Choosing the right fruit tree

[maroonandwhite]

I am looking to buy a couple of fruit trees (probably peach, plum, and pear) and possibly pecan trees. I have heard McMinnville or Cookeville is the place to go but they also offer shipping. I am curious what to look for in a good fruit tree and/or pecan tree. I am not sure how deep I have to dig to hit rock on my lot but there are plenty of full mature trees on the property including Bradford Pears, Cedars and others I can't name. Anyone have experience with this?

[Dennis1209]

I learned to find out more before I ordered fruit trees and save "years" of disappointment!

 

FIVE years ago I ordered a cherry tree from Burgess Seed Company, because we like us some cherry pies. The seed company fliers don't give you the information you need.

 

This spring my cherry tree (forgot what species and emailed Burgess with picture of it) was full of blooms and still not one cherry. Burgess told me I had to have at least one more of the same species or a Bing Cherry tree for it to cross pollinate. At my age that's a lot of time I don't have to start all over again and wasted years of no cherry pies :down:

 

The same situation with apples and pears may or may not apply. Just one of my stupid experiences with fruit trees.

[maroonandwhite]

Wow that sucks. Yeah I want to get as much knowledge as possible. These places I am looking at seems to have it together and should tell me what all I'll need. I plan to have at least one of each fruit possibly two on the peach trees. My concern is all the darn rocks.

[cj0e]

Do some homework, some trees are self pollinating, many require a male and a female tree.

 

Your trees will take time to bear fruit. Don't expect much (if any) in the first year or two depending on the variety. Some longer. Strong growth will stunt bud production and the even the ability to bear fruit. The tree is using nutrients to grow bigger, instead of to grow fruit. Weak growth is an indicator of poor nutrients.

 

Many apple varieties only produce every other year. Bud production is smack dab in the middle of fruit production. If the tree is growing fruit - it can't properly grow buds. So, expect no better than every other year.

 

You'll also need your trees (if not self pollinating!) to bloom in the same time frame. Plus, you need pollinators. Bees are great!

 

Cold snaps can stop fruit production, even if you get flowers. Just because the flowers look fine when they bloom, doesn't mean the temps didn't damage them.

 

Enjoy your trees for the shade, and any fruit that they bear is a bonus!

 

There's a lot more to it, enjoy learning and good luck!

[maroonandwhite]

There is one particular variety of pear tree my grandpa has that produces so much fruit it will literally weight the limbs down to the point of breaking. I'm gonna have to find out what it is. I am mainly looking for varieties that are good for eating right off the tree. Making preserves and all that will be secondary. I'm gonna try my hand at strawberries too.

[maroonandwhite]

Looks like the peach and plum trees I have picked out are self pollinating so I will only get one of each of those. The pear's however need to have a mate so I will order two. I don't think I have room for or need more than 4 trees total.

[enfield]

1.  Don't plant fruit trees in your yard - they're a PITA.

 

2.  At least with apple trees, plan on spraying every week or so for insects, starting before they blossom, right up to harvest.  (Unless you like little wormy apples).  Don't know anything about pears or peaches.  Cherry trees are less trouble than apples, if you can beat the birds to the crop.

[cj0e]

There is one particular variety of pear tree my grandpa has that produces so much fruit it will literally weight the limbs down to the point of breaking. I'm gonna have to find out what it is. I am mainly looking for varieties that are good for eating right off the tree. Making preserves and all that will be secondary. I'm gonna try my hand at strawberries too.

 

Dunno what variety it is, but my dad was helping an elderly man care for his lawn this summer. He hooked us up with so many pears we got sick of em!

 

A great site for info on plantings, care, maintenance, etc of all manners of gardening is easily found at the UT Ag extension site. Be sure to check with the Ag Extension office in your county. I think they even have courses if you're interested.

Edited November 24, 2014 by cj0e

[maroonandwhite]

1.  Don't plant fruit trees in your yard - they're a PITA.

 

2.  At least with apple trees, plan on spraying every week or so for insects, starting before they blossom, right up to harvest.  (Unless you like little wormy apples).  Don't know anything about pears or peaches.  Cherry trees are less trouble than apples, if you can beat the birds to the crop.

