Fruit Tree Overview
Types of Fruit Trees
We have tried many types of fruit trees focusing on disease-resistant varieties when available.
These are ones we tried then rejected:
Apricot - would not fruit reliably and was unhealthy.
Black Cherry - birds eat them all just before they ripen.
Fig - dies back to ground level over winter, regrows, but not enough time for fruit to ripen. Near the Connecticut coastline, in a warmer hardiness zone, some people dig and bury the tree for the winter, then dig it out in the spring and successfully grow figs in Connecticut.
Mulberry - beautiful healthy tree but grows too fast and tall for our site - blocking the sun. Taste of the fruit is okay but not great. However, if the tree is kept short, it only yields a handful of fruit. Not worth the effort.
Peaches - Tried several varieties but all get the fungal disease 'Brown Rot' just before ripening. Also, plastic bags do not work with peaches - again because of Brown Rot. The amount of good fruit salvaged is not worth the time spent. Peach trees that I have rejected and pulled out due to Brown Rot are: Glo Haven, Hale Haven, Harrow Diamond, Red Haven, Saturn, White Lady. Also, Elberta Peach, supposed zoned for 5-9, died over the 2014-2015 winter on our zone 6a site. If you know of a peach variety that will survive Brown Rot in Connecticut without sprays, please contact me and let me know the name of the variety and your experience with it.
These are what we currently grow successfully:
Apples
Asian Pears
European Pears
Paw Paws
Persimmon - planted in 2012 but no fruit yet
Plums
Trees pruned to no higher than 8 feet
I prune all our fruit trees to be less than 8' high, so I do not need to climb ladders. Even standard trees that grow 30' high can be pruned to 8' if you know the secrets. Read this book on how to do it. "Grow a Little Fruit Tree: Simple Pruning Techniques for Small-Space, Easy-Harvest Fruit Trees"
When will you get fruit?
This varies wildly depending on whether the tree it is self-rooted or grafted.
Generally self-rooted and some rootstocks (like some in the M series) take 5 to 10 years to fruit, while other rootstocks (like Geneva) take 1-3 years to fruit. Also, some rootstocks give disease resistant properties to the tree while others do not. For example, Geneva root stock is fireblight resistant while many in the M-series are not.
So, depending on what you want, choose your rootstock carefully. The little bit of time spent in selecting the right rootstock saves you years of going down dead ends in the garden. Be aware that It often takes a lot of shopping before, or even if, you can find what you want. Do your online shopping in the Fall. If you wait till late winter, many varieties are sold out.
Bare Root
It is best to buy Bare Root fruit trees and plant in the Spring in colder areas like ours. These arrive looking like sticks with roots. Buy at a reputable online nursery so you do not get taken by some fly-by-night selling you dead sticks. At $8 to $30 each, this is your least expensive way to go and they produce wonderful trees. Another way is to buy live trees in pots, however, that is expensive and can cost $75 to $150 each. Follow the tree planting directions provided by the nursery and that book mentioned above.
We have tried many types of fruit trees focusing on disease-resistant varieties when available.
These are ones we tried then rejected:
Apricot - would not fruit reliably and was unhealthy.
Black Cherry - birds eat them all just before they ripen.
Fig - dies back to ground level over winter, regrows, but not enough time for fruit to ripen. Near the Connecticut coastline, in a warmer hardiness zone, some people dig and bury the tree for the winter, then dig it out in the spring and successfully grow figs in Connecticut.
Mulberry - beautiful healthy tree but grows too fast and tall for our site - blocking the sun. Taste of the fruit is okay but not great. However, if the tree is kept short, it only yields a handful of fruit. Not worth the effort.
Peaches - Tried several varieties but all get the fungal disease 'Brown Rot' just before ripening. Also, plastic bags do not work with peaches - again because of Brown Rot. The amount of good fruit salvaged is not worth the time spent. Peach trees that I have rejected and pulled out due to Brown Rot are: Glo Haven, Hale Haven, Harrow Diamond, Red Haven, Saturn, White Lady. Also, Elberta Peach, supposed zoned for 5-9, died over the 2014-2015 winter on our zone 6a site. If you know of a peach variety that will survive Brown Rot in Connecticut without sprays, please contact me and let me know the name of the variety and your experience with it.
These are what we currently grow successfully:
Apples
Asian Pears
European Pears
Paw Paws
Persimmon - planted in 2012 but no fruit yet
Plums
Trees pruned to no higher than 8 feet
I prune all our fruit trees to be less than 8' high, so I do not need to climb ladders. Even standard trees that grow 30' high can be pruned to 8' if you know the secrets. Read this book on how to do it. "Grow a Little Fruit Tree: Simple Pruning Techniques for Small-Space, Easy-Harvest Fruit Trees"
When will you get fruit?
This varies wildly depending on whether the tree it is self-rooted or grafted.
