The beginning of my little backyard orchard

I am experiencing a certain degree of zone denial, and setting up a small backyard orchard. I have 5.5 acres and wanted to set aside an area for fruit trees. So far, I have 5 plums, 2 apples, 1 nectarine, 1 peach and 2 cherries. I also have an ornamental pear that is going to be my pollinator for the pear I pick up this weekend.

Plums: Santa Rosa, Methley & Burbank (all dwarf)
Peach: Bonanza dwarf
Nectarine: Sweet Pearl
Cherries: Montmorency and de Stella
Pear: Bartlett (to be picked up this weekend, pollinated by Cleveland select)
Apples: Cortland and Liberty

I had an Elberta dwarf peach at my last home and it flowered for the first time this year and has about 150 peaches on it (green golf balls). I sold the home and it closed last weekend so I am really sad not to be able to get any of the peaches. This made me go out on a limb (Ha ha!) and start a little orchard. So it only flowered 1 year out of 4, but it grew a lot and was very healthy otherwise. I think the other years the buds just froze off.

So what are my chances on the above selections? What am I missing? I'd like a few more apples and pears, an apricot or 2, perhaps a "Reliance" peach, and maybe some others. Ideas and thoughts welcome! Any other fruit trees that I should try?

Claire

Beautiful way to start. There is a commercial grower/nursery with a web site chockful of good information and advice for the home fruit grower. Their premise is that almost all research has been aimed at helping commercial growers get more, and more marketable fruit and that their goals are different from those of home growers.

They therefore offer advice specifically for backyard growers. Much of it quite different from what you may have been hearing. It might be worth your time to take a look at Davewilson .com

This message was edited Jul 22, 2008 6:49 PM

Wow, what a wealth of information indeed! I've just spent about 20 minutes absorbed in it and am barely getting started. Thanks so much for this great link. I think I've already made some mistakes. :-( Still, I hope to not repeat them in future!

Claire
Your selection looks pretty good. I would suggest a couple of European plums(I love them and you will need 2 for pollination--Raintree Nursery has a great selection and a good pollination chart) also golden delicious is a great pollinator for apples and tastes great. A Dave's member with a fantastic backyard orchard is Scott, his garden web is https://auth.gardenweb.com/members/scottfsmith Go there and look at his picture and variaties.
RED

When you go to gardenweb, look for Jellyman as well. He is a font of knowledge.

Claire really research peaches recommended for your area. There are so many new cultivars better than reliance for eating. I am not knocking reliance, but check out all the new ones.

Well, I have now expanded the orchard to include the following additions:

1 more Montmorency cherry
1 Bartlett pear
1 Stanley prune plum (need a Euro pollinator for it, maybe greengage in spring)
1 Haralson apple
1 Macintosh apple
1 Honeycrisp apple
1 4-in-1 apple: granny smith, golden transparent, fuji, liberty
(also got a Himrod grape, but that's not a tree).

I am looking for a few different peaches. The Iowa State University extension center advises against trying to grow peaches in Iowa because they are not reliably hardy - they don't even suggest any cultivars at all. The ones I have read that seem to do OK here in borderline 4b/5a are reliance and red haven. Sometimes Elberta is mentioned (the one that I had before) but it's not consistent because it doesn't bloom every year due to the cold. I had it bloom once in 4 years. This is why I want to get a bunch of different peaches that are either zone 4b or 5a and maybe every year I'll at least have one or two of the trees bloom. I have heard that "Polly" was developed in Iowa and may do well for me - it's a white fleshed peach.

Lavender4ever - if you know of some others I should try, please do let me know!

I also would like to get a couple more nectarines, apricots, and maybe some of the crossovers (pluots or apriums). ISU extension says that for apricots, Moongold, sungold, and moorpark may do well here.

Claire

Claire, Here is a link to the flaminfury line of peaches that have been bred for cold hardiness and late flowering. I had reliance on our farm, and while it definitely was reliable it was not a great peach. But truthfully just about any home grown and tree ripened peach is better than the hard rocks from the grocery store.

well darn forgot the link. lol
http://www.flaminfury.com/

Wow, those look fabulous. He doesn't provide specific zone ratings so I will have to inquire with him what the best ones are for Iowa 5a. I also see that you can't order them from him so I'll have to figure out which of the nurseries that carry them will do mail order. Thanks for that link - I plan to get some this spring!
Claire

on the links in his site looks like stark bros is one you can get them from. He developed his varieties in Michigan so I am sure they will be hardy for you lol.

If you read further on his site. One of his hardy peaches is rated as the largest peach in the world. That is worth seeking out!!!

