This was a fun thread last year. So… how about this year?
To get the ball rolling:
Apple scions: Canadian Strawberry, Caville Blanc, Fiesta, Freyberg, Frostbite, Goldrush, Kidd’s Orange Red, Jonathan, Mother, Opalescent, Renown, Spigold, Suncrisp, Zestar
Pear scions: Abbe Fetel, Potomac
I have a Cox’s Tribe tree going and will add to that with some of the above. And I am going to start a multi-variety cooking apple tree this year. Also got a Gold Rush apple tree- fingers x’d it will ripen here before it gets cold. Although this year, it never got very cold.
I bought 25 persimmon seedlings from my local soil and water conservation. Pick up for those is April 9th. I am planning to go to my local scion swap in 3 weeks to get the wood for grafting. Planning to graft right away if possible and get them in the ground.
I bought Great Wall and Smith persimmon trees from Just Fruits and Exotics Nursery when I was in Flordia.
I started +50 pawpaw seedlings so far and have another 100 or so seeds that I’ll try to get started within the next few weeks. So, I hope that works out for me. I doubt if I’ll graft anything to them since they are “premium seeds”.
Every year I dig up peach trees (from fallen fruit) and replant them. My goal this year is 10 trees. Some of the trees that were transplanted in the past are big enough for multiple grafts, so I’m planning to, again get some scionwood from the swap.
I’m thinking about shopping the sales in late spring. I’ll mainly be looking for cultivars of hazelnuts.
Haha probably too much.
Apple trees: swayzie (yes, this forum convinced me), sweet 16, red rock, red cinnamon, paradise sparkling (I blame this forum for this purchase as well, haha), code pink, ruby tuesday, vip, black and red.
Pear trees: drippin honey, Clark’s small yellow, juicy jewel, summer blood birne.
Plum trees: lavina, toka, pearl.
Apricot trees: moorpark, chinese morman, tlor-tsiran.
Goodness. So many. I didn’t even bother to list the scion I plan to graft, because that would make me realize how much work this spring is going to be. ![]()
I’m getting a Candy Heart Pluerry and Spicezee nectaplum. May add one or two of the mini peach/nectarine trees. Not completely sure if they are really worth giving a try or not.
Big year for me.
I’ve got scionwood to rework some trees I planted two years ago mainly for the rootstock:
Apricot: Hoyt, Robada, and Tomcot
Peach: Indian Free, Loring, OHenry
Nectarine: Fantasia, Harko
I’ll be planting a new persimmon tree (though largely as an ornamental, fruit just bonus)
The named selections of Aronia and Elderberry, for edible woodland undergrowth.
As for what I may actually get to try eating for the first time: Fingers crossed some of my pawpaws look ready to bear this year. I planted four of them without ever tasting the fruit - hope I like it!
My mini stone fruit have struggled. I have them in containers. Right now, they are both about a foot tall. I don’t see them growing to 4-5’ at this point. I’d go slow on these. I kinda fell for the hype.
someone from here sent me peach scions and I’m excited. spring snow and others! I’ve never done peach grafts so I’ll be reading up on it here.
oh and I’ve got a heeled up medlar and a quince waiting for the ground to soften up enough
Got a lot of scionwood for new varieties of apple and apricot.
A few dwarfing apple rootstock to try some high density/precocious (hopefully) apple growing.
Moving the berry patch to a limited afternoon sun location.
New fruit: Muscadines. Zone pushing by 1/2 zone. And trying to raise some fuzzy kiwi seedlings from @Eme.
So would you say the minis probably aren’t really worth it? They aren’t the cheapest trees so definitely trying to be smart about potentially getting a couple.
They are slow! I think mine grew under a foot last year in ground. Then, they all got OFM and I had to prune off 1/4-1/3 of that growth. Mine get 2 more years to prove themselves and then my raspberry row gets extended.
I am planning a high density row of apples for this spring. I have the following varieties ordered on various dwarf rootstocks (G11, G214, G935, and Bud 9):
Pristine
Triumph
Ruby Rush
Goldrush
I got two of each.
I also am adding to my semi dwarf cluster of apple trees:
Crimson crisp
Dayton
Finally, a couple of pears to try out:
Harrow Delight
Harrow Sweet
I prioritized disease resistance and spent most of last year reading up on different varieties. This forum was a huge help! I was fortunate enough to find Pristine, Ruby Rush, Crimson Crisp, and Goldrush from local growers. They were all great apples in my opinion. I have no experience growing any of them, but I am looking forward to trying!
Please post updates as I am also planning on trying a high density style of planting. I would love to know how it goes for you.
I haven’t entirely decided what I’m doing (for spacing and system) but I have a bit to make a decision. I ordered rootstock and scionwood instead of grafted trees. So I will most likely grow them in a nursery area for at least a year.
Been reading up on how to produce feathered nursery trees since it seems necessary for most of these systems. lt seems like you need to have feathered trees at the outset or force buds by notching to get a lot of smaller branches if you have a whip tree without lots of feathers.
That’s been my understanding too. I ordered trees from Cummins and hopefully the grade 1 trees come with some feathers. I planned on notching them as well, if needed.
I am planning on trying a 3.5’ spacing using 10’ t posts set 30" in the ground. I am not interested in building a trellis, so my hope is that the single post will be sufficient over time if I keep the trees a manageable size. I’m also planning to thing them aggressively when they start to crop.
I like the idea of being able to have a assortment of varieties in a small space. It should also make spraying them easier.
You are in a warmer zone, so might be fun to try one or two. From now on, I’m just getting young peaches and plums and pruning them small. No more minis for me.
it definitely would be cool to see how they’d do here, especially since I’d be on the lower end of the chill hours. I believe with shipping the minis for me come out to 80-90 bucks a tree. Would definitely feel sick I got a mini or two and they didn’t do well. I have also considered just buying a couple that I can get locally. They are significantly bigger/cheaper so could just about get two for the price of one.
Planted the first permanent plants outside today. Had to clear the area of snow, and work fast as we are getting a winter storm. Planted Ivan’s Belle and Beauty Sorbus, and Vera’s Pride and Paval Actinidia polygama.