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Fruit & Orchards

unusual fruits/berries in WV

15 years ago

Hi, I am new here. I am planting a mixed fruit orchard and am interested in "weird fruit" Id like to know if any others have planted similar in this area and how they did. I am in the north east panhandle of WV (6b) close to MD/PA and VA areas. I have planted so far apples, peaches, pear, asian pear, prune-plum, sweet cherries, sour cherries, apricot, asian persimmon, blue berries, june berries, honeyberry, goumi, black current, red current, (in another bed have strawberries, wineberries and black berries) Also figs planted along the side of the brick house for warmth. This spring I am adding to the mix jujubes, wolfberries, another sweet cherry, another asian persimmon, almond and 2 pecans. so far the only problem I had was a buck coming in and using my trees to sharpen his antlers (of course the most expensive tree) and I did plant kiwis and grapes on the fence but they all died from drought. I have the trees alternating with the berries and in rows and mulched. I mow between them. I sprayed everything with dormant oil this spring so far. Thanks, Kathy

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Comments (5)

denninmi
15 years ago
Welcome, Kathy, a gardener after my own heart. It sounds like you're off to a terrific start on your orchard. The exotic items can often be the most fun, because they offer the joy of discovering something new and seeing things that not everyone has.
austransplant
15 years ago
Kathy,

I'm doing the same sort of thing here in suburban Maryland near Washington DC. I've been at it for about four years. Your biggest problem will be the apples and all the stone fruit, with sour cherries being the least troublesome of these. You will have to fight two major insect pests: plum curculio and oriental fruit moth. There are plenty of posts on these pests on garden web -- see especially Jellyman's and Scott Smith's posts, as they live in northern Virginia and Maryland and have a lot of experience. You may also have disease problems to deal with -- rot on the stone fruit, perhaps scab, fire blight, or cedar apple rust on the apples. Picking disease resistant varieties can help here; unfortunately there are no varieties resistant to insect pests.

Your other fruits should be far less troublesome. Your main concern will be keeping the animals -- especially birds and squirrels -- off them. Netting the fruit is the solution unless the plants are very large. You will also need to make sure the soil the blueberries grow in is kept sufficiently acidic. And do not fertilize them with regular 10-10-10 or other standard fertilizers; if you use synthetic fertilizers, ammonium sulphate is good or you could use fertilizer formulated for acid loving plants like Azaleas. The Asian fruit trees -- jujube, persimmon-- should be pretty trouble free.

Some other things you might consider growing: gooseberries, mulberries, elderberries (not for fresh eating but make good wine and a very good cordial that protects against colds).
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I have all 3. The Hippophae I have are from One Green World and they are suppose to fruit on 3 year old wood. The male is 4yrs and still no flowers, I had to replace my females last year due to death. So cant comment on fruit (but an East German friend loves them. The Honeyberry have done fairly well for me, I really like the fruit and have 3 different varieties and will probably get a few more. The are somewhat slow growing for me, and I killed a couple by fertalizing, I sprinkled them with a little time release and they died starting right after the next rain. have replaced and dont do anything for them and they grow and fruit well. The Aronia I have is the cultivar Viking, they produde very well (they are a native), my niece and I are the only ones that like the raw fruit, but they make some of the best jelly and sauce ever. We did use them to dye some llama wool too. I plan to get a couple of the red berried type this fall. Depending on what you want them for, fruit vs ornametal, well, lets just say the Buckthorn isnt really much to look at, the Aronia are nice open shrubs with good fall color, and the Honeyberry is a nice shrub, not much to look at as far as flowers or berries go, flowers small and early and the berries are hidden by the foliage and also ripen very early, but taste good. The Honeyberry bush is a nice green shrub, but mine are now in full sun in central Michigan and defoliate mid summer. I know this was kind of a ramble, but the older I get, the more I do. scot
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I have grown a couple of the plants you asked about. I planted currants in Johnstown years ago and had very good success. The soil was a moist, clayey, probably acidic soil. Two bushes each had loads of berries every summer. I found the berries pretty sour, but the birds loved them. I got my plants from Burpee, I think, and they were a standard red garden currant. Very easy to grow. Wild elderberry is very common in PA, and should be no problem to grow. They pop up by themselves all the time in my yard in State College. Spicebush is common in parts of PA in the wild. With reasonably moist soil they should do fine. Only female shrubs get berries, but you need at least at a couple of males. Where they occur in the wild it is often possible to find tons of seedlings that you could transplant. Unfortunately you can't tell if a seedling is male or female until it grows large enough to bear flowers. I have not heard of people eating them, but birds love the berries. Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) is VERY invasive and is one of the most invasive plants in open woods and fields of PA. I don't think anyone should ever plant it. However, if you want berries it shouldn't be hard to find lots of wild ones in the fall. Ginkgo is a fairly common street tree. I think you'd have no trouble growing one anywhere in the state.
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kathy_wv
Original Author
15 years ago
thanks for the replies. I forgot that we DO also have a mulberry planted (its not in the orchard..wanted to draw the birds away) Last year i found a goumi bush growing at a neighbors house and I made goumi jelly and also goumi/mulberry/wineberry/sour cherry jelly.. my fiance said it was "poison berry jelly" and he refused to eat any.. well Ive been enjoying it all year long and cant wait to have some of my own from my own trees. Squirrels wont be a problem, we have 5 dogs! The honey berrys were planted one year ago and look like they will be covered with blooms this spring, at least maybe enough so I can taste it... Im trying to be organic so i hope we dont get too many bugs. Kathy
cowboyup4christ
15 years ago
what about native exotics like Paw Paw
theaceofspades
15 years ago
kathywv, what about Plumcots, a true cross between an Apricot and a Plum. Like Spring Satin or Pluot like Dapple Dandy. Flat Peaches are unusual. Flat Wonderful.

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