Update. Fruit trees. 5.24.14

Q-1-8 Peach

Jonared apple

 Some of the fruit trees, especially ones planted this winter.

Q-1-8 peach growing nicely. Deer didn't eat it.  No leaf curl.  I expected that - most likely stored inside as a bare root tree, and rains in late winter didn't inoculate it with leaf curl.  My speculation.

Jonared apple.  Growing nicely.  Today I mulched.  Tomorrow I should install a wider deer cage.  The new shoots have almost reached the openings in this cage.

3-graft dwarf apple.  Growing nicely.  Not as fast as Jonared.  I spread the branches for a wide base.

Sugar Cane Jujube.  I thought this was dead.  No sign of life, no buds, until last week.  Now growing  Li Jujube.  Also looked dead, now growing fast.  Jujubes seem to make a late start.

3-graft dwarf apple

Jujube Sugar Cane new growth.

Jujube Li new growth

Fruit Tree Shipment. Raintree Nursery. Apples, Jujube, Peach. 1.30.14

 The order from Raintree Nursery came today.  I've ordered from them many times.  As always, very well packaged.  The packing is shredded used paper, so environmentally friendly.  Compostable.  Based on this and other experiences, Raintree is AAA in my book.

The trees are very nice size.  I'm very impressed.  A little taller than the box, so bent over a little.  Not injured, straighten up nicely out of the box.

The miltigraft apple is Rubinette, Queen Cox, and Pristine.  Each branch is labeled.  All are listed as disease resistant.  In this climate, disease resistant is important.

When I get them to Battleground, I'll plant them and addend this post.

The Jujube looks many-times larger than the ones I bough 18 months ago at One Green World.  Those barely grew last year, so are still only about a foot.  This will need a pollenizer, but it's a start.

Now anxious to get out and plant.  Later today.  Good day for planting, overcast, cool, not pouring rain.  Yet.

The peach is Q-1-8.  Again, bought for reported disease resistance.  So frustrating to lose peaches to leaf curl.

Packaged Fruit Trees.

I take photos of the roots and newly planted trees, so there is reference I can look back too.  It helps me remember what I've done.

Q-1-8 is listed as peach-leaf-curl resistant, tested at the Washington State testing station at Mount Vernon "A sweet and flavorful semi-freestone, white fleshed peach. Great for fresh eating. Ripens early August. Showy blossoms. Self fertile".  Most peaches are self fertile.  Not that they would say one is not sweet or flavorful  :-)

Of the Apples, all 3 sound interesting.

Apple Roots

3-way Multigraft Apple

Q-1-8 Peach Roots

Q-1-8 Peach

New Trees progress report.

Cherry "Almaden Duke"

Jujube "Li"

 Here is the progress report for new trees planted 2012 - 2013.  Most, but not all, are fruit trees.  They are young.  Not all are pictured here.  They are in no particular order.

Duke Cherry "Almaden Duke".  Now 6 ft tall.  Growth this year, 6".  Transplant from Vancouver yard last fall.

Ginkgo seedling from Illinois.  My dad's collected seed, tree is the smallest of the 3 I grew.  6ft tall, growth 0 inches.  There were tufts of new growth from each node, but no stem extension.  Leaves remain green so far.

Madrone.  New planting this fall.  6 ft tall.

Sweet Cherry "Vandelay".  New bare root from Raintree, started late this winter, before my surgery.  3'8" of which 2" is new.

Sweet Cherry Sweetheart.  As for Vandelay.  3'10" of which  1'2" is new.  Bloomed after planting, no fruit.

"Greenspire" Linden, South side of yard near house.  6'6" of which 1'6" is new. 

 Jujube "Li".  Planted as container plant last fall.  about 1 ft tall, of which 6" is new.

Pawpaw "NC-1".  All pawpaws were planted summer 2012.  2'7" of which 7" is new.

Pawpaw "NC-1"

Pawpaw "Rebecca's gold".  This tree was eaten by an animal, leaving only about 3".  It grew to 1ft 7" tall, 3 stems.

Pie Cherry "North Star".  Planted as container tree from Lowes, late Spring.  This tree is 5'4".  Growth occurred before I planted it, about 1 ft was new.  This tree had cherries when I bought it.

Pie Cherry "Montmorency".  6'3".  I moved this from Vancouver last summer.  18" of the growth was this year.  This tree bore cherries this year.

Wild Plums - grown from seeds summer / fall 2012.  Tallest is 4'3", next is 3', and smallest is 2'.

Peach "Indian Blood".    Now 4' tall, of which 1ft 4 inches is new.

Persimmon "Seijo".  Now 4'10", of which 15"  is new.  This was bare root planted this year, from Raintree.  The growth was nice, but there is a wound on the north side, narrow, extending much of the old stem.  The wound is about a mm wide.  I don't know what that bodes for next year.

Pawpaw "Rebecca's Gold"

 Persimmin "Nikita's Gift".  2'6" of which 2" is new.  Small but survived the first year.  Persimmons are considered difficult to start, but making it through the first year is encouraging. 

