What did you do in your orchard today?

CrealCritter

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Thought this may be helpful... gathered from a variety of nursey sources. Range is generalized adjust for specific variety. Soil PH can be lowered by adding sulfur, soil PH can be increased by adding lime. When using sulfur of lime, always read and follow the label. It's good to check the soil PH at the end of the growing season and admend appropriately, especially if you apply sulfur as a fungicide.

PH range
Apple 5.0 - 6.5
Apricot 6.0 - 7.0
Blackberry 5.5 - 6.5
Blueberry 4.5 - 5.5
Cherry 6.6 - 7.3 Neutral
Fig 6.0 - 7.8 Prefer slightly alkaline soils
Mulberry 5.5 - 7.0 Prefer slightly acidic
Nectarine 6.0 - 7.0 Prefer slightly acidic
Passionfruit 5.5 - 7.0 Can tolerate a wide range
Peach 6.0 - 7.0 Prefer slightly acidic
Pear 6.0 - 7.0 Prefer slightly acidic
Persimmon 6.5 - 7.5 Try keep under 7.0
Plum 6.0 - 7.0 Prefer slightly acidic
Raspberry 5.5 - 6.5 All cane berries
Strawberries 5.8 - 6.5

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CrealCritter

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Grafted fruit trees, pruning back to all but one leader. I don't much like to do it, but it has to be done. So instead of leaving disappointed. I walked over to the cherry row and eat the first few ripe stella sweet cherries. I just plucked them right from the tree and popped them in my mouth :drool

If I were to have just one sweet cherry, it would be a stella. Stella, was developed in Summerland, British Columbia Canada (USDA zone 7A), released in 1968, is self pollinating, blooms mid season, helping it escape last frosts, grows quickly, requires only 400 hours chill hours and bears large sweet cherries at a early age. The only disadvantage I see... it has a fairly narrow grow range for a cherry (USDA zone 5 - 8).

I have a bing that's been in the ground 2 years more than stella and it hasn't even blossomed yet. I hope it's worth the wait.

But that's just my opinion only :)

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Messybun

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Not today persay. We pulled back the animal’s fence quite a bit and are putting trees up there. The soil is beautiful from animals for the better part of a decade.
Got four peach saplings out there, more to come in the fall. Whenever they’re ready to be transferred we have a friend who’s a budding arborist of native plants we’re buying from. She said the other trees transfer better later in the season when it’s cooler. So we should end up with a row of peaches, pawpaws, nuts, more apples, and a few others.
 

LaurenRitz

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I think my cherry tree is drowning from all the rain we've had. I'm not sure how to help it. I'm pretty sure that transplanting it now would kill it anyway.
 

CrealCritter

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Not today persay. We pulled back the animal’s fence quite a bit and are putting trees up there. The soil is beautiful from animals for the better part of a decade.
Got four peach saplings out there, more to come in the fall. Whenever they’re ready to be transferred we have a friend who’s a budding arborist of native plants we’re buying from. She said the other trees transfer better later in the season when it’s cooler. So we should end up with a row of peaches, pawpaws, nuts, more apples, and a few others.
I prefer to plant trees in the fall after they go dormant, better than I do in early spring before they break dormancy. As far as shipping I agree with your arborist, l also believe late fall is better than early spring.

Peaches are the hardest for us to grow, so many things attack them and they seem to be very finicky abou having the right amount of water weekly. I also have to spray them multiple times during the growing season with neem, copper and sulfur. So far I've been able to keep things under control with organics but it aint easy. Our hardiest peach are contender on lovell root stock. Our least hardy is rich may on unknown root stock (potted farm store purchase).

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CrealCritter

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The lil dwarf north star cherry that could. It's maybe a tad over 4' tall. I've been plucking and eating it's cherries as they turn red and get ripe. But I saved some for FB, for when she mows tomorrow. lil dwarf north star will always be itty-bitty.
Screenshot_20240518_201605_Gallery.jpg


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