I hate to sound like an idiot…but what is that? I’m guess some type of melon but I’m not sure?
Korean melon
So far I have had trouble getting apples established. Just when I get them started a drought seems to cause them to die. My pomegranates were just starting to make and then they froze back. Hopefully next year they will start making. As for figs I never do anything to them and I get more than I can use. Down here as long as we don’t have a severe drought they make like crazy. My trees are big enough that the freezes don’t bother them now.
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I agree, and all of mine have been top rate when I did everything right.
Some require too much attention to be worth it, but others are worth it. One has to choose their battles wisely.
Figs can be hard to grow correctly in containers, but I like them enough to try, and I’m very pleased with the results. I get out of my fruit as much as I put into it. Over watery figs happen a lot due to weather, and I found these taste great slightly dehydrated. Truly they are just over watered, the full flavor is there all the way if processed right.
Blueberries grown in raised beds solved my soil problems and now my yard is filled with 6 foot bushes. Cages built around them solved the bird problems.
Chester blackberries need to hang forever and they will be super sweet as any blackberry i have grown. These in my opinion are underrated. People tend to pick them WAY early.
Still if I take a really good blackberry and grow it right it beats Chester every time. So I can make them acceptable but is it worth it to protect from SWD and birds, and let them hang the time they need to be premium? For me no, I removed mine. Too much effort to protect from SWD, when I can grow others I do not need to protect.
I guess too it’s a matter of prospective. I have always liked growing plants, not just edibles. I enjoy plants. Edibles was a challenge for me to grow right, could I do it? I was coming at edibles to see how well I can grow them, more than just the fruit, what is fun is learning about all the different families of plants, and what you have to do to grow them correctly. Achieving that goal with great fruit is a lot more fun than achieving it for a great flower, although that works for me too.
For many it’s all about eating great fruit. For me it’s all about growing great plants.
I have been trying breeding the last few years and here again it’s not about producing some unique super fruit, it’s about learning and mastering breeding techniques, and little to do with the end result. the journey is the prise, not the fruit at the end of the journey.
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Mmmm, you might be right. I did water mine (they are in pots) almost everyday. Restricting water would improve the taste, I assume, but would it also change the texture? Texture is my main problem with figs.
I’ll slaughter all my trees except Verte this fall and try to take better care of it next summer. Verte is the one which hasn’t had the chance to disappoint me yet, as it hasn’t fruited.
i get a great crop of figs, once they have been inground for 4 years.
i loose few now that i have cats on my payroll.
my disappointments come from bad info.
celeste is touted all over the south as being care free n tasty, but it couldn;t adapt to the alkaline soil of the southwest.
ronde de bordeaux is rated 10 all over the east coast, but the fruits are horrid.
these are regional figs.
only after my failures with these did i realize that they did poorly for most, if not all growers in the plains.
figs are work. i wrap them every winter, but my best 4 year old gave me 300 great figs.
i’ll just stick to tough mount etnas n ignore primium figs that cost lots n do poorly.
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This came up on another thread some time back: I was stoked to get D’Arcy Spice apple in the ground, a bench graft on Bud118 from Greenmantle. It’s supposed to do wonders in drier climates. Read: drier for England! In far eastern Washington it dropped all fruit overnight after reaching 90 F. Year after year after…
Not quite as disappointing, but surprising in a bad way, Rambour Franc/Summer Rambo had a spectacular bloom first time around last year, setting 300+ fruits. I thinned it to less than 90. Not a single blossom this year. Next season I must thin it to 24? 30? to break the cycle.
Blueberries have not done well, because I must tend to them deliberately each year. I have had (much to my wife’s chagrin) better results with black currants. Must rectify the situation with the two blueberries still living and show her I love her.
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For me, the most disappointing fruits have been korean cherry and Shipova.
Korean cherry was sweet with almost no flavor, got disease and never produced again.
Shipova took forever to fruit, then was mediocre in flavor, then got huge fungal disease.
At least there is all of the other fruit.
John S
PDX OR
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i find that inground figs take 4 years to bear well.
in year 4, i’m getting from 100 to 250 figs/tree.
even better, they ripen a month earlier.
If you live in a warmer zone, you can grow some nice stuff, if no you got to go with containers. Mine are growing in 20 gl containers,these ones have large square drainage holes which i like because here is what i do with mine. Set the container square on the ground(level), fill the area around the pot with leaves,mulch, about 4 inches high, then put rocks on top to hold the pot from blowing over. We have strong winds in the summer. Roots find their way out of the drain holes and move quickly in the surrounding soil( way less watering) and will grow much faster and healthier. Roots will not pluck-up the square drain holes.In the winter chopped of roots and bring in. A lot of pita work.
