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Fruit & Orchards

What are the best berries and fruit trees for Virginia?

16 years ago

We just cut down a problem tree, but now we want and need to add foliage to the area. It's a full-sun plot, and I'd like to plant blackberries or another dark berry shrub. Will this work? We're living in my parents' old home and I remember my father putting raspberries in this spot. They did okay, but not great.

He also tried plums, cherries, and peaches. None of these trees did really well. The concord grape vines did the best. We live in northern Virginia, and the summers (and falls) are very hot. Just wondering if anyone is familiar with this zone and what you might recommend for fruit trees. I was thinking of putting in a Japanese maple for the shade, but I'd love to used fruit trees instead, if possible. I guess a tart apple might grow well in our climate. But I am a complete novice at this. I just know which of my dad's plants didn't work.

Thanks!

Margh

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Comments (4)

jellyman
16 years ago
margh:

Do not be discouraged by the fact that your father was not successful with everything he tried. There could be many reasons for the failures, most of which could probably be corrected.

I planted my first fruit trees here in Great Falls in the spring of 1977, and now have an orchard of over 65 fruit trees of every description; many mature and some newly planted. I also grow blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries in fairly extensive plantings, and one Concord grape. I grow 28 varieties of apples alone, some sweet, some sweet/tart, and some tart for cider blending. This is a fine climate for growing apples, and lots of other things. The principal requirements are a sunny area with adequate space, and the willingness to do a little of what could be called work by some, and recreational fruitgrowing by others. Fruit trees do require a higher level of care than purely decorative species like Japanese Maple (although I have those too) to be attractive and productive.

If you live in Northern Virginia, you can't be too far away, and if you want to pay a visit here you are welcome to do so at any time. I can supply you with free Triple Crown blackberry plants from tiproots that could still transplant well this spring. TC is the best blackberry I have come across, but it does require trellising or other support. You can e-mail at Don.Yellman@webformation.com or use the telephone. I am in the book. My location is about 7 miles west of Tyson's Corner off Route 7, not far from the old Colvin Mill.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
herman2_gw
16 years ago
Try a Hardy Chicago,Or Sal's fig .The Latter is my choice.Also try,Illinois Everbearing Mulberry.
They will grow and fruit in Your place without using any chemical or poisons Sprays.In other words ,organically,grown.In my opinion fig trees are the easyest ,most ornamental fruit trees,that can be grown in zone 7.Taste is also very good.
I also tried plums,Apricots,peaches,Cherries,Pears,with very limited success.The deasese pressure is very high because of the humidity and rain.Hope this will help.
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I was just browsing through my copy of Glowinski's book last night, so I'll second Don's recommendation of it. But for the American reader it has one important shortcoming, namely that Australia lacks some of the major insect pests and diseases you will face in TN. Perhaps the most important are the insect plum curculio and the bacterial disease fireblight. For example, Glowinski says the Hosui Asian pear is highly disease resistant; it may well resist the diseases found in Australia, but it is reputed to be very susceptible to fireblight here. Another shortcoming is in regard to the varieties: due to Australia's extremely tough regulations on importing plant or animal life, a large numbe of varieties we can readily get in the US are not available to Australians. For example, Glowinski lists only one readily available gooseberry cultivar, whereas over here there are dozens. But these shortcomings can be overcome by use of the web; I particularly like the fruit growing guides available on line from Penn State and Cornell. What is particularly good about Glowinski's book (besides its great readability) is that it is oriented to the backyard grower and manages to hit just the right balance between technical details more appropriate for a commercial grower and dummed down information of little real value to the home grower.
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Hi, Paul. I live in Atlanta, too, and my husband and I do a lot of berry and fruit growing in our yard. Our sunlight situation sounds a lot like yours. I tried growing blackberries and raspberries in our back yard, where there wasn't enough light, so that didn't work out well. But the bad part was the mess it made -- just sprouting up all over the place. Some were prickly with thorns. They didn't grow like a bush, but like unruly climbing rose vines. In our front yard we've had a lot of success with blueberries. We grow lots of varieties, so we get berries over a longer period of time. (You have to mix at least two varieties of blueberries to get fruit.) They're easy to prune, if you need to. Just before the berries ripen we cover them with netting to keep birds away. I hope that helps! - Travis Ward
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I've lived here for 15 years, this is just my personal viewpoint. I have a no-spray garden, and encourage predatory insects like wasps, ladybugs, etc. by planting a wide range of ornamental and fruiting plants. Apple- Liberty, Freedom, Spitzenberg, William's Pride (early apple that has much less codling moth damage in my yard). Plums, peaches- lost quite a few which declined over several years and died, no longer planting stone fruits. That said, Methley is wonderful used to have lots of fruit, and seems to be recovering to have a bumper crop this year after a few years with very little fruit. Blueberries- plant a range of early, mid and late for longer harvest. I also like evergreen varieties for pretty fall color and Sunshine Blue, Legacy, and Misty bear well Raspberries- Chilliwack Aronia Viking- very fruitful, no pests, berries all ripen at the same time in easy to pick clusters Paw Paws- took 7-8 years for seedling ones from Burnt Ridge to bear. Tropical taste and texture Mulberries- Illinois Everbearing, Weeping Pears- few pests, usually good yields
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When getting to more significant plantings, local considerations amplify the spacing considerations that you've already found you needed to tweak for the short-term crops and your ultimate goals can point to radically differnet planting practices. Several of the fruit crops you mentioned have specialized site preparation needs, training, and growth habits that are addressed specifically for that crop in a way not possible in a mixed bed of annual veggies, flowers, and herbs. Some principles do stay the same: lots of compost, mulch, and trying to get the most fruit in as small a maintained space as possible. But its going to take researching each crop to see how to do that in your situation. For fruits there is no better place than GW's on Fruit forum to tap into brainstorming after you've researched the basics and read some old posts to get ideas. For fruit trees, that usually translates to using semi-dwarfs, in extremely confined spaces you can get a larger variety with a slight production loss by planting two trees with similar growth rates and habits in the same hole. Grapes have a variety of trellising arrangements, depending on variety, climate, and asthetic concerns. For blackberries and raspberries, a narrow bed isolated from other beds is recommended.
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Embothrium
16 years ago
Visiting the collection of a dedicated enthusiast like Yellman seems to be can be very exciting and informative, you should give serious consideration to his offer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Virginia Cooperative Extension, Fruits-Home Gardening
kjskjs
16 years ago
I live amongst many commercial apple orchards and one farmer says the "York' variety grows better here (shenandoah valley-Winchester) than anywhere else in the country. Fuji's do well also but there are many good choices.

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