Anybody have fruit trees?

[scubadoo97]

I currently have both white and red grapefruit, tangerine and bananas

[v. gautam]

Mr. Higgins,

Please look up North American Fruit Explorers [NAFEX]. They have chapters and members in your area who will advise you exactly what variety of apple, pear, plum etc. to plant in your Southern climate.

http://www.nafex.org/index.htm

The land grant University extension office and departments of pomology and horticulture are very good places to find information as well.

"The Southern Fruit Fellowship is an informal organization of amateur fruit growing enthusiasts throughout the Southern United States. Membership is open to all interested parties. Membership dues are $10.00 per year. Send your payment in U.S dollars to:

Retta Davis

2051 Evergreen Drive

Shreveport, LA 71118

Or contact Retta at davisd_r@hotmail.com

In addition to a quarterly newsletter, there is an annual meeting and frequent informal get-togethers"

These are the absolute specialists to ask advice re: your muscadine issues:

Ison’s Nursery & Vineyards, Brooks, GA 30205. (800) 733-0324. Muscadine grapes and other fruits.

Other nurseries specialzing in Southern varieties of fruit that you may like

Johnson Nursery, Inc., 1352 Big Creek Rd, Ellijay, GA 30540. Toll free: (888) 276-3187. Quality fruit trees with antique and disease-resistant varieties. Small fruit also.

Louisiana Nursery, the Durios, Route 7, Box 43, Opelousas, LA 70570. (318) 948-3696. Fruiting trees shrubs, vines, and many other plants including magnolias. Catalog $6 or free list.

Nash Nurseries, 4975 W. Grand River Rd., Owosso, MI 48867-9292. (517) 651-5278, NashFarm@shianet.org Container stock of grafted pawpaw, hybrid chestnuts, pine nuts & fruit trees.

Neighbors Nursery, Joyce Neighbors, 1039 Lay Springs Rd., Gadsden, AL 35904 (256) 546-7441. Sells scionwood of old southern apples and other antique varieties. Free list of scions available for shipping in February and March.

e-mail jneighbr@internetpro.net

Nolin River Nut Tree Nursery, 797 Port Wooden Rd., Upton, KY 42784 (270) 369-8551 Mon.-Sat. 7-7 C.T. . Grafted nut trees and persimmons. [One of the best nut tree nurseries.]

Sherwood’s Greenhouses, J. S. Akin, PO Box 6, Sibley, LA 71073. (318) 377-3653. Southern fruit, including mayhaw. Send SASE for list.

Woodlanders, Inc., 1128 Colleton Avenue, Aiken, SC 29801. (803) 648-7522. A wide variety of hard-to-find southern plants.

As far as figs are concerned, you would do well to purchase

1. Negronne [AKA "Beer's Black]

2. LSU Purple

3. Osborne Prolific

These would be a good start.

For peaches you can also contact Dr. Joe Goffreda, Cream Ridge Station, Rutgers University + NJ State Agriculural Experiment Station at Cream Ridge, NJ. Ask him about peen-tao [doughnut] peaches; also columnar peaches, the Flamin' Fury and Coral Star series and others suitable for your area. Make sure any and ALL stone fruit nursery stock you buy are specifically guaranteed against plum pox/Sharka virus. Written guarantee.

Please write me if you have any questions.

Happy gardening.

gautam

Edited June 26, 2008 by v. gautam (log)

[v. gautam]

Magictofu,

You can have excellent peaches and cherries if you want in Ottawa. NO SWEAT. You have a first rate cherry breeder in Dr. Gus Tehrani sitting in your backyard, not very many miles away!!

http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/hort/fq/wint...Anderson.PM.pdf

Lang, G.A. and R.L. Perry. 2002. High density sweet cherry management: point-counterpoint. Compact Fruit Tree 35(4):115-117.

Gutzwiler, J. and G.A. Lang. 2001. Sweet cherry crop load and vigor management on Gisela® rootstocks. Acta Horticulturae 557:321-325.

http://www.hrt.msu.edu/faculty/Langg/Compr...ation_List.html

Have attached some cautionary notes, as due diligence, but in our northern climate, i.e. Ottawa type, spring frosts do a good job of thinning fruit!!!

http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/hort/faculty...arieties.do.htm

Start with these 2 cherries: on Gisela 5 rootstock; ask Agriculture Canada about pruning and training

Whitegold no birds, self-fertile, pollenizer of other cherries

Danube tart cherry: good fresh eating, no birds

When you gain confidence

[Attika midlate red

Gold late, no birds

Hudson late, quality, disease resistant]

Peaches:

PF-1 Flamin’ Fury July 12

Ruby Prince

Coral Star

Site selection is important

Plum

"Demontfort’ is extremely hardy and a WOW! for excellent quality. Its small, only about one inch diameter. It’s blue with unique etched lines covering the skin. You can’t eat just one! It ripens in mid-August." Prof. Robert Andersen.

gautam

[sazji]

Since I love unusual flavors, I would tend to go for things that grow well in your area but either are expensive or unavailable commercially. It drives me crazy when people are planting an apple tree and end up putting in something like red delicious! There are lots of nice apple varieties commercially available in the US now, but so many more that you can't find in the stores, for all sorts of uses.