Yes, I looked through the nurseries listed as well and found that Starks seemed to be the only one that caters to the home gardener rather than the commercial grower. Stark's currently only has his one jumbo peach listed, but maybe they will have more in spring. There are a bunch of them I would like to try. And the nectarine too! If I can't find them in spring, I might shoot an email off to the flaming fury website and see if they can give me another low volume seller.
Thanks for that tip! They're bookmarked in my 2009 orders list!
Claire

I have much better luck with Raintree Nursery than I do from Starks. I have been ordering from them for 5 yrs with great success. ie. this spring I ordered 18 trees from Raintree and 2 from Starks. The only tree that is dead is one from Starks.
RED

Yes, I love the currant bushes that I have received from Raintree so far. But, it doesn't look like Raintree carries any of the Flaming Fury line of peaches. So it looks like I haven't got much choice if I want to get one of those. Raintree carries some others I would like to get, along with apricots.

Claire

You have to buy them where you can find them. Flaming Fury is a tasty peach, but aren't they all?
RED

They all are pretty tasty, except the ones from the grocery store that are either like sour rocks, or flour-filled mushy pillows. This is why I want to grow my own!! I get some through work from someone whose daughter does a fund raiser with Colorado grown peaches. $28 for the box though. Not cheap. I can buy a small tree for that! LOL!

We are picking Flaming Fury now. They are huge & delicious
Red

Did you get your flaming fury from a local nursery or from Raintree?

I don't have one myself. Got these at aa local orchard. But will have one next spring if Raintree has them
RED

The best peach I ever tasted was a tree ripened white peach.. Wish I knew whrere to find that exact one.

Flaming Fury sounds good.. I think I may look into getting a couple.

Here's my Redhaven Peach from Stark Bros. I was overjoyed and suprised to find it bore so abundantly it's third year! The peaches are absolutely delicious! I'm a pround parent for sure! My Saturn peach had two good fruits and the rest were "mummies" I'll have to find out why. Waiting for the Georgia Belle peach to ripen. Wow. This was my life's dream. Oh, and the Redhaven tree is just 4-1/2 feet tall!

Just found this thread. I was lucky enough on a recent trip to meet with the owner of www.EdibleLandscaping.com and tour his gardens. Their entire business is geared to the backyard grower and they raise all their own trees, bushes and vines, culling varieties that do not perform consistently. I found him very helpful AND knowledgeable, so even though they seem pricey I think I will buy a lot of my trees and berries from him.

CompostR - that peach tree looks fabulous! Congrats on your first harvests! Yummy!!

Darius - I have checked out that site and it has some interesting varieties. I will be checking again in spring for ordering!

I will definitely be looking into buying a tree like that CompostR. Those peaches look delicious.. and you just have many more years of those to look forward to.

Darius.. I'll check out that site..

Wow - lots of ideas. thanks for the link to this thread, Claire.

I looked at the Raintree site - any recommendations for zone 5, upstate NY.

http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/producttype.cfm?producttype=PEAC

I have a seckel pear that is delicious. It takes a long time to start bearing, but the pears are delicious and according to the Edible Landscaping lady ripen on the tree -- saving the grower the trouble of picking them, then ripening them in the fridge for a while. Except for the wait for the fruit, it is a great tree, naturally semi-dwarf.

Well, I thought I'd update on my orchard, for anyone who's interested.

All my trees from last year made it except for 1 Methley plum, and I had 2 of those, so I still have one left. This year my cherries and apples are flowering, and a couple of the plums. I don't think the nectarine or peach will flower this year. Before, when I had a single peach, it took 4 years for it to flower, so I can be patient.

This year I purchased either from Nature Hills Nursery, Raintree, or Grandpa's Orchard. Apparently Grandpa's Orchard is a joint venture between Moser Fruit Trees of Michigan and VanWells of Washington. Their trees are really nice, good roots, better than Nature Hills, but even the Nature Hills ones are fairly good as well. Overall I'm pleased. Raintree order still due to come tomorrow.

This year I have added the following (several of which were based purely on your various comments!)

semi-dwarf O'Henry Peach
Stellar Coralstar Peach
Stellar Risingstar Peach
Flamin' Fury PF24C Peach
Flamin' Fury PF1 Peach
J.H. Hale Peach
Canadian Harmony Peach
Polly White Peach
Reliance Peach
Elberta semi dwarf Peach

Independence Nectarine
Fantasia Nectarine

Yellow Egg European Plum
Green Gage Bavay's European Plum
Blue Damson Plum

Van Sweet Cherry
Royal Anne Sweet Cherry
Meteor Tart Cherry
Lapins Cherry

Dapple Dandy Pluot
Flavor Grenade Pluot
Flavor Delight Aprium

Chinese Apricot
Harogem Apricot
Harlayne Apricot
Harcot Apricot
Tomcot Apricot
Hargrande Apricot
Tilton Apricot

D'Anjou Pear
Forelle Pear

Arkansas Black Spur Apple
Red Wealthy Apple

I am awaiting my Raintree order, which is due tomorrow. I'll list those when I get them.
Claire

Wow, Claire, that is not what I would call a "little" back yard orchard. Your back yard must be enormous! I think you have some outstanding varieties there and I can't wait to see how they do. Hope you are wearing your special shoes. I wear mine a lot!

