I live in Salem, OR
Can anyone tell me the name of some local nurseries that sell dwarf or semi-dwarf fruit trees? I have called our local extension service office and they cannot "recommend" any particular nursery, therefore they don't even offer information of even a list of nurseries. But they told me to go to this website.
A list would be great, I would like to drive there and talk to a human instead of buying my trees online and have them sent to me.
If you have some particular experience or would like to recommend a place, that would be great too.
Carmen
I was waiting for a more competent person to reply, but since none has yet, here's not an answer but a call for more information.
Any nursery will sell you dwarf or semi-dwarf trees, probably with no more information about their rootstock than that. You will be better off if you determine both what cultivar you want and what size you hope to limit your tree(s) to, which will determine which dwarfing rootstock(s) will work for you.
Do you know what you want?
mh
I live in the Salem, OR. area. I gave up on the local nurseries long ago. I have driven up to One Green World several times to buy fruit trees and bush fruits. Last year I mail ordered several apple trees from Raintree Nursery ( they had the varieties I was looking for ). The trees from OGW have done well (just started harvesting from then this year). I am very happy with the apple trees from Raintree, so far! The trees have shown very good growth, and are well shaped/branched. Both nurseries have searchable catalogs on the web.
Dan
I do not know what type of apple or pear tree we want. We are trying to put together a strip of food forest in an elementary school. We would like an assortment of dwarf or semi-dwarf trees (so students can pick the fruit without going up in high ladders). We were thinking about at least apple, pear and plum.
Are you telling me that any nursery that sells trees can also graft me a dwarf tree?
Carmen
The dwarfing depends on the rootstock. Many cultivars are available grafted to several different rootstocks, producing various levels of dwarfing. For a school setting, I would put a high priority on disease resistance. Apple scab is rampant west of the Cascades. Your spray options will probably be limited in a public setting. Variety selection will be very important! Many of the common grocery store varieties grow well in the drier climate east of the Cascades, but scab up badly in our wet springs. You will have to deal with the codling moth also, lest the kiddies get a worm (extra protein?!?) with their apple.
There are much more experienced folks on this site; and, hopefully, they will chime in. I would highly recommend to take a trip to the Salem Public Library and check out Warren Manhart's "Apples of the 21st Century". His test orchard is local, and the book contains a wealth of information for growing (at least the apples of your food forest) in the Willamette valley.
Dan
Carmen:
Expanding on what Dan said, the rootstocks considered "semi-dwarf" will result in trees too high for elementary kids to pick from, unless you prune them for low branches and to keep their overall height down. Also it is pretty hard to find truly dwarf rootstocks for pears and plums. You can find apples on dwarf rootstocks, but be advised that these will need to be staked for support on a permanent basis.
Dave
Idyllwild
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