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California Gardening

HD Bareroot Fruit Trees

18 years ago

Yesterday, I bought a 'Nectared' nectarine semi-dwarf, bareroot tree at Home Depot for $5!!! I thought this was a great buy. Does anyone know anything about this nectarine tree called Nectared, e.g., is fruit good and does this tree do well in the San Fernando Valley, etc.? Thanks.

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Comments (4)

davissue_zone9
18 years ago
A description and particulars can be found at this website, which is a much better quality source for fruit trees if you're truly interested. Read their instructions and tips for home gardeners, it's very good.

Here is a link that might be useful: dave wilson nursery
eloise_ca
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks for the website Sue. I did do a search for 'Nectared' and didn't come up with much! Guess I'll have to wait until it fruits to find out if this is a good tree or not.
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"Have you ever ordered bareroot fruit trees?" yep! "...if you prune fruit trees early and every year, you can keep them small..." Yes, routine pruning is a near necessity for many types of fruit trees. Even those on dwarfing rootstocks will need some corrective/structural pruning. "...without the loss of flavor that you get from dwarf trees." I don't know what you read, but dwarf rootstocks do not result in ANY loss of flavor that I am aware of. Sounds like a possible misunderstanding somewhere. "Do you know of a source that sells in the southeast?" There are many, many good sources for fruit trees, but it depends on what you are looking for. Here is my list that I think you will find helpful: Sources for Fruit Trees and Plants "Has anyone ever tried this method of severe pruning? Would love to hear any experiences." Well, yes and no. I haven't really been hyper-vigilant in pruning, but have done quite a bit of pruning. Pruning techniques and results will vary with the type of tree (apples versus pears versus...) as well as the type of rootstock, but keeping a full size/semi-dwarf tree small is much more work than if you use dwarfing rootstock to start with. It's do-able to some degree, but in the long-run becomes more difficult with time. Apples, especially, have a wide variety of different rootstocks to choose from. One does not have to go completely full size or very dwarfing, and, for most circumstances, somewhere in between is best.
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davissue_zone9
18 years ago
Sorry, I forgot it was a nectarine and not a peach we were discussing. A quick google indicates it is an older commercial variety that was dropped due to disease problems, but I've never heard of the diseases it is prone to, it's probably something that needs the humidity of back east to be a problem. You might want to try the dave wilson trick of planting up to four varieties in a hole so if one doesn't impress you, there are alternatives without taking up a lot of room. BTW I doubt that HD bothered to spray the trees for peach leaf curl, which DOES thrive here, be sure to spray really soon before bud swell starts. Sue
joereal
18 years ago
I've also seen peach twig blight and peach brown rot popping up all over Davis. Last year was really very wet during the blooming time, and also warm, and no amount of spraying would have helped. There were a lot of bee activities last year when my peaches and nectarines bloomed. Even my bush cherries got hit, and they are supposed to have the "wild" disease resistant genes. This year it is about to repeat... my peaches and nectarines are in the pink stage, and the week-long forecast says intermittent rains, but colder. Only the plums and pluots are truly "spray-less" trees. Good choice on planting the plum Sue!

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