Thought it would be interesting to start a thread with the trees people have in their orchard and their success. I am trying to learn and so I am doing trial and error. I thought maybe a better approach would be from some experienced growers. My list is fairly large but I like digging holes in rock. So here goes. Ask questions, make comments and share knowledge please. And yes that's 32 trees. I left off the American persimmons I just planted.
Red Gravenstein Apple - 2 years old - Growing well
Valor Plum - 4 years old - Growing well, no production yet
Gravenstein Apple - 8 years old - Growing well, some production
Liberty Apple - 8 years old - Grows well, produces too much
Lodi Apple - NEW this year- Will see
Schoolhouse Plum - 1 year old - Growing well
Lodi Apple - 8 years old - Grows well, produces well
Liberty Apple - 8 years old - Grows well, produces too much
Gala Apple - 8 years old - Didn't grow well, never
produced, pruned severly this year
Santa Rosa Plum - 1 year old - Growing well, early bloomer
Harken Peach - 4 years old - Grows well, blooms great, not
produced yet
Contender Peach - NEW this year - Will see
Contender Peach - NEW this year - Will see
Comice Pear - 6 years old - Slow growing, blooms well,
produced a few
Frost Peach - 8 years old - Grows well, looks healthy,
blooms good, produces poor
Satsuma Plum -1 year old - Growing well, an early bloomer
Victoria Plum -1 year old - Small, but good new growth
Seneca Plum -1 year old - Very small freebie poor graft
but good growth with some care
3way Pear -8 years old - Slow growth, very poor
production (multiple grafts ???)
Anjou, Bartlett,Red Bartlett
Wolf River Apple -1 year old - New, some growth, will see
Rainier Cherry -8 years old - Bark problems (Canker?) removed
Jonagold Apple -1 year old - Good growth, will see
Rainier Cherry ? -1 year old - volunteers from non-grafted tree
Rainier Cherry ? -1 year old - volunteers from non-grafted tree
Puget Gold Apricot -1 year old - Good growth, will see
Comice Pear -4 years old - Slow growing, nice blooms, no
production yet
Bartlett Pear -6 years old - Moderate growth, productive
Seckel Pear -4 years old - Moderate growth, fair blooms, no
pears??
Goldrush Apple -NEW this year - Experiment, will see
Sundance Apple -NEW this year - Will see
Chehalis Apple -NEW this year - Will see
Kirk's Blue Plum -1 year old - Good growth, will see
Tri-Lite (Plum/peach) -1 year old - Good growth, will see
It is an interesting idea to compare orchard lists- I would add rootstocks (if known) to your info, as that can really affect how the tree perfoms in your site. Our own orchard has a goal of producing both fresh fruit, fruit for processing (jams, chutneys, drying, canning, etc.) and hard cider. The list-
Older, Producing Trees-
Akane/ M106, 12 years, very productive (thin for quality)
Liberty/ M106, 12 years, very productive (thin for quality)
Discovery/ M106, 12 years, productive, excellent first apple
Melrose/ M111, 12 years, productive
Freedom/ M106, 11 years, stems too short, good flavor
Red Alkmene/ M26, 11 years, compact tree, excellent early apple
Elstar/ M106, 11 years, only moderate production
Karmijn de Sonneville/M106 (3 trees),8-11 years old, now that's an apple!
Queen Cox/ M106 (2 trees), 10-11 years, disappointing production
Kingston Black/ M106 (3 trees), 8-12 years, biennial, only for cider
Ashmeads Kernal/ M106, 12 years, our favorite apple, heirloom russet
Comice Pear/ OHF333, 12 years, excellent flavor but unproductive
Bosc Pear/OHF333, 12 years, very productive, trouble free
Conference/OHF333, 8 years, productive, compact tree
Imperial Epineuse Plum/St. Julian, 12 years, productive, subject to black knot
Methley Plum/St. Julian, 11 years, productive in years with good spring weather, blooms too early
Montmorency Cherry/ Mazzard, 12 years (5 trees), productive, fight the birds
Smyrna Quince, 11 years, productive
Aromatanaya Quince, 5 years, just beginning to produce
Younger, just coming into production, apples all on M111
Kingston Black, 2 trees
Yarlington Mill, 2 trees
Trembletts Bitter, 2 trees,
Roxbury Russett, 2 trees
Wickson, 2 trees,
Brown Snout, 1 tree
Harry Masters Jersey, 1 tree
Foxwelp, 1 tree
Ashmeads Kernal, 4 trees
Elstar, 3 trees
Reine des Pommes, 1 tree
Early Laxton Plum/ St.Julian
Frost Peach/St. Julian
Methley Plum/ St. Julian
Comice Pear/ OHF333
The other list that might be interesting- what have you pulled out? Was it unproductive, poor flavor? We have, over the years, come to learn that late ripening European Plums/Prunes, never flavor well for us, so gone are Stanley and Sehome. We slowly removed Asian Pears- too sweet/watery, no way to process. Some popular apple varieties are gone from our orchard, including Jonagold, Enterprise, and Idared (boring) and Florina (too late). My husband has 10 more rootstocks to graft this spring, and about 15 varieties of scion wood in the fridge...
