Automatic watering is very nice, especially for containers. Having to water every day, or twice a day, sucks.
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One of my many mistakes was purchasing peaches/nectarines on citation rootstock, only to find out they didnât grow nearly as vigorous as other stone fruits on citation or peaches/nectarines I have on Lovell.
Live and learn I guess. Nothing some grafting canât help. 
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I made the same mistake. Iâm sticking with Lovell for peaches these days.
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When we first started we made a big mistake when we planted several acres of fruit we had never grown or even seen grown commercially. It was stupid and cost us a bundle of money and time.
We also purchased the cheapest planting stock we could locate and planted them before we got the weeds under control, soil conditions and PH correct and with no irrigation.
We still use lots of trial and error to get things right but we have learned to seek advice from other growers or university folks doing research especially in my part of the country. Unfortunately, like Olpea, we found that some of the university research produced recommendations that produced poor results like Rich May peaches or B9 rootstocks for apples.
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@blueberrythrill what problems did you have with B9 rootstocks? Iâm planting around 40 more this spring with hopes of keeping the trees at 6-7 feet tall.
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Is a shade cloth tunnel a possible solution?
The trees were smaller than expected and many varieties never got taller than 6 or 7 feet.
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Tying brambles to to trellist last fall, heavy snowfalls pulled down stretched trellis wires, tried to pull anchors out of ground and resulted in more damage to canesâŚgoing forward prune and tie up in spring!
By far my biggest mistake was getting âfreeâ composted leaves from the city. The compost brought serious and lasting disease that still plagues my garden 25 years latter. I will never ever ever use unsterilized organic matter, potting mix, mulch or chips again. That is Russian roulette and every bag, load or shovelful could be the end of your orchard and landscape. Think about it, many plants have disease and despite what you may have read composting does NOT eliminate disease. The temperature of a compost pile in the middle can kill most disease but the bottom and outside 12-16 inches of the pile does not heat up much and diseases are not killed. Mulch is produced with whatever is cheap or free and available. Dead trees are available and cheap or free, millions are removed every year, they died from something , could be a disease that you donât want.
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To many trees.
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Yes, I would like to know what disease also.
What a fun thread this is. Mistakes that come to mind:
Believing what other people say about how wonderful a particular variety is. Some folks prefer more acidic, flavorful fruits and other more bland, sweet varieties. One of my best friends, who grows a lot of fruit, has very different flavor preferences than I do.
Related to the above, how sweet a fruit is may not be the best way to judge itâs desirableness.
Flirting with low-chill varieties. All that I have tried have been abysmal failures.
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Yes, taste is subjective. When people state a fruit is good I wonder what other fruits or cultivars they like. They also confuse flavor with texture. I see this a lot with cherries. The flavor is good but the texture falls short of the firm Bing-like cultivars and therefore the flavor is âbadâ.
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My biggest mistake was not starting much earlier than I did, and then rushing to catch up so I believed everything I read in the nursery catalogs 
and then planting 70-80 trees in just two seasons.
Then, it took me 4 seasons more to fix (actually that part was fun!)
Hmmm⌠still fixing some stuff. You know, any day you learn something new is a good day.
Mike
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I didnât do enough to improve the soil.
Also
Wasted time trying to grow Peaches.
They just arenât worth the effort in the Puget Sound lowlands.
Wish I had focused on Grapes sooner.
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Not watering enough during establishment year.
The rule of thumb I read was 5 gallons/week/tree, and while this ensures that the tree wonât die of thirst, it also didnât lead to steady growth.
I irrigated with drip tape and there was a decent leak by one apple tree which I was too lazy to fix, well this tree was double the size of the others after the first year, and it drove home the point that while you donât want to drown out the trees, they need consistent moisture during establishment year.
This year I did irrigated new plantings closer to 8 gallons every 5 days and had much better results. Of course how you water depends on your climate, soil, etc.
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Have you tried European plums or white currants? The European plums are the most care-free fruit trees in our yard, and the Imperial White currant I planted was far better than I thought it would be. I will probably plant Primus white, and Pink Champagne this Winter. Hardy kiwis are supposed to do well in the area, but I have not gotten around to those yet.
My biggest mistake was not checking the GDD requirements of a variety before I bought it. Hardiness does not mean it will ripen fruit.
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If you can find White Currant named Versailles it is excellent, better than Blanco.
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How do you mean? Being in zone 9b, like myself, arenât you really forced to go low chill varieties if you want any kind of harvest?
Before I knew anything about fruit trees more than that they provide food, I bought a Bing cherry at Loweâs. I just bought a new house and wanted a cherry tree. Have no idea what rootstock it was, but it must have been of a standard size as the tree grew absolutely bonkers. Gorgeous tree that I winter pruned every year.However, it never bloomed but twice in the 9 years I had it (I have moved since), and even then I could count the blooms on one hand. I assume to this day that it did not receive enough chill hours.