Anyone care to share their experiences with the least problematic fruit that you can grow in the Northeast, or Grow zone 6? Anything goes. Don’t want to spray for pests, and sick of losing fruit.
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Watermelons, pawpaws… maybe blueberries and mulberries if your problem pests don’t include birds.
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Bugs! Birds suck too. But the damn plum curculio is the worst! Mulberries is a good one. Leaning toward Asian fruit.
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strawberries, summer bearing raspberries, currants, blueberries, blackberries, haskaps and gooseberries require very little care against bugs. birds/ squirrels are another story.
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Yep, guess I have to focus on those. I can’t catch a break. It took a year or two before I was found out and now just a about every damn peach, apricot, nectarine, plum and cherry is damaged.
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persimmons
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Currents and elrerberries grow well in zone 6.
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Another vote for various berries, pawpaw, and persimmon. The only issues I have with berries are SWD and birds. You can get past SWD by planting ones that ripen earlier in the season. I’m trying to outproduce what the birds can eat.
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Asian leaning? Jujubes. Get Honey Jar and Contorted ( for aesthetic looking) or Honey Jar and Sugar Cane varieties.
Care free. Fruit fast and tasty.
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I just got honey jar and sugar cane, once I know for sure that they will produce and consistently here I think I’ll be replacing some of the traditional fruit trees with jujubes.
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More specifically, American persimmons. Asians will have hardiness issues.
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You probably know this, jujubes need full sun than any other fruit trees to produce crops. Also, plant them close like 8-10 ft apart.
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Since no one has mentioned them:
Ground/husk cherry?
Rodents like them, but we’ve had no insect, disease, or bird problems so far.
Figs?
You might be able to grow them in-ground with winter protection in 6B, or there’s always container culture. Though that may be taking us out of “least problematic” territory…
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Where are you in zone 6 b?
For pawpaws and American persimmons (even Asian persimmons), it’s best if you can have a taste of them first. Not everyone like pawpaw’s taste or texture (or both). Same goes with persimmon.
In fact, jujubes, too.
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If he’s in southern New England he mught want to visit Rocky Point Farm in the fall to try pawpaw.
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Go for a JT-O2 hybrid persimmon. Does great in zone 6, tastes excellent, and naturally grows in a compact form that’s easy to maintain.
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Where did you find that persimmon to purchase?
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A few miles from Lake Ontario
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A have a few pawpaw trees growing, not fruited yet. They’re about 5 years old from seed. Hopefully next year. I have tried jujubes before. Just not the ones I’m growing. I put those in mostly from what I’ve read about taste.
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