Aside from the common stuff (for instance - figs, muscadines, etc), what have you found thrives in the deep south? I am especially interested in species which usually don’t thrive here, but have been bred/hybridized with a southern variety.
I am willing to update this list with your answers as well.
Spice Zee Nectaplum does very well here in humid WV.. tree is very ornamental to boot. Had my first fruits last year and they were very good. This year just about everything but apples got zapped. I am not sure many east coasters or southern east coasters have tried Nectaplums though.
I did not like AU Rosa or Cherry as much as AU Producer. Perhaps my growing conditions etc..but Producer was a very good plum.
However probably better to look at the Byron series like Ruby Queen if you like plums.
I’m in central Georgia, 8A, and these have consistently done well for me.
Ayers pear. Produces heavily almost every year. Occasional fireblight. Once established needs very little care. Excellent taste.
Guthrie chickasaw plum. My overall favorite of the chickasaw/chickasaw hybrids, with the best combination of consistent production, disease resistance, and good taste. Plum curculio a major pest which will require control. Most years will require heavy thinning. Will require pruning for size control even if on chickasaw rootstock and unfertilized.
Robusto plum. A consistent producer that can taste bland or really good. Needs thinning. Can be grafted on to chickasaw rootstock. Plum curculio is still a problem, but just don’t seem to like this as well as any other plum.
Spring Satin plumcot. Fantastic taste. Can be grafted on to chickasaw rootstock which produces a not too vigorous, precocious tree. Benefits from a heavy mulch. Some years a late freeze severely reduces the crop. Plum curculio a major pest, brown rot a minor problem.
Dormanred is on of the few raspberry type fruits that thrives in the Deep South. Not a true red raspberry so the flavor is different, and needs to be fully ripe which can be up to a week after it changes color.
In the warmer areas of the Deep South, people have had luck with Arazá type guavas like yellow strawberry guava and with Cherry of the Rio Grande.
Guabiju hasn’t fruited for me yet but it’s likely to be another one that’s a good pick for rare fruit in the Deep South, and it’s more hardy than guavas or CoRG.
Trentberry is on my list to get. It’s a blueberry crossed with Elliott’s huckleberry which is a very tough and adaptable blueberry/huckleberry native across much of the South. It has larger berries than the straight species but fruits earlier than most other named Southern varieties.
A number of different hybrid passionflowers do very well in the South. There aren’t any yet that have reliable fruit production, but we’re getting closer. Lots of highly ornamental ones though, some of which do produce fruit on occasion.
Opuntia cacti of several different species are very easy to grow given well drained soil, and some of the improved varieties can take moderate cold.
Hybrid jelly palms are hardy in the warmer half of the Deep South, just hard to get and very slow growing.
Passion fruit vines grow like kudzu lite here. We keep meaning to go dig up some rooted pieces of them. Opuntia fruits well. But we did not plant them. Dragonfruit grows very well then the winter kills them.
I am one county out of your definition. My Guthrie hasn’t set fruit yet, it’s companions are a wild type Chickasaw and one of Areda’s mixed thicket suckers. I might try those AU hybrids as i haven’t found any other selected types available.
I’m happy with my Aunt Rachel apple which copes with the Cedar apple rust really well, and i have high hopes for mayhaws, also coping with Cedar apple rust.
Are pawpaws common or exotic? Are nuts (hybrid chestnuts) fruit? Happy with those and my native Rubus mulberry. My opuntia didn’t make it: deer pressure surprised me, and weed pressure was too much and created too humid an environment.
We have something like 4 native Paw Paw species here. Plus domestic varieties. I think across the border in Florida they have 6-7 native Paw Paw species.
All Asimina are native to Florida (as of the current taxonomical classifications). Many of them are endemic. I was actually going to start a “Growing Pawpaws in Florida” thread this afternoon after I took pictures of my different pawpaws. All of them grow great here, except the common pawpaw, which grows okay. I find that Pond Apple (Annona glabra) also grows very well here (despite being high and dry and a good bit colder than it’s normal range). It is the only other native Annonaceae to the continental US.
Golden kiwi, pineapple guava, multiple eleagnus species, Nanking cherry, figs, Asian persimmons, jujubes there’s some old southern apples,loquat, honey locust, and numerous hady citrus hybrids.
