Strategy for Selecting Trees for the Home Orchard
TThe following general principles are usually followed in developing a home orchard:
Plums
Plums are the “go to” fruit variety for the home orchard in the Inland Empire of Eastern Washington and North Idaho because they have the fewest pests and diseases of any fruit and are the most cold-hardy of all of the stone fruits. They are easy to grow and care for, fruit young (precocious), bear heavily, and live long. For early varieties consider Methley, Oullins, Oblinajo, Black Ice, and Shiro (in that order with Methley as the best of the early varieties). For mid-season consider Luisa, Castleton, Monsieur Hatif, Mt Royal, Bavay's Gauge, and Victory (all are excellent with Luisa as a “must have” variety). There are so many good late season varieties that it is hard to select a best (or even give a ranking of the top 3- so eventually get them all). Consider Valor, Vision, Coe's Golden Drop, Petite d’Agen, President, Empress, and Kirks Blue. If you want a tart plum for making jam consider the Shropshire Damson.
Where to buy plums: COSTCO usually has a pretty good selection of plums, including multi-variety trees. There are four excellent sources for mail-order plums: Burnt Ridge Nursery (the best price, lots of varieties, short shipping distance), Raintree Nursery (also short shipping distance with a huge selection to choose from), One Green World (also short shipping distance and pretty good selection) and Cummins Nursery (excellent selection but shipping is higher since trees are coming all the way from NY). Links to these are down below.
There are a growing number of plum crosses available which share the desirable characteristics of plums. Although many nurseries carry them, one of the larger selections is on the Burnt Ridge site under the section on “Plums”, then select “Plum Crosses.”
Apples
Every home orchard has to have a selection of apples. Although easy to grow, long-lived, and productive, they do have their insect problems. If you get them on dwarfing rootstock they also can bear young (dwarfing rootstock usually promotes precociousness). COSTCO usually has a good selection of apples and most of the nurseries below at the end of this article have a large section on apples. Select varieties that give you a long season (early, mid, and late varieties) that aren’t commonly available in the store or on Greenbluff. Here are a few of the apples that I have gotten from COSTCO that I like: Zestar is an excellent early apple. For mid-season consider Red Wealthy, Sweet Sixteen, and State Fair. Liberty, Jonathan, and Ginger Gold are excellent as late season apples. An apple that I really like that I had to get from a catalog is the Cox Orange Pippin. The catalogs have some of the old apple varieties that had special characteristics like being able to store till spring in a root cellar, for making cider, or for baking (my favorite mail-order places for these kinds of apples are Burnt Ridge, Raintree, Cummins, and Fedco).
[Second Thoughts: The first version of this section on apples was written two years ago. Since then we have had two seasons (spring 2018 and spring 2919) serious outbreaks of fire blight that seriously harmed apple trees that were fire blight susceptible, but leaving apples that are fire blight resistant barely touched. If you are purchasing apples for our area (Eastern Washington and North Idaho) you should consider getting fire blight resistant varieties on fire blight resistant rootstock such as the Geneva numbered series (eg., G. 30, G. 222, etc). If you are order from a one the the excellent mail-order places listed below they will usually specify if a variety is fire blight resistant. You can also google "fire blight resistant apple" to get some lists. Here is an example from the Organge Pippin website: https://www.orangepippintrees.com/search.aspx?ps=42https://www.orangepippintrees.com/search.aspx?ps=42
The fire blight resistant rootstock doesn't make the scion variety resistant, but does impute some resistance which can reduce the effects of a fire blight outbreak in bad years. The best combination is a cultivar that has its own resistance on a Geneva series rootstock. Check out the Cummins Nursery listing because they have been fighting the fire blight issue longer than we have in Washington and North Idaho and their nursery descriptions reflect attention to this issue. For more on fire blight, check out the WSU Tree Fruit website: http://treefruit.wsu.edu/crop-protection/disease-management/fire-blight/ ]
Pears
Pears have the same desirable characteristics as apples, but diversity in pears in home orchards tends to be less than other kinds of fruits. But this need not be. There are some wonderful varieties available to the home orchardist that are not found in the local grocery store or at Greenbluff. For early pears (late summer) consider the Clapp’s Favorite, Red Clapp’s Favorite (also under the label of Kalle or Starkrismson), Summercrisp, and Sunrise. Early fall varieties include the Luscious, Seckel (“Sugar Pear),” Comptesse Clara Frijs, Starking Delicious (only available from Stark Brother), Flemish Beaurty, and Red Sensation. Also check out the Colette at Stark Brothers, which ripens over a long season. For late pears I consider the Warren a “must have” variety. Another late variety I like is the Orcas. I don’t try to keep any of these way into spring because the grocery stores have the usual commercial varieties that that takes us clear to summer with controlled atmosphere storage.
