Fruit Orchard

[BradS]

I will be moving into a new home this summer that has a rather large lot for a suburban home (~1 acre). I am considering planting a small "orchard" area with fruit trees and berry bushes. I would prefer plants that are either ever-bearing or that fruit at different times so that I have fruit available for as long as possible.

What would you suggest for a an area 30' x 50'?

I have considered dwarf fruit trees but I've read that they only bear fruit for 10 years or so. I would rather have something that becomes a part of the land.

[Worth1]

That would depend on your soil for the berries and you should go with semi dwarf trees.
My suggestion for you would be apple, cherries because I cant grow them here.
Another would be peaches and plums.
you can plant a lot of fruit trees on one acre of land.
Also dont just run down to the big box store to get trees do your research and see what does best in you area.

After that get your trees from a reputable grower such as Stark Bro's or others.

You should also look into nut trees.

One thing you can do for a tree that might bud out too soon due to low chill hours is to paint the bottom of the trunk white, this dose two things.
One it reflects the suns heat thusly delaying heat up of the trunk which delays blooming to some extent.
The other is it helps distract crawling bugs that come into contact with your trees.

Berry bushes would be goose berry raspberry blackberry blue berry boysenberry and the likes.
You can get most of these in the seedless and thorn-less varieties.

The berry bushes can be planted as an under story plant with the fruit trees.

Protect the young trees with a wire cage around the trunk so as the rabbits dont kill the trees.
Pruning of the trees is mandatory and should be looked into by way of research on the web.

Proper care of the fruit trees and bushes are a must and it is a rewarding experience.

How do I know so much about these types of trees living in Texas?
I was raised on an orchard in MO.

One other thing the standard varieties will get too large and many fruit trees have a life span.
You simply have to cull out the old trees and plant new ones from time to time.

I hope this helped.

Worth

[BradS]

WOW! Thank you so much for that amazing response. I will definitely take your advice and have the soil tested before choosing berries. I don't want to have to modify PH levels every year to get them to bear fruit!

These two trees would be great for apples... my question would be will they cross polinate, or would I need two of the fujis?

[Worth1]

These two trees would be great for apples... my question would be will they cross pollinate, or would I need two of the fujis?

Apples need a pollinator from a different source.

Something like Red Delicious would use Yellow Delicious as the pollinator.

Varieties for Fugi are Rome, Braeburn, Gala, Granny Smith, Red Delicious and Empire.

What you need to look for is a different variety that blooms the same time the apple you want will.

You also have to look and see if you can grow Fugi in your climate.
Apples and other fruit trees require a certain amount of chill hours to bloom.
If you plant a variety that has too short a chill hour time then if you have a warm spell it will bloom and then frost will kill the blooms thusly no fruit.

All you will get is a pretty tree to look at that summer.

In Texas where I live we dont have long enough chill hours for many fruit trees to bloom.

The agricultural extension or the university in Indiana will have a web sit that will give you a lot of information.

From what I have seen just about any apple you wanted would do well there.

Worth

[lurley]

Peaches can be tempermental in my zone 5b. Some varieties like contender and reliance claim zone 4 but I have had problems with them here. Cherries are a great choice and there are several self fertile varieties like stella sweet cherry. There is also a pear I have that is self fertile. Apples, are another good choice, you get plenty of chill hours in northern Indiana so no worries there but you will need to have pollinators for the varieties you choose. Fuji are a great eating and baking apple, yellow transparent makes the absolutely most delish applesauce though. Strawberries are easy to grow, the cane berries are more difficult. Gooseberries and currants are doing well for me but my blueberries are struggling even though I acidify the soil in their bed. And don't forget about rhubarb, the veggie you can use like a fruit. There are also native, more forgotten fruit trees like the persimmon and wild plums, chokecherries and honeyberries (I've had no luck with the honeyberries yet) lingonberries and cranberries, and now they have hardy kiwi vines that grow little tiny fuzzless fruit you can pop in your mouth whole like grapes. I am trying to grow some of the kiwi this year. Just watch the nut trees,black walnut and hikcory roots contain toxins that are bad for lots of plants.
Hazel nut or a hardy almond would be a good choice, they are next on my list

[Mark0820]

A small orchard is a great idea. You should be able to grow almost any fruit tree or berry plant you like given your geographic location.

For my money, there is nothing better than a fresh tree ripened peach. Supermarket peaches are picked way too soon for shipping purposes and just don't ripen the way a peach should ripen.

[Worth1]

Since you said you wanted a some what standard type tree I started thiniking about this method of pruning.

It takes up less space and in time is a wonder to look at.

It is called Espalier training and pruning.

This method has been around for a long time.

Here is a link to what I am talking about.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...x5sPKw&cad=rja

Worth

[Tom C zone 4/5]

Originally Posted by BradS

I would prefer plants that are either ever-bearing or that fruit at different times so that I have fruit available for as long as possible.

What would you suggest for a an area 30' x 50'?

I have considered dwarf fruit trees but I've read that they only bear fruit for 10 years or so. I would rather have something that becomes a part of the land.

If you're ruthless enough, you could keep up to four standard trees in that space.

I like apples. Wander around at St Lawrence Nursery to look over older standard trees. They do have a web page.

[brismith70]

Google "backyard orchard culture" and see what you find. I am a particular fan of the Dave Wilson Nursery website.

On the one hand, it is a way for nurseries to sell more of their tree stock, but on the other hand, it is a way for you to be able to have many different varieties in a relatively small space. I personally have two peach trees that are planted four feet apart.

Just my two cents worth.

[BradS]

I love the idea of Espalier training, but I just don't have the patience for it. I once drove through a town where they has aggressively pruned the trees that lines the street to only allow 6 - 8 main branches to grow off of the main trunk. From the size of the trunk and diameter of the branches it was quite evident that they pruned them back to nothing but those main branches every year. The tops of the branches had become bulbous from being cut back to the same place every year. I always thought this would be a great way to manage fruit trees if it didn't kill them.

[BradS]

brismith & TomC - I like the idea of ruthless pruning! I guess i just need to do more research about how aggressive one can be when pruning fruit trees.

[Tom C zone 4/5]

Originally Posted by BradS

brismith & TomC - I like the idea of ruthless pruning! I guess i just need to do more research about how aggressive one can be when pruning fruit trees.

Zeko Nakamura thought any tree taller than a pack of Lucky Strikes, too tall.

I'm not quite so ambitious, None of my crab apple bonsai are more than 30 inches tall.

McKently, at St. Lawrence Nursery stopped talking to me after I told him I trained bonsai.

[coronabarb]

I thought I'd read some time ago that Stark is no longer reliable???

Anyway, the one fruit tree I'd love to grow is one of the pluots...preferably the red one. They are so delicious!

[brismith70]

Brad:

I think you can be pretty ruthless without much ill effect. I have seen the Dave Wilson fellas prune a newly-planted bare root tree down to 18 inches. The follow up pictures that they had on their website showed the thing growing new branches as if nothing had happened. I was amazed.

Brian

[brismith70]

MX4:

So the Amazon was once a community garden? Kind of explains its condition now.

Letting a tree go is all well and good, but on a suburban lot, harvesting from it might present a problem where the rootstock provides for vigorous growth. Apple trees and many stone fruit trees will grow 20 to 30 feet tall. Many suburban lots will not accommodate such a tree.

I personally live on less than a tenth of an acre with neighboring houses 10 to 20 feet away. If I did not prune, then I would not be able to grow any fruit trees. If I had several acres, then I might consider letting my trees go.

Just food for thought.

Brian