It is so frustrating. Sorry that theses critters keep eating your fruit off your trees.
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@EmptyBadger ā¦ a good place to start on graftingā¦
Skillcult has a video seriesā¦ lots of details.
Others I watch on youtubeā¦
Stephen Hayes
JSacadura
Spend some time this winter watching those and others pn youtube.
Each year there is a grafting thread hereā¦ and there are some educational post here on grafting as well.
Get out and collect some scion wood (wild callery or bradford pear will do) and get started practicing.
If your knife skills are not all that goodā¦ you might invest in some of those gloves that keep you from cutting yourself. Each spring hereā¦it seems somesone or more gets a nasty cut grafting.
Grafting knivesā¦ do not have to be really expensive to work well enough for a starter.
The one I have been using the last 3-4 years cost around 10.00. Best I remember I got it at Fedco.
TNHunter
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Correctionā¦ got my grafting knife from AM Leonardā¦ and it was very inexpensive but does a good job. It sharpens well for meā¦ bevel on one side.
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@EmptyBadger ā¦ on the Early Mc and those pristine applesā¦ yesā¦ that does happenā¦ but not every year.
I never spray itā¦ and some years are bad for CM ā¦ and other years they seem to just forget it is there and it will have a load of very clean fruit.
2021 was a very good clean fruit year.
Below is the oldest picture I have of the treeā¦ that was 2015ā¦ and it was loaded with fruit. I was not a fussy fruit thinner in those days.
Zoom in on the fruitā¦ hundreds of absolutely pristine clean fruit. A good year for sure. They were just starting to ripen there mid June.
I will post a trade listā¦ probably late Decemberā¦ remind me you want some scions then. I will be glad to provide.
TNHunter
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Amazing, thank you so much for your detailed reply and kindness!
I planted 6 apple trees and 30+ pears trees in 2019 (grafted numerous others since then). I got 2 apples a couple years ago. Frost wiped out fruit a couple years and squirrels others. I think squirrels cleaned all my fruit trees already this year. Rabbits, I presume, girdled one of the apple trees. The grass and weeds growing around the trunk opened up the aluminum mesh around the trunk. Itās a pity too, because that was the most aesthetically pleasing apple tree with itās nice branching. Iām not sure if I should rethink this or double down and replant.
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Sorry to hear about those lost trees/harvests. Try Jujubes. Theyāre best described as small, especially sweet apples. They have far fewer insect pests and diseases in this country. Birds and squirrels would still be a problem, but jujubes flower in June, so late frosts will miss them.
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@blueKYstream ā¦ on the south side of my homeā¦ it gets all day sunā¦
I have a fig, cherry, 3x12 garden bed and a novamac apple espellar on b9ā¦ planted in a half whisky barrel.
My HVAC system is located on that wall tooā¦ so it is kicking on and off thruout the day.
My novamac espellar is located near itā¦ and so far no critters at all have bothered the apples. It is right next to the house and hvacā¦ and that seems to keep them away.
Out in my orchard i have my pear trees located in the center of my orchard clearingā¦ so it is a long way from the woods/(squirrel habitat) across open groundā¦ to get to the pear trees. Squirrels dont like crossing open groundā¦ owls and hawks and other critters can more easily attack them.
My dad had two pear trees in his back yardā¦ about 20 ft from the woodsā¦ squirrels wiped his pear trees clean of fruit every year. They got most of them when they were still small.
Trapping them helped but it was a constant battle.
TNHunter
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Most of my fruit trees are at my dadās farm about an hour away. I did get lucky and had callery pear and mulberry rootstock in my yard when I moved a few years ago. I have some pawpaws, aronia, gooseberry, figs, pears, mulberries, and serviceberry at the house. I donāt want any more closer to the house. Iāve already had squirrels in the attic and coons/deer/coyotes everywhere. I think I closed the squirrels out and/or eliminated the problem ones but theyāre never ending. Iāve watched hawks chase squirrels in my backyard when I worked from home. They do clean the mulberry and pears in the woods. The multi-graft pear closer to the house still has some fruit.
At the farm, everything was wiped out despite the woods being about 60 yards from the trees (my daughter dropped a doe at one of the apple trees and then shot her first buck when he came to check the doe before he ran to the edge of the woods and died) in the spot I checked. I havenāt checked the other locations that are closer to the woods in a bit, but frost got many of the blooms. I imagine its the same story there for any that did fruit.
