The strange weather with up and down temperature swings in the last few years. It is best to include some of the fruits that still can produce with this kind of weather like pawpaw, American Persimmon, Hybrid Persimmon, and Jujube to your orchard. These are very good fruits when all the stone fruits got wiped out by the late frost.
Tony
Agreed. At least, every backyard grower should have something producing each year (consolation prize?!)
Fortunately, my pears, both Asian and Euro, and cherry (Black Gold) have produced every year through deep freeze for a couple of years and the temp swings Feb and April last year. Hopefully, E plum will be like them.
Figs.
Most cold hardy berries should be good. I have at least 10 different northern blueberries. Last year, the buds didn’t swell on them until the real spring came.
Figs would mostly be in pots where I am, zone 6 a.
I’m with AJ, where I live (Minnesota) berries are a nice consolation prize if you lose some or most of your tree fruit. I haven’t added up last years total yet, but the year before we gathered nearly 300 lbs of strawberries, raspberries, honey berries, blackberries, blueberries, and currants. Plus you do get months of harvesting, even in my climate there are berries to pick from late May/ early June till late Oct/early November. Thats about 5 months worth!
AJ, my northern blueberries barely produced after the brutal winter of 2013. I think a factor was that I left an automatic sprinkler set on them twice a week, because they were planted in sand. It was on too late into the fall, because I was out-of-state caring for my father and our daughter at home isn’t into gardening. I don’t think they hardened off properly. I had to prune out from 50-75% of every bush the next year due to winterkill. They are only now finally getting back to what they had been.
Of course you’re right. I was thinking about where we live, where the problem
isn’t with cold temperatures per se, it’s that we can have lows in the upper 20s/low 30s, then have highs in the 60/70s all in one week. And this goes on throughout the winter. The figs will pretty much sail through it all.
But of course if you get very cold temps, figs are not hardy enough.
Concord-type grapes (including Edelweiss, King of the North, Buffalo, Fredonia, etc…) did ok for me last year after a very late frost.
Muscadines have been dependable in my area. Diversity is the key to dependable pear crops. When one gets killed from cold weather another one makes a decent crop.
My pawpaws, blackberries, raspberries, and mulberries have not been fooled at all by the weather. Most of the apples and highbush blueberries are OK. The cherries, peaches, and lowbush blueberries look to be a total loss.
I lean toward growing more native fruits anyway, and this year is really driving home the reason why.
I’m a little confused by the lowbush blueberries, since they are supposed to be the hardiest out of anything I have. Some of these bushes have put out 1.5" of tender growth already. Meanwhile the buds on the highbush plants don’t look like they’re swelling at all.
I’ve had severe spring freeze damage even on persimmon, grapes, pecans, and jujube. They all leaf and bloom late but once they start growing are very freeze sensitive.
By the way it isn’t just the last few yrs that this has been an issue. On the plains it’s always been an issue. I moved Amarillo in 1971. Since then only a handful of yrs without freeze damage on something. Omaha may be a little better than farther west but not much.
Last year, I had an Illinois Everbearing Mulberry that just leafed out before the frost and afterwards it looked like somewhat had torched it, covered in dead black drooping leaves. I couldn’t believe that even a Mulberry got toasted! It leafed out again but I ended up with only three berries! Likewise, the grapes all got zapped but leafed out again 3 weeks later and I got a few bunches from each 2-3 year old vine.
Then there’s always rhubarb! Never had a year the rhubarb didn’t produce. Well, it’s not “really” a fruit but it’s considered so up here. It has extended many a small harvest of other fruit for me. And it adds a nice zing to sauce or jam. I agree with what you all have said about diversity. I wouldn’t want to depend on any one fruit, tree or otherwise. Strawberries and raspberries and blueberries have never been a total washout here–always get some. And wild apples. Makes it more fun, too. But I’m also expanding my fruit trees to have a better chance at a decent harvest of tame apples, pears, plums, cherries. And definitely looking toward the hardier, sturdier varieties now.