Pajaritomt - yes, I LOVE my shoes! I wear them a lot, but generally not in the garden because I don't want to get them all muddy and nasty yet. I actually wear them to work! Others are very intrigued by them.

I have 8.5 acres, so I have dedicated a portion of it to fruit trees. Eventually, I'd like to get some bee hives and place them near the fruit trees so that they will help with pollination and make some lovely honey. Many of the trees I purchased are dwarf or semi-dwarf, in order to enable me to fit more trees in the space! I know it will take several years for some of the trees to come along and really produce lots of fruit, but I am happy to be patient and watch them develop.

Well actually, semi-dwarf, don't know about dwarf, often produce fruit earlier than standard fruit trees. Dwarf may well do the same, I just haven't read up on it. You may find you have fruit before you know it. My Chinese apricot and Reliance peach produced, something like the second year. I was actually surprised at how early they produced -- and they are both standards.
I now consider it a mistake to buy standards. I read a book about apple trees by a famous apple expert and he said he no longer saw any reason to risk life and limb buy planting standard fruit trees when semi-dwarf produced as much fruit and often earlier. So I believe you did the right thing.
As for the shoes, I bought a different type -- the more beachy ones. I wear them around the house and yard and find them incredibly comfortable but if I am going to have to push a shovel down with my foot, I switch to tennies. The souls on mine are rather thin. I think I might like a pair like yours eventually -- to go with the ones I have now.
Sounds like you are going to have literally tons of fruit before very long! I am jealous.

Clair, sounds like a great beginning for a small orchard! I'm interested in following the growth/progress so keep us posted... with pics!

I have a bunch of (mostly) whips I planted in my front yard this year: 3 Nanking cherries, 3 red currants (Rovada), 2 buffalo currants (Crandall's), a beach plum (which needs another one), an Allegheny chinquapin (which also needs a 2nd one), several blueberry varieties, a few Triple Crown thornless blackberries, several chokecherries (mainly for the wildlife), and 2 sugar maples in the back yard.

Last year I put in 2 black currants, many more raspberries (I now have red, black and golden), 2 different European gooseberries, and an elderberry. Plus I have in pots: 2 figs and a patio peach so I can winter them in the root cellar. I have 3 fruiting quince coming from a Roundup in June, variety unknown. I had ordered quince from ForestFarm but they didn't ship. :( BTW, I loved ordering from ForestFarm. I just got whips in tubes since they had to come across the continent. My other new fruits came from Nourse Farms, and Gurney's. Everything came in good healthy, bare-root shape.

I have more on my 'want' list as I have money, semi-dwarf fruit trees like plum and peach. I'm not sure I want to do any apples, but I might. Yours will mature long before mine, and I'm interested in how each fares. I also agree with pajaritomt about not putting in standards. I'll be in my 70's before any trees will bear fruit and I cannot see myself climbing a ladder to pick them!

Darius - I used to grow nankin cherry at my old house and did not move them, but would like them again. I love currants too, and have black, white, red and pink here. I planted a honeyberry for the first time last year, so I'm interested to see how that does this year. I haven't got any blueberries because I know they have special soil needs and I've not got enough time to deal with that right now. I have red and green gooseberries coming on well this year.

I decided to put in the dwarf and semi-dwarf primarily because I could put them a little closer together, and thus have more trees (and more fruit!) in the same space. Very selfish reasons!

Yesterday we also put in 27 new raspberry plants - they won't do much this year but hopefully next year they will do well. We planted 5 each of Polana and Nova, 8 of Jewel (black raspberry), 3 Killarney, 3 Fallgold (gold raspberry) and 3 Heritage. We also transplanted what we *think* is a Chester thornless blackberry that I bought last year, but the tag is gone and I can't remember for sure. :-)

Here's a picture of how we set out the raspberries. We have 3 levels of wires to which we will attach the canes as they grow, to make it easier for picking and organizing them.

Here's the Cortland apple - it has the most branches and flowers of any of our trees so far.

Blossoms on the Honeycrisp apple.

Here is one of the apricots I purchased from "Grandpa's Orchard" by mail. Very nice quality trees. Good branching and lots of buds about to break. They also sent a tree wrap with every tree.

de Stella cherry blossoms.

Close-up of the Cortland apple flowers. So pretty - I love the pink tinges.

Here's the Bartlett Pear

And finally, this is the "new" area which we had to expand into in order to get this year's trees planted. These are all brand new ones from Nature Hills and Grandpa's Orchard. It will be interesting to watch them grow and develop. Most of them have decent branches so I hope they will do well.