How many of you have an Orchard or fruits in your gardens

[PERRAW]

Just wanted to start a new thread. I just planted four apple and two pear trees. I want to plant some other fruits this fall. Do any of you have fruit trees and other fruits growing on your property? I live in zone 7 and want to know if any of you have the paw paw or the jujube trees. I thought I'd like to try some different kinds of fruits.

[rawstrength]

I live in zone 6. I have three dwarf apple trees that give us no fruit. We have a dwarf pear tree that gives us a ton of fruit. We have blackberry bushes that do great. We have raspberry bushes that do okay. We planted blueberry bushes, but they died. Our strawberries do well, too. Our neighbors have a mulberry bush that does spectacular and gives a ton of fruit. I've never heard of paw paw or jujube. You may want to do a google search on that.

[Green Amour]

I'm in zone 10 or sunset zone 24. There is an avocado tree that was here when I moved in. It does produce a lot of fruit, but the skin is very thick and leathery. I don't quite understand when it's season is..? It's kind of a shame that it hadn't gotten much care, everybody living in the building has kind of written it off as not producing good fruit, but I think this could be a result of lack of care, ahem. So since I have this tree here and now trying to be raw it's much more valuable. I'm going to really give it some TLC this year and see what happens.
I am renting and there isn't much room for any other trees, so that's all I've got at this point.
My mother( lives in zone 9) on the other hand has a lovely Meyer lemon tree-most of the fruit goes to waste,unfortunately as there is much more than she can use and I guess she hasn't found anyone to give them to. I take as much as I can. I'm hoping she'll squeeze the juice this year and freeze it. She also has a navel and a valencia orange tree, a pecan tree and just last year I bought her a fig and a pomegranite tree.

[FloridaPatty]

I have a lot of fruit trees and I love them. We get a lot of fruit every year now on the citrus. Peaches and nectarines usually do well, but the critters get them every year before I do. I have mulberries that are just a year old and am getting fruit off them now. One is a dwarf mulberry that has fruit 9 months of the year. Delicious! Blackberries do well. Figs OK. Mangoes got frozen out this year. Loquats get frozen out every year. Heard of some new ones that will have ripe fruit on them by Xmas. Logans die back every year too with a hard freeze. Have 2 Calif tropical cherry trees that are too small to fruit. Avocado is doing OK. No fruit yet. Small tree still young. Moringas die back every freeze and then grow to 30 feet every summer. Got some goji berry plants and some NC goji relatives. Blueberries need help. Just got a jobicata.

Apples do terrible. Too warm for paw paws. Not sure about jujubes. Too cold for bananas.

[PERRAW]

Rawstrengh, That is too bad about your blueberry bushes and apple trees. Do you have them planted in full sun? It takes about three years after planting for dwarfs to produce fruit.
Green Amour, Maybe when you visit your Mom you can take her extra fruit and take it to a farmers market and sell it or give it to a charitable organization that helps needy families.
FloridaPatty, That's too bad about the critters, I guess they get hungry too, Ha Ha. Maybe try netting the trees before the fruit gets ripe. My mom and dad use to have a mulberry tree. We kids use to climb it and it the berries every year. It got pretty tall. How tall does a dwarf mulberry get? Or how tall does a bush mulberry get? I didn't realize they have a tropical cherry tree. We had a cherry tree growing up and my Mom would tell us to not eat the cherries because she wanted to make pies out of them but we use to sneak and eat some anyway. We also had pears, plums ect. People say that cherries don't do well in our part of NC but thought about trying a bush cherry.

[FloridaPatty]

The dwarf ones. I don't know how tall they'll get actually. I know the other ones will get big.

I was going to net the trees one year. Have you ever tried to net a tree? I found some pepper spray I can put on the fruit to discourage the critters. I'm going to try that. This year they took the unripe peaches off the tree and took a couple of bites out of them. I am ticked off! Hope the pepper spray works.

I would have thought you could raise cherries in NC! I got my trees of someone from California on Ebay. Everyone here said I couldn't grow them. I just don't listen. I like to try everything I can.

[Revvell]

Right now we've got a dwarf blood orange tree and a fig tree. They're both staying potted for awhile. Thinking we may get a dwarf Valencia orange tree and a sweet lime tree on Saturday. Both will be potted for awhile.

We were told that it's good for dwarfs to stay potted for a couple of years, then plant. The ones at the nursery are bearing fruit already.

I'll letcha know what happens.

Revvell

[StarFire]

I'm not sure what 'zone 7' is... but I live on the Big Island of Hawaii. We don't really have an 'orchard' per se, but scattered here and there on our property we have...

Avocados (several varieties)
Apple bananas
coconuts
Mountain Apple
Breadfruit
Mangos
Papayas
Pineapple
Lemon
Lychee
Liliquoi (Passion fruit)
:D

all organic and beautiful!!

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/Dancing-7.gif .... RAWk on!!