Peach "Charlotte"

Peach "Oregon Curl-Free"

 Peach "Charlotte".   6ft total, of which 2'2" is new.  Fast starting tree.  Moved from Vancouver last summer, started from bare root Spring 2012 as container tree.

Peach seedling and Grape "Price"

Peach "Oregon Curl Free".  Total 4'5" of which 3'7" is new.  Same issues as for "Charlotte"

Pawpaw "Sunflower"

Pie Cherry "Surefire"

Apple "Red Sentinel"  2'4" tall and "Golden Sentinel" 2'4" tall.  Minimal added height this year.  These were planted last summer.  The rootstock may be super-dwarfing. 

Linden "Greenspire" in front yard.  This was the first of the Lindens.  9"  tall of which 1" is new. 

Peach Seedling 8" - unknown parentage, suspect genetic dwarf.  Volunteer in vegetable bed, which was treated with compost.  If it develops leaf curl, I don't plan to keep it  The "Price" grape 8" was a cutting from my vines at home.

American Linden "Redmond"  5 ft tall, 4" is new.  This was container tree planted last winter.

Pear "Rescue"  4 ft tall, 9" is new, and pear "Orca, 4 ft, 9" is new.  Both bare root trees from Raintree, planted late winter 2013.

Apple "Spitzenberg" 3" of new growth on 6" of rootstock.  This was new graft, grown from new graft early Spring and given TLC with fertigation; Apple "Sutton's Beauty" 1'6" of new growth on 6" rootstock, same situation.

Chinese Haw "Red Sun", 4'8" of which 1" is new.   Bare root from "One Green World" nursery planted last fall. 

Plum "Stanley"

Sweet Cherry "Sweetheart"

Plum "Toka"

Mulberry "Illinois Everbearing", 6'4" tall, of which 11'1" is new this year.  Moved from Vancouver yard last fall.

Plum "Stanley" 7'6" of which about 2' is new.  Moved from Vancouver last year.

Plum "Toka" 5'10" tall, of which 1'4" is new and plum "Satsuma" 5'6" of which 3" is new, both bought as potted trees last summer on sale at Home Depot.

The Sourwood I planted in Sept, is 7'8" tall.

I've started applying a layer of compost around each tree.  Ran out, more expected with another truckload of compost this week.

Fruit Tree Order for Spring 2014

From Raintree Nursery.  I've made a habit of ordering way ahead.  Not wanting many additions this time.  Each has a specific reason -


Jujube Sugar Cane.  According to the web page very sweet but very thorny.  Raintree states they send 3 to 5 foot trees.  The trees I One Green World sent last year were 1 foot trees - pretty lame.  They survived and grew, and are now whopping 18 inch to 2 foot trees.  Look out Sequoias, your record is about to be broken!  So I want to jump start a little and add a taller one.  Different variety for novelty sake.  It's not clear if they need pollenizers.  According to CFRG, jujubes don't require cross pollenation, but according to Raintree they do.  CFRG states:  "Small to medium fruit which can be round to elongated. Extremely sweet fruit but on a very spiny plant. The fruit is worth the spines!".  Maybe the spines will frustrate marauding deer, or at least annoy them.  Pic is from Raintree site at link above


Q-1-8 Peach.  I researched many websites for a late blooming, peach leaf curl resistant variety.  I'm not sure about the late-blooming aspect, but Q-1-8 is described by most as quite leaf curl resistant.  Since I have 2 yellow-flesh varieties, this white-flesh variety will be a novelty.  It takes a few years to start bearing,  and I want to see if I can get enough peaches for a pie, from any variety.  Pic is from Raintree site at link above.  Kind of a cute name for a peach.  Rolls off the tongue....  but if it bears OK, resists peach leaf curl, and tastes good, that's all I need.

PrairieFire Crabapple.  To feed honeybees and provide pollen for other apple varieties.  DEscribed by Raintree as "A disease resistant, upright crabapple to 20' with reddish bronze leaves, pink flowers, and bright red 1/2' fruit loved by birds.".   WSU Extension states "Very resistant to apple scab, cedar-apple rust, fireblight and mildew."  Pics are from WSU Extension.  This might be the one I saw at Home Depot on sale, but that was similar size and I like the idea of buying from Raintree.  Raintree states they sell 4 to 6 foot trees.  If it was 6 foot it would be awesome.    Many of my spring blooming trees have white flowers, so one with pink or red would be a nice addition.

Fruit Trees. Mini Orchard.

Almaden Duke Cherry

Jujube in bee yard

Jujube in orchard

 Almaden Duke Cherry, I moved last summer.  At the time I wondered if it would survive, due to wilting.  Growing nicely.  Only a couple of cherries now.  That may be due to the late frost, which caused a lot of damage to other trees and vines.