You may find the Red Clapp’s Favorite and the Red Sensation at COSTCO some years. The other will be at one of the other mail order places listed below. Select semi-dwarf as the size and it will likely be on a OHxF87 rootstock which is somewhat precocious and disease resistant.
There are a lot of kinds of Asian pears and I am growing at least a dozen of them. I haven’t figured out whether any of them are better than any other, yet. For me they don’t have the rich complex flavor of European pears mentioned above. COSTCO usually has some Asian pears and most of the nurseries at the end of this article have many verities. Read the descriptions and look for ones that give you early, mid, and late season harvest. The rootstock is likely to be OHxF97 which gives a tree about the size of a European pear on an OHxF87.
[Second Thoughts: As was the case for the section on apples above, the first version of this section on pears was also written two years ago. Since then we have had two seasons (spring 2018 and spring 2919) serious outbreaks of fire blight that seriously harmed pear trees that were fire blight susceptible, but leaving the pears that are fire blight resistant barely touched. If you are purchasing pears for our area (Eastern Washington and North Idaho) you should consider getting fire blight resistant varieties (pears are usually on OHxF 97 or 87 roostock that have fire blight resistance). If you are order from a one the the excellent mail-order places listed below they will usually specify if a variety is fire blight resistant. You can also google "fire blight resistant pear varieties" to get some lists.
Apricots
I love apricots. But in our growing zone they are iffy. Late frost can give you only a handful of fruit, even if you have an incredible bloom and great pollination weather (warm enough to have lots of bees working the blossoms). And then there are the diseases and pests. But some of us are eternal optimists and keep planting them in hopes of everything working together for at least one season of delightful eating. The "Gold series" (Goldstrike, Goldbar, and Goldrich) are all outstanding (not as available as other varieties--but check Van Well and Dave Wilson), as is the Rival (available from several sources), the Wilson Delicious (only available from Stark Brother), and the Chinese Mormon apricot (available from several sources). Then if you really like apricots, but live in a cold micro-climate (you have lots of late spring frosts), get some of the cold-hardy varieties from Cummins Nursery in upstate-New York (they have cold-hardy varieties developed at the Canadian Harrow research center that usually have "Har . . . " in their name). Bob Purvis, in Homedale, Idaho, is a fan of apricots that are hardy. He sells apricot scion wood from these varieties. Check out his listings for the 2020 grafting season at his website: https://purvisnurseryandorchard.weebly.com/scions.html On the list you will also find scions for sale for apples, pears, plums, peaches, and cherries. The website also has descriptions of the varieties that he has scions for (see "Fruit Varieties" menu choice over toward the right on his menu).
Peaches & Nectarines
I love peaches and nectarines. But in our growing zone they are iffy, just like apricots. Late frost can give you only a handful of fruit, even after an incredible bloom. And then there are diseases and pests. Does it seem like I am repeating myself? Yes, all the cautions for apricots listed above apply to peaches and nectarines. Some years COSTCO has a great selection of peaches and nectarines. Be sure and get a Red Haven (it is the standard for flavor and also the index variety for ripening order - i.e., -7 days means it ripens 7 days before the Red Haven and +9 means it ripens 9 days after the Red Haven). Look for the winter hardy ones like Reliance, Contender (maybe a cut above the others for our area according to something I recently read), Intrepid, Frost, Canadian Harmony, and any others that say they are winter hardy and have hardy blooms and are diseases-resistant. If you see a Flamin ’ Fury get it. The Flamin' Fury PF Lucky 13 is my favorite (ripens about same time as Red Haven), followed by Flamin' Fury PF 24 C Coldhardy, which comes on after PF Lucky 13. After you have gotten what COSTCO has, then check out peaches on the Van Well Nursery web site and get some others to extend you season as long as possible (that is, before Red Haven and after PF 24C).
Caution #1: Be sure and spray for peach leaf curl after leaf fall in the fall after defoliation (leaf drop) and before bud break in the spring (remember what I said above about diseases - well, peach leaf curl is your peach tree's worst nightmare - but easy to control if you spray in the late fall and again in the early spring).
Caution #2: Remember that all peaches bear on last year's wood. This means that you prune them quite differently than apples, pears, European plums, and cherries which bear on two-year old or order wood. You are not through pruning a peach tree until 50% of last year's growth (called one-year wood) is on the ground.
