If you're already getting the itch to plant fruit trees, just get rid of the oaks. Next year it will be, "hey, what about plums?"

Open vase isn't going to get you the shade/privacy you would have gotten with those oaks. Fruit trees mostly aren't "fast growing" either. "hey, what about mulberry trees for fast growth, fruit, and shade?"

Sweet cherry trees can be fast growing. And assuming you have the patience to wait 12-15 years for fruit, an own-root cherry can be just as big as any other landscape tree. Most people have never seen an old sweet cherry growing on its own roots. They can be just as grand as oak.

See if you can find pictures of the Tartarian cherry tree in the Owen Rose Garden (Oregon), it's well over 150 years old.

The reason you never see cherry trees like this is because they're virtually all grafted on different rootstock. (Few people want to wait 15 years for fruit or have to use a cherry picker crane to get the fruit)

Sorry about getting a little off topic here, but I was simply suggesting you could leave a [non-grafted] cherry tree for posterity.

Agree with AJ on getting rid of oaks. Once you start growing fruit trees, it is very difficult to stop at just apple or two apple varieties. you are likely to want more varieties of apple that you can harvest fromm summer to late fall or want to expand to pears, plums, persimmons , peaches, etc.

oaks will compete with fruit trees for their roots travel far. Their shade will be an issue with fruit trees for fruit trees should get lot of sun.

I keep my trees height at 8-10 ft tall. I topped them all off at the height I want, bent all branches horizontally. My trees are all open, not aesthetically pleasing but very convenient to care for including spraying if needed. I pick my fruit standing firmly on the ground.

Well it depends where you are, in hot climates like Southern California and Texas fruit trees often like just a little bit of partial shade. Still, I agree about those roots. The roots of oak trees tend to hinder the growth of surrounding plants. Native plant varieties tend to be more compatible growing under oak than others.

If you want to have a big tree near the fruit trees, maybe you should take out one of those oaks and replace it with a Mulberry. (a quick search reveals that Morus microphylla is more drought tolerant than the others, but I am not sure how big it is)

I didn't see the reason for planting oaks in the first place.

Fruit trees are addictive. If not a really good reason for the oaks

i.e. Sun, wind. There is a good possibility they will be gone in the future.

How much time are you willing to give two trees or more?

1 or 2 big old oak trees can add a lot of character to a property. Shumard wouldn't have been my first choice though.

I have to agree about the addictive part. There aren't that many people with just 1 fruit tree. Especially if you had the interest enough to post on this site :)

I am fighting an internal battle on getting rid of these oaks which I learned to love during this last year. I hand watered them every week and they look so beautiful.

Thank you all for your feedback :)

I understand your love for the oaks and that you want to keep them, so for my money the first picture is a better set up for sun exposure on future apples as all the oak are mainly situated on the north side of any future plantings. If you removed the oak that is to the west it would let in the late afternoon sun as well. In the second picture they would definitely be shaded as they are surrounded by oaks. I cannot tell the scale of your yard so I do not know if the future oak canopy would extend over the entire yard but if not, (and you use the first scenario), you could plant apple trees in the spot that you wanted to move the oak in the second picture. If you look up Kuffle Creek they have wonderful videos on home orchards which also includes a method of planting more than one apple tree in a hole so you can enjoy many types of apples that ripen at different times in a small space. The video on keeping a standard apple tree dwarf ( so you can put more trees in) is also worth watching.