Anyone still have a home orchard?

ShepFL · Feb 21, 2011

Now that boys are off to USN and college got some free time. Thinking of putting in an orchard (peaches, nectarines, apples) already got blackberries and blueberries.

Any recommendation or sites to check out? Of course I will have to use cultivators for N. FL / S GA. (zone 9).

Thanks!

Hendrik · Feb 21, 2011

We have a number of fruit trees in our garden. (I wouldn't call this an orchard though.) Very rewarding, so go for it! Check out which varieties are less sensitive to deseases and pests. Soil type, pruning and fertiliser are key aspects.
Cannot help you with sites, etc. since I'm from The Netherlands.

Maine Fordson · Feb 21, 2011

I'd think strongly about pears. I don't know what the pest situation is where you are, but here in New England there's a long list of fungus/bugs/worms, etc. that just love apples. The pears they leave alone, for the most part. Bartletts are nice and sweet, soft and juicy. Shouldn't be a problem finding a cultivar that's well-suited to your locale.

Also, check with your local extension service to find out about which apple and/or peach varieties thrive in your area.

If you set your orchard up correctly, you can have fruit come to maturity one after another, and have nice fresh fruit for most of the year...

Anonymous-0 · Feb 21, 2011

Look locally-Do you have a local cooperative extension or similar? Local nurseries know what does best in your area ect. Here in upstate NY it is best to buy from a local nursery, if it will grow in there yard it should be hardy enough to grow in mine. Enjoy

GordoSD · Feb 21, 2011

Cherry, plum, apples, pear trees on this
place.

John Harmon · Feb 21, 2011

Well we don't have an Orchard for sure but we do have a young mandarin Orange,Young ruby red Grapefruit,two very old white Grapefruit,Tangerine tree,navel Orange tree,seedless Orange tree,and two old Lemon trees,that,s it.All common for this area of Az. 36 degrees here at 7 AM,Very cold for us.It means a face mask for my morning walk,73 year old chest hurts when breathing cold air.Mask helps.

Frank Dodson · Feb 21, 2011

I have 35 trees consisting primarily of apple peach. I live in the western part of TN therefore in a different zone. I have been doing this as a hobby for 30 years. There is a lot of spraying and prunning involved. Your extension agent will be a big help. I buy all my trees bare root from Stark Bros. I do not recommend box store trees. It is rewarding and my grand children love the fruit.

Dave in GA · Feb 21, 2011

Shep, are you growing any grapes? In North GA, I have about 35 muscadine and concord vines on double curtain trellises, with timed drip irrigation, and they"re doing well. I planted most of them a few years ago so they"re still young, and they all got pruned yesterday. They need to be strayed with fungicide a few times every year, but otherwise they don"t require much. Birds and deer haven"t been a problem yet. There"s nothing like eating plump, juicy grapes off the vines in September.

ShepFL · Feb 21, 2011

Thanks fellas!

Dave in GA - never thought about grapes but will look into that. I have wild muscdine on back of property.

As to pears my neighbor has 8 trees so I have all the free ones I want. They are hard pears.

old · Feb 21, 2011

Hey Shep where is your boy who is in the Navy?? MY son is currently in Africa building schools. Part of the Sea Bees.
As for what you asked I to have thought about setting out a few trees but will most likely go with Wal-Mart stuff just because it is easy. That is ne of those things on my round to it list which always seems to be way to long for me to ever get round to it

CH(upstate,NY) · Feb 21, 2011

Best pears for canning in my opinion.

I have several varieties of apples, pears, bluberries ,black rasberries and wine grapes. Love having fresh fruit. Oh, forgot red rasberries.

jbp · Feb 21, 2011

Apple,cherry, and peach trees. Also have two kinds of grapes and thornless blackberries. The blackberries are used for cobblers, jelly and wine.

Joe

Anonymous-0 · Feb 21, 2011

I have 3 Strawberries in tubs, 4 peach,3 nectarine,1 apple,2 plums[they need a partner],1 pears,1 quince 1 olive.1 lemon,3 grapevines. all fruiting now.
This year we had 9 inches of rain in 2 months, the Peach and nectarine fruit
were twice the normal size,I put it down to the extra dampness. I live in a 500 mil zone, they sure appreciated it.

RayP(MI) · Feb 21, 2011

I have a few apple trees - yield is spotty, and not every tree produces every year. Frost may be the culprit. Also, the apples are very poor quality, wormy, scaby, etc. Need a lot of tlc to produce good fruit.

Paul from MI · Feb 21, 2011

Don't know waht varieties will work for your area, but I have RedDelicious, Grimes Golden, & Macintosh apples, and four or five kinds of grapes. They don't take a lot of work. Pruning once a year and spraying every couple of weeks in the summer. I'm not looking for perfect fruit, just enough to make lots of applesauce, juice and wine. Sure is good in the winter.

buickanddeere · Feb 22, 2011

Growing butter nuts, Heart nuts, bart nuts, northern hickory, northern cashews, paw paws and raspberries if they count.
Apples are so cheap at local orchards it's like growing your own potatoes or chickens. You do it for the taste and quality, not price.

Anyone still have a home orchard?

ShepFL

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Hendrik

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Maine Fordson

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Anonymous-0

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GordoSD

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John Harmon

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Frank Dodson

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Dave in GA

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ShepFL

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old

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CH(upstate,NY)

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jbp

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Anonymous-0

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RayP(MI)

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Paul from MI

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buickanddeere

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