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Anybody have fruit trees?


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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..

Varieties I am thinking of getting;

Apple

Pear

Peach

Plum

I've seen lime trees grow and produce fruit locally, but I don't know if they are of any quality. I also have a muscadine vine that that doesn't produce grapes on the fence. My father in law told me it was a female and I would need a male to make the grapes, but that males could also make the grapes by themselves. Muscadines are not a good grape for making wine at home, very tart, local wineries (Chateu Elan & Fox Vineyards) do make wine from it though. I thought I might try to make a vinegar instead.

Veni Vidi Vino - I came, I saw, I drank.
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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..

Varieties I am thinking of getting;

Apple

Pear

Peach

Plum

I've seen lime trees grow and produce fruit locally, but I don't know if they are of any quality. I also have a muscadine vine that that doesn't produce grapes on the fence. My father in law told me it was a female and I would need a male to make the grapes, but that males could also make the grapes by themselves. Muscadines are not a good grape for making wine at home, very tart, local wineries (Chateu Elan & Fox Vineyards) do make wine from it though. I thought I might try to make a vinegar instead.

I've had every variety you mention. But you left out the single most-critical fact. Where are you?

The important thing is to be sure you're growing fruit appropriate for your location. Asking here is a start, and a wise one, to be sure, but you need to talk with your local nurserymen and county extension agent (assuming you're in the US) and find out what works best where you are.

Citrus - I've grown Meyers lemons all over the US. But if you're in a state that gets hard freezes, you do have to grow them in a large pot that you can bring inside for the winter. I've also grown those little Key/Mexican limes. Same thing - inside for the winter, and they're not as freeze-hardy as the Meyers lemons. One of our favorite fruit trees was when we lived in Tucson. We had a 'fruit cocktail' tree. One side gave pink grapefruit and the other oranges. We loved that tree.

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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I got a small fig tree this year, starting out in a large pot from which it will later be tranferred. My issue is insufficient sunlight on much of my lot, so we'll see how it goes in the long run.

Can you pee in the ocean?

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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..

Varieties I am thinking of getting;

Apple

Pear

Peach

Plum

I've seen lime trees grow and produce fruit locally, but I don't know if they are of any quality. I also have a muscadine vine that that doesn't produce grapes on the fence. My father in law told me it was a female and I would need a male to make the grapes, but that males could also make the grapes by themselves. Muscadines are not a good grape for making wine at home, very tart, local wineries (Chateu Elan & Fox Vineyards) do make wine from it though. I thought I might try to make a vinegar instead.

I've had every variety you mention. But you left out the single most-critical fact. Where are you?

The important thing is to be sure you're growing fruit appropriate for your location. Asking here is a start, and a wise one, to be sure, but you need to talk with your local nurserymen and county extension agent (assuming you're in the US) and find out what works best where you are.

Citrus - I've grown Meyers lemons all over the US. But if you're in a state that gets hard freezes, you do have to grow them in a large pot that you can bring inside for the winter. I've also grown those little Key/Mexican limes. Same thing - inside for the winter, and they're not as freeze-hardy as the Meyers lemons. One of our favorite fruit trees was when we lived in Tucson. We had a 'fruit cocktail' tree. One side gave pink grapefruit and the other oranges. We loved that tree.

An excellent point. I'm in Atlanta, GA. We get maybe one or two real frozen moments in an otherwise frosty off season. I was interested in planting different types that could be harvested in different seasons to provide fruit of some sort thoughout the year. Grapefruit unfortunately are off the menu as it interferes with daily meds. I'm going to head to the nursery this next weekend. I'll let you know what I end up doing.

Edited by RAHiggins1 (log)
Veni Vidi Vino - I came, I saw, I drank.
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I'd also strongly suggest you buy at least one good gardening book. This one, of course, is the classic and I wouldn't be without it:

The Southern Living Garden Book

You might go buy one today, and read the sections on fruit trees before you get in touch with your county extension agent or nursery. It will tell you which zone you're in and what works there and what does not.

Edited by Jaymes (log)

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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when I was considering fruit trees I went to a private nursery in my area and asked what they grew in their own yard...

I ended up falling for the dwarf 5 way trees ..(I have a view and did not want to obstruct it) also the idea of five kinds of the same fruit on one tree was kind of exciting ...

I do not need a huge load of anything

I planted

5 way cherries

5 way plums

5 way Asian pears

the single fruit trees are

2 fig trees

1 quince

1 persimmon

I dont know about boy and girl grapes I planted concords a few years back (3 of them) and they all make grapes...

it is so fun to grow your own fruits you will not regret this adventure that is for sure

Edited by hummingbirdkiss (log)
why am I always at the bottom and why is everything so high? 

why must there be so little me and so much sky?

