"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[1MrsMagoo]

Fig takes off quickly and gets huge fast. Peaches also grow and produce quickly. If you want citrus--lime and lemons also do fairly well. My F-I-L also has grapefruit trees. Good jellies from those. I have never had much luck with any others. I have tried pears, but my trees grew then just would never produce.
Gorgeous boys! Show offs!

Gracie has silkies and so do I. We are keeping the chicks I hatched a few weeks ago, but have 3 more due to hatch next week. Someone else here has silkies...is it LaMike??? Someone help me out on that.

Pears are terrible for taking FOREVER to produce. Their is a saying my grandpa used to have, that he planted "pears for his heirs". Also, with almost all fruit trees, you need to be aware of how many chill hours they require: A chill hour is the number of hours the temperature is below 45 (I think their is a lower threshold, but we don't need to worry about that here). In my area, trees requiring between 400-650 chill hours do really well. Anything under 400 blooms too early and has a high risk of having its blooms and leaves killed by frost. Anything more than 650 and the tree may not get enough chill hours and although it may flower, won't produce much fruit at all.

Also, you need to know whether a tree is self-fruitful or needs a second type as a pollinator. Most citrus and peaches I believe are self-fruitful. A couple varieties of Japanese plum are as well: I think Santa Rosa is self-fruitful. Some trees, lower chill apples in particular, require a specific tree as a pollinator.

LSU offers a free PDF download called the home orchard. It is very helpful for picking varieties and gives you detailed pruning and care instructions. It can be found here:
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/commu...+Garden/Fruits/The+Louisiana+Home+Orchard.htm

Good luck everyone!

 

[ssterling1776]

Thanks for the link!!

Fig takes off quickly and gets huge fast. Peaches also grow and produce quickly. If you want citrus--lime and lemons also do fairly well. My F-I-L also has grapefruit trees. Good jellies from those. I have never had much luck with any others. I have tried pears, but my trees grew then just would never produce. [COLOR=B22222]Gorgeous boys! Show offs![/COLOR]

Gracie has silkies and so do I. We are keeping the chicks I hatched a few weeks ago, but have 3 more due to hatch next week. Someone else here has silkies...is it LaMike??? Someone help me out on that.

Pears are terrible for taking FOREVER to produce. Their is a saying my grandpa used to have, that he planted "pears for his heirs". Also, with almost all fruit trees, you need to be aware of how many chill hours they require: A chill hour is the number of hours the temperature is below 45 (I think their is a lower threshold, but we don't need to worry about that here). In my area, trees requiring between 400-650 chill hours do really well. Anything under 400 blooms too early and has a high risk of having its blooms and leaves killed by frost. Anything more than 650 and the tree may not get enough chill hours and although it may flower, won't produce much fruit at all. Also, you need to know whether a tree is self-fruitful or needs a second type as a pollinator. Most citrus and peaches I believe are self-fruitful. A couple varieties of Japanese plum are as well: I think Santa Rosa is self-fruitful. Some trees, lower chill apples in particular, require a specific tree as a pollinator. LSU offers a free PDF download called the home orchard. It is very helpful for picking varieties and gives you detailed pruning and care instructions. It can be found here: http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/commu...+Garden/Fruits/The+Louisiana+Home+Orchard.htm Good luck everyone!

 

[1MrsMagoo]

I heard that Japanese Plum trees are no good. Thoughts?

Those are mostly the type you get in the store. It is the European ones that aren't very good.

Does anyone know anything about Mayhaw & JuJubee trees?

I have both and they are slow growers and do have thorns. However, some of the named varieties come to bearing age fairly early. I got a few JuJubes last year in the first year I planted the trees. They do run...grow from the roots, but it you plant them in a contained area (we planted them in a box we made) that will keep them under control.

I have peaches, pears, apples, plums, mayhaws, mulberries, jujubes, satsumas, grapefruit, bananas (in pots brought in during the winter or they will never fruit), blueberries, goumie berries, grapes, and mayhaws. We are going to add a few varieties of the thornless blackberries this year too. I used to have strawberries, but need a better place to grow them. Their is a spraying schedule for the traditional fruit trees, but that isn't too big a deal. My trees are all still pretty young, so only the peaches, plums, satsumas, and berries have produced much yet.

 

[sawyerashton]

Can anyone tell me what are the 5 best fruit trees to plant that will produce quickly and abundantly in Louisiana? Thanks

I'm not sure how quickly, but there was a grapefruit tree in my yard when I bought the house. It produced just at 1000 huge sweet pink grapefruit this past year.

Also my fig tree was cut down and came back in 2 years and is already producing, but not producing that much yet.

 

[Gracie9205]

Le

I have silkies as well, but I'm starting to think they're nearly all boys. I'm really sad to think that I'll probably have to find homes for most of them. They are so sweet and adorable! All but one (below) came from show quality lines.

This is the cutie from a project pen (smooth with single comb). Girl or boy - we are keeping this one because my son will not let it go!

This is "Bunny", one of our splashes, who is likely a boy.

Let me know if you decide to get rid of any boys!

 

[Gracie9205]

Mike, Based on the markings of your little gosling there I believe that you may have a saddleback. Here is a gray saddleback gosling I hatched a couple years ago so that you can have a comparison. Notice the markings on the beak. Yours appears to have the same markings but, from what I could make out, appears to be much lighter which may suggest a buff. For comparison, these are two white goslings that I hatched last year. Notice the beaks -- they do not have dark markings. My best guess at this moment is that you have a female buff saddleback gosling. Based on my understanding of the recessive buff gene in Sebbies, I would guess that the buff color (assuming gosling is buff color) is being passed on from the gander and therefore your gosling would be a female. With that said, I don't know what to make of your hen with the brown feather. I've always heard that if the female has the recessive buff gene that she would be buff colored herself. Supposedly, females don't "carry" the buff color gene -- only males do. The next few weeks will be interesting to see how it feathers out. Ashleigh, what's your opinion?

It should definitely be a saddleback/splash, but as of right now I can't really guess at a color.

Does anyone know where I could find 2 juvenile silkies? I don't care what sex. I am fulfilling a dream of mine, finally, to have a humble little backyard flock. I already have 6 3week old buff orps, and I would dearly love to add a couple of silkies to the mix. I'd even be willing to trade two buffs for two silkies. I'm on west side of St. Tammany. Also, I keep seeing craigslist ads for Bayou State Hatchery in Pontchatoula. Can't find any info about them anywhere. Does anyone know anything about them?

Wickee, I should have some more silkies hatch in a couple weeks. Send me a PM and remind me about that time and I'll let you know what I have

 

[mzstre]

Satsuma, Mulberry, Mayhaw (more of a bush than tree), peach, and plums do fairly well here. Also, on a bit more exotic side, you have figs, and jujubes that do really well. We do have native PawPaw trees here, and I hear they grow quite well. I have tried growing them in my orchard, but sadly the tree itself must taste good because EVERYTHING eats them: The geese, the goats, the horse....all of them eat them to nubs even through protection.

I was really impressed with the size of the fruit and taste on my Illinois everbearing mulberry tree last year. It was a first year tree (about 3 years old as planted) and grew like MAD and surprisingly produced quite a few berries.

Not trees, but blueberries and goumi berries do really well here too....along with thornless blackberries and muscadines.

We have goumi berry bushes! I grew up eating these and they make great jelly. Most people have never heard of them.

Le
Let me know if you decide to get rid of any boys!

I sure will! I wish I had a silkie expert to sex them. I'm going to have a hard time letting them go. I hatched them at my son's request...I just never thought they'd be so darned sweet. Funny little critters!

 

[cajun backwoods]

i have several different kinds of trees but my favorites are my 9 mayhaw trees but they need a spot that will stay wet most of the year the more water the better, then my 2 HUGE satsuma trees that i get over 1000 satsumas off of every year and my 4 blueberry bushes, they all prod. well and i make jelly off of all of them and you wouldnt beleive how good that satsuma jelly is

 

[1MrsMagoo]

We have goumi berry bushes! I grew up eating these and they make great jelly. Most people have never heard of them.

I sure will! I wish I had a silkie expert to sex them. I'm going to have a hard time letting them go. I hatched them at my son's request...I just never thought they'd be so darned sweet. Funny little critters!

The geese and ducks LOVE them too. I had to fence them off to make sure I get some this year!

 

[WickeeChickee]

The geese and ducks LOVE them too. I had to fence them off to make sure I get some this year!

Lol! Took me a second to figure out that you meant berries, not silkies! Whew!