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| Hello to my favorite forum. Bit of an open-ended question, but I want to hear about favorites, especially cherry, plum, and apple. I'm in West Seattle.
Just bought a Mirabelle plum from Raintree and am stoked to try it. I wanted Parfumee de Septembre, but they're sold out. I'd like a cherry, but am stumped (my space is limited prob needs to be self-fertile...was looking at Vandalay). And my favorite apple is 100+ yo on my folks' farm in Grays Harbor--county extensions tried id'ing. Potentially a King, but we're not sure. Will try grafting later. What say you? What fruit trees are you happy to have planted? Gimme the details. |
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| Hello locust8, I'm hoping to be happy later with mine as they are still young.But that's part of what growing things is about,expecting something good. Last Fall,I planted three Pawpaws,a Mango,an NC-1 and an Overleese.It will be a few years til fruiting.I also have some seedlings doing well in treepots. There is also a small Serviceberry that is starting to bloom in the back yard and may get some berries. I also put in a planter a 4 in 1 Plum that has a Puget Gold Apricot on it and a Fantasia Nectarine in another. There are two Mulberries,a Wellington planted last year and a Black Persian just planted and another arriving soon,a dwarf Gerardi. I'm looking forwards to tasting some good fruit someday.Brady |
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| What a great question. Honeycrisp gets the prize this year for productivity and keeping (even with a little bitter pit). I love my Karmijn but she is a diva (scab, unproductive and premature fruit drop). Sweet 16 is tasty but didn't keep as well as I'd hoped - but made nice juice. Looking forward to Holstein. Lots of newbies to love later. I have a compact Stella, Rainier, Angela and Lapins for sweet cherries but none productive yet. Same with Aurora pear (looking healthy), Conference (less so)and my Stanley plum. I also putter around with blueberries, raspberries and gojis. Taking a break from strawbs. It is hard waiting but so well worth it. Have you ever brought a fruit from the old apple tree to have someone at a fruit festival ID? There is also a great resource by the Seattle Tree Fruit Society on their website. The website also describes how to take and save a scion until you can bring it to be grafted. You never know, it could be an original. |
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| @quillfred, I'm glad you mentioned Honeycrisp, because I just planted one and I've been debating whether or not it would be worth it. Unfortunately I don't think I've given it enough space and I'm going to have to move it. Not sure if it's better to do it now with the leaves just emerging or wait until Fall when the root structure will be larger. Bad planning on my part. I will have to try that--taking a scion from the old tree. I saw the Seattle Fruit Tree Society's website, it's great, really comprehensive. That would be pretty cool if it is an original. So hard to tell. Every time I think I've found an id match, there's a significant diff in characteristic. I will see if they can help me. Thanks for the idea! |
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| I am with 'quillfred' on this one . My best fruiting trees are HoneyCrisp . 3 of my 20+ apples are HC. Last year was the best production year so far . In ground 3 years, Bought from Burntridge nursery. My new thing is figs . I have 17 varieties rooted so far. |
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| Asian pears DanBae and 20th Century are very productive and no problems. Holstein, Karmijn and Williams Pride are favorite apples. Stella cherry needs no polinator. There are so many small fruits that do well here. I was taught how to graft apples by a neighbor about 20 years ago. Apples are very simple. The next year I grafted about 60 varities of apples - scionwood exchanges take place at fruit clubs where there are hundreds of varieties. I loved having the heirloom varieities even if the fruit was terrible. Beauty plum is also self fertile. |
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| My experience is in the Portland and rural Longview areas. Italian prune and Bosc pear are productive and trouble-free. I have some apple trees which do extremely well, except for apple scab. I applied a few pounds of lime per tree two years ago, and the scab disappeared. Not sure if it's just a coincidence. I give my apple trees a deep irrigation in mid-August. It greatly improves fruit size and quality. Cherries are good where there are pollinators. In SW Portland, I got almost no cherries. In rural SW Washington, I get tons of cherries. Chestnut trees are healthy, but the nuts are small. Blueberries, black and red raspberries, hardy kiwis, and Aronias all do extremely well here. Blueberries need a sandy loam soil that does not dry out. The Burnt Ridge catalog is a great local source of info about fruit and nut trees. |
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