Cherries
O-o-o-h and I love cherries too. And so do the birds. And then there the pests and the diseases afflicting cherries. And don't forget the the late-frosts in our area. I had given up on cherries - mainly because the birds didn’t want to share - until I started reading the WSU website about training and pruning cherry trees. That reading has given me a new lease on life, at least as far as satisfying my craving for cherries. When you use some of the new methods for keeping cherry trees small you can put netting over them to keep the birds away. COSTCO usually has lots of verities of sweet cherries and one variety of tart cherry. These will be on rootstocks that give a full-sized tree so you will have to be vigilant in training pruning to keep them under control. But the COSTCO price is right (about half of what the good mail order places will charge - plus there is the shipping charge). The better route (but more expensive route) is to get your trees from one of the mail order nurseries on Gisela 5, 6, or 12 rootstock or on Krymsk 5 rootstock and follow the cherry tree training and pruning guidelines on the WSU website (new commercial orchards are usually on Gisela or Krymsk 5 rootstock).
Fruit Tree Nursery Websites (from near to far)
Burnt Ridge Nursery catalog request link:
https://www.burntridgenursery.com/inforequest.asp
Raintree Nursery catalog request link:
https://raintreenursery.com/catalog_requests
Cloud Mountain Nursery catalog request link: - free online - $2 hard copy
http://www.cloudmountainfarmcenter.org/index3.cfm?c1=0&c2=228&c3=228&pid=catalog&page=_p2
One Green World catalog request link:
https://onegreenworld.com/request-a-catalog/
Stark Brothers Nursery catalog request link:
https://www.starkbros.com/about/request-a-catalog
Cummins Nursery web site (not printed catalog):
https://shop.cumminsnursery.com/pages/ordering/price-schedule
Fedco Trees online catalog (no paper catalog):
https://www.fedcoseeds.com/forms/fedco_trees_catalog_2018_highres.pdf
Dave Wilson Nursery
http://www.davewilson.com/
Van Well Nursery
http://www.vanwell.net/
Seed Sources for your Vegetable Garden
Baker Creek Seed catalog request link:
https://www.rareseeds.com/request-catalogus/
Pine Tree Garden Seeds catalog request link:
https://www.superseeds.com/pages/catalog-request-form
Jung Seed catalog request link:
https://www.jungseed.com/RequestGardenSeedCatalog
- Span the whole ripening season. That is, select early-season, mid-season, and late-season varieties so that you are enjoying the fruit over as many weeks as possible.
- Select excellent varieties that are generally not available commercially. If you can get it in a store or at Green Bluff, then you don’t need to grow it in your home orchard.
- Select semi-dwarf trees in order to have a ladder-less home orchard with trees that are easy to pick from the ground.
Plums
Plums are the “go to” fruit variety for the home orchard in the Inland Empire of Eastern Washington and North Idaho because they have the fewest pests and diseases of any fruit and are the most cold-hardy of all of the stone fruits. They are easy to grow and care for, fruit young (precocious), bear heavily, and live long. For early varieties consider Methley, Oullins, Oblinajo, Black Ice, and Shiro (in that order with Methley as the best of the early varieties). For mid-season consider Luisa, Castleton, Monsieur Hatif, Mt Royal, Bavay's Gauge, and Victory (all are excellent with Luisa as a “must have” variety). There are so many good late season varieties that it is hard to select a best (or even give a ranking of the top 3- so eventually get them all). Consider Valor, Vision, Coe's Golden Drop, Petite d’Agen, President, Empress, and Kirks Blue. If you want a tart plum for making jam consider the Shropshire Damson.
Where to buy plums: COSTCO usually has a pretty good selection of plums, including multi-variety trees. There are four excellent sources for mail-order plums: Burnt Ridge Nursery (the best price, lots of varieties, short shipping distance), Raintree Nursery (also short shipping distance with a huge selection to choose from), One Green World (also short shipping distance and pretty good selection) and Cummins Nursery (excellent selection but shipping is higher since trees are coming all the way from NY). Links to these are down below.
There are a growing number of plum crosses available which share the desirable characteristics of plums. Although many nurseries carry them, one of the larger selections is on the Burnt Ridge site under the section on “Plums”, then select “Plum Crosses.”
Apples
Every home orchard has to have a selection of apples. Although easy to grow, long-lived, and productive, they do have their insect problems. If you get them on dwarfing rootstock they also can bear young (dwarfing rootstock usually promotes precociousness). COSTCO usually has a good selection of apples and most of the nurseries below at the end of this article have a large section on apples. Select varieties that give you a long season (early, mid, and late varieties) that aren’t commonly available in the store or on Greenbluff. Here are a few of the apples that I have gotten from COSTCO that I like: Zestar is an excellent early apple. For mid-season consider Red Wealthy, Sweet Sixteen, and State Fair. Liberty, Jonathan, and Ginger Gold are excellent as late season apples. An apple that I really like that I had to get from a catalog is the Cox Orange Pippin. The catalogs have some of the old apple varieties that had special characteristics like being able to store till spring in a root cellar, for making cider, or for baking (my favorite mail-order places for these kinds of apples are Burnt Ridge, Raintree, Cummins, and Fedco).
