[SustainableTompkins] easiest fruits to grow

[Katie Quinn-Jacobs]

Ooops...meant to send this just to Joel!

-- Kate


Katie Quinn-Jacobs wrote:
> Hi Joel,
>
> First thank you for your piece on raising fruit.  I started a home 
> orchard about 5 years ago, so I'm seeing a number of the problems you 
> listed here.  I'm giving up on cherries and am ready to dump plums, 
> which breaks my heart since I have two very hearty trees that produce 
> loads of alas rotten fruit.  I think the curculio is the problem.  I 
> lose almost all the fully formed fruit to something that causing the 
> plum juice to ooze out and have serious fruit drop when they are about 
> half formed.
>
> A couple of questions...
>
> What experience have you had in our area with currants and gooseberries 
> being vectors for a rust that kills pine trees?  I planted some red and 
> black currants last year and positioned them a good distance (about 150 
> yards) from the nearest pines, but now I wonder if I should pull them?
>
> How many years after planting should I expect fruit from my quinces?  I 
> planted for of them last year from Miller's.
>
> What does Pricilla apple taste like?  Where is a good place to buy them?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kate
>
>
>
> Joel and Sarah Gagnon wrote:
>   
>> With planting time for dormant stock fast approaching (mid-April), and 
>> since there seems to be some interest in growing backyard fruit, I thought 
>> I'd share some of what I've learned in the last 30 years.
>>
>> The easiest fruits to grow
>>
>> Rhubarb, if you call it a fruit, is the easiest of all to grow. Give it 
>> sun, plenty of water, compost or manure and some supplemental nitrogen 
>> (urine is cheap and effective). Slugs will disfigure the stalks if you 
>> don't control them, but the damage is more annoying than harmful.
>>
>> Raspberries are next-easiest. Crumbly berry virus can ba a problem where it 
>> is in the neighborhood (it is spread by so-called raspberry aphids), but 
>> some varieties are quite resistant. I like Autumn Bliss in a red, Royalty 
>> in a purple, and Amber in a yellow. All of these respond well to 
>> organiculture and are wilt resistant as well.
>>
>> Blueberries are easy if you have acid soil. Chances are you do if you are 
>> up on the hills. If in the valleys, check because the probability is much 
>> higher that your soil is neutral or thereabouts. You can acidify soil to 
>> lower the pH, but it is a constant need in the valley. Blueberries are 
>> otherwise very easy. You will probably have to net them unless there are 
>> few birds in your neighborhood or lots of blueberries. Don't use urine or 
>> fresh manure on blueberries. They are very sensitive to chloride ion, 
>> present in animal wastes due to the salt in our diets. Bat manure is 
>> excellent because it is high in nitrogen while having little chloride (no 
>> salt in their diet of insects).
>>
>> Strawberries are pretty easy. Honeoye and Jewel are good varieties for 
>> around here, with excellent flavor and size, as well as good quality when 
>> frozen. Honeoye is rot-resistant, a real plus in our uncertain spring weather.
>>
>> Currants are pretty easy too, with the only serious pest the sawfly, whose 
>> larvae defoliate the plants. They are the same color as the leaves, so are 
>> hard to hand pick. Bacillus thuringensis controls them. Also annoying is 
>> the currant worm, but the damage is limited and can be lived with (although 
>> he market won't put up with it).
>>
>> Gooseberries are tough plants, but getting fruit off of them is not as easy 
>> as the nurseries suggest. Mildew, saw fly, currant worms, and an 
>> exasperating tendency to drop fruit when stressed limit the yield. Yummy, 
>> though.
>>
>> Pears are the easiest tree fruit. Asian pears can easily be grown without 
>> any pesticides and still get a decent number of edible fruit. They profit 
>> from thinning of the small fruit, which lets you select out the worst. They 
>> appear to have some frost-resistance. European pears are also fairly easy, 
>> with the biggest problem around here being Fire blight, a bacterial disease 
>> that can be fatal to the tree. There are many resistant varieties (Bartlett 
>> is NOT one of them).
>>
>> Quinces are easy, but again, beware of Fire blight. I try not to induce 
>> heavy growth because it makes them more susceptible. Go easy on the 
>> fertilizer -- in good soil you my not need any, and to control size, summer 
>> prune. Dormant pruning promotes growth, so once you have the tree bearing, 
>> control size with summer pruning and then complement that with moderate 
>> dormant pruning. Quinces make good jelly and fruit leather, but are too dry 
>> for fresh eating. Great aroma! Requires no spraying.
>>
>> Mulberries grow like weeds and are generally twiggy. Perhaps best treated 
>> like a bush to keep the fruit low enough so you can get at it, but 
>> requiring a lot of pruning to do that. Summer prune to control size in a 
>> vigorous mulberry. Illinois Everbearing is an excellent variety, with 
>> fruits a couple inches long and good balanced flavor.
>>
>> Apples are not easy. With little frost resistance in bloom, you are at the 
