I know, its a little like asking which of your children you like best! I also know it is very hard to compare a peach to an apple and so on. But I think we would all have fun seeing the answers- I know I would. So, here is the question: If for some strange reason you had to had to remove every living plant from your property and you were only allowed to grow a single fruit, what (type and variety) would you choose? Can be tree fruit, bramble, bush fruit, etc. It also has to be a selection from what you have now and where you live now- so folks like me canāt say ābananasā and so on.
I personally would have to pick Spring Satin Pluot, (with Saijo Persimmon a VERY close second)
i think assorted cultivars of cane fruit. are very nutrient dense and produce from june to first frost. very easy to grow with little disease / pest issues. we donāt have SWD here. (yet!)
Peaches are my favorite fruit to growā¦even here in Maine. For me they are fun to pruneā¦in April when it is warmer. I love shaping the trees into an open vase and seeing them look more & more like I want them to from year to year. They are also much less care than other fruit trees in this climate. And of course the fruit is delicious.
My best tasting fruit are Honey series nectarines from DWN and Bing cherries. But itās more about culture than cultivar. That is growing conditions are critical. People in climates that canāt get high brix probably wonāt like the Honey nectarines which are low acid. In those climates people have to rely on the high acid nectarines for flavor.
I just had to tell you how much I understand and agree with your post. I never know quite what I need to do on pruning Apples. Plums seem to have a mind of their own and do what they want to do regardless of how I prune them. Cherries are just a big thick mass that I never know how much to clean/thin. But peaches are very rewarding to prune and then watch the results and then prune more. They usually behave well, and as you said, its not too hard to get them to spread out nicely with an open center. They are one of the few fruit trees that I feel like Iāve become fairly good at pruning. So weāre on the same wavelength for sure.
We are fortunate to be able to grow a lot of different kinds of fruit here, many kinds of stonefruit, apples, pears, citrus, figs, kiwi, grapes, berries, melons, tomatoes ectā¦ Without a doubt, peaches and nectarines are favorite here, followed by pluots. We do have favorite varieties for most all the fruit we grow though, like apples, they donāt like our heat but pink lady is really good here! If limited by only one fruit tree, it would be the very intense June Pride peach!
I have to agree with Moose, if I could only grow one thing here in Minnesota it would be raspberries because of the length of harvest. 3-4 weeks in late June into early July for the floricane crop, then, 6-8 weeks from late August till hard frost for the primocane crop. If I had to pick one just based on taste, for me nothing beats homegrown strawberries.
I would have to say cherimoya. The tree is beautiful, Fruit is neat to look at and delicious. It is not always good from the store and on the pricey side. Most importantly, the vermin havenāt discovered they can eat it yet, which is more than I can say for almost every other fruit we grow, rats will bite everything else unripe and ruin it which is heartbreaking!
Iād still take a firm dark cherry like Bing over all fruits. But after 4 years Iāve come to realize they arenāt a great growing option here in my area. Something more realistic that I truly enjoy are sweet peaches and nects with a nice acid balance. Like Arctic Jay. Iām also a big pluot fan. I like Pommes too but Iād prefer good stone fruits. Berries are nice and I enjoy them but to me they are secondary fruits like figs. Iām a big fan of ripe melons too but Iāve not attempted to grow them.
I grafted in several scions of Spring Satin this year. From what I read about them they are suitable for growing in the deep south. Great taste and disease resistant.
Peaches for sure, and if I had to pick a variety, Iād say of what we have grown the Summerset was my favorite. They came off kinda late, about Sept 7-10 but kept quite well off the tree at room temp (maybe 2 weeks.) They also were nice and firm, very flavorful, and only tasted better when the skin got a touch wrinkled.
I do love a lot of fruit though, apricots, pears, cherries, apples. Hopefully one of these days Iāll get to sample some of the more exotic stuff.
I got a Hachiya persimmon at the store this year that was awesome when ripe! Looking forward to my baby āsimmon trees growinā up.