[Second Thoughts: The first version of this section on apples was written two years ago. Since then we have had two seasons (spring 2018 and spring 2919) serious outbreaks of fire blight that seriously harmed apple trees that were fire blight susceptible, but leaving apples that are fire blight resistant barely touched. If you are purchasing apples for our area (Eastern Washington and North Idaho) you should consider getting fire blight resistant varieties on fire blight resistant rootstock such as the Geneva numbered series (eg., G. 30, G. 222, etc). If you are order from a one the the excellent mail-order places listed below they will usually specify if a variety is fire blight resistant. You can also google "fire blight resistant apple" to get some lists. Here is an example from the Organge Pippin website: https://www.orangepippintrees.com/search.aspx?ps=42https://www.orangepippintrees.com/search.aspx?ps=42
The fire blight resistant rootstock doesn't make the scion variety resistant, but does impute some resistance which can reduce the effects of a fire blight outbreak in bad years. The best combination is a cultivar that has its own resistance on a Geneva series rootstock. Check out the Cummins Nursery listing because they have been fighting the fire blight issue longer than we have in Washington and North Idaho and their nursery descriptions reflect attention to this issue. For more on fire blight, check out the WSU Tree Fruit website: http://treefruit.wsu.edu/crop-protection/disease-management/fire-blight/ ]
Pears
Pears have the same desirable characteristics as apples, but diversity in pears in home orchards tends to be less than other kinds of fruits. But this need not be. There are some wonderful varieties available to the home orchardist that are not found in the local grocery store or at Greenbluff. For early pears (late summer) consider the Clapp’s Favorite, Red Clapp’s Favorite (also under the label of Kalle or Starkrismson), Summercrisp, and Sunrise. Early fall varieties include the Luscious, Seckel (“Sugar Pear),” Comptesse Clara Frijs, Starking Delicious (only available from Stark Brother), Flemish Beaurty, and Red Sensation. Also check out the Colette at Stark Brothers, which ripens over a long season. For late pears I consider the Warren a “must have” variety. Another late variety I like is the Orcas. I don’t try to keep any of these way into spring because the grocery stores have the usual commercial varieties that that takes us clear to summer with controlled atmosphere storage.
You may find the Red Clapp’s Favorite and the Red Sensation at COSTCO some years. The other will be at one of the other mail order places listed below. Select semi-dwarf as the size and it will likely be on a OHxF87 rootstock which is somewhat precocious and disease resistant.
There are a lot of kinds of Asian pears and I am growing at least a dozen of them. I haven’t figured out whether any of them are better than any other, yet. For me they don’t have the rich complex flavor of European pears mentioned above. COSTCO usually has some Asian pears and most of the nurseries at the end of this article have many verities. Read the descriptions and look for ones that give you early, mid, and late season harvest. The rootstock is likely to be OHxF97 which gives a tree about the size of a European pear on an OHxF87.
[Second Thoughts: As was the case for the section on apples above, the first version of this section on pears was also written two years ago. Since then we have had two seasons (spring 2018 and spring 2919) serious outbreaks of fire blight that seriously harmed pear trees that were fire blight susceptible, but leaving the pears that are fire blight resistant barely touched. If you are purchasing pears for our area (Eastern Washington and North Idaho) you should consider getting fire blight resistant varieties (pears are usually on OHxF 97 or 87 roostock that have fire blight resistance). If you are order from a one the the excellent mail-order places listed below they will usually specify if a variety is fire blight resistant. You can also google "fire blight resistant pear varieties" to get some lists.
Apricots
I love apricots. But in our growing zone they are iffy. Late frost can give you only a handful of fruit, even if you have an incredible bloom and great pollination weather (warm enough to have lots of bees working the blossoms). And then there are the diseases and pests. But some of us are eternal optimists and keep planting them in hopes of everything working together for at least one season of delightful eating. The "Gold series" (Goldstrike, Goldbar, and Goldrich) are all outstanding (not as available as other varieties--but check Van Well and Dave Wilson), as is the Rival (available from several sources), the Wilson Delicious (only available from Stark Brother), and the Chinese Mormon apricot (available from several sources). Then if you really like apricots, but live in a cold micro-climate (you have lots of late spring frosts), get some of the cold-hardy varieties from Cummins Nursery in upstate-New York (they have cold-hardy varieties developed at the Canadian Harrow research center that usually have "Har . . . " in their name). Bob Purvis, in Homedale, Idaho, is a fan of apricots that are hardy. He sells apricot scion wood from these varieties. Check out his listings for the 2020 grafting season at his website: https://purvisnurseryandorchard.weebly.com/scions.html On the list you will also find scions for sale for apples, pears, plums, peaches, and cherries. The website also has descriptions of the varieties that he has scions for (see "Fruit Varieties" menu choice over toward the right on his menu).
