Back to Eden Gardening and Hugelkulture and other non-conventional garden methods

[Arielle2]

hhmmm cannot be shipped to Washington state they must have a reason does seem a bit odd

Washington protects its apple orchards like Maine protects the Pine plantings.

 

[Arielle2]

Well written article on monoculture vs. integrated management. Based on the Irish potato famine.

https://soilsmatter.wordpress.com/2018/03/01/the-irish-potato-famine-could-it-happen-again/

 

[ShrekDawg]

On Fedcos site it says they have no more trees for this season and they'll be available in the fall, etc., why is that? Do you have to plant fruit trees in the fall? I was thinking of maybe getting some.

 

[HoopyFrood]

On Fedcos site it says they have no more trees for this season and they'll be available in the fall, etc., why is that? Do you have to plant fruit trees in the fall? I was thinking of maybe getting some.

My guess is they sold out of production stock. They have a HUGE tree sale this time of year. If you want trees from them most folks start ordering when the tree sale is announced (usually in Jan or Feb I think). You can always call them and ask, they're super nice!

 

[ShrekDawg]

My guess is they sold out of production stock. They have a HUGE tree sale this time of year. If you want trees from them most folks start ordering when the tree sale is announced (usually in Jan or Feb I think). You can always call them and ask, they're super nice!

Ahhh okay, that makes more sense! It might not be all the trees either, I only looked at a few, but yeah. I thought it was odd.

 

[Arielle2]

Here is what I have learned while planning an orchard.

Seems these trees are produced in limited numbers. They are about 2 years old and in the fall are harvested and kept in careful storage to maintain dormancy. Once they are gone, they are gone.

On the plus side, as disappointing as it is to not get a tree this year from FEDCO, consider reading about each varieity to find the ones that interest you the most. A year ago I spent months going over their listing and drooling. Hard to narrow down to just a few.

Perhaps look at--how much space is available for fruit trees and what the likely locations to plan. What do you plan to use the tree for--drying, sauce, fresh, cider? Many are great eating. aka fresh. But not all are great for sauce. Might be a better pie apple. Others are super storage apples--but dont eat fresh off the tree, yuck. ANd the timing of the ripe fruit. SOme are ripe iin AUgust, others ripen in Sept, and into October. Some hold well for just a few days to a week, others get bettter after months in storage.

Some types drop all the ripe apples; some hold well into winter; others drop slowly over a long time.

ALso please look at WHEN it flowers. I use Orange Pippin website to verify the flowering sequece. THey rate varieties from 1-5. Personally I avoid the earliest, 1, flowering because a frost can kill all the flowers. My goal is to plant 2-3 varieties of similar flowering times for pollination purposes, over lapping 2-3-4 -5 flowering times.

Someday a 1 will be fine, after the first trees are established. Just hard to loose the whole crop due to frost. ( Last year all 5 peaches had flowers killed by a rogue late frost.)

 

[Arielle2]

Ahhh okay, that makes more sense! It might not be all the trees either, I only looked at a few, but yeah. I thought it was odd.

My spring trees are already planted. But I am still looking. lol

Cummins has trees on dwarfing stock, some on standard stock. Bette roots than those from Stark.

Stark is still selling--limited stock. Mostly varieities they developed, some antique varieties, generally on Malling stock, not Geneva stock.

Some sellers are done for the season; others have limited stock.

 

[CapricornFarm]

On Fedcos site it says they have no more trees for this season and they'll be available in the fall, etc., why is that? Do you have to plant fruit trees in the fall? I was thinking of maybe getting some.

No, i planted fruit trees this winter past and i just put in pear trees. In nurseries near you now.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Here is what I have learned while planning an orchard.

Seems these trees are produced in limited numbers. They are about 2 years old and in the fall are harvested and kept in careful storage to maintain dormancy. Once they are gone, they are gone.

On the plus side, as disappointing as it is to not get a tree this year from FEDCO, consider reading about each varieity to find the ones that interest you the most. A year ago I spent months going over their listing and drooling. Hard to narrow down to just a few.

