Whoops. Gotcha. 
Well, since a Callery is more vigorous, does that mean it’s be more susceptible to fireblight outbreaks? I guess it depends more on the scion as opposed to the rootstock…
I’m in OK visiting my Mom, and today we went out to pick some things up, and just look around. We went to an Atwoods, which is a local farm supply store. To my pleasant surprise, they had both bare root and potted fruit and pecan trees!
The bare root offerings were mostly apple, peach and plum. Most of them are whips, but some had a few feathers on them, calipers ran about 7/16"-11/16". Most of the apples were the usual red and yellow delicious, but (!?!), I found a 11/16" Jonathan. Hmm. They were all on sale for about $13. I’d like to know what rootstock they had, but my guess is that they’re semi standard, but I don’t know for sure.
There were a couple peach trees they had that I’ve never heard of, namely Harvester and Sam Houston. @Olpea, are you familiar with these varieties? If so, have you grown them and what kind of peach are they?
They also had a bunch of nice bare root pecans, most of them nice tall thick trees. I need a couple of type 1 trees to replace the Oconee’s that we lost last year, so I might have to pick up a couple before I go back home. At less than $20, it might be worth trying them out. So, I’m already trying to figure out how to fit them in the car for the trip back!
They also had a few potted fruit trees, including some apricots, but they were $40, and would be hard to transport.
So, what to do??
I’ve never grown either one of those. Harvester is recommended for TX by Texas A&M. I was interested in Harvester and discussed it with @rayrose, but decided against planting it.
I hope Ray doesn’t mind me sharing his description:
“This is my 8th year for Harvester. It’s a very reliable cropper with a
heavy fruit set, and requires a good bit of thinning. It matures around
the first of July for me, and colors up almost totally red, has good flavor,
and size(3.04) not too acidic. It should set well for you, even with your winters. The only down side is that it’s advertised to be free stone, but mine never is.”
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Thanks, I did some research on both of them. Yes, they are better suited for southern climes, so they’re prob a no go for us. The Sam Houston variety was developed by Texas A&M, from what I read. Here is a picture of some Aggie peaches:
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Them Aggie Peaches look like apples.
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I once went snipe hunting, and got my first one in a Maraschino tree, and the second one in a Marshmallow tree. Tasted like chicken…
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Just got my Gold Dust peach and Tomcot apricot from Bay Laurel. The trees look healthy, but boy, people weren’t kidding when they said Bay Laurel chopped off the roots! Hope the trees turn out ok.
Yeah here in Texas Harvester is known for being super reliable and is a decent peach for sure. Sam Houston is an old fashioned variety and even most current A&M extension agents will tell you there is much better stuff available now.
Drew
Since I lost my peach tree to borers I am going to need some dwarfing rootstocks for peaches and cherries, could I get some recommendations from the experts (that means all of you). Thanks
I haven’t found a peach rootstock I like. Natural peach RS like Lovel and Bailey get borers bad for me. Citation doesn’t get any borers, but they runt out and make very few peaches. The Krymsk (1?) I have grafted peach to haven’t grown much either. I don’t know if there are any non-peach (meaning less like borer-magnets) rootstocks with good peach compatibility and growth.
Who sells the citation rs"s?
Some of the Dave Wilson Nursery affiliates sell Citation: Bay Laurel and Sanhedrin for example.
Ison also sells peaches on Citation.
You can get peaches on Citation from DWN (Sanhedrin or Bay Laurel). I’m not sure if it is sold as a separate rootstock.
I may try Marianna or St Julian, both plums. I recently saw a paper that there were several plum varieties with decent peach compatibility. Looking at the Raintree description for Mariana 2624, it doesn’t mention peach, but another Raintree page says:
It is compatible as an understock for plums, peaches and some almonds and apricots.
http://www.raintreenursery.com/Rootstock_Plum.html
As for the paper I found, I don’t recall where I got it, but I did save a copy.
Peach_Rootstocks1389.full.pdf (143.9 KB)
Edit: Sorry to repeat you Matt- it took me a second to look for the paper and I didn’t refresh for comments before posting.
Edit #2: This topic prompted me to read a bit more and I decided to order 5 St Julian rootstocks from Raintree. I’ll have them sized up a bit for when my next peach(s) die. As a bonus, it looks like they are compatible with apricots as well, the other short-lived stone fruit. Maybe I can put both on the same rootstock, so that if the apricot spontaneously dies, at least there is a peach left…
I went with St Julian over Mariana 2624 as the paper seemed to indicate both partial incompatibility (level “D”) and abnormal growth for Mariana.
I was able to resist (barely) the urge to add Candy Heart pluery to my order.
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So I ordered 3 trees from Cummins Nursery Fall 2016, 1 Apple 2 Cherry Trees. Got an e-mail today saying that due to inventory error they do not have the two cherry trees. When I ordered they had 90 plus tree of each variety. I am friggin ticked, there is no way I will find trees on Gisela 6 rootstock this late in the season in the varieties I wanted. There was no offer to make it right (for there error) on a future order - no free shipping, no future discount. I in no way believe it was inventory error but it doesn’t matter - I won’t deal with them again. Buyer beware.
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I am sorry to hear that. IMHO, they definitely should have offered you something for their error and your inconvenience, like a guarantee on those trees for you for next year, or some kind of good-will discount.
It’s just good business. They key is they don’t even have to do A LOT, but they do need to do something that recognizes the error was theirs, the customer suffered inconvenience, and an attempt to make it right.
Not just a “Whoops! Sorry!”
Either they need to be retrained on good customer service practices or they’re so successful they can afford to do such things, because if you don’t come back, they have 10 people lined up to take your place.
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All Euro pears can take a long time to fruit if they are not on quince, 5-6 years may be a better average.
Wow I did not realize they took that long. Does it help at all if they were grafted to a mature rootstock? I grafted to a big callery that had fruited for years and the grafts took off like a rocket, 7’ or more of growth in one season. I was hoping they would fruit soon given the amount of energy in the roots.
Sorry to hear that too. What cherry did you order? I placed an order of 3 apple trees from them last week. All 3 varieties had a low number in stock at the time, so I hope they don’t send me a similar email.
Last year I ordered 11 apple, and 2 peach trees, and got my all the trees on time, even tho I made the order in mid March. I will say that they take their time replying to emails, and others on here have had similar issues with them in that regard.
I agree with @VSOP, they should at least give you some credit off a future order, or something, because you’re the one who was inconvenienced, especially considering you placed your order last fall.
Today, I finally pulled the trigger on a late order with Raintree:
-Seckel pear on OHxF.87
-Reka blueberry
-Golden Transparent Gage plum on St. Julian
-Jersey beach plum on St. Julian
-Superior plum on St. Julian
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Matt,.
Nice ordered. Are you planting all these trees on your mountain property?
Tony