Peaches & Nectarines
I love peaches and nectarines. But in our growing zone they are iffy, just like apricots. Late frost can give you only a handful of fruit, even after an incredible bloom. And then there are diseases and pests. Does it seem like I am repeating myself? Yes, all the cautions for apricots listed above apply to peaches and nectarines. Some years COSTCO has a great selection of peaches and nectarines. Be sure and get a Red Haven (it is the standard for flavor and also the index variety for ripening order - i.e., -7 days means it ripens 7 days before the Red Haven and +9 means it ripens 9 days after the Red Haven). Look for the winter hardy ones like Reliance, Contender (maybe a cut above the others for our area according to something I recently read), Intrepid, Frost, Canadian Harmony, and any others that say they are winter hardy and have hardy blooms and are diseases-resistant. If you see a Flamin ’ Fury get it. The Flamin' Fury PF Lucky 13 is my favorite (ripens about same time as Red Haven), followed by Flamin' Fury PF 24 C Coldhardy, which comes on after PF Lucky 13. After you have gotten what COSTCO has, then check out peaches on the Van Well Nursery web site and get some others to extend you season as long as possible (that is, before Red Haven and after PF 24C).
Caution #1: Be sure and spray for peach leaf curl after leaf fall in the fall after defoliation (leaf drop) and before bud break in the spring (remember what I said above about diseases - well, peach leaf curl is your peach tree's worst nightmare - but easy to control if you spray in the late fall and again in the early spring).
Caution #2: Remember that all peaches bear on last year's wood. This means that you prune them quite differently than apples, pears, European plums, and cherries which bear on two-year old or order wood. You are not through pruning a peach tree until 50% of last year's growth (called one-year wood) is on the ground.
Cherries
O-o-o-h and I love cherries too. And so do the birds. And then there the pests and the diseases afflicting cherries. And don't forget the the late-frosts in our area. I had given up on cherries - mainly because the birds didn’t want to share - until I started reading the WSU website about training and pruning cherry trees. That reading has given me a new lease on life, at least as far as satisfying my craving for cherries. When you use some of the new methods for keeping cherry trees small you can put netting over them to keep the birds away. COSTCO usually has lots of verities of sweet cherries and one variety of tart cherry. These will be on rootstocks that give a full-sized tree so you will have to be vigilant in training pruning to keep them under control. But the COSTCO price is right (about half of what the good mail order places will charge - plus there is the shipping charge). The better route (but more expensive route) is to get your trees from one of the mail order nurseries on Gisela 5, 6, or 12 rootstock or on Krymsk 5 rootstock and follow the cherry tree training and pruning guidelines on the WSU website (new commercial orchards are usually on Gisela or Krymsk 5 rootstock).
Fruit Tree Nursery Websites (from near to far)
Burnt Ridge Nursery catalog request link:
https://www.burntridgenursery.com/inforequest.asp
Raintree Nursery catalog request link:
https://raintreenursery.com/catalog_requests
Cloud Mountain Nursery catalog request link: - free online - $2 hard copy
http://www.cloudmountainfarmcenter.org/index3.cfm?c1=0&c2=228&c3=228&pid=catalog&page=_p2
One Green World catalog request link:
https://onegreenworld.com/request-a-catalog/
Stark Brothers Nursery catalog request link:
https://www.starkbros.com/about/request-a-catalog
Cummins Nursery web site (not printed catalog):
https://shop.cumminsnursery.com/pages/ordering/price-schedule
Fedco Trees online catalog (no paper catalog):
https://www.fedcoseeds.com/forms/fedco_trees_catalog_2018_highres.pdf
Dave Wilson Nursery
http://www.davewilson.com/
Van Well Nursery
http://www.vanwell.net/
Seed Sources for your Vegetable Garden
Baker Creek Seed catalog request link:
https://www.rareseeds.com/request-catalogus/
Pine Tree Garden Seeds catalog request link:
https://www.superseeds.com/pages/catalog-request-form
Jung Seed catalog request link:
https://www.jungseed.com/RequestGardenSeedCatalog