Ashley (just sent you an email), We only live a couple hours apart and we see the same trees at big box and nurseries. You're probably seeing "ultra" on the Pacific Groves trees, right? Some are in bags (bareroot) at various places and some in the fiberpot containers (Lowes). If so, you can drop the term "ultra" and just consider it dwarf. Dwarf and semi-dwarf are what you're aware of: "regular trees on lower vigor rootstocks". These are prolific at nurseries and big box stores alike. Genetic dwarf, aka Miniatures or "true dwarf" are more rare, they are "dwarf trees on whatever (typically regular sized) rootstock". I think you already understand stocks especially how dwarf stocks ideally encourage fruit at younger age (early bearing) and retain a heavier fruit set (precocious). Each stock is different in various properties like size reduction, early bearing, preciousness, disease resistance, soil tolerance, and so forth. The rootstock is *mostly* what makes dwarf and semi-dwarf so small -- the lower vigor. The scion of certain varieties can be somewhat dwarfing and so can their tolerance of summer pruning. It ALL depends on variety, rootstock, and growing conditions. Thus why I've spent countless hours researching the various stocks and varieties before I go buying and planting gobs of them in my yard. Take the Babcock peach, very common. It can be grafted onto Lovell as full sized, on Citation is considered semi-dwarf, on Pumiselect called dwarf (PG calls it Ultra) but Babcock will never be a miniature (genetic dwarf). Just as Necta-Zee (another newer genetic dwarf) will never be a semi-dwarf or full sized tree. The mini's are very small, though their size differs based on variety, but many are 3 feet tall (unpruned) after 2 years old in the ground, whereas the PG ultra-dwarf could be like 6 feet by then. LE Cooke (near Visalia) also produces miniature trees, but I'm not sure the volume since I've only found a couple local nurseries that have ever had any -- and those nurseries don't plan to stock them anymore. The folks at LE Cooke have not responded to my inquiries. Nevertheless, they have an awesome website with cool photos of their genetic dwarfs. Here is a link that might be useful: Take a look at LE Cooke's Site

About berries... here are a couple web sites that will give you tons of valuable information from OSU and U of Arkansas. Just copy and paste. http://www.aragriculture.org/horticulture/fruits_nuts/default.htm http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/ApplySimpleSearch Below are a couple berry farms in Arkansas that ship bare root plants. Give them a call with any questions you might have. They will be shipping blackberry plants within the next few weeks after the first good frost. I just placed an order for Ouachita blackberries and some Wye berries (blackberry/raspberry cross similar to Tay or Loganberries but hardy for this area and supposedly much more productive). http://www.alcasoft.com/pense/index.html http://www.alcasoft.com/pense/index.html

URES, Not sure how experienced you are in growing fruit trees. In most places including Indiana, fruit trees will require spraying. Different fruit trees have different issues and may need different treatments. You may want to learn about diseases and insects that could damage your fruit trees of your choice before planting them. It's always good to choose disease resistant varieties if you do not want to spray a lot. However, disease resistant does not always equal taste. Also, if you want to grow organically, it can be done but often requires more work and less effectiveness. You are also right about a sunny area. Almost all fruit trees require full sun. It helps reduce fungal disease, ripening and quality of fruit. Lot of fruit trees do not produce well in partial shade.

Schwartzy, here is a photo of a tree that was staked with a T-post about 6" from the base--too close. A little bend in the trunk and then it's in the stake. I started training all my trees to a single leader--most are on M7, but some are G30 and B9. I was shooting for the "fat Christmas tree" shape. Most were staked with T-posts, and most need higher support. This year I have experimented with converting some to solaxe. There is a lot of work up front with tying down limbs, but the payoff is less work in the future. Even with full dwarfing rootstocks, you may find a 4' stake too short. If I were to start my 10-year-old orchard all over again, I would probably use all B9 stocks and a stake with 6 to 8 feet out of the ground. Then I would work toward a solaxe training system. I don't have experience with dwarfs other than B9, but I like B9 because of the size, early production, and the trees seem more resistant to disease (perhaps the resistance is a function of variety: Empire and William's Pride). I have had union breakage problems with G30. I would not recommend without very secure support. Good luck and keep us posted. Marc