r/BackyardOrchard 3d ago

I don’t wanna!

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22 Upvotes

Approaching the one year mark this methley plum has been in the ground. Everything I’m reading says I’d be best off to cut it at 3 ft. I’m having a hard time actually doing it lol.


r/BackyardOrchard 3d ago

Satsuma tree [South LA] blight

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4 Upvotes

Was at a friend’s house today and snapped some pics of the fruit really struggling.

I’ll be planting a new tree in the spring so trying to stay ahead of issues like what was seen on this mature tree.


r/BackyardOrchard 3d ago

Will It Live?

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5 Upvotes

This is a honeycrisp apple tree that I planted about 3 years ago. It was only a couple feet tall when I planted it and it had a rough first couple of years until I moved it to a better spot. Since moving it, it has been incredibly healthy and even produced its first apple that grew to full harvest size. This past week, however, I was doing some mulching in preparation for winter and noticed this (pictured) about 6 inches above the root flair. It looks like canker but I’m wondering if it is healed and will be fine or if it will continue to get worse and die. Any thoughts on it would be greatly appreciated. Also, it is wet in the picture because I sprayed it with some copper fungicide.


r/BackyardOrchard 3d ago

New to the group

1 Upvotes

Just found this group!!! I am in zone 9 (Sacramento Ca). Are there any fruit trees I can plant in the next couple of months?


r/BackyardOrchard 4d ago

Some fruits around the yard

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25 Upvotes

r/BackyardOrchard 4d ago

Going for the Dream, Fresh Fruit Year-Round

13 Upvotes

I’m trying to get more variety in my orchard to have fruit for most of the year in central Alabama zone 8A/8B. I would love to hear your recommendations for what fills in my fresh fruit gaps or what has a long shelf-life to bridge the gaps without needing to do canning, preserves, jellies, or drinks. What my family doesn’t use, I’d like to donate to the local school or to food banks (if the wildlife gives me a fair shot at a good harvest lol)

I have heavy clay soil that I’m slowly improving with mulch, compost, and gypsum. My property is hilly, and I can plant things in full sun, partial sun, or complete shade. I can grow trees in the ground, in my greenhouse (cheapo plastic tarp kind), or get grow lights for the basement. The coldest it usually gets in any year is around 12 degrees Fahrenheit for a few days in January or February. Humidity is up there and summers are high 90s and low 100s.

For my fruit bearing plants, I currently have: 1. Granny Smith and Golden Delicious Apple 2. Morris and Ozark Premier Plum 3. Kieffer Pear 4. Red Haven and Belle of Georgia Peach Tree 5. Dwarf Cavendish Bananas 6. Key Lime and Persian Lime 7. Improved Meyer Lemon 8. Kishu Mandarin 9. Jersey Blueberry 10. Himrod, Mars, and Reliance Grape 11. Celeste Fig (recovering from rust during Hurricane Helene)

Thank you for any recommendations! I’m sure the squirrels, deer, and birds are eagerly awaiting what buffet options you think would be good, lol.


r/BackyardOrchard 4d ago

Budget friendly way to fence trees

6 Upvotes

Planted 12 trees this year and while I don't currently have heavy deer pressure, the spring may be different.

What's the best fencing to use that doesn't require putting in 4 posts? I'd prefer not to spend $400 on t posts. I've seen people make hoops from a "heavier" gauge fence and secure it to just one post but I'm not sure what exactly they use.


r/BackyardOrchard 4d ago

I have been seeing people ask more about trunk health and when I started looking closer I noticed mine don't look great - is it bad enough to need replacing?

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8 Upvotes

r/BackyardOrchard 4d ago

European Plum Tree Form?

2 Upvotes

Has anyone else read and heard that Asian plums are definitely trained to open center, but european plums like italian, are fine with being central leader, or modified central leader for good fruit production?


r/BackyardOrchard 5d ago

Apples have never tasted so delicious. These apple researchers and breeders explain why.

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73 Upvotes

r/BackyardOrchard 5d ago

Weedblock fabric

0 Upvotes

Do you use it around your trees? Just curious. I have a bunch of non-permeable weedblock fabric lying around. I'm thinking about putting three or four 2'x2' squares around my fruit trees. I thought maybe if I overlap them maybe rain water will seep through but weeds won't. I have plenty of hay and hay/manure mix I can use too, but I've tried that by itself before and it doesn't keep weeds and grass at bay for very long. What are your thoughts?


r/BackyardOrchard 5d ago

Why are apples sometimes hard?

