’ve read that Meader ripens in zone 4 Vermont so figured it was worth a try. Pawpaws are experimental too. The initial 3 I ordered from OneGreenWorld all died in their first season, but I have 2 seedlings from Oikos that survived the winter. I added 3 more seedlings from Perfect Circle Farms (link) this spring.
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Hi There,
Please let me remind everyone that this is the Introduction thread.
Any questions and answers about growing fruit, please kindly move them to the Growing Fruit category. You can create a new thread or join existing threads in that category.
This thread is very long already. Thank you for your cooperation.
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Good luck! Oikos would be a good source as they were previously zone 5b. There are other people here that are up north. Sweet sixteen and honeycrisp are from Minnesota I believe. And I was told HC is scab resistant? I dont grow so I dont know. 
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Hello all,
My name is Django. My wife and I acquired our first home at the end of last year. The yard was over grown so I have had a lot of fun clearing and making it ours. My goal is to plant a edible yard while still making it fun for our 4 year old.
My goal:
Cara Cara Orange Tree (Existing)
Lime Tree (Existing)
Mystery Apple Tree (Existing)
Mystery Avocado (Existing)
Meyer Lemon (Recent Addition)
4-n-1 Pear Tree: D’Anjou, Bartlett, Bosc, Comice (Recent Addition)
Fuerte Avocado (Future)
Glenn Mango (Future)
Other things: raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, more……
My Lemon is thriving, I love it
My Pear is hurting, I asked for help, please check my other post.
I also have issues with the Existing Avocado.
I would love the community to help offer input. I’m determined to make it work.
Thank you, and I look forward to growing (knowledge and fruit wise) with you all.
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Hello Group,
I’m Shannon from Western North Carolina. I’m new to growing fruit but have already learned a lot while lurking around growingfruit. I decided to move back East from the Southwest for a number of reasons, one of those being to find steady rain and mild temperatures.
Once we found our house and property in 2020, we decided to start planting cherries and berries. The previous owners had already planted grapes and apples. In 2022 we added bush cherries, cherry plums, another grape and figs. We are excited about the future and learning as we go.
-Shannon
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Welcome. Hendersonville is nice country, and famously good for apple growing. I lived nearby (Asheville) for some years.
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The best Honeycrisp apple I’ve had in some 15 years came from a roadside market in Hendersonville.
Evidently hops is a successful crop there in Mills River.
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Hi there! I stumbled across this forum trying to figure out if some grape tomatoes my mom had in her garden were really Brad’s Atomic Grape. Seems like a nice place so I’ll stick around because there appears to be a lot of people with a lot more experience than me and I’m eager to learn all I can about growing anything I can!
My name is Julie. I’m originally from northeast Arkansas. I’ve lived over in the Rockies most of the last decade between Montana and Wyoming. Hubs is from central Montana. Now we’re back in northeast Arkansas after Covid kind of shut his job down for a while. This is my first year really getting into gardening, and I’m finding a lot of fascination learning about larger scale agriculture and arboriculture. My dad was a farmer while I was growing up, so I’ve got a background in it, but never really felt super interested outside of enjoyment of driving tractors for him.
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Hi from Maryland zone 6b/7
Great site! I’ve been searching for info on planting fruit trees and I kept finding myself in this forum. I realized that the info here directly from growers is better, so I decided to join.
I love fruit but have little gardening experience. We have 4.5 acres. The property when purchased had 1 very productive pear tree and two apple trees, which flowered last year for the first time after a lot of care to the tree and area. In the last year, a lot of fruiting plants have been planted: pawpaws, serviceberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, Arkansas Black apple, Honeycrisp apple, native hazelnut, Ruby Queen plum, and also a chicago hardy fig is soon to be planted. And we have a Calamondine in a container, and have some ground cherry seeds so maybe this winter we will try to grow one in our small greenhouse.
We want to add more but prefer low/lower maintenance trees so we are thinking of adding: 2 jujubes, 2-3 Asian pears, 1-2 mulberry, 1 melon berry, maybe 1 more apple, 1 persimmons and maybe Goji, maybe pomegranate. We wanted peaches and a nectaplum but are too concerned about the maintenance.
Any suggestions on trees to plant for zone 6b/7, especially ones that don’t require a lot of maintenance like spraying, etc would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Ari
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You might be able to do pecan trees. Once you get them going, you just have to worry about digging up any saplings they drop. But you do have to have 2 different kinds (not varieties, just pollination Type I and Type II) to get them to produce. Arkansas Black apples are about the best pie apples I’ve ever made a pie from, and I’m not just saying that as an Arkansan!
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@MD6b welcome to the forum, I am in the same zone as you and our low to no maintenance fruits are Figs, Jujubes, Mulberry, Paw Paw and Persimmons. one more… Haskap berry is also no maintenance and very productive.
We use arkansas black in our pies to. We also use Giant turnbull pears for pies and they are = to ark blacks
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Welcome Ari,
This Introduction category is reserved for introduction only.
Any additional inquiry you may have, please create a new thread or post in other category as appropriate. Thank you.
Welcome Julie; glad you have joined us!
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Glad to be here! I’ve used this forum in the past when doing research on hardy figs, hybrid persimmons, and Pawpaw cultivars. I planted an apple orchard back in 15’ and it’s been a great learning experience. I’ve been growing pawpaws for several years now. My goal is to start an Orchard and Nursery. I’ve been lucky to visit KSU several times, the Ohio Pawpaw festival, and England’s Orchard to try several new cultivars. I have more orchard trips planned, so If you have a pawpaw or persimmon orchard I’d love to see it!
It’s always nice to be able to see what other folks are growing and get some wisdom from someone else’s experience. Looking forward to seeing what other folks are growing and what’s working for them!
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Hello from CT!! Just wanted to say thanks to all the members sharing great advise and knowledge!! I’ve been lurking and learning daily, Fantastic site!!!
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What do you do in, CT.
What are your interest ?
Welcome aboard !
Thanks!
Aside from gardening and growing fruit I love to fish, both fresh and saltwater! I’ve been slowly converting my couple acres from grass to edible foods and have never had more fun!!
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