I am going to plant 4 kinds of fruit trees in the sunny part of the yard along the driveway, Plum, Cherry, Pear, Peach. So far I have only been able to find dwarf cherry trees. I'm not sure there is such a thing as dwarf plum, pear and peach. I am told the dwarf trees will grow 12 to 15 ft tall and make fruit in about 3 to 4 years. My soil contains a lot of clay so I probably need to add some organic material. If I dig down about 10" the soil turns blue color and it is the type of clay that is sticky like pottery clay when it is wet and hard as cement when it is dry. This part of the yard is about 6" lower than the rest of the yard so when it rains the water tends to run in the low area. We get a lot of rain fall, winter and spring TV channel 5 weather man says middle TN typically has 300 days of rain per year. In the summer we typically have 2 months of 100 degrees F weather with not much rain maybe 2 or 3 small 10 minute afternoon showers the whole 2 months.
Do I need to put the same type trees side by side or extra close together to make it easier for them to have sex? How close together do they need to be? It is 104 ft from the street to a large shade tree near the house this is where I want to plant all the trees in a section 10 ft wide along the driveway with full sun. Anything planted near the 50 ft shade tree will have full sun in the morning then full shade after lunch. I will probably plant the first tree 10 ft from the street then plant all the other trees 8 ft apart this will put the last of 8 trees 30 ft from the large shade tree.
If I cannot find dwarf trees I probably won't plant any full size trees I don't want to wait 15 years for them to make fruit.
First of all Gary..lets get the dwarf rootstock problem out of the way.
The most common stock for plums is Pixy to give you as good a dwarfing effect as possable. So far plum stocks are not so dwarfing as apple stocks so real small trees are not so easy to produce.
Cherry......Gisela 5 or Maxma are both good dwarfing stocks for cherry.
Pears......most pears will be grafted already onto Quince A. this is the stock used in orchards as it gives good control over the tree and brings the tree into production quickly. The old adage that you plant pears for your grandchildren is no longer true and you should get good crops by year five.
Peach.....Nearly all peaches will be grafted on to seedling peach rootstocks. Usually Halford..Lovell, Bailey etc.
They all give good control.
Planting.
Though clay is one of the worst soils to work ...it does have some advantages over a lot of other sorts.
It retaines nutriants far better than most as it does not leach easily.
It also holds water better than most.
It gives good support to root systems.
But.
If it does dry out then it will crack and shrink.
If you are not careful at planting time it is easy to make a ' pot ' when you plant. This stops the roots from spreading and holds water to rot roots.
So. Incorperate as much organic compost etc. as you can before planting.
If you have to plant in very wet areas then it would help to raise the soil level and plant into a raised mounded area. Allowing heavy rain to drain away from the roots.
In your dry periods in summer mulch the trees heavily while the soil surface is still damp and this will stop the clay from drying out and cracking.
Clay acts as a natural dwarfing agent in its own rite.
We are on solid Wealden Clay....the sort where you dig a hole and you've got a pond......and as a result we plant with a rootstock that is one stage stronger than a good soil would need.
As regards pollination.
Just plant as many different varieties as you can. The insects will do the rest.
Good luck
The most common stock for plums is Pixy to give you as good a dwarfing effect as possable. So far plum stocks are not so dwarfing as apple stocks so real small trees are not so easy to produce.
Cherry......Gisela 5 or Maxma are both good dwarfing stocks for cherry.
Pears......most pears will be grafted already onto Quince A. this is the stock used in orchards as it gives good control over the tree and brings the tree into production quickly. The old adage that you plant pears for your grandchildren is no longer true and you should get good crops by year five.
Peach.....Nearly all peaches will be grafted on to seedling peach rootstocks. Usually Halford..Lovell, Bailey etc.
They all give good control.
Planting.
Though clay is one of the worst soils to work ...it does have some advantages over a lot of other sorts.
It retaines nutriants far better than most as it does not leach easily.
It also holds water better than most.
It gives good support to root systems.
But.
If it does dry out then it will crack and shrink.
If you are not careful at planting time it is easy to make a ' pot ' when you plant. This stops the roots from spreading and holds water to rot roots.
So. Incorperate as much organic compost etc. as you can before planting.
If you have to plant in very wet areas then it would help to raise the soil level and plant into a raised mounded area. Allowing heavy rain to drain away from the roots.
In your dry periods in summer mulch the trees heavily while the soil surface is still damp and this will stop the clay from drying out and cracking.
Clay acts as a natural dwarfing agent in its own rite.
We are on solid Wealden Clay....the sort where you dig a hole and you've got a pond......and as a result we plant with a rootstock that is one stage stronger than a good soil would need.
As regards pollination.
Just plant as many different varieties as you can. The insects will do the rest.
Good luck
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applestar
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Gary I think you need to re-think your idea if you are only getting one each. (Edit: I might have misread that part -- OK I just re-read and you said you are planting 8 trees)
Peach is self fertile and so are Seckel Pear and Pie Cherries, but most sweet cherries (there are some that are self-fertile) and pears need a second cross-pollinator variety.
Dwarf trees are available for any of these though, since it's all just a matter of grafting onto dwarf rootstock.
Under the soil conditions you describe, your best option is to build berms and plant the trees ABOVE grade. Although my research indicates that plums and pears are more tolerant of clay soil. Also, current tree planting wisdom say NOT to enrich the native soil by mixing.
Also, I believe plums and cherries are more tolerant of shad(ier) conditions.
Edit again: JONA got a post in while I was composing.
Peach is self fertile and so are Seckel Pear and Pie Cherries, but most sweet cherries (there are some that are self-fertile) and pears need a second cross-pollinator variety.
Dwarf trees are available for any of these though, since it's all just a matter of grafting onto dwarf rootstock.
Under the soil conditions you describe, your best option is to build berms and plant the trees ABOVE grade. Although my research indicates that plums and pears are more tolerant of clay soil. Also, current tree planting wisdom say NOT to enrich the native soil by mixing.
Also, I believe plums and cherries are more tolerant of shad(ier) conditions.
Edit again: JONA got a post in while I was composing.