Fruit and/or Nut Trees

[The15thMember]

My sister Haley is planning on having an orchard once we get some more land, and she was curious to know what sorts of fruit or nut trees people are growing, particularly what varieties people are liking.

[BeeMaster2]

Bee sure the ground is high and dry. We put a dozen different fruit trees on the left side of the house. The problem is it floods in heavy rain. That sets them back and has killed several of them.
Jim Altmiller

[Kathyp]

It very much depends on where you live.  Whatever you plant, see if you can get those native or popularly grown in your area.

Here we grow tons of filberts, apples, pears, pear apples, figs, plums, and cherries.  I also put in a bay tree a couple of years ago and it's doing well. 

We are high enough that apricots, and peaches don't seem to do so well. 

Our neighbor has a huge walnut tree.

And while researching make sure that you don't plant things that will hurt your other critters.  Black walnut would be on to watch out for.

My next adventure is to plant maples to tap.  Don't know if it will work well here, but Oregon has been experimenting with it, so it seems to work for some.

[iddee]

They are very local. 40 miles south of here peaches are a #1 crop. Here they do a very little.
60 miles north of here, apples are grown by the many tons. Here they are mediocre.
Pecans do well and black walnuts do well here, as do persimmons. Plums do OK. Grapes and scuppernongs do well.
Figs are grown here, but are not real popular.
Thornless blackberries are rising in popularity. Blueberries are a favorite for homes, but not commercially. Strawberries are great.

[Terri Yaki]

Sugar maples produce sap during the spring when nights are below freezing and days are above. If you have lengthy times of those conditions, you should do OK. I am not sure on it but I have head that maple trees have to be pretty old before you can get anything out of them. I like a good Bartlett Pear fresh off the tree mmm mmm.

[The15thMember]

Thanks, everyone.  Let's dive in a little deeper.  We've been discussing apple varieties recently, since it's apple season.  We definitely want honey crisp, because that is literally the best eating apple ever invented, and we want granny smith for baking.  Is anyone growing either of these?  Anyone have recommendations on other varieties? 

[Terri Yaki]

Honey Crisps are good but I admit to being partial to the taste of a Macintosh. I have been known to eat a Royal Gala now and then too. Granny Smith's might be good for baking but you couldn't pay me enough to eat one straight up. If I have the variety correct, they are hard and sour.

[Kathyp]

are you putting in full size or dwarf?  You can also get grafted trees and have a variety.  I don't think you can go wrong with any of them depending on how much land you are going to use.  I have about 20 trees and between the wildlife, our animals, and our freezer, nothing goes to waste.  I hear they FD really well too!

[Lesgold]

Hi Reagan,

I have a couple of triple graft apple trees that gives me some variety. If space is an issue, that could be an option. If you have plenty of room, a range of single varieties would be better. I assume that your winters are too cold for citrus trees?

[The15thMember]

Granny Smith's might be good for baking but you couldn't pay me enough to eat one straight up. If I have the variety correct, they are hard and sour.

A lot of people feel that way, but I love sour stuff, so I eat them straight up. 

are you putting in full size or dwarf?  You can also get grafted trees and have a variety.  I don't think you can go wrong with any of them depending on how much land you are going to use.  I have about 20 trees and between the wildlife, our animals, and our freezer, nothing goes to waste.

I have a couple of triple graft apple trees that gives me some variety. If space is an issue, that could be an option. If you have plenty of room, a range of single varieties would be better.

I think we are interested in semi-dwarf actually.  Dwarf seemed too small, and full sized too large.  The property we are looking to expand into is 10 acres, and we have a lot of varied plans for it at this stage, so I'm not sure exactly how much land we have to work with, but not none.  What varieties do you guys have?

I hear they FD really well too!

Phenomenally!  We actually need to do some of the apples we got from our local orchard this year, since I really want some for my oatmeal.  There is kind of a line for the freeze dryer at the moment, so I'll just have to be satisfied with craisins and bananas for now. 

I assume that your winters are too cold for citrus trees?

 
Yes, too cold here for citrus.  We could perhaps make it work if we had a greenhouse, but they'd never work just out in the open.     

[Ben Framed]

A lot of people feel that way, but I love sour stuff, so I eat them straight up. 

