You have some very interesting varieties there. My personal opinion is that it's a good idea to put in trees over a few years so you can get a feel for what works and what doesn't (both varieties and your skill/effort level).

Peaches are self-fertile, most sweet cherries too, none of the apples. With so many apple varieties +crab you're unlikely to have a pollination problem. Your cherries are outside of my expertise, but I assume you've examined the pollination issue.

No idea what your soil is like but the selection of correct rootstock makes a big difference.

We share the honeycrisp which is a great apple for the small grower - stores well and is fairly disease resistant. They will ALL need regular spraying, don't delude yourself. A few apples aren't good choice for a very cold climate - the Cox O' Pippens would be the biggest cold concern among your apples.

Peaches - I've just planted 2yrs ago myself. Again you'll need spraying. I certainly needed to pick the most cold hardy varieties (Reliance & descendent and some of the "Flamin Fury" cold hardy varieties) and I'd be surprised if you don't also. The issue isn't losing the trees so much as a late frost killing all the buds. Redhaven is reasonably hardy, but you *MAY* need something more cold hardy or spot resistant.

I don't know but bird damage to cherries is reportedly an issue. I think this is more troublesome in the south due to bird varieties. I think I'd consider smaller rootstock and netting for cherries. FWIW birds here (NE Ohio) will eat all my blueberries if I let them, but rarely touch grapes.

Still you need to know your local issues. See your state department of Ag recommendations and also talk to local growers. Also - grass and weed incursion greatly slows the growth for small/young trees. You probably want to use mulch, groundcover or such for a couple ft radius around each. I've recently seen pea-gravel (lime) suggested since it greatly suppresses weeds and in my location has a positive impact on soil acidity and reflects light upward enough to matter. Also makes mowing practical.

best wishes

Joe,

If you haven't done so, take some time to plan a layout for future trees.

Regarding your peaches and cherries, most people pick two different cultivars when they want two trees of that fruit. The advantage is more varieties means you can see what works best, tastes best, and it spreads out your harvest. Redhaven is probably a good choice. PF 24C also has a good reputation and ripens a little later.

Most sweet cherries are not self-fruitful, but Blackgold apparently is. Sweet cherries are the hardest to grow of all popular fruits It's very likely you'll eventually have some thing else in their spots.

Joe, I'm assuming you now live then in the country. If so, you'll want to protect your investment from our deer. I've learned the hard way what they can do to an orchard both with their teeth and--even worse--their antlers. Also, I'd recommend planting full sized trees or at least semidwarf because they can reach up a lot higher than you'd think. Not for sure where you are in IL, but in my area (Eff/Clay) we had a raccoon epidemic last year that wiped out most fruits.

Good luck on the sweet cherries. I've given up on them altho' sour cherries do very well for me. I've also struggled with plums but hope to implement a new spray regimen before throwing in the towel with them.

Peaches are fairly reliable but are a lot of work. Again, 'coons will obliterate a tree in one night.

You might also consider small fruits, which do very well.

Best of luck,

Brook

You'll want to check to see if Granny Smith will get ripe before frost for you. Look around at local orchards and see if they grow it and that should give you a good indication of what does well. Honeycrisp is a great apple and should do well for you. You might want to look at Zestar for an early apple as that has a similar flavor to Honeycrisp.

For peaches, I'm getting a PF-24C this year to see if it really is hardy. I hope it will do better than Madison. You might want to look at a Lapins for a sweet cherry, that is supposed be better than most. Raintree has a 4 in 1 cherry that has 3 sweets and 1 sour which might be good and you can always prune out the ones that don't do as well.

I'm not familiar with all your selections, but I'd say that's a pretty astute first stab at an orchard for Z5. I'm in rocky mountain Z5 which is different, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

But....I'd bag Granny Smith. Probably too long season for your area. I'm trying 'Sweet Sixteen' on Jellyman's endorsement. No fruit yet, but Jellyman knows his stuff. If you are serious about hard cider, I'd dial up 'Raintree' nursery and get yourself a bona fide cider apple.

I can't say enough about 'Redhaven' It will find a way to give you some quality fruit, even if its not exactly right for your area.

I agree. No Granny Smith. Many people here on this forum have argued that Granny Smith won't ripen in my zone 6b. I think they taste fine to me (tart, but not chalky) when I harvest them in November, but I wouldn't even try in zone 5. -Glenn

Thank you for all of the suggestions - I changed my order up based on information from this forum and additional research. What I finally settled on from Grandpa's Orchard and Miller Nurseries:

Apples
Honeycrisp - 4
McIntosh - 1
Jonathon - 1
Dolgo crab - 1
Compspur Red Stayman Winesap - 1

Apricot
Moongold - 1
Sungold - 1

Cherry
Blackgold - 2

Peach
Redhaven - 2

This will start me off, I have lots of space to expand in the future as I learn what I like and what does well here. As I gain some experience with the cider I will adjust the varieties to fit the blend I like. Thanks again for all the help.

I'm a small handful of miles from you. (Oops, I was thinking Goodfield, about the same distance but the other way.)

The Granny Smith will be pushing it some years. But probably better than what's in the stores but not fully ripe before you rescue it from freeze. You can leave apples on into the 20's so around here if you risk that cold snap at the beginning of November there's a good chance it will return to great apple ripening weather the rest of the month. I risked 27° this year with my Arkansas Black and got rewarded with plenty of time to get them fully ripe.

Winesap will probably end up being your cider base. But I'm sure you'll find a use for the Honeycrisp if you decide you'd rather eat them than drink them. They don't last at all at the Upicks.

Peach will probably be hit and miss.
Sweet cherry is a pain.
Both are candidates for borers. But you may get lucky. Borers hit fast in my yard. They haven't hit anything about a mile from me in a friend's yard (but he has lost 2 sweet cherries for some unknown reason, I also lost one mysteriously).
I know sweet cherry can be grown around here. I knew an old guy in Creve Coeur that had one. So if you really want one keep on trying.

For the borers spray permethrin, in August I think. You can search to find when they're laying. The Lesser Peach tree borer is what hits in my yard.
Permethrin isn't rated for apples and I don't know what the rating is for sweet cherry or peach fruit but egg laying is after harvest so keep the trees separate from the apple trees so you don't get any overspray.

Deer is a good warning. My niece is about halfway between me and you and the deer she once thought were cute are not so cute after eating her peach tree. She asked me if they'd be OK to remove the fences once the trees got full size and wasn't happy when I told her the bucks will rub their antlers and destroy a fruit tree.

For your changed order,
McIntosh also doesn't do good around here. It's too hot at ripening and lately too rainy. It's my favorite apple so I put up with it. It drops early and can shed the tree in the wrong weather, which we usually have at that time of year. It's usually too hot and humid but lately too hot and rainy. But it makes a great cider even grown here.

Apricot will be like peach, hit and miss and susceptible to borers. But my nephew wanted one so I got him one for Christmas. On the years you get fruit it's a bigger reward.

All will be susceptible to curculio which can be extremely bad. Spectracide Triazicide is effective on them and readily available at Walmart and Menards (you probably go to the ones about a mile from my house).
When I last had plum trees and was organic out of three trees I think I managed to get one plum between the curculio nailing the fruit and the borers nailing the trees.

Here's an article on apricots that helped me make my decision. The Harrow apricots are going to be hard to find though, I think Grandpa's sold out and most other places are close to selling out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Apricots around the country