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I know what you mean by figs tasting like dirt.
As a new fruit tree grower I totally agree with you. From my research the only worthwhile figs to grow in ground in Zone 7 are the ones you mentioned. This year my Chicago Hardy is growing like a beast and putting out tons of fruit, though only 1/3 has ripened because they were all started from 6" cuttings in late winter. I expect performance to be even better next year with good winter protection. I am also planning on replacing my LSU Gold (ripens too late) with a Smith.
It also hasn’t been my experience that (semi-dwarf) pears take forever to fruit. Last year I planted a 1" caliper bare root Hosui and a 3/4" caliper Bartlett. The Hosui produced 3 pears this year and the Bartlett for some reason produced a couple of flowers at the end of the summer which I consider an indication it will be fruiting next year.
I also agree with you on the blueberries. Probably the most difficult and frustrating thing to grow with their pH requirements. This is the second year I have been growing them and all I have to show is some lanky 3’ tall “bushes” if you could call them that. Though I think I finally figured out a good system for maintain pH by using a 3 times per year application of Espoma Soil Acidifier, watering with pH adjusted water when possible and amending my fertilization with ammonium sulfate… so hoping for at least a handful of berries next year. Raspberries on the other hand are the absolute easiest things to grow.
My encouragement to press on with blueberries is that I do know it IS possible to grow high yield blueberry bushes in my area because a house a few blocks down the street has an absolutely massive 7’ tall and 5’ wide blueberry bush that was completely loaded with fruit this year - and this is on a property that looks like the owner doesn’t do much maintenance on their front yard orchard.
I bought my first fig plant last summer…still no flowers this year after overwintering inside. Looks healthy. Maybe next summer. I really don’t care. I dont’ even know if i like figs.
My turd this year has been Seckel pear. Loaded with fruit but the fruits are tiny. A few ok size fruits int he mix, but mostly very small. Ugh. A pain. Most will end up as compost.
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My disappointment comes from prime ark freedom blackberries. The summer crop this year was smaller than the fall crop it produces now, which isn’t particularly bountiful either. It also suffers from some sort of bug damage that causes the new leaves to curl then burn starting in July. The young shoots literally turn black. They recover if I spray with permethrin or sevin, but the damage resumes about a month later if I don’t repeat. Natchez and osage blackberries are more productive and don’t appear to be affected by this strange malady. PAF are on their way out if they don’t perform next summer.
Autumn Olives.
I think the drought/heat summer and lack of fertilizer have led to what may end up being a handful of berries off of 4 bushes. Maybe next year?
I’m surprised by the fig feedback. Love mine and the fact you can prune them so heavily. St. Rita, Celeste, Marseilles Black, and JH Adriatic are still pushing out figs. Figs, grapes, and pomegranates were great this year. Wish my jujubes would grow faster!
Pears
There seems to be one nanosecond in which they’re properly ripe, and I always miss that nanosecond. This year, they’re overripe and mushy inside.
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Plums. First tree was taking space for 7 years, didn’t produce a single plum, didn’t even bloom more 2-3 flowers each season. Second one “progressed” to handful plums in a season. Disappointing, it is taking 2/3 of the space taken by my peach tree that produces 5-6 5 gallon buckets a year, not counting drops.
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For me, sweet and tart cherries both failed badly
Also, both Japanese and Green Gage plums.
In the nearby woods are lots of black(wild) cherry trees and I think disease spreads from them to my trees. The cherries and the Green Gage both get rot that doesn’t seem controlled by antifungal sprays. And black knot has now been spreading to both types of plums despite cutting it out regularly.
The Japanese plums have set minimal fruit due to frosts for me.
Che… Tree is 20 feet tall and it still drops its fruit yearly.
Pears (Seckel and Yoinashi). They produce well, but I’ve gotten 3 fruit in 10 years because the squirrels wipe them all out (and now I have netting all wrapped up in them)
Goji…yuck
Yellowhorn… Has never set nuts in 7 years
This year has been one of best fig years…some years I get less than a dozen fruit, total, off of 20+ plants.
Honeycrisp never sets for me. Not 1 fruit in 8 years.
Scott
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Chill,
I can emphatize with you on HC. I put it in ground for 7 years before it start to flower ( the tree itself was about 9-10 years old by then. After it started to fruit, it started going biennial. Took me a lot of effort to break the biennial cycle. Once it is full production, it is worth it for me.
I have kept bending a lot of branches and have removed many water sprouts.