Howdy Scottsmith, I am not sure just exactly what the molecular DNA constructs are for why salicina's do not like to pollinate themselves, but that is usaully the case. They NEED outside pollen. Their are a few salicina/americana hybrids that WILL be good pollinators, I think Toka, Kaga and South Dakota being a few of them. They may avoid disease for you too, if americanas do well in your area at all. I think Superior is considered a weak pollinizer as well, plus the fruits are supposed to be pretty good. Never tasted them myself, as my only graft of it expired after a year. I have noticed that some of the myro/salicina hybrids are self fertile, which means they would also fertilize the finicky salicina thoroughbreds. Compass is another good pollinator, if a bit on the tart side. Prunus besseyi being in its heritage. Never grown that one, but I bet it is tough tough tough. I have some of these if you cannot get them locally. I generally rely on Santa Rosa, tho, as I really like its taste. Wanna do some trading this winter?

Korean Giant aka Olympic aka Dan Bae is the best of any I've tried to date. Most reliable in fruiting, best fruit quality, the fruit can keep up to a year in cold storage. The fruit quality is the same whether thinned or not, and actually because the fruit is naturally so big, I think its better not to thin them. Other varieties I've tried MUST be thinned, or the pears are very small, flavorless, and not sweet.

We haven't heard from the OP since his original post, so while he may be one of those who post and then loose interest, perhaps others considering Tennessee fruit growing will enjoy this thread. I'm familiar with many of the posters on this thread, and they all know far more than me. But sometimes newbies can learn from newbies, so I wanted to chime in a bit. I live about 25 min north of Nashville on the TN/KY line. I started my little orchard 3.5 years ago but already had a few fruit trees on the property when I bought it. In spite of my being a beginner with very little knowledge, I have had a lot of luck with some fruits already. One is peaches. The old peach tree on my place was/is an early peach and didn't do much UNTIL I started following a good spray program. At the same time I planted several of my own. I got peaches off of most of them last year, which was just the 3rd year for most (I even got some from 2 year old peaches, but they were bought as large, potted trees). I've had the best luck with Red Haven and there is even a commercial orchard 3 miles away that grows them and does well (most years). I also harvested off of J.H. Hale, Contender, and Elberta. These are the ones you often see recommended for our area (including by the aforementioned UT extension office) and they have done well for me so far. I also have had very good luck with TART cherries (aka pie cherries). I have Montmorency and they produced quite a few in just their 3rd year (but again, they were potted, 5-6 ft trees when planted). These are also recommended for our area by UT Extension. I've planted a few sweet cherries (Bing, black Tartarian, Stella) and while the trees have done great, I have received no fruit and almost all sources say they will not do well here at all, so you probably don't want to waste your time/money on them. Figs have done incredibly well for me, with my best performing being Chicago Hardy and Brown Turkey (in that order). Again, those are the 2 most often recommended for us. That being said, mine were all killed back to the ground in the harsh winter of 2013-14. But amazingly, most came back enough to fruit that very next summer (2014), which some say is unlikely. I have several pears, 2 of which already started producing and one old tree that was on the property already. I don't know what the old one is but the new ones are Bartlett and Ayers, and both have done remarkably well for just 3 year old trees (though large and potted when planted). In fact, based on my experience and that of my neighbors who do almost nothing to their pear trees, Pears have proven to be the easiest tree to grow and produce fruit- by far. My apples were mostly bear-root and have not yet produced, but I will say that my Gala had 85% killed by fireblight last summer. All my other fruit trees are too young to know about so far. I have lots of other types of fruit so it will be fun to see what does well and what doesn't. I admittedly have several that almost certainly won't ever produce, but I had lots of space and it isn't that much money and I have the time so I figured I'd try them and learn for myself-maybe I'll get a nice surprise. They are all rated for my zone, though, so I'm not doing completely crazy stuff like trying citrus or other things not rated for my zone. But as the pros here will tell you, there is a lot more to tree selection that just zone compatibility. For example, I planted 3 appricots and they are rated to my zone but I fully concede that they almost certainly will never produce fruit. The OP mentioned grapes....I must say that I've had better luck with grapes than almost anything else. The varieties that have done incredibly well for me here in TN are Concord, Catawba, and Niagara (white). They were delicious and high producing and a great way to get a substantial amount of fruit in only 3 years. (I even got some in year 2). Anyway, as always I want to restate that I'm a beginner and not trying to promote myself as any kind of expert of even intermediate fruit producer. But to other beginners, you might find that encouraging. I know better than most how overwhelming fruit growing information can be and how you sometimes feel like you will never learn enough to produce anything at all. I've certainly made countless mistakes and undoubtedly could have done much better at selecting and growing and spraying my trees and plants. But I hope I can encourage some of you: even with my lack of knowledge, my mistakes, my confussion, etc, I have managed to pick some very nice peaches, pears, sour cherries, figs, and grapes in just 3.5 years and I really think the coming year will see even more fruit on my little mini-orchard. So give it a try! Its my all time favorite hobby and these days I'd rather be in my orchard than hunting or fishing- and for me that is really saying something! Good luck. This post was edited by thecityman on Tue, Jan 13, 15 at 14:35

a few years ago I successfully grew Chicago hardy figs in Zone 5. it was my first experience with figs, and they tasted amazing! There are better tasting figs out there and there are a few different flavor profiles you can get with Figs. If in the ground is necessary, get the Chicago hardy, know it will die to the ground each year, and it may not show new growth until May/June from the roots. If you can keep it on the south side of your house, you will likely have even better success. If you are willing to look after pots and move them into the garage or an unheated shed for winter, you could grow a whole slew of different figs.