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry

North Star Cherry

Sunflower Paw Paw

NC1 Paw Paw

Oregon Curl Free Peach

Indian Blood Peach

Charlotte Peach

Chinese Haw Red Sun

Seijo Persimmon

 Jujube.  I forget which of the two this is.  One is Li and the other is Coco.  From One Free World last summer.  Both are late to start, but now growing.  They have a lot of growing ahead before they amount to anything.   Not a good recommendation for the source.  Planted last fall.

Nikita's Gift Persimmin

One jujube is in the bee  yard, the other in the little orchard.  This fall the other may also be in the bee yard, to provide room for another plum or peach.







Illinois Everbearing Mulberry.  Whatever frost damage was there, it's recovered.  Soon it will need a bird net.

North Star Pie Cherry.  Thanks to the rainy week, it didn't lose a leaf or wilt after planting.  From Lowes.

Sunflower and NC1 Paw Paws.  growing nicely.  They seem to leaf out later than most other trees, about the same time as the jujubes and mulberry.

Oregon Curl Free Peach.  This little tree won't have peaches this year.  It is one of the least affected I've seen as far as Leaf Curl is concerned.  From One Green World last year.  So far, not very vigorous.  There is a summer ahead for growth.  Might make up for lost time.

Indian Blood Peach.  Minimal leaf curl.  Much less than most of the others.  This year I hope it recovers from the damage I did transplanting it from vancouver.  I lost most of the roots when I dug it up.  Surprised it survived.  Can't be disappointed at it for not having peaches this year - just survive and grow.  From Raintree.

Charlotte peach.  Supposed to be curl resistant. It's not.  Or not very.  What a mess.  I will need to research replacements.  I don't want to get stuck with another susceptible peach tree.  It's making a comeback with new growth.   Give it another year to see what happens.

Chinese Haw.  Growing nicely.  From One Green World.  Bare root planted last fall.

Seijo Persimmon and Nikita's Gift Persimmon.  Both growing nicely.  Bare root, planted this spring.  From Raintree.  They will need extra water all summer, because persimmons are said to have inadequate roots to support their tops, for the first year.

More fruit trees for the little orchard.

I bought some fruit trees, mail order, from One Green World. OGW is about a 2 hour drive from here. Not too far. I had them shipped ground freight.  It's fall, cool outside.  Figured they would survive the trip, and they did.

The trees were nicely packaged.

I think they did a great job preparing the trees for shipment.  There is also a male kiwi vine, more on that later.

No injuries that I can see. The jujube trees were smaller than I expected. I guess they will catch up. I also expected them to be bare root. They were container grown. Maybe the web site stated that and I missed it.  Despite small size, they look completely healthy.

I made a "mole basket" from chicken wire. I've learned my lesson. I think the wire will rust away in a couple of years. The openings are big enough for roots, for many years to come. A 10 year old root would fit through the chicken wire. By that time, the wire will be long rusted away.

Planted Jujube.  Mulched with compost.  Good time to plant.  Cool, rained yesterday, and started drizzling after I finished.

I bought 2 varieties: Li and Coco. I've never eaten a jujube. Apparently the fruit is plum sized, sweet, crispy like apples, with interesting flavors.

Jujube "Li", from OGW. There was no photo of "Coco", which was the 2nd one I bought.

According to the catalog, Jujubes grow to 8 to 10 feet tall.  Compact, nice size for a fruit tree. From the web site specialtyproduce.com "Thought to be native to Syria and China... primarily grown in China...ornamental small thorny tree...loves a dry and mild climate....grows in Mediterranean countries and has since biblical times. Chinese gardeners developed the small fruit until it became superior and dessert quality...now cultivated in Japan, Iran and Afghanistan...Other names for this fruit are Chinese date and tsao. "

Chinese Haw "Red Sun". Ning remembers Shan Zha (Chinese Haw) from northeast China, where they are native. Apparently the fruit is between cherry and plum in size. They look like crab apples, in the photo. I've never eaten one. From the OregonLive blog: "grows at a moderate rate to 20 feet tall...10-12 feet wide. Lobed, oaklike leaves...3/4-inch-diameter white flowers explode in May in finger-length trusses, followed by clusters of glossy crimson edible fruit that ripens in mid- to late October." They label Red Sun as "Da Mian Qii") From OneGreenWorld, where I bought the tree:

Chinese Haw "Red Sun" OGW states the tree bears the 2nd year from planting.

Planted. Had a brain spasm and forgot a mole basket for this one. Will probably be OK.

Little Orchard revisited

Now I'm thinking about adding another row. There is room. That would be 5 more fruit trees. Which types? Maybe... - Asian Persimmon? I can't get the idea of astringent American varieties out of my mind, even though, apparently, when fully ripe they are very sweet and not astringent. I need to research a bot more. I don't want one that needs a pollinator. Maybe Early Jiro? Pretty fruits, pic from One Green World. Black Sea Jujube. All of these pics are from One Green World. Li Jujube. Chinese Haw That leaves room for one mulberry, probably the same as I have at home, Illinois Everbearing. I love the flavor and the "everbearing" aspect is attractive. So far my home tree has minimal production but is only in its 3rd year.