what places sell good quality trees that ship to WA? my aunt and uncle are elderly and no longer can garden so they are living vicariously through me and mine, and have volunteered to buy a tree or two for the place.
I’d like to get honey jar jujubes, maybe a pair, at least one good sized harrow delight, and any quince that’s good for pie or fresh eats if possible. one that’ll do good out here, high desert so very hot, very cold, dry in summer wet in winter.
I have a good spot for the jujubes that gets full, full sun and is drought most of the summer. also plan to put the pear across from apples. the quince I’m less sure about, I’m growing small thorny quince from seed that are about a foot tall right now, but no idea if they’ll fruit or are showy flower quince. not sure what they need and need to read up to decide where they’ll go.
any suggestions on where to pick up these would be good. I have no root stock for any so it’ll have to be trees, and maybe a few scions the following year to make variety.
I don’t quite have the climate for jujube or quince. Jujube needs a very long hot season and while hot it is not super long only lasting between May and October or November. With quince I just don’t see it easily surviving my cold winters of zone 5. Most of what I have gotten that grows in my zone grows well from there. All my hazelnut are alive, all my apples are alive, my almond is alive, my green gage is alive, my spice zee nectaplum is alive (hopefully it survives the winter) and my tri lite peach plum is alive but has not put out too much growth, my snowbank blackberries are still alive. Only thing I see really not come out of dormancy was one almond and their thimbleberries are not doing the best but I have struggled with thimbleberries from other companies. I think thimbleberries just like it more wet than I can provide here.
I might give them a go. honey jar should be fine where I am- may to October, full blasting heat and sun.
I’m in 6b so it gets a little warm, a little longer. but our winters are extreme cold. the dry here, I don’t even try with things like thimble berries! I know they won’t make it even if I’m watering daily
harrow delight. I meant to say harrow delight. palm to forehead
I’d suggest GrowOrganic for a Honey Jar. I’ve bought from them 3 times and each order was quality trees. I’ve bought from OGW as well and there is no comparison. The only way I buy stuff from OGW is if the variety is only sold there (like their new Confetti and Empress Gee). The OGW trees have been in 1 gal pots and about 18" tall, while the GO trees have been in the 5/8" - 3/4" range and ~3’ tall (they’s be much taller, but have to be cut to fit in the box).
Here’s a pic of one of my orders:
I’m not sure if OGW’s bare root trees are any bigger than their potted ones (all I’ve gotten), but I’d go with GO instead.
I agree that Cummins is good for Harrow Delight. Grandpa’s Orchard and ACN would also be good choices, Though I would go with Harrow Sweet instead of Harrow Delight.
And I’d skip the Quince entirely - one of my quince rootstocks grew very large and I was left looking at 2" long needles…And quince isn’t even good for fresh eating. A 2nd jujube would do nicely. From what Grow Organic has, I’d suggest a Sugar Cane. As crisp as Honey Jar and larger fruit.
Honey Jar is a bit more precocious, but Sugar Cane can really produce when it gets going. Here are Sugar Canes from 2 different properties that I took pics of today.
Most of this tree is Sugar Cane (with a few grafts, such as Dae Sol Jo and Texas Tart). It’s the one on the right. This one was planted in spring 2017 from Trees of Antiquity (they are good as well, but don’t sell Honey Jar).
Note the haw on the left in the pic above- the thorny rootstock had grown almost as large as the tree. I guess the thorns are a good way to make me notice…
You may want to water a bit, at least to get it/them established the first few years. And it would be a good idea to mulch it well (and incorporate some organic matter into the soil if you are feeling ambitious).
great info thank you! I’m after small fruit not big with the jujube and will be putting in two. I love quince personally so that’s why I want it haha
I’ll definitely try to get my honey jar from there if they’ve got an appreciable size difference it’s worth it. they’ll be getting dedicated mounds with plenty of good soil, and water until they settle in- in the long run though, they’ll be dry and hot all summer
. edit why harrow sweet instead? I’m going for resilient, less maintenance the better- not sweet fruit.