Piglet 

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I am trying to grow fruit trees too but living in Canada makes the choice more complicated except for apples and pears which both benefit from cold climates. Many people here are also enjoying plums but my plum trees are still too young to produce.

I wish I could have decent peaches and cherries!

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I have two apple trees, a pear tree, a fig tree, walnuts, and grapes. This is apple country around here but we had a late, long freeze that did in most of the apple orchards for the year. I have a few on one tree and none on the other. Freeze got the walnuts, too, but I never get any nayway because the squirrels beat us to them. Have been here 13 years and got walnuts once.

I have a Kafir Lime that has to come into the house every winter. I't getting to be a pain to move it around but i love having it.

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Just one, right now, an eight-foot little appletree planted in the back garden inside the foot-high half-trunk shell of the old one that came with the house. She swayed, she valiantly put out those tart little green fruits, and for three years, we watched her decline, her trunk hollowing out from the back, until the only thing holding her upright was the great mass of wild grapevine that tentacled out from the fence and supported her.

We went out one fall day and looked at what little there was left---she had perhaps four small limbs in leaf, and the entire trunk was as hollow as a reed. The guys made her a soft place to fall, with a couple easing her way as the rest clipped at the shriveling vines til she fell. We had a small moment in memory of Summer days, then all the pieces were stacked into the little woodpile of mesquite, hickory and applewood, for scenting all those Summer Suppers from the grills.

Back home on the farm down South, there were fruit trees everywhere---apples and plums and the smallest of cherries---I was known for being the one who cooked pits into the cobbler. I'm sure the Good Church Ladies of our area talked about my trashy ways and assumed that I didn't iron the damask and put dark meat in the chicken salad.

The cherries were delicious, but be warned---every juicy slumpy bit of fruit had to be mined for seeds before swallowing. You just could NOT pit those tiny things.

Then there were the peaches, mostly Elbertas, but some trees bore the most delicate "white" peaches, new to my experience. They were almost sweet enough to make a pie without sugar, and like a mouthful of peached perfume. I prefer the yellows for pies and cobblers, but the white ones for ice cream and for just eating warm out of hand, straight off the tree, having to bend forward to keep the chin-juice from hitting your shirt on the way to the grass.

I also prefer clings---I've never had a fondness for that bittery burgundy web woven round the seed---when a peach splits and the seed pops and that great interlacing of colors emerges---I cut right around that part because I can't stand that strong taste.

And if you include nut trees, the checkerboard pecan orchard planted by my two sons and their Great-Grandfather is still standing, still showering down those Stewarts every fall, despite great damage and tragic tonsures by at least five ice storms in their tenure. We have several bags in the freezer, good pie nuts, with the deep hummy butter-flavor of a heat-and-gumbo-raised pecan.

But I think my favorite of all the crops is the sand pears, gritty and tart and hard as rocks showering down to sag gently into the grass for the wasp's pleasure. They are not a good eating pear, don't peel easily, are harder to hack into bite-size pieces than a rutabaga, but when that's accomplished, that big panful of blushy off-white crispness spends a night under its weight in sugar, with all that muddling and melding going on under the tea towel, and is cooked off and canned in the morning. The jars and jars of rosy pear preserves with their thick, clear syrup---now THAT'S a worthwhile task. Only one pint left in the pantry, and it's a long time til September.

And my persimmon tree, of the golden lanterns---I've written of her already.

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Fruit Trees! Guava, local oranges, Meyer lemon, banana, macadamia, mountain apple, avocado, jaboticaba, lychee. I'm hazarding a guess that if they grow especially well in our backyard here, they may not be the best fruit trees for where you are?

But don't quote me on that. Living in Hawai'i makes me almost blissfully unaware of seasons and growing times. :D

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how about a banana? :laugh:

I definitely second the jabuticaba, nobody has this fruit, talk about a specialty order and they loook soo cool. Only problem is they may produce so much fruit your yard will be littered with the little grape/plum like balls.

Dean Anthony Anderson

"If all you have to eat is an egg, you had better know how to cook it properly" ~ Herve This

Pastry Chef: One If By Land Two If By Sea

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A word of warning to those who wanr fig trees, If you plant one you will have it forever and ever.

We cut one out this spring because it was shading the vegetable garden and sending out suckers in every direction amd the fruit wasn't good at all but dudty dry inside.

Now, despite copious doses of roundup it's still sending out even mor suckers.

Will build a fire over it in the fall and see if that will do it in. :blink:

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Be ready to:

1. Feed the birds.

2. Feed the rats.

3. Use fungicides and pesticides you never thought you would consider and aren't real big with most people.

That's if you want fruit.

If you want to have fat birds then plant raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. The rats like apples, Italian prunes (plums) and figs. I have experience with all of the above. If you want earwigs plant some artichokes.

And Meyer lemons, around these parts they bear fruit in January or February; they're what we call cocktail size.

If I lived in GA I guess my first stab at fruit would be peaches.