One fruit I haven't seen mentioned is mulberries. Since you are in Atlanta, you can grow black mulberries (Morus nigra). I grew up in Iowa where we had the common red mulberry - a misnomer because the fruits are dark puple when ripe - and white mulberries, both of which are a bit insipid with the red being more flavorful. I first tried black mulberries in Greece years ago. They are an incredible blend of sweet and tart, the berries are large and almost nothing but brilliant red-pink juice. They are great for eating fresh or in preserves, and they make a great liqueur. This year I'll try cooking them with peaches for crisp. You don't want to plant a mulberry in an area where you will be sitting - keep them away from the patio, because when they fruit, they really fruit, and you'll never keep up with them. Plop.

As for figs - Yeah you need to keep up with the trees, they definitely aren't an "easy ornamental." But to me it's worth it - I love fresh figs, and you can make preserves with the first crop that generally doesn't ripen, when they are still small and hard. I also love the smell of the leaves in the heat of summer. They are really easy to propagate. Sample around; when you find a tree you really like just beg a couple cuttings in late October or November. My grandfather would just bury them in the ground about half way (take the current year's growth) and they would root and grow by spring. Can't kill 'em with a stick...

Another fruit I really love is Morello cherries. These are a sour cherry but unlike the pale Montmorency, these are deep red all the way through. The make the most amazing cherry pie. They are puckery fresh but I still eat them, if not in great quantity. They make wonderful preserves, or you can boil them down with sugar to make a syrup. You pour some of this into the bottom of a glass and then add cold water for a really lovely cherry drink that's a favorite in Greece and Turkey.

[Peter the eater]

I'm considering putting fruit trees in this year. I'd like to know what to look for when I head to the local nursery. Questions to ask, etc.

Good thread!

I planted twelve apple trees yesterday, all Newtown Pippins. I didn't choose them but the one who did said there are lots in the area, and some are really old.

"What's tried and true around here?" is a good question.

[scubadoo97]

One fruit I haven't seen mentioned is mulberries. Since you are in Atlanta, you can grow black mulberries (Morus nigra). I grew up in Iowa where we had the common red mulberry - a misnomer because the fruits are dark puple when ripe - and white mulberries, both of which are a bit insipid with the red being more flavorful. I first tried black mulberries in Greece years ago. They are an incredible blend of sweet and tart, the berries are large and almost nothing but brilliant red-pink juice. They are great for eating fresh or in preserves, and they make a great liqueur. This year I'll try cooking them with peaches for crisp. You don't want to plant a mulberry in an area where you will be sitting - keep them away from the patio, because when they fruit, they really fruit, and you'll never keep up with them. Plop.

sazji, the leaves are great for stuffing to make yebrat/dolma/yaprak

[v. gautam]

Fruits not mentioned would include

Apricots: please ask Dr. Joe Goffreda, see upthread, or Bob Purvis [http://www.oakcreekorchard.com/id82.html]

From Corvallis, Oregon, USDA:

WHITE CURRANTS White Imperial [c. 1890, New York] fruit quality among best, Hedrick;Highly recommended.

Ribes aureum Crandall

RED CURRANTS

1. Diploma [1885 ] Hedrick; one of the best for home and commerce

2. Fay [Fay’s Prolific] 1886,

3. Minnesota No. 71 [1933], virus tested at Corvallis. MN 52, 69 infected.

4. Stephens No.9 [1933]

5.Tatran [1985]

6. Victoria [c. 1800 england ]

[Wilder [1877 indiana] ]

American Gooseberries:

Captivator less spiny, only slightly susceptible.

Jahn’s Prairie [1984, Alberta Canada, R. oxyacanthoides] high quality dessert resistant in n.e. usa to powdery Mildew, leaf spot, white pine blister rust, stem botrytis, aphids

Quinces

Q 25979

Cydonia oblonga Mill. ROSACEAE

Cultivar name: Ekmek.

Q 25978

Cydonia oblonga Mill. ROSACEAE

Cultivar name: Havran.

Q 25981

Cydonia oblonga Mill. ROSACEAE

Cultivar name: Tekkes.

Q 25930

Cydonia oblonga Mill. ROSACEAE

Cultivar name: Beretskiquitte.

CCYD 98

Cydonia oblonga Mill. ROSACEAE

Site identifier: Karp's Sweet Quince

CCYD 88

Cydonia oblonga Mill. ROSACEAE

Cultivar name: Van Deman.

