Thanks, I’ll be following the nursery and NAFEX now.
I’ve been talking with SCO back and forth on Facebook, planning a trip to get some apples and pears. Excited to have that quality resource within a half days drive.
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Still planning and trying to decide which trees to plant where.
I have 2 orchards in the works. One very large raised bed in my yard, irrigated for apple/pear espaliers, figs, blackberries and citrus. One in a back field, no irrigation, electric fence for varmint protection, which can be rows of espalier or small or large trees.
I have coming: 17 apples on M111 and 10 on Bud9.
Which should go in the raised bed and which should go into the field?
The ground beneath the raised bed is hard clay. The M111 roots would establish deeper over time. However, the Bud9 might do fine in the irrigated raised bed and will be tied to a wire fence for support.
The back field is deep rich dirt, floods 1-2ft every couple years when the river gets up. Either should do well there, and will also be trellised if espaliered.
Any suggestions?
I’m so happy that worked out for you! I haven’t had a chance to meet Larry but he seems like such a nice guy based upon his posts I have read. Best wishes on your growing season.
Larry S. has a wealth of knowledge, earned the hard way, about growing in the Deep South. Glad to see you’re in touch. And yes, he’s a great guy for sharing what he’s learned.
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The M111 apples did fairly well considering they’re laid over sideways lol. Most have enough vegetative growth to pick a limb and bend the opposite direction to the next wire. Most have many fruit spurs! The one King David M111 I set in a 15gal pot is over an inch thick and 7-8ft tall with 5 well placed scaffold limbs.
The Bud9 apples grew ok. Some more than others. I’ve begun training to the Belgian French pattern.
I successfully grafted 50 M7 rootstocks from the cutoff Bud9 varieties.
I have 50 more M111 rootstock and 10 Bud9 to graft this year.
I have 10 more varieties on M111 coming from David at CFO:
Fuji
Gala
Horse
Keener Seedling
Lady
Mary Reid
Reverend Morgan
Virginia Gold
Virginia Winesap
Williams Pride
So the project is well underway. I’ll try to get some better closeups of the trees themselves.
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It will be interesting to see how they develop this year. The soil is more settled. The wood chips have decayed some. There’s thousands of earthworms in there. But the soil beneath is clay. And I had trouble with the yard draining that direction and over saturating everything. Plus I had young potted trees and vegetables in the bed. Seemed like it was always wet wet.
No potted trees this year. Just in-ground. But I’m still thinking through what to plant. Squash, watermelon , tomatoes, peppers, herbs?
And I’m contemplating step-over or 2 tier cordon pears opposite of the apples on the inner curve. I have 6 on OHFx97 coming that would fit well.
The rows, if you can still see them, run South to North from the Belgian Fence to where I’m standing to take the pic. Large trees to the West start to shade gradually starting mid afternoon.
I’ve always envisioned one of those European gardens with dwarf trees, espalier, vegetables, herbs, flowers…something straight out the Shire from LOTR.
Any suggestions or insight is welcome.
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