HI. I'm new to fruit -tree growing. I just ordered 2 contender peach trees, and an Alderman plum and a Superior Plum. If I plant them in a few weeks...when should I expect fruit? Should I do anything in the meantime to the soil?
I also ordered Pink Reliance Seedless grapes...when will they fruit? I'm guessing earlier than the trees, right?
I'm so excvited and I'm dying to know how long I have to wait for peach cobblers and plum tarts!
I'm in US Zone 6 if that helps. Thanks!
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puzzlejunky
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rainbowgardener
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puzzlejunky
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sweetiepie
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I am new to the grape thing. But this will be my third season. I have valiant grapes, not sure if they produce the same as your reliance or not. The first summer I planted mine, I did get a few grapes, enough to go, ooh these are terribly bitter. But last summer I got enough to make 5 pints of grape jam. The jam was great. So not to get your hopes up but the grapes might be sooner.
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puzzlejunky
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CharlieBear
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many seedless grape varieties are only seedless because they we treated with a hormone during propagation, as such there is a pretty good chance they will end up being seeded in the end, hence the warning. You will have to wait and see. Where grapes are concerned they need a trellis and training. It is hard on them to be forced to produce too early. If you do they may nearly stop producing after a few year. There is a lot of good information of grape pruning and training on the various extension sites. Oregon's if very good, I haven't checked Pa's.
As for the trees- with the plum family usually it is 8 or more years before you start getting much of anything. The peaches that depends on the type of root stock they are grafted on. Dwarfs will bear soonest, then semi-dwarfs and finally full sized. The first couple of years with fruit trees it training. Don't try to force them to bear early, it hurts the tree. The general rule of thumb is don't let young trees bear, knock it off.
As for the trees- with the plum family usually it is 8 or more years before you start getting much of anything. The peaches that depends on the type of root stock they are grafted on. Dwarfs will bear soonest, then semi-dwarfs and finally full sized. The first couple of years with fruit trees it training. Don't try to force them to bear early, it hurts the tree. The general rule of thumb is don't let young trees bear, knock it off.
Can't agree with you Charlie Bear on the age of plum trees starting to crop.
We would want plums to be cropping by year three/four at the latest to not only give us fruit but to also aid us in keeping the tree in good control. A modern grown plum tree left for 8 years without fruit would be a nightmare to keep under control without heavy tying down and twist-cracking.
We would want plums to be cropping by year three/four at the latest to not only give us fruit but to also aid us in keeping the tree in good control. A modern grown plum tree left for 8 years without fruit would be a nightmare to keep under control without heavy tying down and twist-cracking.
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CharlieBear
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Interesting, I wonder if the kind of plums that you grow in England are different varieties than the prune-plum types like Stanley. Here a dwarf Stanley will start in about it 5-6th year with 1-4 plums generally and will finally hit its stride at about 8 years. The arborists and extensions tell me the full size ones often don't bear at all until they are 8 years old or more. I am also wondering if climate and soil are also a factor. I also have a green gage that is 5 years old and it looks like it has finally set 2-4 plums. Here our trees may grow more slowly, because there is no issue with tying down or twist cracking in these trees. Wow, what a difference location and variety make
Hi CharlieBear
I must agree the difference between our growing methods are a little different.
The plum Stanley is in fact a European plum that has been taken and planted extensively in the States.
I don't think though that it's so much varieties or climate that gives us the biggest variation. I believe it may be more to do with the limited land available over this side of the pond that has made us far more intensive in our planting systems and in our growing techniques.
Here, growers plant in very intensive.......and very high cost .....orchards. We expect .very early crops and very high cropping rates. In fact we expect that an orchard will recover its planting and growing cost by year five or six, and a fifteen year replant system would be acceptable by the best growers of Apple.( stone fruit would be much longer lived of course)
Thankfully most garden growers have benefited by these systems in that nurseries have passed their excess trees on to the garden centres and as a result the quality of fruit trees at these points of sale have improved as well.
We now expect a maiden apple tree to have at least eight to ten well branched feathers or it will be rejected. ....mind you, it comes at a cost!
Plum growers here are now treating their trees like they would apples. Three or four wired rows.... And the tree almost treated like an espalier. Heavy pruning and control and as result fruiting from year two.
It does use highly skilled and heavy labour imput..but with land in short supply that's the only way to make profit. Ladders are long gone!
That said we do keep forty or so 90year old Bramleys and Blenheims that are the traditional monsters of old, still crop well too.
So I guess needs must in growing as in every thing else Charlie.
But,.....if you get a chance try some of the more intensive methods...more trees to the area...more fruit by far....and a darn sight easier to pick!
Best wishes
John.
I must agree the difference between our growing methods are a little different.
The plum Stanley is in fact a European plum that has been taken and planted extensively in the States.
I don't think though that it's so much varieties or climate that gives us the biggest variation. I believe it may be more to do with the limited land available over this side of the pond that has made us far more intensive in our planting systems and in our growing techniques.
Here, growers plant in very intensive.......and very high cost .....orchards. We expect .very early crops and very high cropping rates. In fact we expect that an orchard will recover its planting and growing cost by year five or six, and a fifteen year replant system would be acceptable by the best growers of Apple.( stone fruit would be much longer lived of course)
Thankfully most garden growers have benefited by these systems in that nurseries have passed their excess trees on to the garden centres and as a result the quality of fruit trees at these points of sale have improved as well.
We now expect a maiden apple tree to have at least eight to ten well branched feathers or it will be rejected. ....mind you, it comes at a cost!
Plum growers here are now treating their trees like they would apples. Three or four wired rows.... And the tree almost treated like an espalier. Heavy pruning and control and as result fruiting from year two.
It does use highly skilled and heavy labour imput..but with land in short supply that's the only way to make profit. Ladders are long gone!
That said we do keep forty or so 90year old Bramleys and Blenheims that are the traditional monsters of old, still crop well too.
So I guess needs must in growing as in every thing else Charlie.
But,.....if you get a chance try some of the more intensive methods...more trees to the area...more fruit by far....and a darn sight easier to pick!
Best wishes
John.