Just moved to Odessa, TX for my wife’s job teaching at UTPB. We bought 4 pecan trees, a pomegranate, and a persimmon with an old house attached. I brought ~100 containerized trees & shrubs salvaged from my forest garden in Albuquerque: 4 y/o seedlings of Iowa Indian white peaches, 3 y/o seedlings of Robada apricot, 7 rooted cuttings of various figs, 18 rooted cuttings of various grapes, a 3y/o seedling of Honey Jar jujube that has small but very sweet fruit, 3 Auburn Roadside plum grafts, a chokecherry from the Sandia Mountains, and Nanking cherry seedlings. Also, after 4 years of failed takes, I managed to successfully graft the road apple I found in the Sandias that has a deliciously old-time flavor. I collected scions from water sprouts in late January and got 2 of the 4 grafts to take. Now I am busy watering them all the transplants in to combat the heat. Many have scorched leaves but new growth sprouting. My goal is to grow a forest garden similar to the one we left in Albuquerque (those fruit trees actually sold the house for us there). Suggestions for this west Texas climate are welcome.
Already have made 2 pecan pies from the dropped nuts. The pomegranate had 2 dozen or so flowers, but no fruit developed. Any ideas why? And the persimmon has relatively small fruits which turn bluish as they drop. I have never been around persimmon trees before so not sure how to handle the fruit, at least the one the squirrels leave.
I’m in Alpine which climatically is about half way between Odessa and Albuquerque.
So you have squirrels in Odessa? Amazingly none in Alpine. Which for a pecan grower really is amazing. In Amarillo the tree rats stole every nut before the shucks split.
Jujube is drought hardy and late bloom so its a good choice!
They might be male flowers.
I brought a few hundred seeds from my jujubes in Albuquerque. Plan to grow seedlings for rootstock as these seeds came from the suckering wild-type rootstock of the Li and Honey Jar I grew there.
The previous owner said it did produce fruit in the past. And I saw hummingbirds nectaring on the flowers. I wonder if I didn’t water deep enough, thus the fruit drop. Many fruits were swelling then dropped. What cultivars would you recommend for Odessa?
I’m not familiar with TX climate. Hopefully others closer to you will chime in.
I myself have only grown pomegranates for last 5-6 years. We seldom see temperatures above 90’s. The cultivars I have are Eversweet, Ambrosia, Red Silk and Parfianka. Ambrosia has been the most precocious in my yard but it was planted fairly close to a birch tree and seems like it’s slowly going to be dominated by it. Red Silk and Parfianka have started blooming for the first time last year and the blooms were fairly late, in July if I remember correctly. The fruits were not able to ripen before the cold weather set in. This year these two started blooming end of May. Hope to be able to taste properly ripen fruits this time.
I definitely would like to hear when Red Silk will ripen for you as I have this variety. I’d like to find out what variety you have that’s the earliest ripening.
Thanks for the input. Texas A&M has recommended varieties from Russia and the mid-East. I do like the descriptions of your varieties from DWN. I will hunt down Al-sirin-nar, Russian 18 (Texas Red), Salavatski, Spanish Sweet, Sumbar, Surh Anor and see if I can get them producing here. I will be looking for Ambrosia as well.
For the jujubes, I would like to cooperate with Dr. Yao at the Alcalde station on NMSU. She has very interesting varieties from China, and I’d like to assess them here in north Texas.
Tippy, I’ll keep you posted.
No squirrels? The miracle of coyotes.
I am from Abilene Texas and have had the best luck with Russian 18, Al-sirin-nar and Surh Anor. They make it though late freezes and are highly productive. Also on the persimmon the Eureka has been my best producer with no insects or diseases and makes a beautiful tree and a delicious persimmon butter. Womack Nursery out of Deleon Tx. is a great place to purchase fruit trees that will do well in our climate.
I am from Abilene, Texas area and on the pomegranate you have it is probably the wonderful variety ( which isn’t so wonderful for freezing temps) I had one for 4 years and never had a fruit to ripen so dug it up and planted the Russian varieties. They are super easy to take cuttings from in the winter and make new plants. I have around 40 of the now and all are producing well. Also mulberries are very productive in our climate. It sounds like you have a great variety of fruit trees and I am interested in how they all do. The Indian white peach is it grafted or was it grown from seed? I have the Indian blood cling peach trees and they are not grafted and are doing well. Also I love the wild plums as they are delicious, make great jam and are very easy to grow. I have never heard of the Robada apricot but have the Hunza apricot and the fruit are large and sweet.
Thanks for your information. Whichever this pomegranate is, the former owner said it does produce fruit. I think I let in dry too much while taking care of all my other transplants. I will get at least one or two more of the Russians to see how they do here. Are you interested in sending me some cuttings later if they’re not patented? Gladly pay you.
The Iowa Indian White peaches are seedling from Erika at Catnip Farms in Iowa. She now sells all her seed to Ken Asmus at Oikos Tree Crops in Michigan. He grows them on to sell. I got 24 seeds from Erika in 2014 and planted them in my forest garden in Albuquerque. 22 grew, so I gathered 6 of them to bring to Odessa for assessment. The seed comes from an heirloom orchard at Catnip Farm and is supposed to come reasonably close to parent plants. Thanks for the info on Indian Blood Cling.
Robada is a USDA selection that really produced well in Albuquerque. My tree there was too established to transplant so I brought 6 seedlings that are 3-4 feet tall. A golf-ball sized fruit, very sweet. And I love their spring flowers. They should flower in the next year or two: if the fruit is not good I’ll use them for rootstock.
I just had back surgery yesterday so will just be watering against this Texas heat for the next few weeks. No lifting or bending for a few weeks. I do hope to be working with cuttings and grafting this fall and next spring.
take care, doug
I have been reading Womack’s new letters. They do look like a good outfit that knows their stuff.
I’ll look up the Eureka persimmons. With this heat and my not deep watering, most of the fruit is hitting the ground. I’ll be more attentive next year.
And this fall/next spring I’ll be looking for 1 or 2 of the Russian pomegranates. Cross pollination should help the one that’s here. And I will be better about watering next year. Right now I’m busy keeping all my transplants alive in the heat.
take care, doug
I have over 100 fruit trees and finally set up a irrigation hose around the fence line to cover about 1/3 of the trees. It’s a life and time saver. That way I can deep water without having to stand there with the hose.
When I order from Womack nursery I know the variety is going to be what I ordered, but when from local big box stores I never know.
Good Luck with the heat and prayers that we get some rain soon.
The Iowa white peaches sounds great and how about a trade for the seeds or seedlings for cuttings of my Russian pomegranates? I also have goumi berry plants that I could give some cuttings for trade. I have the sweet scarlet and tilamook varieties and they are very productive and a nitrogen fixing shrub.
I hope your back surgery was a success and that your plants are doing well.
Thanks, Lisa
Thanks for the well wishes: my back is healing but slowly. Hard for an old fellow to follow doc’s orders for so long.
I can trade you 3 seedlings of the Iowa peach. They range from about 2’ to 4’ in height. I’ll wait until November or so to dig them out of the transplant bed as they should be dormant by then. These were started from seed in Albuquerque, transferred to 3-gallon pots for our first winter in Odessa, then transplanted to my grow bed this spring. We could travel to Abilene to trade since my kids love the children’s museum there. Whatever time this winter that suits you. I can wait to dig them until just before we trade.
The Russian pomegranates sound great, and the goumi too if you can spare them. I grew autumn olive as a companion shrub in Albuquerque, and coppiced them every year for mulch.
take care, doug