What apple and peach to start with?

General Fruit Growing
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I’ve posted a lot as a newbie starting a small orchard in Howard County, Maryland. Zone 7a, cusp of 6b.

So my initial plan has changed to the following:

Order one peach and one apple from a mail order nursery.

Start some peach and apricot pits as well, for sh*ts and giggles.

Possibly in Summer 2018 for budding, or in winter/spring 2019, get some scionwood (that’s where you all come in hint) and graft both to the peach and apple tree as well as the seedlings.

Decide from there what other expansion I wish to do. May order apple rootstocks for bench grafting at that point, maybe not.

Since I am starting small, I’m trying to decide what varieties for the apple and peach to start with, and what rootstocks.

For peach – I initially wanted a GlenGlo, which appears to be a great early peach, but only ACN shows it in their catalog, and it is out of stock. The good news, the patent expired this spring…

So I browsed Raintree. Indian Free is intriguing, but since my kids probably won’t eat that odd colored peach, I probably wouldn’t want more than maybe a single grafted limb of that variety for now. Most of their other varieties appear to be West Coast adapted varieties. Kit Donnell is a CA peach, that I’ve read around this forum seems to do decently here on the East Coast.

Apples seem easier to come by. Initially, I was thinking Bud 9 or M9, but if I want to start with a single tree and start grafting multiple varieties, maybe something a bit bigger, like M26 would be better, what do you think? Only two of us in the house eat apples, and for now, I’m sticking with fresh eating apples, I’m not trying to make cider. I may try making a little applesauce down the road, but that’s it.

As far as cross pollination, I should be set even with one tree if I graft others on to it, plus the neighborhood has plenty of Malus species around.

So what is a good variety (and rootstock) of apple to start with, and a good variety of peach to start with, considering I’d be looking to graft multiple varieties onto it going forward?

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This is from a gentleman who lives very close to you:

That should help you pick the apple you want. Re: rootstock. I’ve never heard anyone having a major issue with M111. Seems good for a lot of situations.

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GoldRush is one I know I like, that my son will also eat (he’s picky, and my wife and other son don’t eat fresh apples).

Cummins has it on M7 (too big?) and G41 (too dwarfing for a naturally non-vigorous variety) - what are your thoughts?

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@scottfsmith What do you think?

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For peaches, I think Glenglo, Winblo (or Loring), Baby Crawford, and Kit Donnell will give you a nice ripening sequence over two months. Start with whatever is available and add the rest later by grafting.

For apples, I have a tree on M-7 with 20+ varieties grafted to it and I like it for this purpose. It has enough vigor to push new grafts but does not become too huge.

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Oddly, the M7 trees are smaller caliper than the G41 per the Cummings website.

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Are the PF varieties of peach worthwhile?

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Stan, How big is this tree on M7? I’m more worried about width than height. I have one spot that would give me about 8 feet on each side.

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My tree is about 10 ft wide and 9 ft high, but it can still grow more. If the total available width is 16 ft, it’s enough.

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Redhaven peach.

Ginger Gold apple. You really should consider putting two diploid apple varieties together to ensure cross-polination. Goldrush would be a good partner.

B.9 or one or the 111 understocks.

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I highly recommend you telephone Boyer’s Nursery in southern Pennsylvania. They will get new stock this winter. They sell top-notch stuff every year. You should request a copy of this past season’s catalog-- PDF or by mail-- to give you a sense of their offerings. Ask for Emma Lower on the phone and ask to be put on their mailing list for a 2018 catalog when it’s ready.

There is useful varietal information on their website, but the inventory and catalog information on their website has been out of date for several years. Their responsiveness is lazy; you need to hassle them sometimes… but in the end, they always provide high-value trees. Annually, their catalogs contain some of the finest cultivars for our region, and they sell out less quickly than ACN.

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I’ll check them out. I guess what bothers me, are these companies that are so lackadaisical about their website and customer service, even if they do have good material.

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To get better variety peaches from ACN like GlenGlo you have to call them directly and early. Even if there website is not showing stock they will take orders. This year I ordered in June and got GlenGlo. I check there site periodically and they never show GlenGlo being in stock.

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I could not deal with Boyer- every time I called it was call back after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving - we have no stock.

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Yeah, the customer service is annoying. Their catalog is usually released in February. They have great stuff for reasonable prices and are close to me. They are a multi-generational family business running an enormous estate and multiple enterprises all at once. Their ornamentals and wholesale stuff is their bread and butter. They don’t even need to do bareroot retail (which let’s be honest is a hard business), but do it anyway. I can schedule pickup with them; drive up in my Prius; and save a bundle on shipping costs. In summer, they also sell their orchard fruit fresh out of the warehouse farmstand. The place is sprawling and immaculate, and every time I go there I am astounded at the feeling I have entered a sustainability utopia.

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We just received our invoice and shipping notice from Century Farms Orchard and was looking over what apples they have available. They have listed on their website apples they have available for fall shipment. I happened to notice that they do have GoldRush on M111 and Bud 9. I haven’t received my trees from this nursery but am more than impressed with customer service so far.

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How are the Crawfords?

Baby Crawford and Early Crawford.

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Century Farm Orchards sends smallish trees. Despite the smaller size, they are of good quality. Responsiveness of their customer service is excellent.

If you’re gonna get Goldrush, then I would recommend getting it on 111. Goldrush is very precocious, and wants to fruit so badly, it needs the extra vigor of 111 to mitigate biennialism or runting out.

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Matt-I think I read you had Goldrush on G935, so since you’re recommending M111, does that mean you’re dissatisfied with it on G935?

I ended up getting mine this spring on G210, which is supposed to be about 60-65%. It’s about 8 feet tall now with pretty good branching. I was thinking it was off to a good start but now I’m curious as to what your experience was.

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I’m just saying you want as much vigor for Goldrush as you can get. 111 gives you good vigor, and predictably soil-adaptable roots.

I actually have Goldrush on both 111 and G.935. G.935 hasn’t fruited yet. 111 has fruited 3 out of 4 years.

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