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Fruit Growing Beginner Questions

marcindy
13 years ago

I am new to growing fruit trees. I have done a lot of reading online and in books to better understand what's required to be successful. So far I have grown mostly ornamentals, plus the annual tomatoes, peppers, zuchini, etc. However,I would like to try and grow peaches and maybe plums in my backyard. I live in the suburbs north of Indianapolis, about one acre, fairly good soil, mostly loamy clay soil that has been amended for years with lots of grass clippings, leaves and other organic mulch. I rarely spray any chemicals and try to go the organic route as much as possible. Keeping bees also limits what I want to spray in my yard. I am pretty experienced in growing most things well, with the exception of orchids, total failure there.

Anyways, I want to have one or two small peach trees and maybe one or two plum trees. Ideally I would love to espalier the trees, but I read that both plum and peach are not ideal for that growing method. I have several questions. I am looking for very disease resistant varieties, realizing that both peaches and plums will still require some protection from pests and diseases. I also would like my trees on small rootstock, that is nonetheless adapted to my soil conditions. What varieties are fairly disease resistant, winter hardy and still taste like peaches? Is there a good website with such information? I tried my extension website, but they seem to cater very much to the professional grower. They also don't seem to consider alternatives to traditional chemical spraying programs. Can you please guide a fruit tree beginner to the rights sources of information?

Thanks in advance.

Marc

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