What did you do in your orchard today?

[R2elk]

What zone are you in?

Reliance Peach is said to be good to zone 4. I have one planted, it seems to grow well. Not sure if it will flower this spring. But I'll know more when I examine the new growth for scions and have a look for flower (double) buds this february.

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

If you go by the lies spread by the zone group, it is zone 5. I don't know anywhere in this state that is an actual zone 5. I have an email from Arbor Day where they admit it is not zone 5 but a very cold zone 4. When I buy based on zones, the ones that survive the winter here are the zone 2 and 3 ones. This past winter the temperature hit -40°F. The ground here normally thaws by mid March. This year it didn't start to thaw until mid April.

I had a couple of Reliance peaches make it through 3 winters. The last spring they had a few blooms and produced 2 peaches. I had forgotten how juicy tree ripened peaches were. I had also forgotten how fuzzy peaches used to be. The newer varieties are being produced for minimal fuzz. The following winter killed both trees.

The low temperature isn't the killer. The real killer is the January thaw followed by sub zero temps followed by the February thaw followed by sub zero temperatures.

 

[R2elk]

@R2elk

Have a closer look at the following peach varieties for zone 4. All 4 are said to be hardy to -20F -28C. You may have to take some extra precautions when you dip below the minimum temp. Maybe a tent of plastic might help? 🤷‍♂️ But you can research the best means.

Intrepid
Contender
Blushingstar
Reliance

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

Problem is we are not a -20°F area. We routinely are -30°F and last winter was -40°F.

Even if a tree makes it through the winter, it takes an unusually mild spring to produce fruit. I have a prune type plum that does okay in town but I have gone 20 years between times when they fruited here. I have apricots that survive fine but have only produced fruit one year.

I have a peach tree in the garden that survived 5 winter but the voles girdled it this past winter. It came back from the roots but not very strongly because the grape vines have completely covered it. It came up from a peach seed buried with kitchen scraps in the garden.

I have two new volunteer peach seedlings this year in the garden. If they survive the winter they will get transplanted elsewhere.

I have been at it for over 30 years here. If it would have a chance to grow here, I have tried it.

If it can't survive on its own I am not going to use extraordinary means to keep it alive especially since keeping it alive does not necessarily equal producing fruit.

 

[R2elk]

@R2elk more reasonable price on Siberian C. I haven't purchased any yet so don't know shipping charge.

https://www.andrewsblendorio.com/product/siberian-peach/

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

https://www.bizapedia.com/ny/andrews-nursery-llc.html

I'm a little skeptical of a nursery that is "located" in an apartment.

 

[R2elk]

Well what month is it? who ever heard of an apple blossoming the end of September?

I looked up the phenomenon years ago when I had a Nanking cherry rebloom in September. Can't remember what they said was the cause but it does happen under special circumstances. It's never happened again for me.

 

[R2elk]

Don't particularly care for pear trees but a cold hardy fruit tree is a cold hardy fruit potential.

Now, just in case it lives, I need to find another cold hardy pear since they aren't self fertile.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I harvested mulberries yesterday and today. I've got some in the freezer and I think I'll put the next batch in the dehydrator. Might try to make a low carb cobbler or pie or something yummy. Its hard to see in this pic, but the tree is so loaded that some branches are touching the ground.

I spread out a sheet under the tree and gently run my hands down the branches. The ripe berries (and a few red ones) fall off onto the sheet and are easily gathered up from there.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Dehydrated mulberries are good with granola cereal for breakfast. Whatever you make, it's hard to go wrong with mulberries 😋 Do you know what variety the mulberry is? It looks like it has a weeping growth pattern, maybe a weeping mulberry?

Just an ordinary red mulberry. This is the largest harvest it's ever given me. Generally, the branches are totally upright, this is the first time they've had a large enough crop to droop the way they are now. I'm looking forward to trying them dehydrated.

 

[CrealCritter]

Wanted to show progress on the cherry grafts. I find grafting fruit trees fascinating. Perhaps I'm easily amused, no... I am easily amused. But not so easily amused to entertain clows. Because when you entertain a clown you become part of the circus.

Everything above the black treecoat is grafted scionwood. You can see the buds breaking well now. My hats off to Fedco Trees for sending me very good quality mazzard rootstocks.

Jesus is Lord and Christ ✝️

 

[R2elk]

Planted 3 Sassafras trees today. Highly unlikely they will survive next winter but you never know if you don't try.

 

[CrealCritter]

My experience has been entirely different. My parents grew most of our trees from seed. They gave away cherry, plum and peach seedlings, and many of those trees are still producing, or their descendants are.

My neighbor in my old area had a seed-grown apple that didn't brown. We had an InterlakenxConcord that had the growth habit of the Interlaken, the taste of the Concord, and ripened early in the season. I have seeds for that one. Seedling almonds, seedling apricots. I have no experience with seedling pears, so I'll let them grow and find out.

At the very worst, in a few years I'll have smoker wood.

In the meantime, I am developing varieties that can tolerate our water, heat, cold, wind and drought. Win-win.

Yep stone fruits (peach, cherry, plum, apricot, nectarines, almonds, etc...) grow close to true to seed and often with desirable traits.

New wild grown seedling apple varieties are still being discovered, some are even marketed. Many of the herloom varieties from the 1700 and 1800 were chance seedlings. It's interesting to read up on heirloom apples. Fedco has some interesting historical background on a lot of their apples.

I have 3 wild apple trees, I've discovered here. I havnt seen any apples on them yet, but they put on a good flower show. It's most likely due to lack of a pollinator partner close by, the reason they dont set apples or they could just be sterile. Not knowing the apple variety theu are makes it difficult for me to know what pollinating partner they would need. I am however curious what they might produce, so I leave them alone with hopes that one day I'll see apples on them.

Jesus is Lord and Christ ✝️