What trees are you lacking in your orchard?

[pine]

I wouldn’t say need… I’m starting to de-prioritize adding more fruit now. I’m slowly working on my property and need to open up more space + build more deer fences before adding more. But my eventual list to Santa includes:

• Goldrush apple
• Warren or Magness pear
• A sweet cherry
• Blueberries, raspberries, Hinnomaki gooseberries
• A fancy stone fruit like a good nectarine or one of the flavor _____ pluots folks on here talk about. Though it might be a little too cold where I live for either of those so this is the lowest priority.

[EJh]

If you remind me in the fall, there’s wild American persimmons in my neighborhood that I could get you some seeds from and mail them to you if you need. They would need cold stratification still just as an fyi.

[smilemore]

Cherimoyas - Started from seeds about a year ago. Going to the 2nd year.
Avocados - Started from seeds 1 and 2 year ago. Grafted 3 - 4 varieties this year.
Cherries - Sweetheart, Bing, and Brooks. Purchased last year.
Nectarines - Honey Halo Doughnut last year and White flesh Snow Queen this year.
Plum - Grafted a possible Toka plum from the neighbor. This year grafted Santa Rosa plum from my brother.
Grapes - Not a tree. Purchase Black Monukka and Royal Autumn and more of Flame and Thompson this year.
Berries- Not a tree. Purchase Heritage rasp and I think it’s Apache black berry this year.
Kawaii - Not a tree. Eat my first yellow one. Seeds to the soil today.

[nil]

Snow Queen is my favorite nectarine, but I can’t find it anymore since the corporations that control our food supply decided that we don’t need to know the stone fruits that we are eating.

They will come for apples and pears next. Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that you are safe from corporate F*ckery.

[TNHunter]

@Eme … all american and hybrid persimmons are astringent… until ripe. Some asians are some are not.

To ripen them… you have to wait… normally until they soften up good… the exact ripening process may vary some by variety.

With many varieties you can simply let them sit on the counter a week or so… then test for astringency.

I ripen american persimmons on the bar…in a little chamber made with paper towels, a plate and a large glass bowl.

I pick them when ripe color and a little soft.

Normally in 5-7 days… all astringency is gone.

TNHunter

[sharq]

You wait, and then you wait, and then you wait some more, and then they are delicious, after you wait a little longer. On the counter, took about 2-3 months to lose astrigiency from store bought ones, but it was super good. If you are growing them, you don’t have to wait nearly as long because you don’t pick them when they are still hard. Also american persimmons are always astrigient and they have a better chance of doing well here.

[TNHunter]

You can grow American persimmons from seed… I grew those and they made 36-42 inch tall in one season.

In a warm spell in January… I planted them out in my orchard… and in April I grafted Kasandra to the larger one… and Nakitas Gift to the smaller one. They are 12 ft trees in my orchard now.

TNHunter

[nil]

I tasted some native persimmons from the Rockefeller Botanical Garden in Cleveland during the pandemic, and there was no astringency. I don’t know if it is a named variety, but there was no astringency at all.

[TNHunter]

@nil … some americans will fully ripen on the tree. My sisters tree… Rich Tooie will often hold some fruit until it is fully ripe… no astringency. Often they will drop from the tree when ripe… or very near ripe.

A mature southern american persimmon can produce a lot of fruit.

TNHunter

[nil]

Most of the fruit was still on the tree in early October, but a few cracked fruits had fallen. A member of my family found a dropped fruit in good condition and my grandfather, father, and mydelf had a taste. The flesh was firm and had the classic apricot/pumpkin flavor. At least, that is how I think of he flavor.

[FaithfulFruitsman]

Wow! Thanks! I’ll try and make a note. Much appreciated.

[smilemore]

I only got 1 Snow Queen fruit hanging for dear life. Hope to taste my first SQ. While SQ not the most productive, the flavor should be one of the top. It’s in a bigger pot and happy. Plan to put it in the ground this fall and graft to my existing tree for more in the future.

[BobVance]

@dannytoro1

I am past ready to plant some Nut trees

I just started that this year. After having some very tasty Chestnuts, I ordered 5 trees from Perfect Circle, which should arrive next week. 3 will go in the front yard of a rental to replace a ornamental red plum. The other two will go in the backyard of another, replacing two apricots which appear to be dying (they do that a lot for me…).

More recently, I roasted some hazelnuts and decided I liked those a lot as well. So, I got 3 of them from Burnt Ridge. A zig-zag red-leafed one and two of the (relatively) new disease resistant ones from NJ.

I’m going to squeeze the hazelnuts in at home, while the chestnuts go at the rentals. My thinking is that the chestnuts have nice spiney husks to keep the squirrels at bay, while the hazelnuts are more vulnerable and should be grown somewhere I can take more aggressive actions against them.

@dannytoro1

Sadly, unless you plan to spray bulk levels of chemicals; Persimmons are hard to grow here. Sucking bugs ruin them fast.

Wow- persimmons are a no-spray fruit here. I may lose a few to animals, but even there, the losses seem a lot less than apples or peaches. Maybe they are nervous about them after biting into an astringent one.

@Eme

What does everything do the with astringent persimmon?

They are great for pranks if you really don’t like someone

Actually, I have trouble getting them properly non-astringent and tend to give away 90%+ of mine. Though only to people who assure me that they know how to work with them. One dries them, and I assume the other lets them sit until they are the consistency of pudding.

The other thing I was lacking was seaberries. But, when I ordered the hazelnuts, I threw a few of those into the order and replaced some black currants which had died at a rental (not sure why, but all 3 died at the site- maybe it was excess sun, something that location has compared to other places I’ve grown BC) with them.

I’ve only got one small sweet cherry multi-graft (too much of a pain for too many reasons for me to plant more), but otherwise I think I’ve got just about all the fruits that can be grown outside here (zone 7). Though I’m sure I’ll see something else soon…

[TNHunter]

Sweet cherries… TN Ag does not recommend them for growing in TN.

I planted a Lapins sweet cherry in 2018… that finally bloomed set and ripened fruit this spring.

We got heavy rains every 2 or 3 days while they were ripening… almost all fruit split and spoiled… some of the fruit just turned brown and fell off… some obviously had bug bites… and when ripe if you split open… there was a nice chubby worm nnear the pit.

Over the past few weeks checked the tree several times for that one nice cherry that I could eat… found not one single fruit.

Yes… you should take TN. Ag advice and smply not grow sweet cherries in TN.

I have a Montmorency in my new orchard… hope I have better luck with it. I will never grow another sweet cherry.

TNHunter

[jrd51]

I’ve avoided this question, but it’s raining . . . .

“Lacking” as I define it means (1) I want it, but (2) I can’t grow it. The two reasons are climate and disease.

Climate: I would die for good mangos. I’d love some avocados and a little citrus. And some coconuts.

Disease: Cherries, plums, apricots. Cherries die from black knot and canker. Except for a few European names and a few American hybrids, plums die from black knot. Apricots get blossom rot. I’m growing three BK-resistant Europeans and 4 hybrid Americans with some success. But NO sweet cherries, NO Asian plums, and NO apricots – I’ve killed 3-4 trees in each category.

My honeyberries were all ravaged by something last summer. Symptoms like fireblight.

FWIW: For me, persimmons and pears seems nearly pest free. Each has its own psylla that occasionally appears. Mulberries also pest free, except the birds. Apples do well with spraying. Chinese chestnuts do well.