Perhaps look at--how much space is available for fruit trees and what the likely locations to plan. What do you plan to use the tree for--drying, sauce, fresh, cider? Many are great eating. aka fresh. But not all are great for sauce. Might be a better pie apple. Others are super storage apples--but dont eat fresh off the tree, yuck. ANd the timing of the ripe fruit. SOme are ripe iin AUgust, others ripen in Sept, and into October. Some hold well for just a few days to a week, others get bettter after months in storage.

Some types drop all the ripe apples; some hold well into winter; others drop slowly over a long time.

ALso please look at WHEN it flowers. I use Orange Pippin website to verify the flowering sequece. THey rate varieties from 1-5. Personally I avoid the earliest, 1, flowering because a frost can kill all the flowers. My goal is to plant 2-3 varieties of similar flowering times for pollination purposes, over lapping 2-3-4 -5 flowering times.

Someday a 1 will be fine, after the first trees are established. Just hard to loose the whole crop due to frost. ( Last year all 5 peaches had flowers killed by a rogue late frost.)

My spring trees are already planted. But I am still looking. lol

Cummins has trees on dwarfing stock, some on standard stock. Bette roots than those from Stark.

Stark is still selling--limited stock. Mostly varieities they developed, some antique varieties, generally on Malling stock, not Geneva stock.

Some sellers are done for the season; others have limited stock.

Wow I had no idea there was so much to it! Thanks for all the info.

Also, I hadn't heard of cummins and went to the site and found the rootstock page and was reading all the info on the different ones. They have a pretty good page on it.

I didn't realize there were so many different root stock things. Or varieties of trees.

So I don't really get it... maybe a stupid question....

There's no like "natural" trees anymore? They're all grafted onto rootstock? It mentions grafting different types of apples onto the different rootstocks to test or how certain types do best on certain rootstocks, etc. So.. are they all grafts? I guess what I am saying is there's none that when planted from a seed or cutting or whatever will grow roots and become a producing tree? They all have to be somewhat made if you will? Or am I wrong? Just seems kind of the opposite of what a tree should do to survive in nature haha but I guess this isn't really nature, it's about producing the best fruit trees? Which is a good thing

And I have no idea what kind of trees I want. It's sort of overwhelming, pathetic as that sounds haha

I was thinking I might like fruit trees but I never have planted any because they take so long to start producing I keep thinking I'm gonna move. I should have planted them a few years ago so they'd be producing now cause now I really might move after I graduate haha but oh well.

I like apples and peaches. I haven't eaten many pears but the ones I have were good. Cherries are pretty but idk. And I really don't even know what other kinds of trees there are? I'm blanking on other fruits right now lol

We have almost 3 acres, though only like an acre is the yard, so plenty of room. Unless containers would be better?

I don't know.

I just want some fruit to eat and be able to grow my own fruits since I'm starting with veggies. I guess for eating fresh and like breakfast and being healthier and stuff but maybe also for pies lol

No, i planted fruit trees this winter past and i just put in pear trees. In nurseries near you now.

Good to know you can plant them now! Maybe I'll have to look locally

 

[1cock2hens]

@KDOGG331 seeds from fruit trees dont grow true, the seed will grow with traits of its mother and of its father and not necessarily the best traits. . you can grow hundreds of seeds and each will grow differently. a very very small minority of them will be good for fresh eating, a few more will be good for cooking and the rest will not really be anything we would want to eat but animals might enjoy or you could maybe use for cider and other things

whenever a good eating apple is found they clone it and spread it, for example every single granny smith apple tree is a clone that originated from one granny smith that had a cutting taken then those cuttings grafted onto rootstock. same with fuji, golden delicious, all the name brand apples are clones of a random freak of nature tasty apple. this is not just for apples it is true with all fruit trees.

// it doesnt take too super long to see fruits always, I start my fruit trees out in pots so that they will get bigger faster and i have had cherries on all of my cherry trees on year one and this is year 2 for my peaches, I got them at a foot tall they are now over 7 foot and they all flowered so they could fruit this year.