The only thing that keeps me positive about the prospects is that perhaps when theyāre more mature and grow bigger quantities, maybe the squirrels canāt get the vast majority. That seems wishful thinking right now though.
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Already planning for spring 2026. Anyone else?
Hereās what I have on my wishlist so farā¦
Korean Giant pear on OHxF87
Shinko Pear on OHxF87 - (maybe graft Korean Giant onto this)
Kiwi Gold raspberry
Boreal series honeyberries - (one of each)
Currants - maybe Crandall, any suggestions?
Jujube - (two of the following)
- Honey Jar
- Sugarcane
- Bok Jo
- Black Sea
Anyone growing any of these varieties? Suggestions? Observations?
Whatās on your 2026 wishlist?
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I grow honeyberries and a clove currant. In my experience, they do best in half-day sun here in TN. I also grow jujubes (So Contorted, Shanxi Li, Honey Jar, and Sugarcane) and my advice for them is sun, sun, and more sun. Put jujubes in the absolute sunniest spot you possibly can.
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@EmptyBadger ā¦ i grew 2 varieties of honeyberry here back around 2018ā¦ they were from one green worldā¦ blue pagota, blue sea.
It took them 3-4 years to really get established good and finally start fruiting.
Before that they would just drop their leavesā¦
I had mine in full sun.
Once they did start producingā¦ they are very similar to blueberriesā¦ in that as they ripen they turn blueā¦ but are not actually ripe and flavorfulā¦ unless you let them hang on the bush for another week or so.
I could do thatā¦ but my birds could not.
My birds would take them after they turned blueā¦ and before they were good and ripe.
I got to taste of a fewā¦ and they were mostly just tart and a little juicy. Not really impressive at all.
I eventually tossed mineā¦ they did not impress me at all.
If you do grow themā¦ you should consider some bird nettingā¦ you will need that.
Jujubeā¦ back around 2020ā¦ I started Shanx Li and GA866ā¦ from OGWā¦ on the end of a long food forest borderless raised bed.
The Shanx Li turned out to be a Langā¦ and the fruit quality was really poor. Not much flavor at allā¦ just a little sweet. I tried to like them but never got there.
The GA866ā¦ did not produce fruit in 4 yearsā¦ and in year 2 they both srarted producing root shoots all up and down my food forest bedā¦ some would come up 8-10 or more ft away from the tree. I had to constantly clip those off or dig them out. It was a real pain.
I eventually took both trees out and still had to fight jujube root shoots for a year or soā¦ before they finally quit showing up.
Jujube should be planted in possibly a raised metal bedā¦ to make all the root shoot management easierā¦ or as a single treeā¦ that can be mowed around to eliminate all the root shoots.
Do not plant them in a long bed with other fruit trees or bushes or canesā¦ they will try to take over all that space with hundreds of root shootsā¦ by about year 3.
Jujube ripen when my Chicago Hardy figs are ripeningā¦ and fall raspberries, and CHE and persimmonsā¦ all of which tasted much better than Lang jujube.
Last year at Englands Orchard I tried several jujubesā¦ and found some that were quite tastyā¦ much better than lang. I may decide some day to plant a better tasting variety so that root shoots can be managed easilyā¦ and prehaps graft a couple other varieties to it.
TNHunter
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It sounds like OGW used an aggressively suckering rootstock on their jujubes. I got mine from Cliff and they sucker some from the base, but are easily managed because the suckers are way less vigorous than the grafts. Did you plant so that the graft unions were above, or below grade? Cliff recommends planting waaay deep to bury the graft union 4-6ā beneath grade. He says this allows the graft to grow its own roots. Perhaps this is another reason why his jujus donāt sucker much.
As for honeyberries, it takes several years for them to produce tasty fruit. Iāve had mine for 3 years and the fruits are still hit-or-miss, much like my Chicago Hardy fig. Itās the āhitā fruits that give me hope that the bushes are worth keeping. Theyāre the most delicious combination of raspberry, blueberry, grape, and exquisite sweetness - easily my favorite fruit out of everything I grow.
If you ever decide to give honeyberries another try, consider some of the Berries Unlimited varieties. Those were bred in Arkansas, and the ones I bought from BU are doing pretty well in half-day sun. My best-adapted specimen is Strawberry Sensation, followed by the Proven Winners varieties Sugar Pie (aka Hoka) and Honey Bunch (aka Kaido).
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