Some pictures of my orchard

[grunt]

Bunkie: Let the frost touch your crabapples. They will always have that tart underlay, but the frost will give it a nice sweetness kick as well.
Biorag: You probably have the right idea of it being used more as an ornamental in Europe. It's a very small apple, and is usually canned up whole, stem, seeds, and all, as it is far too small to peel or core. Makes a great addition to an apple pie when fully ripe. Green they are very sour.

[mnjrutherford]

IPP on Steroid?!? Is that a good thing Val? I'd love the seed! You seem bound and determined to put me into the nursery business woman!

I'm interested to see what they are like BioRag. Sounds like you have a tremendous orchard. I remember the olive orchard in Mallorca when I was young. They were so beautiful. Almond orchards in spring as well.

Tell me, how would you propogate figs? We have a small one called "Brown Turkey" which is supposed to be native to our area. I've heard that there is a difference between American and European figs but I don't recall what it is. Something to do with where the fruit "occurs"?

Dan, as a child I've had home canned crabapples and remember them with relish. I've been hoping to track down a tree that would be both a pollinator for our apple trees as well as useful for the fruit. Thanks for the tip on frosting the fruit for sweetness.

[Alan]

I just wanted to let everyone here know that I am loving reading this thread and dreaming about the future!

[biorag]

Thank you my friends for your interest.
This thead becomes more and more interesting because of you.

Grunt :
Thank you, it’s always interesting to read you, I’ll try it ! My daughter has one in her garden so I can propagate it.

MnjRutherforf :
I have an old orchard ( 1 acre) and an essential (?) one where I live with nearly 40 fruit trees.
This plum tree is in my old orchard (16 km from home). I’ll think to take a picture the next time I go to it.

The easiest way to propagate your fig tree is the layering. That works very well. This one I did this morning will be rooted at spring and ready to be separated from the “mother plant”.

I never try it, but the air layering works well too.
With cuttings in January-february you can do like this : (It’s in French but they are many pictures)
www.greffer.net/?p=388
…. and an another advanced method using bleach at the beginning
www.greffer.net/?p=42
You can process the same way in july “in green”
www.greffer.net/?p=55

So I think it’s possible to send cuttings prepared with the advanced method with wet paper and plastic.
I don’t know the difference between American and European figs. If you find it, I’m interested to know what.

Alan the more dreamers we are, the best.

[silverseeds]

This is definitely the tastiest thread here. Oh man I cant wait until I have some nice fruit trees.

Thanks for the pictures biorag truly inspiring.

[bunkie]

biorag, i sent you a PM on the peach and figs. do let me know what you might like or be looking for in return.

thanks dan for the frost tip. they usually, like the plums need a bit of frost to ripen completely. this particular crabapple is two years old. not sure how much seed i will get out of the two little fruits, but will send what i can. it's way to small for cuttings, yet.

i wanted to add that we make crabapple jelly! it always comes out a nice rose hue. we had a large crabapple tree when we moved here, but the goats...grrrr...it's no longer...

biorag, thanks for the info on propagating figs. very interesting! we have two one year old Brown Turkey Fig trees, and one has two fruit on it...i know, i should remove them, but haven't....they sure are a pretty plant.

[mnjrutherford]

Totally fascinating links BioRag! I understand just enough French to understand what I don't understand from the photos. WOW! I'm going to try this out. The photos are wonderful and I appreciate the time you put into them.

I feel for you regarding the goat Bunkie! How the heck do they take down a large tree?

To all out there. I'm going to try making the fig tree "sprouts" from BioRag's links. Expect a report later. With luck, I'll be able to offer some results in my catalog!

OH! Nearly forgot, what about trying these methods with hazelnuts and blueberries BioRag?

[plantsnobin]

Bunkie, could you tell us more about your figs? I have a Chicago Hardy that I keep in a large pot in an unheated greenhouse. As expensive as they are, I have been chicken to plant outside, though I am taking cuttings and will experiment next year with them. Mine had one fruit develop this year, and I just had to 'pet' it, knocked it off before it was ripe. Oh well, there is always next year.

[biorag]

Sept 14, 2009 3:15:39 GMT -5 silverseeds said:

This is definitely the tastiest thread here. Oh man I cant wait until I have some nice fruit trees.

Thanks for the pictures biorag truly inspiring.

Thank you Silverseeds.
When I opened the thread, i could not imagine you found it so interesting.
I'll send the seeds in october or november. For now, I harvest barrels of seeds.

[biorag]

Sept 14, 2009 8:58:09 GMT -5 bunkie said:

one has two fruit on it...i know, i should remove them, but haven't

I also know that ....and I do like you !

Sept 14, 2009 9:26:07 GMT -5 mnjrutherford said:

Totally fascinating links BioRag! I understand just enough French to understand what I don't understand from the photos. WOW! I'm going to try this out. The photos are wonderful and I appreciate the time you put into them.


OH! Nearly forgot, what about trying these methods with hazelnuts and blueberries BioRag?

Thank you MnjRutherford.
With hazelnuts, you can do the same, but you can't bind the branches easily, so you can do like this : (earthing up ? cépée in french)
www.jardinbrico.com/jb_images/fiches/ARBRES_ARBUSTES/1188_Marc_butt/300/01_450.gif

... with blueberries, i don't know.

[mnjrutherford]

Karen, your comment about having to "pet" you fig cracks me up cause just yesterday Tommy (the 7 year old) came in with the second fig in his hand and said "I just had to touch it and now it's in my hand!" At least he ponied up a share of the thing!

[biorag]

I googled ...
... with blueberries it works. They say to do that in summer.

[grungy]

Jo,
you sound like that (a nursery business) would be a bad thing. 8>0. Just wait until next year if you think you are going into the nursery business. By next year our trees will be that much larger and hopefully producing a lot more fruit from which to harvest pits and pips. <silly grin>

[mnjrutherford]

Jeepers Val, it would be great except... what about everything else?!?!?

HOWever, we bought a new 24" chainsaw today. AND we got it from a garden center. We are making friends with the owners, very nice folks. I asked the wife if they could take and sell some trees if I were to supply them. She says it would depend on the size of the trees. So, maybe, if I can nail down a source for the buckets and stuff, I could make a few extra dollars selling trees that for these parts could be considered rather exotic. THIS would be a good thing!

hmm... something else came out of that exchange that I wanted to comment on, but I can't remember... OH NOT the exchange, we got a Miller's Nursery catalog and they have Lapin cherries in it. I had never heard of Lapin cherries until I got your last package and hadn't had time to ask you or do any research. So the data was VERY interesting and now I'm really looking forward to seeing these babies take off. How bad would it be to cut down the neighbors forest and replant it with cherries?!?!? ROTFL

[grungy]

Just don't get caught and I would start on the opposite side from your place just in case they noticed. <goofy grin>