[ Luther Burbank: reference: U.P. Hedrick, Cyclopedia of Hardy Fruits, 1922. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/s...ccid=%20CCYD+88]

Strawberries:

1. Tochiotome

2. Hogyokase

3. Ogallala

4. Fort Laramie

[RAHiggins1]

I found this link Minor Fruits and Nuts in Georgia

Basically Georgia can sustain the following exotic and uncommon fruits and nuts.

Banana Mayhaw

Cherry Medlar

Chinese Mulberry (Che) Mulberry

Elderberry Pawpaw

Feijoa Pomegranate

Gooseberry and Currant Quince

Jujube Almond

Juneberry Chestnut

Kiwifruit Black Walnut

Loquat Carpathian Walnut

I think Quince has made it on to my list although it's not a eat of the tree variety.

Edited July 4, 2008 by RAHiggins1 (log)

[v. gautam]

The quince mentioned above are "supposed" to be eat-off-the-tree kind. You will note that most are rom Turkey, one from Serbia, and one a super variety from luther Burbank in CA, hardy in upstate NY.

Ask Sazji about their palatibility raw: he is a true afficionado, living in Turkey, messing around with them quinces. He's the one got me started on the hunt for these particular types. A major quince cookery maven!

Ask the experts about cookery, ask me about what to grow, and how to grow them!

Another thing you should NOT NOT miss is the Japanese persimmon, Diospyros kaki, cultivars KAWABATA & SHENG.

American persimmon, D. virginiana

Pawpaw, Asimina triloba, whose nearest germplasm collection is at Kentucky:

"Kentucky State University (KSU) has served as the USDA National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Asimina spp. since 1994, as a satellite site of the repository at Corvallis OR. The orchards at KSU contain more than 1700 pawpaw accessions from 66 distinct geographic regions in 16 different states, and includes 17 commercially available cultivars and 34 advanced selections from the PawPaw Foundation's breeding program.

As of 2001, there were 850 pawpaw trees located in KSU’s Germplasm orchard, 340 trees in the Hybrid Orchard, 300 trees in the Regional Variety Trial Orchard, and 235 trees in the Alpha Orchard. About 200 pawpaw trees produced fruit at KSU in 2000, all trees were located in the Alpha orchard and were seedlings of 8 to 9 years old.

There is also a collection of subtropical pawpaws in the KSU greenhouse representing Asimina longifolia, A. parviflora, and A. tetramera. In response to requests from the public for pawpaw germplasm, KSU is currently distributing small amounts of seed and will distribute scion wood in several years."

http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/KYSUrepository.htm

Questions about pawpaws? Contact Sheri Crabtree at sheri.crabtree@kysu.edu or telephone # 502-597-6375 Pawpaw Program questions? Contact Dr. Kirk Pomper at:

kirk.pomper@kysu.edu

Cornell received pawpaws from these people as part of a wide regional trial and we waited patiently until a couple of years ago when they bore fruit even in our harsh climate with late spring frost right into late May. Wonderful. So the better varieties suited to the South will be even more amazing [if the raccoons don't eat them first].

You may need to purchase another lot, or a farm!!

Edited July 5, 2008 by v. gautam (log)

[Jaymes]

You may need to purchase another lot, or a farm!!

Yes, certainly if he has pawpaws.

Since, as everyone knows, you're supposed to have your pawpaw patch way down yonder.

[racheld]

Mine still is. Sometimes I wisht I was There, but not in Summertime.

[andiesenji]

I haven't posted in this thread because my lovely apricot and plum trees have NO fruit this year.

The heirloom apricot, which almost always produces a lovely crop of very large fruit and the elephant heart plum, both bloomed at the same time although we had had very cold weather and while in full bloom, we had a hard freeze overnight. The next day the ground was littered with the whole blooms, not just the petals. A sad year.

[v. gautam]

Andie,

If you have sufficient chilling hours, usually 600+ [defined as hours or nights below 45F not interrupted by days 60F or above, to nullify the chilling process], your dry climate will give you superb fruit with the apricot Zard, a late bloomer and the flowers are very frost resistant. It comes from the stock that has given birth to the much-hyped Candycots. However, Zard is of the Hunzacot group and has 24% plus sugars, so will dry on the seed, will "raisin". Most European types do not exceed 9%.

A plum that gives the best-tasting fruit in dry climates in the true Green Gage and the Reine Claude du Bavay, almost indistinguishable from each other. Oullins gage is another. Demontfort is another plum released by Cornell-Geneva USDA ARS, just superb. Small, though. See upthread. Plums like being trained in a fan shape, so are very economical of space in an urban garden. Apricots and peaches likewise can be trained in very space-saving ways. But in CA, you may have lots of great fruit already.