What did you do in your orchard today?

[R2elk]

Planted 2 Cupid cherry trees today. They are said to grow the largest cherries of any of the Romance cherries developed in Saskatchewan. They are rated to zone 2.

 

[R2elk]

I think you might be able to propagate those via root cutting, since they are on their own roots. You got me reading up on the romance series, very intriguing grows 6 to 8 foot tall and good for zone 2 - 8.

Jesus is Lord and Christ ✝️

I have a 10+ year old Carmine Jewel dwarf cherry (the first of the Romance series). It is a good cherry but doesn't produce near as prolifically as my Evans Bali cherries.

The largest fruit of the Romance series appeals to me which is why I am trying the Cupid cherries.

 

[CrealCritter]

I have a 10+ year old Carmine Jewel dwarf cherry (the first of the Romance series). It is a good cherry but doesn't produce near as prolifically as my Evans Bali cherries.

The largest fruit of the Romance series appeals to me which is why I am trying the Cupid cherries.

Maybe next year we can talk about scion swap for Evans Bali. I would offer to swap a bareroot grafted North Star cherry but I'm putting them on mazzard root stocks. Mazzard is only good reliable USDA zone 4.

Jesus is Lord and Christ ✝️

 

[R2elk]

I was looking very closely at Garfield Plantation. I should have ordered when I was looking so close, because it doesnt show up anymore at Fedco. Fedco is top notch in my book, every order I've placed with them, I would give stellar reviews.

Garfield Plantation sells out very quickly in the fall. It is an interesting cherry sold on its own root and produces a nice sized cherry with a fair amount of yellow on it when ripe. I have no problem eating tart cherries straight off of the tree and it is one of the better ones to eat that way.

 

[CrealCritter]

FYI... Starkbros is having their $18.16 sale and free shipping on orders $99+

Stark Bro's Deals

www.starkbros.com

Jesus is Lord and Christ ✝️

 

[CrealCritter]

most likely they will be rather sour apples, but that is why they were originally brought to the states to make hard cider. it is very rare (i've seen the odds quoted as about 1 in 20,000) to get a random wild apple to be an out of hand eating apple. i used to go around with a friend to harvest wild apples and he kept track of those wild apple trees that he would find for that purpose. most of them were very mildly sweet and he would take them and dry them which made them even sweeter. of course he did not go back to the many many wild trees that were too sour as he didn't make hard cider.

with apple genetics being so diverse you can probably take the seeds from any store bought apples and it would be unlikely that any two varieties from the store would be a very close match. if you bought a selection of apples from the various bins at the store and took those seeds and planted them in the fall you'd find them growing the next spring once the weather gets warm enough. my own experience doing this i had a row of about 60 different apple saplings and there were a lot of differences in that row. within two to three years i had some that were 6ft or more and a few that didn't get above a few feet. being planted very closely together i didn't give them all enough space, but the intent was to take them back beyond the large drainage ditch to get a cider apple orchard growing back there, but that never got done and i eventually had to remove the saplings. protecting them from deer out there would have needed fencing for each tree. wasn't a way i could do that so i abandoned that idea. the longer term plan beyond the cider apples was to include some out of hand eating apples or baking apples once the cider apple trees were established as then there would the bug/predator cycles already established, but that didn't get very far...

Maybe a just a couple granny smith, a couple golden delicious and a couple nice crab apples for jams?

Your right though... they need a cage and trunk guard. I started out making mistakes and settled on a 4 foot diameter cage made from field fence and hardware cloth for trunk guards. Seems to work well for our deer and rabbits.

I lust cut the field fence horizontal wires up against the vertical stays and the other end to have long horizontal wires. I bend the horizontal wires to close the cage and unbend them to open the cage. Pretty simple and easy, I can get in the cage easily and securely close it just as easy. Lesson learned was to make sure I made the trunk guard diameter large enough to stick my hand down inside from the top to remove any rootstock suckers growing below the graft.

Fruit trees are a magnet for fungus and pests, but both are easily controled. You'll need a spray schedule. Your state university probably has one for back yard orchards. Most U's have a synthetic and organic spray schedule for zones within their state, its a good place to start. Most, not all apples are relatively easy to care for and most not all, grow quickly with minimal pruning and spraying. Select easy to grow varieties, unless you want a challenge.

Jesus is Lord and Christ ✝️

 

[flowerbug]

...
Fruit trees are a magnet for fungus and pests, but both are easily controled. You'll need a spray schedule. Your state university probably has one for back yard orchards. Most U's have a synthetic and organic spray schedule for zones within their state, its a good place to start. Most, not all apples are relatively easy to care for and most not all, grow quickly with minimal pruning and spraying. Select easy to grow varieties, unless you want a challenge.

i became convinced after my growing of the grape vine (that i eventually removed) that i wasn't going to have enough time, space or inclination here to do that. just the wrong micro-climate and soil and lack of space. i don't have easy access to the back part of the property and have way too many other things going on to be able to keep after yet more projects. if i end up moving or something changes i can always change my mind, but for now frut trees are not on my list of things to plant.

 

[CrealCritter]

I thought about digging holes for the two plums I have in pots from last year. Didn't have the energy to do so.

I only have a few semi-dwarf trees. Plums do the best for us.

Apples, pears and peaches do well in my neck of the woods. I do have two Methley Plums started. I would like two Santa Rose standard or a vigrous red skinned plum standard to go along with the Methley standards.

I'm trying to get both tart and sweet semi dwarfs cherries started. The planted bare root whips took a big hit with cherry leaf brown spot early spring. But after a application of orchard spray they are starting to show new growth. I'll know better next spring to hit them with orchard spray at around 90% petel drop and before they leaf out as a preventative treatment for brownspot.

Live and learn... Experience is a strange thing, you get it right after you needed it 🤔

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

If you want to try bench grafting in March, I could send you some bartlet and asian pear scionwood. I could also throw in both red and golden delicious apple scionwood if you want a stick or two.

You would need to obtain some rootstock though. M111 semi dwarf (M One Eleven is how you heard the experienced grafters say it) seems to be very popular and recommend by many. Fedco seems reasonable and sells rootstock in bundles of 10 or more. Plus they sell scionwood for many fruit tree varieties.

Sorry can't help with cherry scionwood this year maybe in a few years I can.

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

This would be awesome!!!!! Count me in. I have Fedco saved for next spring

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

@CrealCritter amazing trees, and yes I will remind you