I think I'm about to get in over my head (UPDATE)...

[Sienna Dawn]

...I was only planning on buying strawberry sets, but...

25 Sweet Charlie strawberry sets
2 Southern Bababerry Raspberry plants
2 Navajo Blackberry (thornless) plants
1 Suwanee Peach tree
1 Ein Shemer Apple tree



Anyone have any experience with the above plants? I've got other fruit in my yard, but haven't any experience with peaches and apples.

The peach and apple trees I chose are supposed to be self fertile, and need 500 chill hours or less to set fruit.

Our yard is about 3/4 of an acre. We already have 5 fig trees that my Grandmother planted over 50 years ago, and 4 blueberry bushes that my DH planted about oh... 6 or 8 years ago now I think. We planted 2 Meyer Lemon trees last year and I already had a Key Lime tree in a pot which I will transplant into the yard this fall as well. Add to that the 8 pecan trees (they're about 80 years old they're a day), and we've got a regular smorgasbord!



All the newly ordered plants/trees will arrive beginning the 1st week of Nov. I guess I better figure out what to do with them now!

[damethod]

I too am looking into getting Navajo blackberry plants off the internet. I purchased blackberry and raspberry plants without even knowing what type they were. I won't make that mistake again..because I soon discovered that they were both covered in thorns and were plotting to take over my garden!

My experience with blackberries and raspberries was otherwise pleasant. They are not too fussy and do not need too much maintenance.

[Sienna Dawn]

I too am looking into getting Navajo blackberry plants off the internet. I purchased blackberry and raspberry plants without even knowing what type they were. I won't make that mistake again..because I soon discovered that they were both covered in thorns and were plotting to take over my garden!

My experience with blackberries and raspberries was otherwise pleasant. They are not too fussy and do not need too much maintenance.

Low maintenance!? Yay! The place where I ordered my blackberry and raspberry plants was https://www.willisorchards.com/

They also have fruit, nut and flowering trees and bushes. Alot of good information about requirements, and seemed to carry an assortment that offered something for most climates.

I'm hoping I got the right kind of tree in the self-fertile apple tree. I never heard of an Ein Schemer apple, but the description sounded good. We'll see!

[damethod]

Thanks for the great site! It has a wide variety of trees available.

I went ahead and purchased 2 Navajo blackberry 3 yr old plants and 25 seqouia strawberries(don't know if I spelled it right).

I ordered them the day before yesterday...so I'm hoping to receive them soon.

[Sienna Dawn]

It *is* a good site, isn't it? I can see it getting me into lots of trouble, very shortly.

I'm still waiting for my strawberries, they should be here anytime. They didn't start shipping them until Nov. 1, so I imagine they've got several orders to fill. The apple and peach trees, along with the raspberries and blackberries, will start shipping mid Nov.

I'm excited!

Good luck with your purchases! We'll take pictures later in the season and compare!

[damethod]

Received my shipment about 2 weeks ago. One of the blackberry plants is showing signs of life..and the strawberries came alive immediately after planting. I was satisfied enough with my purchase that I went back to them for one more plant(ice cream banana) and some of the fungi that they sell. I was going to get some Sweet Charlies, but they are already sold out. /

How is your order looking? Did the peach and apple trees come bare root as well?

[Sienna Dawn]

Received my shipment about 2 weeks ago. One of the blackberry plants is showing signs of life..and the strawberries came alive immediately after planting. I was satisfied enough with my purchase that I went back to them for one more plant(ice cream banana) and some of the fungi that they sell. I was going to get some Sweet Charlies, but they are already sold out. /

How is your order looking? Did the peach and apple trees come bare root as well?

Got my strawberries a couple of weeks ago as well, along with the peach and apple trees. The raspberry and blackberry plants got left off the order somehow, but when I told them about it they sent them off to me right away and I've since gotten them into the ground.

Everything was bare root! The strawberry plants are making leaves like crazy... everything else still looks like sticks. LOL!! It has been COLD here lately though! Sooner than usual, we've had 3 freezes already!!

I figure that's why the slow start on the berries and fruit trees. They should come 'round soon enough though... if not, they have a 1 year guarantee. ::shrug::

We should take pics and compare! I'm gonna try to get some taken this week sometime.

[damethod]

I was skeptical when I first ordered bare root plants. I remember the blackberry and raspberry plants I ordered in the past came bare root and took a good two weeks to show any signs of life. They did grow strong and vigorous, so I'm obviously alot more willing to take a chance now.

If you want to play it safe, banana plants are very reliable. You receive what looks like a piece of a plant with some small roots...then within days it's growing large leaves! Now.. you do live in the very northern/western tip of Florida.. so I'm not 100% sure if you can grow bananas successfully. They need heat and humidity..two things we have plenty of year round down here.
I'm waiting on the "Ice Cream" banana plant I ordered from the site.. I'll post pics of it when I get it.

I'm very curious to see how your apple and peach trees grow since they are usually large trees as opposed to blackberry bushes(I guess they are bushes) and banana plants. I've never purchased any trees online since there are lots of nurseries here in wonderful South Florida. I know of one close to Homestead that carries every tropical fruit tree that you can think of!

