Scott's PDF file is really helpful reading. I live in the same general area, outside Washington DC, and will add a few comments. Nanking cherries: you need two trees, they are tasty but small -- pea size. They ripen early and seem to avoid pest problems. Sour cherry was not mentioned. I think the natural dwarf North Star is an excellent choice. I have had few problems with it. You will need to net it against birds, but it is such a small tree this is easy to do. Squirrels will strip pear trees -- it happens to me every year. I have also had codling moth on my pears. This can be avoided by bagging, but that requires more work. I agree that Asian pears are easy to grow and start producing early. I have not had any major fireblight issues. Squirrels will also strip fig trees, if the birds have not ruined your crop first. Persimmons are a big yes. But the earlier ripening ones, which means the non-astringent ones, do get hit hard by the marmorated stink bug (as does pretty much everything else that ripens, say, before late September). Late ripening astringent ones like Saijo are the way to go. I have had no insect or animal damage on these. Scott does not mention berries. Blackberries are easy to grow though may need to be trellised. They are attractive to birds though. Blackcurrants are easy to grow and do not appeal to birds or squirrels, or that matter, humans either when fresh, but they are superb as jelly and in various culinary applications. Elderberries are easy to grow, but again are not for fresh eating. Birds love them. Cornelian cherry are very slow growing. Russian pomegranates are now being sold by Isons, the muscadine nursery. I received very nice plants for very reasonable prices this year. They may be sold out now.

Thanks for the nice comments Andrew and Mamuang. Regarding the new plum, I would go ahead and leave it in the hole Andrew. I definitely wouldn't amend the planting hole without building a mound. You are quite correct plums will tolerate much poorer drainage than peach and will grow in all but the wettest spots. I have planted plums in flat ground and plums in mounds. The ones in mounds clearly do better, but that may be partially due to the mounds having looser soil, which makes it easier for the roots to spread. I have had more difficulty getting good growth on plums planted in the ground, so you might try fertilizing a little the first season or two to size the tree up. I plan on using a little fertilizer on the plums I planted this spring to give them a little boost. My new plums are all planted in flat ground. "OK, I would like to know what would be a good sticking agent for copper? Drew, I use Latron B1956 spreader/sticker. I don't know that it's any better than any other spreader/sticker, but I'm used to it and know the mixing dosage in my head. Actually it's no longer manufactured, but when I ran out of my last gallon, I was able to find another on Ebay. Copper is not always harmful to foliage. I didn't mean to leave that impression. It can have the potential to spot or burn foliage. Because of this it's generally advised to use lower application rates of copper in the growing season vs. the dormant season. Understand that MSU's advice regarding copper on cherry is for tart cherry only. Coppers have a high potential for foliage injury on sweet cherries. This post was edited by olpea on Sat, Apr 6, 13 at 21:02

Gene is on the right track. You probably want a Fuyu (Jiro) persimmon; I have zero problems with this tree. Fig also no problems, and a beautiful landscaping plant. Black Mission fig is what I have, two crops a year. Have you considered grapes? V. labrusca (American) grapes like Glenora, Jupiter, Canadice, Reliance, (avail from Stark) Steuben,Kyoho, will require no spraying in Cal and can be trained to almost any shape. Asian pears are way more trouble free than apples. Pakistan mulberry works in many Cal z7 areas, available from Bay Laurel N. and Rolling River N.- don't get a mulberry sourced from Dave Wilson N. as they are grafted too high. Mulberries are no spray. Frost peach is more disease resistant than most so probably get by without spraying. Davewilson.com has excellent info on keeping trees low. Good luck, Kate.

WD 40 is great stuff for lots of things but I don't think it would work in this case. It evaporates in a fairly short time leaving almost nothing behind. If you just want to keep them out of the tree Tanglefoot would work. They get stuck trying to cross it. Figs have thin bark so you would want to put the Tanglegoot on a paper band and tie or tape it around the tree. Tanglefoot can damage thin barked trees and shrubs.