Interesting post. This is the kind of onformation I'd like to see more of. I was wondering if silver creek was in reference to the Mayfield Lake area. I lived there for a short time. It has an interesting climate because of the lake I think. It always seemed like a banana belt there. I am just trying to learn some grafting. Also, most of my trees I didn't pay attention to the rootstock. All I really know is dwarf or semi-dwarf. Hopefully more people will post their successes and failures regardless of it was 1 tree or many. Information is a good thing to share.
Listing my trees could take all day ... so I've 'copied' a couple paragraphs of my fist submission to the Pome News, around 4 or 5 years ago. If you've any questions, just ask:
Here are some of my Keepers / Survivors: Satsuma Plum, early and very consistent, with a sassy-sweat flavor; Desert King Fig, sweet and reliable (I have a couple other wonderful figs but they remain nameless to me); Golden Delicious apple, (laugh if you like) they have long strong stems and a very long season, I like them nearly green; Wolf River apples are scab-free, very large and consistent. They’re not much for fresh eating but the best for baking, and the tree is a “Perfect size!†Braeburn is my favorite late apple (second only to Gravenstein overall), the tree’s a bit spindly, but it’s planted in some pottery capable clay; An 80 year old leaning Gravenstein apple tree is the centerpiece of our Yard / Orchard. A photo of my Grandmother Pearl, about age 15, sitting next it (the tree was already leaning southwest) makes these “Old-Style Graves†all the better! I like Glenora grapes, if I can beat the birds to them; the Jiro (or Fuyu?) Persimmons are fantastic, let the ripening fruit hang until the first predicted 25 degree low. Make sure to pick them before that hard freeze, they may then be eaten while crunchy firm, mushy-soft, or anywhere in-between. I like them crunchy, the kids fight over the soft ones! In their 4th year, a Saanichton (“Sa neech tunâ€) Fuzzy Kiwi and partner have also worked very well, we all fight over them!
Unusual Stuff, doesn’t everyone end up with some? I must thank a past friend, Helen Webb of Yamhill, Oregon; she collected and willingly shared the strangest! I have one of her Red Filberts, the leaves are a beautiful red all season, but I can’t say I’ve ever noticed any nuts; she said their meat is also red. Two delicious large Brown Figs are also from her Orchard, though they’re still babies here, I’ve nearly eaten myself sick from their parents! Berrre Hardy pears (thanks to Margaret Richen of Sherwood Ore.), very sweet and consistent, but hard to reach as their on a “Crown Veneer†bark graft at the top of my Bartlett tree; Vanderpool Red apples, their flavor and texture take me back to around 1958… one of the remaining homestead varieties I remember as a yearling; Strawberry Delicious, another from Margaret’s marvelous Ancient Orchard. In her collection of many rare varieties, that was her Favorite Apple; “Persian Mulberry,†For 8 years it grew into the most beautiful unfruitful tree in my Orchard. Three years ago Oregon Exotics Rare Fruit Nursery mailed me a “Grafted replacement tree.†I ate all 3 of its berries last summer; they were tasty, but hardly worth that wait! Pink Pearl apples; after a magnificent write-up in the Pome News, around 1990, four of us members were anxiously waiting its arrival at the Scion Exchange. Finally, two short scions appeared, “A good grafter could make 2 buds work,†said the man in charge. So we each took home a two bud stick. Though now, “A good Grafter,†I must unfortunately describe the fruit as the ugliest, scabby, and sour tasting of all my apples! But inside, they’re a beautiful variegated pink!
The Silver Creek refers to a small lowland salmon stream that runs across the north end of our property/ Whatcom county. No lake effect, in fact we often refer to it as the Silver Creek frost valley. We do seem to have late frost- another tree that was pulled out was a Puget Gold Apricot; bloomed beautifully every year but rarely bore any fruit, blooming well before the end of frost season. We also do have a Desert King fig, against the south side of the house, that fruits well, and a small hazelnut orchard that we fight the jays for.
Meant to say in the first post that the choice of semi-dwarf rootstocks in our orchard was for drought tolerance. We have a very low flow well and limit watering due to that. Our heavy silt loam soil retains good moisture, so that, in combination with mulch and rootstock choice, lets us get by most years with little orchard irrigation.
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Comice Pear - 6 years old - Slow growing, blooms well,
produced a few
3way Pear -8 years old - Slow growth, very poor
production (multiple grafts ???)
Anjou, Bartlett,Red Bartlett
Comice Pear -4 years old - Slow growing, nice blooms, no
production yet
Bartlett Pear -6 years old - Moderate growth, productive
Seckel Pear -4 years old - Moderate growth, fair blooms, no
pears??
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You would probably get more pears if you had a pollenizer for your varieties. None of the ones you have are good pollenizers for each other. Bosc is a good pollenizer.
Extension Circular EC986 from Oregon State University Extension Service has an interesting section on weather and its influence on fruit set for Comice, Bosc, and Anjou pears. You can download the circular in pdf format from their website: http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebf...../ec986.pdf
I have looked at numerous pollination charts, but have found that there are always discrepencies from what actually happens in my orchard. I use them as a guideline, but luckily I have enough range of bloom times that usually pollination is covered (if the darned lazy bees would get to work!) I have found that spraying my pears with sugar water at bloom time helps (1 part sugar to 10 parts water), as the bees don't like pear blossoms.
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