Luckily I have room further back on the property that won't interfere with my yard. I had a plum tree in the backyard of my last house so I know what you mean. My dogs would eat them and get the squirts. Not to mention all the dang bugs.

[RED333]

I think a Bull dog fan should have an orange tree or 100. :rofl:

Sorry man just could not help myself, go Vols.

Edited November 24, 2014 by RED333

[Mark A]

There are some 4-1 dwarf trees out there if you want variety. Keep in mind dwarf trees while easy to prune are a bit more prone to disease. The multi fruit are expensive but if space is limited (typical house) they can be worth it.

 

Pecans, no love for about 15 years unless you can buy big bucks trees.

 

Self pollinating trees bear more fruit with other varieties nearby.

 

There are ways to deal with bugs and worms without going crazy with spraying

 

Pruning is your friend in all things fruit trees.

 

A lot of trees grow well from seed. Buy some good organic fruit that you like and read up on stratification. Plant a ton of seeds. They are cheap. The ones that survive will be hardy and well adapted to your soil/ environment. Cool thing about trees from seed is that  they will catch up to most grafted trees in about 3 years.

 

Funny thing about apples is the seed you plant is probably not the kind of apple you will get.

 

Good on you for planting fruit trees. If we had more people planting fruit in stead of decorative trees people would be healthier and food would be cheaper...

[xjsnake]

Research what types of fruit trees can be around other types. My parents have a fruit orchard and some of the trees prevent the others from bearing fruit. I wish I had specifics but I can't remember exactly what my grandfather (he was an arborist) was yelling at my father about a few years ago...

[JWC]

Dunno what variety it is, but my dad was helping an elderly man care for his lawn this summer. He hooked us up with so many pears we got sick of em!

A great site for info on plantings, care, maintenance, etc of all manners of gardening is easily found at the UT Ag extension site. Be sure to check with the Ag Extension office in your county. I think they even have courses if you're interested.

Them pears are good dehydrated to eat in the deer stand. And you can use one of them apple peeler contraptions on them. Dehydrated works to space out your eating so you don't have to eat so many you get sick haha. Just cut em into rings with the apple peeler/corer/slicer and toss them into a bowl of fruit fresh/water to keep em from browning then dehydrate. My kids will knock em out in no time, they love them. We like apple and pear snacks round here Edited December 2, 2014 by JWC

[analog_kidd]

We bought a house this past February, and there are two apple trees right near the house. We thought, It might be nice to have a little fruit tree orchard all right there in the same spot, so we bought several more fruit trees and planted them near the apples. This fall, the tree produced apples that were very mis-shapen and not very tasty. They would drop faster than I could collect them up, and stunk horribly. By the time I got to them on the weekend, they were a rotten mess.

 

Next Spring, I plan on digging up the trees I planted and moving them to the back 40.

[brat]

I have a small orchard.... five types of apples, three types of peaches, two types pears and plums. Choose apples that ARE rust resistant if your with a 1/2 mile of cedars. Two types of mine are not and they get rust every year even though I spray them. Cedar apple rust don't affect the eating, but does make them ugly. Most fruit trees are high maintenance, spraying, pruning, mulching, heavy watering in first few years, fetilizing, monitoring insect activity, etc. Takes most about three or so years to produce regularly. You will have to keep them from overproducing when young to prevent damage. Most tedious is spraying program. :surrender:

 

As mentioned, Ag extension has all kinds of info. They'll do your soil test as well. Soil prep is very important. Some ag ext's offer classes.

 

I bought all my trees from Stark Bros. It was, for me, cheaper to have them shipped than my time to visit nurseries. But that may not be your case. Stark Bros. replaced a couple of my trees that didn't root for free, incl. shipping. They have good customer service and you can call with problems.  http://www.starkbros.com/  They'll make sure you get the right tree for your zone and they offer pruning upon purchase if you want. They also offer the dwarf and semi-dwarf stock and will recommend correct pollinators. All of my trees are semi-dwarf, in their fourth year and very healthy. Buy some canning jars :up:

 

Have fun !