Planting Productive Orchards

REELDOC

REELDOC

The creek won't clear up til you get the pigs out.
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I've tried apples and peaches and I consider them welfare trees. They need to be fed, watered, sprayed, taken to the beauty parlor to have their shapes trimmed and you have to hold their branches at bedtime. Plums on the other hand don't need crap. Plant two or three and they will produce in two years.
 
Downeast said:
I've tried apples and peaches and I consider them welfare trees. They need to be fed, watered, sprayed, taken to the beauty parlor to have their shapes trimmed and you have to hold their branches at bedtime. Plums on the other hand don't need crap. Plant two or three and they will produce in two years.
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True, but most years mine blossom before the last frost and I get nothing. This year was different
There is a bumper crop and they are just starting to rippen.
 
We've got a wild plum that the seller told us is great producer with excellent. No buds/fruit yet, but we did have a late frost & just had our first truly warm week.

I'd like to put in a couple varieties of pear, another plum or two & maybe an apple. We'd like cherries, but not sure if we wanna battle birds.
 
@Crazy Carl - Try Paw Paw
peaches, apricots, apples and pears can be tough amongst others. Birds Love the plums too...
I have had some luck with pears and apples (grow them slow) is my best advice and try to keep them away from conifers, if ya can... (proximity and wind)
I haven't pruned them in awhile, only as needed, and did not amend the soil they went in. They tend to be a lot more prone to disease when they experience rapid growth. Fire blight etc...
 
We want to plant more stuff like this.

I posted this in another thread but a couple days ago we transplanted several (20 bunches/~65 individual) blueberry plants from the garden to our yard. We should have waited but figured what the heck. We have room for several trees but haven’t decided which way to go. I do think it’s smart to have tasty treats growing nearby, especially the way things are going these days.

Edited to add: my grandpa planted a plum tree 20 some years ago and it has plums this year for the first time. He had mentioned cutting it down last winter but we just didn’t get around to it.
 
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Bloodyhands said:
@Crazy Carl - Try Paw Paw
peaches, apricots, apples and pears can be tough amongst others. Birds Love the plums too...
I have had some luck with pears and apples (grow them slow) is my best advice and try to keep them away from conifers, if ya can... (proximity and wind)
I haven't pruned them in awhile, only as needed, and did not amend the soil they went in. They tend to be a lot more prone to disease when they experience rapid growth. Fire blight etc...
Click to expand...

I'm too far north for paw paw, apricot & probably peaches, too. Pretty sure that frost we got in mid April means I won't be seeing any plums this year. Need to do more research on what grows well here.
 
My impression, not from experience, fig trees produce like mad and are very low maintenance. I'm considering planting one.
 
If you are going to plant, look for varieties that are specific for your climate zone. Also, on apples and pears, look for varieties that are resistant to fire blight (bacterial) and cedar apple rust (fungal). Otherwise you are fighting a loosing battle. Most tree fruits will need to be sprayed to prevent insects from injecting their eggs into the fruit causing internal larval damage. Fruit trees need a lot of attention and require a lot of time.

That's why I am concentrating mostly on the blueberries and muscadines. Neither have a lot of insect and disease issues, although I am getting Japanese beetles on my muscadines right now. I need to put up some pheromone traps.
 
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