Same here!  Good, juicy, and sour. And gets an A+ for fixing indigestion! 

[cao]

If you are thinking about planting apple trees, plant several varieties.  I have honeycrisp, johnathan, yellow and red delicious, arkansas black, gala and winesap apples.  I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two.  This year the yellow delicious and johnathan apple survived the late frost this year and produced well.  If you are wanting a good all around apple, I think you can't beat johnathan apples.  They actually are my favorite for just eating.  They are also good for pies and make execellent applesauce. 

As far as other fruit trees, I have nectarine, pear, plum and several varieties of cherries.

As far as nut trees, I have a couple of hardy almonds.  Then there are the walnuts, oaks, hickory and lots of pecans. 

Then there is grapes, blackberries and raspberries.

[Ben Framed]

Cao I am pleasantly surprised to hear you have almonds in Indiana.. Do they produce well?

[The15thMember]

Wow, that's great, cao!  So how do those different varieties produce for you?  Which ones are diseases resistant?  Do you have to spray any of them for any reason?

[Terri Yaki]

One of my favorite quotes is, "Diversity is key". Having tooled around gardening for over 50 years now, I have learned that every year it different. One year tomatoes do well and another year it's peppers. Some earth will support tomatoes well but not broccoli and visa versa. I'm going to guess that the same relates to fruit and nut trees and am curious of cao sees that in them.

[cao]

Cao I am pleasantly surprised to hear you have almonds in Indiana.. Do they produce well?

The trees are about 15 years old now.  It has produced much recently(late freezes, storms,etc).  They did produce pretty well ten years ago.  The shells of the hardy almonds are basically like peach pits, very tough to crack.

Wow, that's great, cao!  So how do those different varieties produce for you?  Which ones are diseases resistant?  Do you have to spray any of them for any reason?

The different varieties produce differently depending on the year.  The apples bloom time overlaps for pollinatin but a late freeze can kill the bloom from one but not the other.  As far as disease resistance, can one really tell the difference?  I don't spray as much as I should so my yields are not as good as they could be.

One of my favorite quotes is, "Diversity is key". Having tooled around gardening for over 50 years now, I have learned that every year it different. One year tomatoes do well and another year it's peppers. Some earth will support tomatoes well but not broccoli and visa versa. I'm going to guess that the same relates to fruit and nut trees and am curious of cao sees that in them.

Yes, you never know how well the fruits of your labor will be.  One year you may have a bumper crop and the next nothing.  This year has been very dry.  Had to water the garden off and on for two months to keep the peppers and tomatoes alive.  But we had more apples and pears than we had in the last three years.  Blackberries looked like a bust, but we got a well timed rain that allowed for a decent crop.  Been busy lately picking up the pecans that are starting to fall.  So far seems like it will be a decent amount.

[Terri Yaki]

It seems well known or thought to be known, that dry years make for sweeter fruits (other than tomatoes). The only garden vegetables that I found that like really dry weather are hot peppers and of those, I only ever had habaneros.

[Michael Bush]

Some of this depends on your goals.  If you want fruit sooner, you need dwarf trees.  If you want to sell them you need to think about variety and selling prices in your area.  Right now the honey crisps are hot, but by the time your dwarf honey crisps are producing it will probably be something else.  If you just want them for yourself, I would plant ones that produce early, middle and late in the season so you have fresh fruit spread out.  Also it's nice to have some that you can put in the cellar for later, which means you need some that keep well.  I have a huge old bartlett pear that makes way more pears than I can eat.  It's a full size tree and it's really old.

[Kathyp]

Spraying for fungus is something we do here.  I don't spray for insects, but found that free-ranging the chickens in the fruit trees helped keep the bugs down.  Other than that, we just cut out the bad, or feed to the critters.

In our wet climate, I have not found a way to avoid the fall fungus spraying.

[Ben Framed]

Cao I am pleasantly surprised to hear you have almonds in Indiana.. Do they produce well?

The trees are about 15 years old now.  It has produced much recently(late freezes, storms,etc).  They did produce pretty well ten years ago.  The shells of the hardy almonds are basically like peach pits, very tough to crack.

Thanks Cao,
This news is interesting. I'm not familiar with the particulars of almonds. Is this the same type almond which is so popular in California which bees are in such high demand for pollination?