Honey Jar is small, Sugar Cane is mid-sized. Li, Shanxi Li, Dae Sol Jo, Redland, etc are much bigger than Sugar Cane.
The two trees in my previous post have been watered 2 and 1 times so far this summer until today (I watered both). We’ve had 0.62" of rain this month and not much more than that last month, other than a single day 3" storm. I bet that they would still do OK even without the water, but I suspect that they wouldn’t be able to hold as much fruit.
But, the jujubes I have planted at places with poor soil didn’t grow at all in 3-4 years, even with normal rainfall (and produced almost no fruit). Now that I’ve been adding leaf compost and watering every week or two, they are starting to grow. So a lot will come down to the site and how you plant them.
Not only does HS make better fruit than HS (IMO), I think it is easier to grow as well. I always have trouble with summer pears. Something steals them, YJ damage, and they go bad either on the tree or soon after picking. HS is a bit later (September vs August) and is also quite productive/precocious.
But you should see what others say- I feel a lot more confident in my jujube opinions than I do on pears, which I’m only growing in a few locations (and with occasional success). I actually prefer Asian pears (Korean Giant in particular) over Euro. Easier to know when to pick, and they stay crisp for a long time in storage.
@BobVance OGW has a nice selection, but the Jujube I bought from them were tiny. Like less than a foot. Their bare root are larger, but still small. I saw the pics you posted of TOA and they looked pretty good. Jujube prices are skyrocketing everywhere though.
@resonanteye Most everyone says quince are fire blight magnets. I wanted one two, but not enough to fight that stuff.
My jujube never grew as well. I got plenty of suckers but no growth above the tree. I never got growth above the tree though. In fact the tree looked part dead when I got it. I got it from someone on Etsy. For pears and apples I like later varieties. There is so much during the summer time that is good but very perishable. Cherries, Plums, apricots and peaches all ripen July through August. Euro plums and maybe pluerry ripen in the fall but those are the only perishable fruit to ripen in the fall. With pears and apples you can store them months and in some cases like with apples you can store them a year. In other words in my opinion assuming you have the space for other trees the later ripening pears are better. Some of the sweetest varieties like Comice, Magness and Warren are winter pears and later ripening.
most of what I have now is fall ripening, apples, euro plum, fig. I only get a few strawberries and raspberries in summer so anything that gets ripe early is good, so I think that makes me lean to HD not hsweet.
quince is my personal failing I really want to eat it so I’m gonna take the risk. I do have concerns and there’s a thread on it here that really sounds like they’re misery to grow, but I want some so I’ll try it.
are there other good high desert fruit trees that are early ripe? I haven’t seen too many. my cherries get destroyed so I won’t do those again and peaches just never seem to get enough warm, not blazing dry heat here
Honestly there are so many trees and bushes if you count the more rare ones but some grow easier than others. Mulberry grow very well and ripen around July here but are super perishable. Apricot tend to produce early on and with the sweet pit apricot you can get a nut and a apricot in one fruit. Peach has a long season from July to end of season depending on variety. Not sure when Paw Paw produce but they need a lot of water. Asian plums ripen weeks before euro plums. Pluots ripen all season. Most nuts ripen in fall. What I have kind of learned as time has gone on is your fall crops are your staple crops and your summer crops are you fill in crops though. Euro plums are a lot sweeter than your Asian plum, apples and pears save so long with pears lasting into the New Year and many apples lasting for a year with the right cultivar, persimmon hang on the tree into the new year, hazelnut is a bush that is mostly perishable after cracking and is a shade tolerant bush, etc. Many people like my mom are concerned about a early frost wiping things out that don’t ripen before September where I live but I am more worried about a late frost than a early frost. Early frosts are more rare than a frost in the summer. That is why peaches and apricots while growing well here struggle with producing here unless they are later varieties or have a frost resistant flower.
- one of my quince rootstocks grew very large and I was left looking at 2" long needles…And quince isn’t even good for fresh eating. A 2nd jujube would do nicely. From what Grow Organic has, I’d suggest a Sugar Cane. As crisp as Honey Jar and larger fruit.
