Fruit trees.

[davans]

I reckon it time to plant a few fruit trees around the house.
Any thoughts, tips or info you’ll could share. I live between Eatonton and milledgeville on Sinclair
Thanks,

 

[fastfish66]

I reckon it time to plant a few fruit trees around the house.
Any thoughts, tips or info you’ll could share. I live between Eatonton and milledgeville on Sinclair
Thanks,[/QUO

I reckon it time to plant a few fruit trees around the house.
Any thoughts, tips or info you’ll could share. I live between Eatonton and milledgeville on Sinclair
Thanks,

Jeddak

 

[DinkyDau]

Brown Turkey Figs,,They also make a great Jam..

 

[Jeddak]

Figs would be easiest to grow. Brown turkey is cold resistant and grows well in our area. My BT is doing better than my Celeste fig.

You are a bit further south than me, but general climate is the same. Buy trees for zone 7B.
Check what Lowes, Ace, HD sell, more often than not, trees are wrong zone. Fruit trees need chill hours in order to set fruit.
Mail order GTG Stark Brothers, Burpees. Buy the largest potted tree you can afford (1 gal vs 3 gal vs easy grow cups).

Stick with dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties of fruit trees, easier to spray, prune, pick fruit. Disease resistant hybrids are great. Pay attention to what cross pollinates, often you need 1 of each variety to get fruit.

PM me with specific questions. I have 2 dozen+ fruit trees and 3 or 4 dozen berry bushes on my farm. Being doing it for 10 years.

 

[Medic1957]

Plant a crabapple or 2. They pollinate almost everything.

 

[Jeddak]

Plant a crabapple or 2. They pollinate almost everything.

Not true. Depends on blooming times. Cross polinators have to bloom at the same time. You need nectarines to cross pollinate nectarines, plums for plums, cherries for cherries, etc.
If you go thru trouble of planting a crabapple, plant a dwarf normal apple instead.
Crabapple is also susceptible ro fireblight, which will spread to other trees. Many newer apple varieties are fireblight resistant.

 

[blackpowder56]

kieffer pear, self pollinating and they seem insect resistant (never had to spay mine). Only . They make excellent preserves too.problem I've had are squirrels and crows

 

[Medic1957]

Not true. Depends on blooming times. Cross polinators have to bloom at the same time. You need nectarines to cross pollinate nectarines, plums for plums, cherries for cherries, etc.
I have had apples, crabapples, plums, and pears for several years now, and have not had any issues. Just lucky I guess.
If you go thru trouble of planting a crabapple, plant a dwarf normal apple instead.
Crabapple is also susceptible ro fireblight, which will spread to other trees. Many newer apple varieties are fireblight resistant.

 

[Jeddak]

kieffer pear, self pollinating and they seem insect resistant (never had to spay mine). Only . They make excellent preserves too.problem I've had are squirrels and crows

Keiffer pear makes great canning pear and pearbutter pear. Too hard for eating raw. I have one and it is a monster producer.
I had fireblight on it, but not as bad as apples. Not many problems with worms.
Pic below is about 1/4 of what we picked from it last fall. We should have thinned the fruit more. It broke several branches.

PS UGA has an excellent video series on YT about growing fruit and berries in GA. We did their class last spring and learned a few things from it.
PPS that's a 13.5 oz single pear, and it was not the only one in the batch.

 

[Jeddak]

Medic1957 Some apple varieties are more resistant to fire blight than others My Cinnamon Apple was (lost it to windstorm, roots were too shallow), Golden Delicious is bad and Jonathan Red is less bad than GD.