non-apple suggestions for my apple orchard please

13 years ago

I lost two more apples and one cherry this year and I'm looking to fill the three voids in my orchard. I figured I may as well give it a go and try something different. So, I have three spots to fill, one about the size of a semi-dwarf apple, maybe 16 x 14 and the other two spots are a little smaller, say 10 x 10.

I am interested in either nectarines, plums or peaches. Obviously, if I need two for pollination, I can only choose one of the three types of fruit.

I am looking for something that can tolerate central NC climate. With all the apple spraying I am doing, something easy and a little more care-free would be nice.

I am open to suggestions. Please tell me your favorites.

Thomis

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Comments (10)

trianglejohn
13 years ago
My vote would be for two Asian Persimmons. Get the ripe while hard type and try for an early one and a late one so that you have a long picking season.
olpea
13 years ago
Of the three options you list, peaches are easier than plums for me. Peaches are also going to be easier than nects.

I say that with the caveate that your former trees didn't die from drowning, root rot, etc. If the spot is too wet, then a plum on something like Myro. will do better than peaches.

If you don't have any pears, a good fireblight res. pear is very easy.
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thomis
Original Author
13 years ago
I lost two of the trees to collar rot (apples on mm111). Not sure if this has anything to do with heavy soils or not.

I don't really like pears.

I guess I'll take a close look at peaches. There are so many though.

Thanks olpea
brookw_gw
13 years ago
A good sour cherry is relatively carefree and usually very productive.

Brook
denninmi
13 years ago
If I lived in Zone 7 North Carolina, well, SO many possibilities come to mind that I can't really grow here.

I know you said you wanted peaches, plums, or nectarines, but the first things I would plant would be some nice Kaki persimmons and jujubes. And then, figs.
olga_6b
13 years ago
I would also suggest asian persimmons. Carefree and tasty.
Olga
oregonwoodsmoke
13 years ago
Zone 7. You might be able to grow a hardy variety of fig. You might be able to grow a hardy pomegranate. Both of those are pretty easy.
olpea
13 years ago
Thomis,

I'd forgotten you had an earlier post about losing the trees to collar rot.

Crown/collar rots are definitely associated with wet heavy soils. Peach trees will die even faster than apple trees under those conditions.

I would definitely plant the peaches in mounds for better drainage and to stop the travel of the zoospores, which can't move through mounded soil.

In terms of varietal recommendations, I have my own biases, but I'd check out the recent thread - "2010 Peach Report" where you get others favorites as well.

Don Yellman, who I haven't heard from in a while, is fairly close to you has recommended Golden Jubilee as one of his favorites. I've seen it listed before as a canner, and it drops fruit, but Don's mentioned several times it's his favorite.

Except for maybe Spring frosts, I'd expect you could grow just about any Midwest or Southeast derived peach you wanted in your climate, and perhaps some of the CA peaches Scott mentions too.
thomis
Original Author
13 years ago
I'm going to look into the jujubes and figs. I'm especially interested in the peaches. I'm not terribly concerned about the soil. The top 10 inches I have is pretty loamy, then clay down from there. Out of 27 apple trees, two were lost to collar rot. They were both on mm111 which I think is more susceptible to collar rot than advertised. We had a really dry year this year and collar rot still claimed another tree.

I need to make sure though that the peach I choose is dwarfing. I'll look at the thread you mentioned.

As for sour cherries, I have one left. I've lost several. The most recent one I lost was Montmorency on Gisela 5. I'm going to make one more attempt at cherries with a Montmorency on Mahaleb from Cummins this fall.

Anyhow, thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate them.

~Thomis
applenut_gw
13 years ago
If you want something you can completely ignore and just pick tons of perfect fruit from in the fall, Fuyu persimmon is pretty foolproof. The fruit is wonderful, especially dried.

non-apple suggestions for my apple orchard please

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non-apple suggestions for my apple orchard please

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