edwin
gardener
Posts: 141
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Post by edwin on Mar 7, 2012 15:49:37 GMT -5
We are planning on putting in a mess of fruit trees. We were looking at purchasing from Green Barn and suffering some heart palpatations over the price. Well Mike H has placed us on the straight and narrow. We should use the resources available to see what is out there and where. So Help a couple of newbies out: Things We Want: (Can zone 5b with sometimes relatively cool summers) Asian Pear - exact variety not necessarly crucial - want 2 Apricot - want 1 exact varietynot necesarly crucial Peach - want Harrow Beauty + 1-2 other Cherry - want sour variety not necesarly crucial Aprium - would be interesting Damson Plum - want Shipova - want Kiwi Arguta, Kolomikta want Blueberry interested in varieties we do not have esp medium bush & low bush (we have blue crop, chippawa, blue ray, Jersey, Duke, Blue Gold) Haskap What do you think? <blockquote>For example, T&T Seeds sell 10 Nanking cherries for 25.95 vs Green Barn's 1 for $35. All of his shrub cherries are available elsewhere at much cheaper prices. And his haskap is definitely cheaper elsewhere. In fact, knowing first hand how easy it is to propagate haskap and honeyberry, his prices are theft. PM me about the haskap varieties you are getting and I may have some that I can send you.</blockquote> |
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Post by ottawagardener on Mar 7, 2012 17:06:30 GMT -5
That's a nice selection. Do you already have raspberry, currants/gooseberries and strawberries (assuming you like them of course). I wrote a list of resources I've found in Canada and I agree with you, Green Barn's prices are steep.
ttp://veggiepatchreimagined.blogspot.com/2012/01/sourcing-plants-and-seeds-part-iii.html
Is that what you were looking for? Some of these resources have waiting lists because they carry wanted and rare varieties. Silver Creek is an example.
Were you also looking for trade/seed/cuttings? I have some established apples that are good and some Italian type plums, some chums and lots of Ribes, haskaps and sundries though many are just being established at our new place.
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Post by ottawagardener on Mar 7, 2012 17:08:00 GMT -5
P.S. For what it's worth, I'm also on the lookout for peaches - both hardy and short season, cherry, hardy apricot and asian pear.
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Post by MikeH on Mar 8, 2012 6:35:32 GMT -5
Yeh, Ken Roth at Silver Creek has interesting stuff including Asian Pears. Sometimes you can get lucky with rootstock as well since he does some of his own grafting. If he's ordering a particular rootstock, you can piggyback onto his order for a small number. I'm getting 6 EMLA27's from him this year which I'll stool. Siloam Orchards also sells Asian pears and Damson plums. They aren't as expensive as Green Barn but they aren't cheap either. We've purchased apples, plums, and pears from them and have been quite satisfied with the product. They're a funky but neat operation. I like the idea of producing my own rather than buying. Start with the rootstock and get scion wood from GRIN-CA. I haven't tried GRIN-CA yet and won't this year since I already have more on my plate than I can eat. Michel tells me though that they are accessible. Peaches, pears, sweet cherries, sour cherries, hybrid cherries. (Sorry Telsing but you did ask so I'm not contributing to you addiction.) For pears and peaches, you can get rootstock at Golden Bough Tree Farm. They don't call then rootstock but that's what harbin pear, bailey and Chui-Lum Tao peaches are. The Manchu cherry that Golden Bough sells is often called Nanking Cherry. Nanking cherries were one spectacular surprise for us last year. I'm really looking forward to them this year, weather gods permitting. T&T Seeds is probably your best bet for getting much of what you are looking for - Arctic kiwi, manchurian apricot (if you want to go the grafting route), cherries (especially the University of Saskatchewan Romance series of cherries). They have a very hardy plum - Pembina which we bought from them in 2008. It teased us with some blossoms last year so we are opening that this will be the first year that we see fruit. Shipova is the one thing on the list that you can only get in Canada from Green Barn. Shipova is usually grafted onto pear although aronia is also used. I'm going to try grafting some shipova scion wood onto my Harbin pears to see what happens. |
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edwin
gardener
Posts: 141
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Post by edwin on Mar 8, 2012 17:14:10 GMT -5
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Post by ferdzy on Mar 8, 2012 17:44:03 GMT -5
I'm not seeing any kiwi at T&T; what am I missing?
We were originally looking at Green Barn for Kiwi because they had named clones. That was last year and this year, when we are ready to buy, they only seem to be listing them by the species. /mutter, grumble. We do want both arguta and kolomikta and I have to admit I was hoping for named clones. I suspect I will take what I can get though.
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Post by MikeH on Mar 8, 2012 21:00:16 GMT -5
Click on Fruits & Trees, then on Misc. Fruit, then on Arctic Kiwi Collection. There are a number of named varieties but the only one that I've seen with any frequency is Issai which is reputedly self-fertile. I'd love to be able to confirm that but ours is very slow to establish itself. Perhaps this year (it's third) will be different as we'll be planting a male plant near it. |
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Post by ottawagardener on Mar 21, 2012 9:46:22 GMT -5
Our Issai is taking its sweet time too MikeH. This is its third year (I believe) or maybe fourth and its at the start of its second growing year at our new place. Hoping for that kiwi rain I've heard so much about. I'll probably plant another one close by to increase the fertilization possibilities.
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Post by steev on Mar 21, 2012 10:40:58 GMT -5
Looking at my arguta cuttings that took, Dumbarton Bay, Chang Bai Giant (males) and Jumbo, Meeder PK (females) were the most vigorous/successful. Issai, at three, is a year older than the others.
Kolomiktas Nahodka and Krupnoplodna are also two years.
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Post by MikeH on Apr 4, 2012 8:41:59 GMT -5
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Post by steev on Apr 4, 2012 10:54:46 GMT -5
Woops! I just realized I conflated Dumbarton Oaks with Belfast Bay, both having done well.
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