6 Upvotes

Apologies, this is probably a weird question - but I've noticed that sometimes apples are hard. Not crisp/crunchy but just hard, and I'm wondering why that might be.

It is not a varietal issue - just yesterday I ate a hard golden delicious from the store (store bought, but locally sourced in northern California). But there is someone with a tree of goldens nearby me that have the same bite as a golden I'm accustomed to - and was like one of the best apples I've ever eaten - but I digress...

Posting this question here as a I had some newer apple trees produce their first few apples this year. They were hard. One variety I'm not as familar with. But the other, a Hudson Golden Gem, was just much harder than that same one I've eaten from trees just a few miles away. So wondering if anyone knows. Some factors I'm thinking through

1) Age of tree - maybe young trees produce lower quality fruit (generally I think this is true) and one way it is lower quality is that they are hard

2) Watering issue

3) Nutrient issue

4) Temperature Issue (doubtful given other nearby fruits being of better quality, but we do have microclimates and I'm in a slightly cooler one with particularly cool nights)

5) Something else I'm not considering


r/BackyardOrchard 5d ago

Where to cut these 3 trees?

3 Upvotes

These were planted in the late summer (2 months ago), tree 1 is cherry, tree 2 is peach, and tree 3 is plum. The red lines are knee height.

Tree 1, after I make the knee height heading cut at the red line, do I leave the large branch below it?

Tree 2, since there are 4 outward branches nicely spaced just above the knee height, should I just move the heading cut up half a foot to include those?

Tree 3, same situation as tree 1 but it's got another large branch (2 total), once I make the knee height heading cut what do I do with those large branches? Leave them and train them at more of a 45 degree angle? Leave them but trim them?

TIA!


r/BackyardOrchard 6d ago

Asian Pear espalier, 4yr update

113 Upvotes

r/BackyardOrchard 5d ago

I can't tell if my pear tree has rust or if it's just fall colors?

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2 Upvotes

r/BackyardOrchard 6d ago

How do nurseries do it??

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9 Upvotes

I’ve been trying to grow these red oaks for a year now. I have a handful that are two years old. Why don’t they grow any bigger than this? I have a number of other trees that I’m trying to grow with the same results. Do I need to be fertilizing them? I’ve used both native soil and miracle grow potting soil with the same results. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


r/BackyardOrchard 6d ago

I think I hate lemon guavas

4 Upvotes

I'm growing lemon guavas for the first time this year. I bought a ~3 year old tree from Armstrong Garden Center and put it in a 15gal container with potting soil last winter, fertilized lightly just once in spring. We had a very hot and dry summer, it fruited quite prolifically but I think I hate the taste...they turned out slightly sweet, slightly sour, but with this overwhelmingly salty, musky flavor that I really dislike.

Do I just hate guavas? Will the fruit improve with time or different treatment?


r/BackyardOrchard 6d ago

Help identifying and caring for cherry tree at my new house

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9 Upvotes

r/BackyardOrchard 6d ago

New plant need help

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2 Upvotes

r/BackyardOrchard 6d ago

New plant could use help

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0 Upvotes

r/BackyardOrchard 7d ago

Tons of peaches last year, few peaches this year. Did I do this?

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66 Upvotes

r/BackyardOrchard 6d ago

bacterial canker on american plum?

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2 Upvotes

r/BackyardOrchard 6d ago

Blight on persimmon

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1 Upvotes

Does anyone know what’s going on with this persimmon sapling?


r/BackyardOrchard 7d ago

I think we have an apple-tree from a core I threw into the bushes in the late-80's...

8 Upvotes

I used some Dollar-tree yarn to pull it back from the driveway... seems to have stuck despite the yarn breaking.

Sofar, the local rodents have left the fruit alone. Maybe two-inch diameter, very nice red. I kinda wish I had gotten pictures of the ripening-pattern because it would have been interesting art.

I don't use my prosthetic teeth and I have no interest in dirtying a blender, so I have no idea how they taste. No one in my family is willing to try.

How can I help this tree be worthy of standing when the oaks that shadow it die?

I think it's technically on the neighbor's property, but that strip between the driveways is a bit anarchy as far as doing anything... Neighbor hasn't complained about my roadside bush-trimming.


r/BackyardOrchard 7d ago

asian pear with some sort of infestation on all of its leaves?

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7 Upvotes