not too sweltering here in July besides y. transparent makes the best applesauce IMHO. its such a poor keeper its best preserved by making sauce with it. i freeze about 10gal. of sauce from them every summer. if i find another early apple ill mix it in. one batch may be completely different tasting from others. gotta love free applesauce! as kids we were raised on this as well as other foraged berries and nuts. a little cinnamon and a dollop of whipped cream was a great summer treat!
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I never tried Alderman so thanks for the heads up. I added Black Ice and the graft grew well., maybe fruit this year? I also added Spring Satin Plumcot,2 years ago. The graft grew very slow, I canāt take scion yet, but it produced 2 fruit from this stub! They were excellent. Ripens in July. Resistant to canker.
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I grow Alderman in the deep south and for two years it has been a very good plum. Grafted more this week.
Yes, I think thatās why you have to try stuff for yourself!
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I cut down the two cherry trees that I had, they are too much work in the north east and the pay off is modest. Will plant more nectarines in their place. I will also get rid of the three blue berry plants that I have and grow figs instead. The blue berries produce every year, but they are rather bland. Fig plants, on the other hand, produced excellent figs for me in their first year and they are worth my effort.
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Like some others, I plan to give up on pushing zones. All of the maps seem to show me right on the 4/5 border, so I have several zone 5 trees among my 30 different apple varieties. We hit a low temp of -31 a couple weeks ago. Anything that doesnāt survive will be done.
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You may have seen my recent post asking what people thought about me planting the 3 super early yellows (Dorset, Anna, Ein S.) and the reason was exactly what you were sayingā¦there is just something wonderful about getting fresh apples again as soon as possible! I have a super early peach like that (it is an unknown variety). I concede that it isnāt my best peach and itās clingstone, but it is still one of my very favorite trees because however good or bad it is, it does give me fresh peaches almost 2 full months before my next earliest peaches, and of course they certainly taste 10000 times better than store bought peaches. There is just something magical about having fresh peaches in late spring/early summer (first week of June , which is just amazing for my location in TN/KY.
@Drew51 I couldnāt possibly agree more with everything you just said. I guess great minds do think alike. haha. Iām even ahead of your suggestions on a couple things. For example, I have already grafted 2 or 3 other sweet cherries to my successful Black Tartarian. I just did it last year so they werenāt able to bloom last year but they put on a good deal of growth and are still alive so I have high hopes that they will help pollinate the rest of the tree. I also hope that the good health and vigor of the BT will translate into making the grafts strong and large and healthy. Time will tell. And yes, I am jealous of your area for its ability to grow cherries. Even before I ever planted a single fruit tree I knew how famous Michigan is for its cherries. Iāve always wanted to be there in harvest season and maybe visit some of the cherry fruit stands and orchards you have up there. One thing I donāt know is whether your area is in serious ācherry countryā or if most cherries are grown in another part of the state? If most are grown in a particular area, what area is that?
I also enjoyed reading what you said about most or all of us probably grow some things that are not suited for our area and which therefore require a lot of effort, but we do it because it is a fruit we really love. And even though I said Iām going to stop dragging potted figs in and out, I wanted you to know that I do still agree with you that figs are one of the best fruits on the planet (to my personal tastes) and that in no way am I going to stop growing figs. I will still have the 3 popular and (somewhat) hardy varieties of Chicago Hardy, Brown Turkey, and Celeste. And while they occassionally freeze to the ground, they usually still give me handfull of figs the same year, and MOST YEARS they survive the winter here, so Iāll still have figs and always will. In fact, my all time most powerful fruit experience that Iāll never forget is when I tasted my first fresh fig. I bought one on a whim at Lowes one day. The only thing Iād ever even heard of a fig was fig newtons and I had no idea what a fresh fig even looked like. I planted it that spring and it grew a lot but I didnāt get fruit that year. The following year I didnāt pay much attention to it at all until one day I noticed a couple of the green figs on my C.H. had turned colors and got soft. I honestly started to try to PEEL it at first!!! hahah. Anyway, eventually I took a big bite and that moment, more than any other in my life, is the one I point to as the reason Iāve got 130 fruit trees and a life consumed by fruit growing!!! I was standing there in my yard by myself saying (out loud) āOh My G**, Oh My G**ā over and over and smiling like the village idiot. I just couldnāt believe how incredibly that āTiny little sack of jellyā tasted!!! haha. SO AMAZING!!!
Anyway, I know this is another one of my ridiculously, unnecessarily long winded posts. But it is so fun talking about fruit experiences like that and hopefully some people here can relate or have similar moments or memories of when they āfell in love with fruit!ā. ha.
BTW, it was also nice and humble of you to admit to making a lot of mistakes when you started and planting several things that just werenāt right for your area. I always appreciate when folks admit that because I sometimes feel like Iāve made more frequent and more egregious errors than anyone. But even some of the most advanced experts on this site have shown that same level of humility and admited to making a lot of really bad choices/decisions in the past. That gives the rest of us some hope!!! 
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Iām on the east side and it is the west side that grows most of the cherries. We have pocket orchards here and there on the east, but most cherries and all the blueberries are in the west with their sandy soil. We have clay loan and farmers mostly grow corn, soy bean and other boring crops. Still the weather is the same or even warmer in the southeast
Plus Iām in the suburbs of Detroit so it is city life around here. This was all farmland at one time exactly where Iām at was a huge farm. Also on the east are dairy farms. 90% of dairy farms in Michigan are family owned. Not many huge operations but small farmers. The tv show āThe Incredible Dr. Polā Shows insight as to what it is like in most of Michigan. Many, many small towns and rural areas where 4H clubs rule. So cows and pigs, and lotās of corn.
LOL I have had those moments too!
