Howdy all, I have seen KY and TN represented well here and would like to start discussion with fellows with same climate and share successes and failures.
Sharing few pics as a start. I feel like hitting a Jackpot when I received a bundle of 50 Wild Plum seedlings from KY State Nursery. All for $65 delivered. At least 12-15 look like 2-3 year old plants. I have plans to graft a lot of hybrid plums, pluots and anything else I can graft on prunus.
Sounds like you have a plan. *Just a note of caution, the seedling plums love to put out shoots several feet from the original plant and form thickets. I let one survive 30 years ago in clearing some land…and it became 30 or so in time.
I’m south of Lexington too. I’ve gotten trees from Peaceful Heritage Nursery in Stanford and had a great experience with them.
I haven’t been here all that long, but here’s what luck (good or bad) I’ve had so far.
Apples and Pears were here before I bought the land, both fruit well but apples get loads of bugs and I can’t be bothered spraying. Pears get no bugs until they get ripe, so we pick just before that.
Peaches and plums are both 4-5 years old. Plums blossom but the little fruit drop off still. Peaches blossom and set fruit but are affected by brown rot very badly.
North Star Cherry is 5-6 years old and has had fruit for 2 years. Gives a lot as long as you net it so the birds don’t eat them.
Raspberries, blackberries, and elderberry all do great. Anything gooseberry-related does ok but hates the summer heat.
Pawpaws, nectarine, and apricot are younger and haven’t fruited yet.
(FYI, i did a lot of research to find stone fruit varieties that would bloom late enough for the late frosts here. Time will tell if it all works out with nect. and apricot. So far the plums and peaches start to blossom really early but continue to blossom late enough that not all are frozen off unless we get an extremely late freeze, like we did in 2020.)
Thanks for the tag. There are several others in this area but I’m drawing a blank now…I’m sure they will find us soon. Its always fun swapping experiences with those with similar locations/climates/etc.
KY must have a great state nursery program. I have a friend who got a bunch of paw paw seedlings from them at a very low cost. Good luck with those plums. @BlueBerry is certainly right about them spreading fast and far. It took mine 3 years to start but on year 4 those little suckers were everywhere. That being said, I didn’t mind at all. I just mow over the ones I don’t want and I’m letting others form something of a hedgerow. Also, the fruit on mine are pretty good. I also sent some out as starter plants this year to others and they seemed to do well.
Thanks, Clifford has been a great help to me in educating, orchard planning and providing plants. He is a gem and I have visited his place many times. He was one source of my inspiration, After visiting his farm I started thinking if he can grow it 40 miles away I can grow it.
He is planning on closing the nursery business but will continue to sell scions, seeds, fruits etc.
Thanks for the nice report Wardog, I was with @Blake last Thursday and got some Hazelnuts, chestnuts and Jujube seedlings plus honey and blake’s book on PawPaw’s signed by him I feel Lucky to have Blake, Cliff and you’ll as wonderful resource.
Kindly update your profile and people can see what varieties you are growing, also let me what is your pear variety that does not get any bugs ?
I need to update my profile as well. I have been successful with Figs, Haskap Berry, Blackberry and raspberries plus grapes (reliance). In stone fruit Contender Peach flowers have proved to be frost hardy and i was blessed with wonderful fruit last year. Pears are flowering at the moment. Plums flower early and have dropped fruit last two years. My plan for grafted plums is to plant them in a valley on a north facing slope with hopes to delay blooming.
The 2 pears were planted by a former owner. My best guess is they are Kieffer and Summercrisp. The fruit differs a lot between them, but both have essentially no bugs until the fruit starts to soften (which is earlier for the Summercrisp than the Kieffer). Kieffer has zero other problems. Summercrisp can get a bit spotted on leaves and fruit if it’s a really wet year.
Thanks for adding this regional chat. I was going to do one but didn’t have permission due to my membership level. But, now I do. Anyways, could you maybe add WV to the list since their weather and terrain is similar to us folks in eastern KY? That would include folks like @Hillbillyhort, @bopcrane, @krismoriah, @speedster1, and others I’m drawing a blank on.
Beautiful day here today, finally. It’s been a very wet and dreary April. My apple fruit buds are about to pop open, peaches have started, as well as some pears. Blackberries are starting to show some new leaves also. Worried a bit about some forecast lows in the low-mid 30s over the next few days tho. We had a low of 31 Sunday morning. Still about a month of possible freezes in play though.
Present, I’m from the Louisville Kentucky area
Growing pawpaw, persimmon, Chickasaw plum, Asian pear, Asian persimmon, (Great wall) Blackberries and raspberries and blueberries , peaches.
I have
Odysso, Niedz., Geneva Crab, Spitzenberg, Cornish Aromatic and Mammoth Blacktxig in bloom and in very close proximity. Frostbite is not in bloom yet,but has pink small buds.
My other location, Redfield is finished and petal drop, no pollinator this year. Older trees in partial bloom and full bloom coming fast.
Exciting to see 80 degrees on 4/13…brought along blooms, buds on grafts, and birds chirping of course.
It was close to 80 here today. Had tornado warnings in the Lexington area last night, but we didn’t even get any lightning from what I could tell, just wind and heavy rain.
My mom is here visiting us for a few weeks. We finally got to sit outside a long while in the sunshine today, had some lunch, petted the dog and cat, and took a little walk around the yard. She’s still recovering from her leg injury, but she was determined to make a go of it.
My Zestar and Alkmene are at pink cluster stage right now, about to pop open, the others have maybe a couple weeks before they do. My old Milam trees are showing a few small leaves on one, and pink buds on the other. One tree tends to go biennial on us, but since it’s never been pruned, not a surprise.
Does your red-fleshed blooms look, well, redder than white fleshed varieties?
Stark Bros is selling 3 Marionberry plants on sale for $23. I’m kinda tempted, even though they’re a trailing thorny variety, but supposedly very tasty. I’m also wondering if they’d work in our climate.
I feel Lucky to have Blake, Cliff and you’ll as wonderful resource.