Generally self-rooted and some rootstocks (like some in the M series) take 5 to 10 years to fruit, while other rootstocks (like Geneva) take 1-3 years to fruit. Also, some rootstocks give disease resistant properties to the tree while others do not. For example, Geneva root stock is fireblight resistant while many in the M-series are not.
So, depending on what you want, choose your rootstock carefully. The little bit of time spent in selecting the right rootstock saves you years of going down dead ends in the garden. Be aware that It often takes a lot of shopping before, or even if, you can find what you want. Do your online shopping in the Fall. If you wait till late winter, many varieties are sold out.
Bare Root
It is best to buy Bare Root fruit trees and plant in the Spring in colder areas like ours. These arrive looking like sticks with roots. Buy at a reputable online nursery so you do not get taken by some fly-by-night selling you dead sticks. At $8 to $30 each, this is your least expensive way to go and they produce wonderful trees. Another way is to buy live trees in pots, however, that is expensive and can cost $75 to $150 each. Follow the tree planting directions provided by the nursery and that book mentioned above.
Fruit without Pesticides
According to the Environmental Work Group, apples contain more pesticides that most other fruits.
And fruits in general contain a lot of pesticides.
“But, you can’t grow apples and pears without lots of pesticides” …I say, nonsense!!
If you select disease resistant trees and enclosed each in a plastic bag for the season, you eliminate airborne and insect borne diseases and there is no need for pesticides.
“But commercially I cannot bag fruit .” Well, the Japanese do and so do some West Coast organic producers. if they can do it so can you.
I have been bagging our apples and pears for several years, and produce picture perfect fruit with no pesticides, no fungicides, and no herbicides.
The bags work well on apples, pears, and Asian pears. They do not work on peaches since they encourage rot. They do not work on plums because it is difficult to use a twist tie without the plum detaching from the tree.
Here is my procedure: Right after petal drop I spray with "SurroundWP" - a non-toxic kaolin clay. This white powder is mixed in water and sprayed with a backpack sprayer specifically designed for wettable powders. I repeat this spray after each rain until mid-June. Then I thin and bag each fruit with plastic bags and twist ties. The SurroundWP discourages the Plum Curculio from laying eggs in the fruit. It reduces
infection rates from 95% to about 10% in your crop. Then when I thin, I remove infected fruit as part of the thinning process and bag the remaining good fruit - which is about the size of a cherry at this point. From this point forward, no further spraying with SurroundWP is needed and the fruit stays bagged until harvest. I have also read anecdotal evidence of planting garlic near fruit trees since Plum Curculio supposedly do not like the smell of garlic. I will need to try this as an added measure since some years it rains more than others and the fruit is unprotected during and after these rains.
Here’s where I buy my 7”x 9” polyethylene bags - cost $23 per thousand, PaperMart
Here are the twist ties - cost $4 per 2,000, PaperMart
References:
According to the Environmental Work Group, apples contain more pesticides that most other fruits.
And fruits in general contain a lot of pesticides.
“But, you can’t grow apples and pears without lots of pesticides” …I say, nonsense!!
If you select disease resistant trees and enclosed each in a plastic bag for the season, you eliminate airborne and insect borne diseases and there is no need for pesticides.
“But commercially I cannot bag fruit .” Well, the Japanese do and so do some West Coast organic producers. if they can do it so can you.
I have been bagging our apples and pears for several years, and produce picture perfect fruit with no pesticides, no fungicides, and no herbicides.
The bags work well on apples, pears, and Asian pears. They do not work on peaches since they encourage rot. They do not work on plums because it is difficult to use a twist tie without the plum detaching from the tree.
Here is my procedure: Right after petal drop I spray with "SurroundWP" - a non-toxic kaolin clay. This white powder is mixed in water and sprayed with a backpack sprayer specifically designed for wettable powders. I repeat this spray after each rain until mid-June. Then I thin and bag each fruit with plastic bags and twist ties. The SurroundWP discourages the Plum Curculio from laying eggs in the fruit. It reduces
infection rates from 95% to about 10% in your crop. Then when I thin, I remove infected fruit as part of the thinning process and bag the remaining good fruit - which is about the size of a cherry at this point. From this point forward, no further spraying with SurroundWP is needed and the fruit stays bagged until harvest. I have also read anecdotal evidence of planting garlic near fruit trees since Plum Curculio supposedly do not like the smell of garlic. I will need to try this as an added measure since some years it rains more than others and the fruit is unprotected during and after these rains.
Here’s where I buy my 7”x 9” polyethylene bags - cost $23 per thousand, PaperMart
Here are the twist ties - cost $4 per 2,000, PaperMart
References:
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This shows how an apple has grown after sitting in a plastic bag for two months. I place slits in each of the bottom two corners of the bag so rain water can drain.
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In 2020, I am going to try some Organza bags to see how they compare with plastic bags for insect and disease prevention.
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