Good luck,

Dave

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And don't let the gloom & doom naysayers put you off. As I said above, I've always had fruit trees and I haven't found them to be much (if any) more trouble than regular trees.

Which, by the way, also require care and also get pests, diseases, etc.

Ain't nothing free in life, you know.

I've always loved having fruit trees and I'll bet you will, too.

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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Even if you never get much fruit off them, they tend to be quite attractive when they bloom. At least that is what I tell myself when I reflect on the fact that the birds are going to get every last one of my sweet cherries just before they ripen.

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I also grew up with fruit trees in Southern California. Rarely had bug issues. We kept bees and that probably contributed to our bountiful harvests. As to the bird thievery, yes there was some, but putting nets over the trees, an activity us kids thought was cruel and unusual punishment, helped alot. Sometimes we would only get a few fruits when the possums were really going at it, but the taste of those is still a vivid memory for me. Good luck.

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Since you're already getting more advice than you really wanted, here's mine. :wink: Find out about "old" varieties that grow in Atlanta. My grandparents lived off Northside Drive for 40 years and had Brown Turkey figs that were maintenance-free and full of fruit every year. They rooted cuttings and had amazing harvests. Recent drive-bys have spotted the trees still standing.

On my uncle's farm in central Florida, there is an old, old, old Pineapple pear that has been living at least 70 years. Nobody can remember who planted it or when, but every year, it is covered with so many fruit that the branches get propped up so they don't split. (OK, so that's really our fault for not culling more). That one's had cuttings rooted of it as well, and the first ones were taken about fifteen years ago when we were all sure that tree was going to die. The only thing that gets done to this tree is the pears get picked and an occasional broken limb gets pruned.

Those are the two most impressive examples of many, but the take home message is that the old varieties are more disease resistant, they bear unfailingly, and to make things even better, the fruit has more flavor than many of the newer varieties I've tried. A pineapple pear may not be as pretty as a Bartlett, but I'd rather have great flavor and more of them.

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Since you're already getting more advice than you really wanted, here's mine. :wink:   Find out about "old" varieties that grow in Atlanta.  My grandparents lived off Northside Drive for 40 years and had Brown Turkey figs that were maintenance-free and full of fruit every year.  They rooted cuttings and had amazing harvests.  Recent drive-bys have spotted the trees still standing. 

On my uncle's farm in central Florida, there is an old, old, old Pineapple pear that has been living at least 70 years.  Nobody can remember who planted it or when, but every year, it is covered with so many fruit that the branches get propped up so they don't split.  (OK, so that's really our fault for not culling more).  That one's had cuttings rooted of it as well, and the first ones were taken about fifteen years ago when we were all sure that tree was going to die.  The only thing that gets done to this tree is the pears get picked and an occasional broken limb gets pruned.  

Those are the two most impressive examples of many, but the take home message is that the old varieties are more disease resistant, they bear unfailingly, and to make things even better, the fruit has more flavor than many of the newer varieties I've tried.  A pineapple pear may not be as pretty as a Bartlett, but I'd rather have great flavor and more of them.

An excellent point. To that extent, my brother in law has a old scraggly pear that produces the most amazing fruit despite his complete neglect. It was there when their house was built. He keeps threatening to cut it down. I guess I had better get the clippers and put some of that horticulture I learned in the FFA to good use.

Edited by RAHiggins1 (log)
Veni Vidi Vino - I came, I saw, I drank.
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And as far as I'm concerned, there is no other way to get good fig preserves, my very favorite. I've tried many commerical varieties, but they don't seem to have the same texture and flavor as homemade. You have to make them yourself, or have a neighbor, friend or relative that makes them.

In my family, it was my Aunt Melcina from Baton Rouge. The best fig preserves you've ever tasted. Her husband, Uncle John, pruned the fig tree every year and every year Aunt Melcina fussed at him about it. "John, you've cut it too much this time. I don't think it's going to come back. I just wish you'd leave that tree alone." And every year Uncle John told Aunt Melcina she didn't know what she was talking about and that she should stay out of the gardening shed and he'd stay out of the kitchen.

But sure enough, one year he pruned it so hard it died.

Aunt Melcina's friends and neighbors offered to give her figs from their own trees so she could keep making the preserves, but she refused. She wouldn't buy figs from the fruit stands or plant another tree or do anything else to get figs. And she wouldn't give anybody her exact recipe, either. I think it was just out of pure-D-meanness, because she was so het up about that tree.

A couple of years later, John died. And not long after that, Aunt Melcina died, too.

The few jars that folks still had left became as precious as though they were filled with gold. Everybody squirreled them away and lied about having them. Once I found FOUR jars hidden down under a bag of rice in my Aunt Stella Mae's pantry and I ratted her out to the rest of the family.

She never forgave me.

:cool:

Edited by Jaymes (log)

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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