Anyways, I'll post some pics of my plants tomorrow. I've only planted 2 of the strawberry plants because I haven't prepared the bed yet, but they've both been doing well since the day I planted them. I plan on planting 6-8 more of them and give away the rest to friends and family.

[damethod]

Here are the promised picks. I have several trees, veggies, and herbs growing. These are pics of the ones I've purchased online. I had raspberry and blackberry plants, but they were growing out of control and I had to dig them up. They loooked just like the Navajo blackberries do now when I received them.

Quinalt starter plant on left(not from online) and sequoia on the right(Willis)
[img]https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b158/damethod/mailordertreesandmangoflowers008.jpg[/img]

2 pics of the Navajo blackberries
[img]https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b158/damethod/mailordertreesandmangoflowers006.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b158/damethod/mailordertreesandmangoflowers007.jpg[/img]

Hass Avocado tree I purchased about 6 months ago through ebay
[img]https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b158/damethod/mailordertreesandmangoflowers002.jpg[/img]

Manzano Banana Tree I purchased at bananatree.com about 4 months ago
[img]https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b158/damethod/mailordertreesandmangoflowers001.jpg[/img]

I will update the pics of the blackberries when they show more significant signs of life. So far, I see some signs from the stick on the left.

[Sienna Dawn]

Wow, great pics! Sadly, I haven't taken pics yet, but I will... promise! My strawberries are making leaves, but the fruit trees and bushes look... well... 'stickley'. Heh.

I'll also include a pic of the volunteer banana trees I have. One started in another part of the yard... on it's own, NO idea where it came from... I moved it, and it got waaay tall over the summer and had babies. It's looking pretty sad right now from the freezes we've had, but it'll come back in the warm weather.

Pics soon.

Your stuff looks great!

[damethod]

Updated pics 12-30-08... signs of life! Both plants look like they are on their way.

[img]https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b158/damethod/12-2008tomatoespeppersblackberries0.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b158/damethod/12-2008tomatoespeppersblackberri-2.jpg[/img]



Now let's see how long it takes to get fruit.

[Just Whisper]

Hi
We planted 2 Apache thornless blackberries last year that we bought online from Gurney's. I do not think they were bare root, cannot remember. We had lots of blackberries our first year and they were so huge and sweet. They were about the size of the end of a man's thumb. We loved them so much we bought 4 more this past fall. I covered the new plants with straw and they have survived 3 (very short) freezes wonderfully and have pretty green leaves. They were really easy to care for and I was happy to have something grow well in my sandy soil. The biggest problem has been keeping birds and insects off them.

We had a beautiful, huge bed of strawberry plants for 2 years. But I never got much in the way of fruit. It was too hard to keep them weeded. I finally gave up and dug them up.

Sienna, I just noticed you are also in Pensacola. It will be interesting to share notes. And damethod, since you are in South FL we have similar growing conditions, although you are further south then we are. This is great.

[damethod]

Yes. I'm pushing it this far south with the blackberry plants..but I remember a childhood friend of mine had a large bush in his backyard, that produced the largest and most consistently sweet berries I have ever tasted. It looked more like a tree back then, but that's probably because everything looks bigger when you are a child.

We should indeed be able to grow about 80% of the same plants. I can grow a few more tropicals than you can, but you guys should have more success with the many plants that do not like South Florida's humidity. Figs and Georgia peaches are the first fruits that come to mind. I was stubborn and purchased a fig tree anyway. It isn't doing too well.

[Sienna Dawn]

Hey y'all, sorry for the long time no visit... been sick as a dog since Christmas. blech.

Annnyways...

My sticks are showing signs of life! Well, a couple of them are, the rest are making me kinda nervous. Here are pics:

[/img]

The strawberry patch (above) is coming in slowly but surely. Not a very good pic, will get better ones soon.

[img]https://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s269/siennadawn/raspberrystick.jpg[/img]

The raspberry stick (above) is showing signs of life!

The day today is yucky and overcast, so the pics are not so very good. I'll try to get better ones soon.

Raspberry sticks and Apple stick showing signs of life. Peach stick and Blackberry sticks.. nothing yet. Hopefully soon!

My Meyer Lemons are confused with all the wet, warm weather we've been having and are blooming their goofy heads off. I'll try to get pics of them soon also, before I strip the blooms.

I've got lettuce and turnips and collards (oh my!) growing also, will post those pics in the veggie board.

Hope everyone is having a good new year so far!

[Sienna Dawn]

Well, the strawberries went through something of a... standstill... for a while. Of late; however, they have gotten a tad bit bigger, and I see new leaves forming down the center. A sign of good things to come? I hope?


[img]https://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s269/siennadawn/sleepygarden4.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s269/siennadawn/sleepygarden5.jpg[/img]


The raspberry and blackberry plants are still quite stickley. I don't know if they survived or not, and will update later when things have gotten warmer.

The Meyer Lemons trees have had a tough winter... I'm not sure they have survived the week that we had several days that got down in the upper teens/lower 20's starting at midnight and lasting well into the morning.

[img]https://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s269/siennadawn/sleepygarden8.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s269/siennadawn/sleepygarden7.jpg[/img]

Has anyone else had citrus that lost ALL their leaves and lived to come back?

[greeneee]

we had a particular rough winter too and unfortunately the leaves off of my citrus trees fell off too! here's to positive wishes!