Would appreciate any and all advice on beginning an orchard on property we just purchased. We are in Virginia, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge. Our property is totally wooded except for about 2 acres which was an old pond site (we hope to also rebuild the pond on a smaller scale).

Any recommended nurseries? Other tips?

Thank you all so much.

-- Alana Potter (lester@erols.com), July 18, 2000

Answers

If you don't know what varieties to plant with what, I'd advise you to do your reading! My hubby & I have bought up several lots in, our town & have cleaned them up & planted orchards. But, we have a friend who decided to plant fruit trees on his land--but had no clue you have to plant different varieties to pollinate, each other. We have had the best fortune at buying fruit trees from sellers in our own area--what we have bought & had shipped to us, we were not pleased as we were not able to pick out our own trees, be able to see the size, what they looked like & their shape, etc. We keep adding more trees as we buy up more land. It is wonderful to buy a place that is full of junk & looks awful--clear it off--work the land & plant fruit trees, & flowers--it is such a positive from the junk!!! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), July 18, 2000.

The best trees we've bought came from the local Big Lots store or lumber yard or even the local nursery. The ones I have mailordered I had trouble with. They have either died or are not thriving like the cheap ones (that were bigger and healthier).

Buy a book (like "Your Edible Landscape" I think is the title) and taste every fruit at your local farmer's market and ask about the varieties.I like semi-dwarf or dwarf trees to allow me to more easily prune and care for them. And I can get more varieties in the same amount of space. Don't let all the chemical treatments get you down, you don't have to use them. There are organic methods, and books that cover them.

Try your extension office for free literature re: your area.

Good luck.

-- Anne (HT@HM.com), July 19, 2000.

When Pop began our small commercial orchard 30 years ago, we bought our trees from Stark Bros. in Louisiana, MO. Over the years, we put out about 2500 trees from them, maybe more. I've put Stark Bro. trees at every house I've lived in (4), most are still growing strong. We are out of the orchard business now, but I'm planning to put out a dozen or so fruit trees in the spring - I'll be ordering from them again.

The prices seem high, but they are a well established firm, with good guarantees and knowledgable folks who can help you with your questions. The one time that they ran out of a sale variety that I had ordered, they sent me a much nicer (bigger) tree in a different variety - I liked it so well that I ordered more of that variety later!

Their catalogs have a great deal of information on spacing and pollinators. One thing that you need to decide is whether you want dwarf, semi-dwarf or standard trees. I like the dwarf trees for ease of care and convienence, but they do not live nearly as long as the others. Standard trees live longest. If you are thinking about a comercial venture, Stark's has folks who will sit down with you and help you figure out what you need. They also have catalogs that are for commercial growers only.

Local folks can tell you what grows best in your area. I stubbornly continue to attempt to grow apricots - no luck! Ditto blueberries. Figure out what fruits that your family enjoys to decide how many of what variety to plant. We like pears fresh and canned - 2 semi-dwarf trees supplies our needs - and the hornets! I plan to plant at least 4 dwarf peach trees for our family of four as we like them fresh, canned, frozen and in jam. I like Elberta Queen and Red Haven peaches and Pop wants a white one. