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Growing up my Grandma had a backyard orchard and I loved all the varieties of fruit. Although my backyard is much smaller, I have tried to put a lot into the space I have by planting dwarf trees. I still have a lot of space to play and way too much lawn to mow, but I love harvest time. Here are a few of the varieties I have. Some trees are already done, such as my apricot tree and a couple of early plums. Some still need some time before they are ready.
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That’s awesome you can grow so many types of fruit. I’m jealous. If you’ve ever seen a dead tree that is about 3” in diameter that’s what I can grow
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Wow, those are some monster apples, peaches and plums. I've been thinking about growing some plums trees, what do you consider to be the best variety? Also, have you ever tried growing one from the seeds that come from your plums? Do you grow a garden?
Please consider posting some of your produce here:
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...ategory=80
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Thanks, they are big. I thin the early fruit on most of my trees with the exception of the plums. As far as what I recommend on plum trees, my favorite is my Burgundy. Large, very sweet Japanese variety. Stays firm on the tree for extended period of time and stores well in the refrigerator. Everyone that has tried them loves them. It doesn't need a polinator, but does better with one. Much better than any plum I have bought from the store. My wife's favorite is the toka (aka bubblegum plum). A medium size plum with a very sweet unique taste that has a hint of bubblegum flavor. I admit that it is very good, but the ripening period is short and before you know it, they are done. But they don't last long at our house because we eat them all. Those 2 trees pollinate each other. If you like European varieties, you really can't go wrong with whatever you choose, but my favorite is the Italian plum with Mt. Royal a second. I have not tried growing them from seed. I have bought some trees locally, especially from Valley Nursery. But have ordered about half of them off the internet bare root. Both have done well. I do grow a small garden, but nothing to brag about.
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You are right doing the proper thinning makes the fruit large. I thin my peaches and have constructed a interior support on my peaches. Left in for three years, really helps, the limbs don't droup.
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Hunt, Fish, Gather....the good life, and you know what you've got....at my highest production, I had 7 peach trees and 2 large pear trees, most of which went to local Farmer's Market...now just 2 smaller peach, 1 pear, 2 plum (Satsuma and Au Rosa), 2 dwarf apple (Gala and Honeycrisp), apricot, and smaller fruits of strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, tart cherry, and Concord grapes...everything is done, except the grapes, which I leave on 'til the first good frost, to set the sugars....Mighty good quality eating, as you know, and lots of work, as you know....Guluk...
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When you say you thin the early fruit, would you say you have to remove half of them, to get the remainder to grow that big?
We freeze dry a lot of our peaches every year, have you ever tried FDing plums? So Burgundy is a variety of plum? And you think Valley Nursery might have them?
If you are worried about posting pics of your garden, don't be, most of us don't have anything to brag about either but it's something we like to do, so we like to share and get helpful info on what we can do to improve what we have. Besides, with fruit like you grow, that is a form of a garden, IMO and we all can only wish to have fruit that nice.[cool]
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I am impressed and jealous. In 1980, we TEMPORARILY moved into our current house until we found a larger lot, so I could grow a large garden and plant several fruit trees. I just planted a fruit cocktail tree to replace my dying peach tree. It will be a few years before it begins producing.
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I bought my Burgundy tree from valley nursery years ago. I don't know if they would still carry it. Valley has the best selection of fruit trees of any nursery that I have visited. As far as thinning goes, I remove all but one or two apples from each cluster. That sometimes means taking out 3 or 4 apples on each cluster. I try to always leave the biggest in the center of the cluster. With apricots and peaches I remove 50 to 75% of the fruit. It takes time, but I think well worth it. I rarely have to support branches or have them break on me. The size of the fruit is great. I also spray my trees for coddling moth and I think it helps get all around the apples when you don't have a big cluster. When I do occasionally get worms, it seems they pierce the skin where two pieces of fruit come together.
I do dry batches of plums, peaches, apples and apricots but just in a dehydrator. I don't have a freeze dryer. They are all really good.
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OK, thanks for the info. I lose a few branches on my peach trees every year because I don't thin them, guess I better start doing that next year. Not sure about your peach trees but this year they seem to be ripening a lot later than normal.[:/] Do you have to remove the skins on your plums before you dehydrate them?
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Yes, everything is a little later this year. No you don't have to remove the skins to dry them.
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Any idea why the fruit is ripening later this year? I have two peach trees, one had all its fruit done by last month, my second tree still isn't all done and with all the cold weather the fruit is falling off, while a lot of it is still green.[  ]
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Seemed like it didn't warm up until later this spring and pushed everything back. I have 2 varieties of peach trees, one is an early peach, and ripens in July. My other is a late one and is just finishing up but usually is done by mid September.
Sorry I can't tell you why your peaches are still green and dropping fruit. It is natural for a tree to drop some fruit before ripening. You must have a really late ripening variety of tree.
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[quote Jig-fisher]Sorry I can't tell you why your peaches are still green and dropping fruit. It is natural for a tree to drop some fruit before ripening. You must have a really late ripening variety of tree.[/quote]
I'm sure they are still green because of what you said, it was just a late Spring, because it a normal year they would all be done by now. They are usually done around the first of Sept My second peach tree came from the seed of my first peach tree, so both are the same variety, unless the original tree was a highbreed of some sort, it's strange it's always a month behind the parent tree.
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