And yes I made a lot of mistakes and still do. The most recent is letting spider mites almost kill my indoor seedlings and are all over my orange trees inside. I should have been paying more attention. Iām now on it and the seedlings will look bad but are not dead. I thought the dried leavs were from lack of water, but it was the mites sucking them dry. The infection is severe. Where the hell do those things come from? No matter how much I prep to bring plants indoors, some pests manage to live through it.
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Somehow I didnāt realize you were that close to Detroit. Itās also interesting how outsiders get an impression of a state that can be very wrong. I think most people see TN and KY as having a lot of redneck hillbillies chasing after their sisters and the land as being mostly hills, hollows, and mountains. Of course neither one is true!!! haha. When I think of Michigan I must admit I think mostly of Detroit or the great lakes, and it sounds like the truth is that the majority of the state isnāt like those 2 places? I like the Vet show you are talking about but somehow I completely missed that it is filmed in Michigan!!! That may be due to the aforementioned reason- ie I didnāt visualize MI as it looks on that show but sounds like it mostly is, hu? Interesting.
Again, itās always refreshing to see us admit to our foolish error. I could list a few but the list would be way too long. haha.
Anyway, apologies to the OP for getting off track. I enjoyed hearing about what people are giving up on so I hope others will continue that topicā¦
Oh really??? When I think of TN and KY I think of Moonshine and Dollyā¦ is there anything else??? 
Of course you know Iām kiddingā¦ and all the Rednecks are over here!
Well Bob, itās the hillbillies chasing their sisters (and apparently their brothers if you saw the movie Deliverance! hahaha) who make the moonshine to which you refer, so we are both right! hahaha. Now, I can accept being known for Dolly and Country Music, Memphis BBQ, Smokey Mountains, Kentucky Derby and bluegrass that grows great horses , and University of Kentucky basketball. But unfortunately those arenāt the things that come to mind for a lot of people. haha. Its the stuff I mentioned. Oh- and an apparent lack of dentists because every time there is a news story in KY/TN they manage to find someone missing one or more teeth and put them on TV with the caption āTN/KY residentā!!! hahaha. Kills me.
Now, Ohio is equally maligned by incorrect stereo types. Iām afraid most people see the whole state as one of two things: either as part of the failing ārust beltā where every town is covered in closed steel mills and falling down metal buildings, or else its all corn field and cow pastures. And the world is just certain that all young Ohio resdents are required to go cow tipping at least once a week, right? And all residents wear only those boat shoes (I think you call them āSperryā or āsperriesā). And of course you all go to Ohio State games shirtless and painted red, right?
Hopefully you know Iām just giving you the same good-natured ribbing you gave me! We both live in a beautiful part of America and Iām reminded of that every time I watch one of your great ultralight aircraft flyovers!
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No more like Mayberry with Andy as sheriff and the one bullet in the pocket Barney.
Now Detroit is very progressive but the state is rather big. Three or 4 KY or TNās could fit if you count the UP. Small town USA. Now I grew up in the city, Iām a city boy! Iām 8 miles from 8 mile, the Detroit city limit. I grew up 4 miles from Detroit, till i was 12 and we move north a few miles to Sterling Heights. My mom was born in Detroit I was born in East Tawas, as that was where my dad was stationed in the Air Force We moved back to the Detroit area when i was 4 years old, before that I was an Army brat. Lived on the base. When i was 4 my dad planted fruit trees and I started learning about them and enjoying tree ripened fruit.
Iām a northerner but many from the south have come up here to work. I know many people from the south. My impression is that you guys are a hell of a lot more friendlily than we are.! Nice great people, my impression. I remember meeting this guy playing golf. We were both alone so paired up. I asked where he was from and he said Louisianan. He was Cajun. he asked my name and I said āAndyā. He gave me a strange look and said āWhere I come from thatās a girlās name!ā Well I didnāt know what to say? So asked his name? He said "Renee " I guess spelled RenĆ©. I swear to God that happened! People from the south are way different depending on where they are from. We tend to lump them together. This Cajun guy has a rhythmic French like southern accent. It was very pleasant to listen to.
He said he was in Georgia asking at the hardware store for pecan stain and the people said they didnāt carry any. They did not know what he was asking for! As he pronounced pecan, Pa-cone. Not Pee Can. A very interesting gentleman! Louisiana has the best food ever, Oh my! The greasy spoons even are fantastic! Love that state!
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Yupā¦its very āehā but it is big. Mine died last year and it wonāt be replaced.
I might buy a peach tree if Menards gets some again. They sell out quickly.
Everything that died from -31F will be gone. Iāll regraft what i can. Iām most interested to see if anything even leafs out after that cold.
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So far, it appears p. americana is adding more cold hardiness to my peaches. I think it is worth a try for people struggling with peach hardiness in zone 4/5.
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What is killing your cherries? Other than the neighborās herbicide, are you having problems with the roots or is it something above ground?
I feel you about a well. I use a well also. My orchard is way to far from the peach trees and my apple trees to water them unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary. for the just planted ones If they die, they die.
Replying to the issue pushing zones.
I always do the opposite. I always buy plants/trees,etc. for the next zone lower than my zone. I am āsupposedā to be in zone 6 but I buy zone 5 items. It has worked pretty much every time. I learned that many, many years ago. I got tired of being disappointed in doing it the opposite way.
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I think it is they bloom too early and the fruit buds are damaged when it becomes cold. If I remember correctly? Seems a major problem in many areas.
Except there isnāt a lot available for lower zones here. I try to get zone 3 things, but also have a lot of zone 4s.
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Very true. I should have added that point. I live in an area that zone 4 and 5 do well for me. I am sure it is a lot of " crossing fingers" type planting moments for you there.
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neem oil is your best friend indoors. 