[Cabosun]

We grow concord grapes, rasberries and have a couple of cherry (sour) trees. Dh depits the cherries every july and we freeze them. I use them in my morning smoothies.

[Eva]

We have mangoes, avocados -- and something else I can't remember how to say -- on our property in Brazil.

Buuuut, I'm here living in Massachusetts in a rental house, and there is no fruit here. :(

[baltochef]

After several years of the birds & animals getting to all of or most of the fruit on several dwarf trees & bushes, I decided to build a permanent walk-in framework cage around the bushes & trees..Covered the frame with chicken wire.. Built a door that could not be opened by raccoons..Dug a trench completely around the structure, except for the door..Buried the chicken wire 6" deep, bent it into an L-shape, ran the wire 2' out & away from the cage so that the critters could not simply dig their way into the cage to get to the fruit..Drove pieces of rebar 3' deep spaced 1" apart into the ground across the width of the doorway to prevent access through digging..

Unfortunately, I moved soon afterwards..But the cage, while unattractive, completely prevented birds & animals from getting to the fruit..Had the first year where I suffered no animal or bird losses..The chicken wire allows insects to get through for pollination..The only design drawback was that I made it with a permanent flat roof..If you live where it snows, like I do, then the roof must be pitched, or removable..Brushing the snow off a flat chicken wire roof so that it doesn't collapse is a pain..Been there, done that, never again..

The next time I move (and hopefully the last) I intend to plant fruit bushes, dwarf, & espaliered fruit trees..Can't do that where I'm living now..All of the plantings will be protected by some type of framework that will prevent animal & bird losses..For small to mid-sized gardens this is affordable..When you consider what the organic fruit from a mature tree or bush is worth when you have to purchase it, the cage pays for itself in the first 1-3 years of fruit production..If you don't do something like this, then most years the birds & animals win the war, & eat most or all of the fruit..And, what's the purpose of having fruit trees & bushes if you can't benefit from them??..I don't need fruit trees capable of producing fruit that are merely ornamental..I'll plant berry producing bushes & hedges on the property to feed the birds & small animals..Berries that humans don't consume..

As a raw gardener that wants to feed myself & my immediate family with as much of my own organic home-grown fruits & veggies as possible; I can't afford to spend hundreds & hundreds of dollars on plantings only to have the critters make off with all of my fruit crop..The same thing applies to sweet corn..Without protection, the raccoons generally get the corn just before harvest..Leaving me with little or no corn to eat..

I'm working on a cage design that will be more attractive than the first one that I built..When I finalize the design, I'll try to remember to post the drawings here so others can see what I come up with..

Bruce

[StarFire]

Wow Bruce... :eek: OMG! that's a lot of work ... and then you moved!!! http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/laugh.gif....... omg!!!

well... at least you got some produce out of that year... and now you have a really good understanding of what works and what doesnt.... and what you want to do next time!

I would love to see your design once you finish it! sounds pretty awesome!

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/hillbilly.gif

[PERRAW]

The dwarf ones. I don't know how tall they'll get actually. I know the other ones will get big.

I was going to net the trees one year. Have you ever tried to net a tree? I found some pepper spray I can put on the fruit to discourage the critters. I'm going to try that. This year they took the unripe peaches off the tree and took a couple of bites out of them. I am ticked off! Hope the pepper spray works.

I would have thought you could raise cherries in NC! I got my trees of someone from California on Ebay. Everyone here said I couldn't grow them. I just don't listen. I like to try everything I can.

No Floridapatty, I have never netted a tree. I would like to do what Bruce says to plant some extra things around for the birds and critters. I was talking to someone who lives not far from me yesterday and they said they know someone who has a sour cherry tree producing fruit and doing well. They said to plant the tree in late Fall early winter. They said it would survive better because of getting a good root start. I would like to try planting some fruit trees this fall that maybe borderline our zone, such as a Fejoia.

[juliebove]

I'm in zone 7. I have two apple, two pear, one cherry tree, strawberries and plant assorted vegetables. I don't know if the trees you list will grow here or not.

[PERRAW]

Heh Starfire, It sound like you have a spread out orchard.
Bruce, Wow you put alot of work into the cages and have to move away.
I hope the next place is better for you. The last place we lived, I had planted fruit trees, grape vines and a strawberry patch. So I know what moving away from a garden and small orchard is where you put your sweat into it. But yeah that's a neat idea if you have dwarf trees. It would be fun to have a camera on it at night to see the critters just staring at the fruit in the cages wanting it and not be able to get to it. But sounds like you're a kind guy and planted some things for the birds and critters too. I think I'll have to consider that in my yard also.

[baltochef]

If you give wild animals a choice they will almost always choose to eat domesticated crops, especially fruits, as they have greater nutritional value than the average wild plant..The foods grown in rich, compost laden soil will generally have a much higher Brix value than plants grown in less rich soils..And are thus more attractive for animals to eat..Fruits, & those veggies high in sugars, such as corn, are especially attractive..Animals are smart, & will always go for foods with the greatest caloric value before returning to plants with less caloric value..