>> mercy of spring weather. They will tolerate frost once post-bloom, though. 
>> Most varieties require both fungicidal and pesticidal sprays for decent 
>> fruit, but there are some pretty good varieties that are disease-resistant. 
>> (Liberty, Enterprise, Priscilla are among these.) Priscilla is the easiest 
>> apple to grow, bar none. You can grow this variety with no spraying 
>> whatsoever and get a decent percentage of clean fruit. A regular annual 
>> bearer, with a nice easy-to-manage spreading growth habit. Tends to 
>> overset, so it needs thinning to size up well. Highly flavored, not 
>> everyone will like it (it is one of my favorites, though). Best as an 
>> eating apple, storing only into January. Liberty has similar storage time, 
>> but makes good sauce as well as eating. Liberty needs spraying to control 
>> plum curculio, which badly disfigures the fruit. Curculio candy, unfortunately.
>> There are some traditional varieties that are pretty easy to grow. Empire 
>> isn't too hard, Fuji, and many of the russets are good too. Baldwin and 
>> Esopus Spitzenburg are fairly easy, as is York Imperial. Baldwin tends 
>> strongly to alternate bearing.
>> Curculio can be controlled organically with colloidal clay sprays like 
>> "Surround", but it ain't cheap and it needs to be reapplied whenever it 
>> washes off in the rain. You won't find many organic apples on the market, 
>> for very good reason. We have one of only a handful of organic orchards in 
>> the entire state here in Tompkins County.
>>
>> Plums have 2 problems of note. One is the plum curculio. The larvae of this 
>> weevil cause the fruit to abort. It only takes a few curculios to implant 
>> enough eggs to wipe out the entire crop. I have found it impossible to grow 
>> plums without sprays for this insect. Surround will work if you want to go 
>> organic, but you will have to be diligent. I use Imidan, an organophosphate 
>> pesticide I don't feel really good about. It is not very persistent in the 
>> environment, and I only use it for a few times (you need to spray for 
>> curculio from "shuck split", which is when the fruit get big enough to 
>> split the residue of flower that surrounds them it the beginning, until the 
>> end of June. After that point the pit hardens and the fruit is safe. Plums 
>> are otherwise fairly easy, with no need for fungicides for a decent crop. 
>> The second problem with plums is burr knot, a swelling of the stems that is 
>> very contagious. I religiously cut out any developing "knots" and find this 
>> controls the disease adequately.
>> Some plums are frost-resistant. I have experience with Big Blue. It has 
>> fruited in years when no other variety survived frost. Plums tend to bloom 
>> earlier than one would wish, making risk of frost a serious threat, 
>> especially in the valley, which is where I am. Less of a problem on hillsides.
>>
>> Cherries are a problem for me, but perhaps some of you can grow them. They 
>> bloom early enough so that frost is a problem. Lapins is frost-resistant, 
>> but very susceptible to rot. I think it will require fungicide to fruit 
>> here. The sour cherries are all frost-tender, near as I can tell. Birds are 
>> a problem, if you get past the frost, and so are raccoons if you have them 
>> in your area. Cherry leaf spot can be problem in some years, causing 
>> premature defoliation. This may not be a problem for the current year's 
>> fruit, since it tends to show up later in the season, but it weakens the 
>> tree and reduces fruit potential in the following year.
>>
>> Peaches have the same curculio problem I mentioned with plums and apples 
>> (and to a lesser extent, cherries). Like plums, developing curculio larvae 
>> cause the fruit to abort, so spraying is necessary most years. I find 
>> peaches can be grown without fungicides and with no spraying after the end 
>> of curculio season. Nectarines, of which there are hardier varieties (peach 
>> flowers survive to around minus 15, which gets us through most winters), 
>> tend to split unless sprayed with fungicides to prevent scab. The splits 
>> make them susceptible to rot as the fruit matures. This is disastrous in a 
>> wet year. I have lost the entire crop at that late stage.
>> Nectarines have no frost tolerance. There are frost-tolerant varieties of 
>> peaches. Madison is the only one I have experience with. It fruited for me 
>> last year (albeit lightly) after several frosts that wiped out the 
>> nectarines and most of the apples. Peach borers can also be a problem, 
>> along with peach leaf curl. The curl is controlled in my orchard by putting 
>> seaweed extract in the tank with the curculio spray. Borer may be 
>> controllable by dousing the base of the tree with urine during egg-laying 
>> in June. I am still experimenting on that one. Urine does work for sure on 
>> apple tree borer, a serendipitous discovery by a fellow in North Carolina 
>> who noticed that his apple tree, which borers had killed, died only down to 
>> the level his dog, which was tied in the yard most of the time, could reach 
>> when urinating.
>>
>> More next week. I need to get to work!
>>
>> Joel 
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