Tell us what sort of care the trees can expect over the next 10-20 years, and what part of Kansas you're in.

Hi,
I am right in the middle of Kansas. As far as care, it is a community committee, made up of churches, 4-H, council, ect. I suspect that as time goes on, it will be set-up similarly to our community garden. We pay someone to be reponsible for key elements throughout the year. We are currently in the planning stage and looking at what is needed. The city donates the water. A businessman has donated the ground. Time will tell, how much people are willing to do.

First of all, I'd not try to find a bunch of large trees. It is much easier to train a small whip to a proper infrastructure than trees of such a size. Bigger is not better when it comes to trees.

I'd plan on purchasing animal protection and mulch, too. Have soil tests done. If you have an active extension service where you live, I'd think that you could get some expertise in plant selection, planting procedures, etc.

I am on the Executive Committee for the extension service. We are the ones who initiated the grant. We have the info on planting procedures but I was hoping that I could get information here on what varieties would be suggested. Any varieties hardier than others.

I think the best thing you could do is to contact a few growers like stark, cummings, moser and ask them what the best rootstock /variety combos would be for your area. I've heard that Moser gives pretty big discounts on orders of 20 or more trees. I ordered from the retail part (grandpas orchard) and have been happy.

Here is a link that might be useful: moser nursery

I buy my trees at a co-op. Pay about $25 per tree.

http://www.hollybrookorchards.com/

The local nursery charges double that price for same trees, same orchard.

Bought some trees at Willis orchard for $60 and they were mis-marked or died...never again.

I'd plant any kind of fruit tree. Asian pears, mulberry, Euro pears, Jap plums, apricots, peaches, disease resistant apples, persimmon, seckel pears, nectarines.

Cherries are tough, the birds get them all, but they are pretty to see when flowering.

...and don't forget to plant the brambles!

Good luck!

Hi fellow KS fruit grower from north-central KS: As one who is trying to grow fruit trees on city property (through my own sole initiative) I have a coule of suggestions. First, consider what you want out of the orchard. For instance, maximum production, minimal input, pesticide spraying OK or not. Will access to the orchard be controlled or not such as through fencing. Is the produce going to be free for the picking at any time or will you be planning events like a cider pressing that requires a lot of fruit at once?

By all means, look into the soil first both it's depth, physical and chemical characteristics. From there you'll should then look into rootstocks for the varieties you decide on. I'm no expert on rootstock selection and will leave that to others.

As far as varieties go I'll leave that to others, perhaps Olpea will weigh in on it. There are some varieties that are at least tolerant to a fungus called Cedar Apple Rust (CAR) which you likely have in your area if there are eastern red cedars in your area within a mile or more of the orchard. It is a serioous disease of apple that must be managed through fungicide sprays and/or planting resistant varieties. My Freedom tree is very tolerant of CAR and has not required any sprays in 5 years, my Jonafree (sold as resistant to CAR) is very susceptible however and must be sprayed. There ar other varieties with very good resistance to CAR such as William's Pride and Liberty I am told, no doubt there are others.

I'd say more but it is time to eat lunch and run. Feel free to e-mail me, I'd be interested to know more about the grant.

Michael

KSfruiter,

Michael's right, to get some good recommendations, a little more information would probably be helpful. It's unclear if you are looking for the type of fruits to plant, ex. apples, pears, peaches, etc, or more specific information of various cultivars, ex. Harvest Queen pear.

A community orchard that was to be completely unsprayed would have a very different makeup than one that had even a minimal spray program.

Congratulations on the grant. I know you're jazzed about fruit, and I'm sure that will energize others.

Good to hear from all of you again! I feel that it is like hearing from old friends. I wish I was at a time in my life that I could check in more. I guess I am mainly looking for variety suggestions.

The grant was for a community garden $8000, partly alotted for a community orchard. I don't know that I would have ever included the orchard in the grant. As you know, until this last year, I new nothing about fruit trees! If it wasn't for this forum, I think mine would all be dead. Luckily, for their first year and a late hard freeze, they have faired pretty well. Anyway, regarding the grant, some fellow committee members included it and amazingly enough it was funded. I have spent the last week explaining that this isn't an instant orchard and that it will take work. Now I need to know what varieties would fair best.
Jenny

Lay out the growing areas in the garden/orchard first. I would include a wire trellis to support each row of dwarf; Apples, Asian Pears and European pears. Dwarf trees on trellis wire have many advantages and bear sooner. Asian and European plums planted in a separate area might be fruitful some years. I think all the selections should come from your extension. Skip Apricots all together.