An explanation of Brix values can be had at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brix

Tools for determining the Brix values of the plants growing in a garden or field can be purchased at Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply..
http://www.GrowOrganic.com

http://www.groworganic.com/item_TM301_Refractometer.html
http://www.groworganic.com/item_TM310_Sap_Extractor.html

Bruce

[PERRAW]

Bruce, thanks for the info. I just ordered a catalog from them.

[baltochef]

Bruce, thanks for the info. I just ordered a catalog from them.

PERRAW You are welcome for the link..

PVFGS is one of the best online / mail order resources for organic gardening & farming in the USA..I've been getting their catalog for years..They are located in Grass Valley, California..

Another is Snow Pond Farm Supply..They are located in Abington, Maine..They do not stock as complete of an inventory as Peaceful Valley does, but they have been growing steadily over the past several years..

www.Snow-Pond.com

Bruce

[Theogirl]

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/Dancing-7.gif .... RAWk on!!

Your dancing people made my day!

[FloridaPatty]

No Floridapatty, I have never netted a tree.
I bought some netting. The trees are about 10 feet tall. Trying to put netting on a tree would make a good film for those "stupid people" video shows. It was not a pretty sight.

I prefer to plant in the spring for the same reasons you gave for planting in the fall. By planting in the spring you can fertilize the tree and get the roots going very well before the tree goes dormant. It seems to me that would give it extra strength to face the winter than putting it in during the fall. That's my theory.

As for Fejoia, they do survive a hard freeze. Don't know if they can take a real winter. It would be interesting to try. I have 2. They are both 15 years old and have never had fruit. Seems to be a common complaint. They are beautiful bushes though and the flowers are edible. Eating the flowers does not prevent fruit from ripening.

As for the critters - what I really need is to retire so I can spend all day watching the fruit just like the critters!

[PERRAW]

Bruce, thanks again for the info.
FloridaPatty, Ha, Ha, you're so funny. I like nature shows and enjoy watching the animals, so I problably would enjoy sitting back watching the trees and seeing the critters trying to get the fruit. But I would be like Bruce and be kind to the animals and give them some fruit too.
I thought about putting the Fejoia in a more protected site in my yard. At least I can give it a try. Once in a while things work against the odds.

[brydee]

Sorry im abit thick, what are all the zone things? where abouts you live?

We have apples,pears,damsons, elderberries.

[baltochef]

Sorry im abit thick, what are all the zone things? where abouts you live?

We have apples,pears,damsons, elderberries.

The United States National Arboretum, and the United States Department of Agriculture, along with their opposites in the Canadian government, have divided a map of North America into Plant Hardiness Growing Zones..

http://www.asna.asda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html

These zones are determined by the mean average high temperatures in summer, the mean average low temperatures in winter, the average annual amount of rainfall, & other factors..

Knowing the zone that you live in allows you to determine if there is any possibility for annual plants, perennial plants, trees, etc. to survive & or thrive in the location that you live in..Local knowledge is always best as there can be micro climates that allow or prevent a particular plant to survive in a zone that otherwise might indicate the opposite..

Bruce

[brydee]

I understand, seasonal regional growing ;)

[joyfulmama]

Starfire- what a lucky one you are to have so much wonderful fruit growing on your property!!! My goodness.
We live in Nevada- yep not much growing here. We are looking into those topsy turvy pots to grow tomatoes. We are moving to MO in late August for the sole purpose of being able to have a huge garden next year.
To feed our family of 8 I am spending about $1200 a month- I have to start growing our own food. We are looking into sprouters now..

I'm not sure what 'zone 7' is... but I live on the Big Island of Hawaii. We don't really have an 'orchard' per se, but scattered here and there on our property we have...

Avocados (several varieties)
Apple bananas
coconuts
Mountain Apple
Breadfruit
Mangos
Papayas
Pineapple
Lemon
Lychee
Liliquoi (Passion fruit)
:D

all organic and beautiful!!

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/Dancing-7.gif .... RAWk on!!

[FloridaPatty]

Starfire- what a lucky one you are to have so much wonderful fruit growing on your property!!! My goodness.
We live in Nevada- yep not much growing here. We are looking into those topsy turvy pots to grow tomatoes. We are moving to MO in late August for the sole purpose of being able to have a huge garden next year.
To feed our family of 8 I am spending about $1200 a month- I have to start growing our own food. We are looking into sprouters now..

Tomatoes have trouble getting through hot summers. Here in Florida we can only grow them well in the spring and fall. Winter also if we bring them indoors during freezes. They need 75 degrees at night for the bloom to set fruit. (I think that's about right). I'm sure there are all kinds of things you can grow in the hot climate you have.

Don't forget sprouting

[joyfulmama]

We are looking into sprouters. There is an organic garden down the road- so people do grow things here but on our land it is all sand! we are moving the end of the summer so don't want to spend the money to make it plantable..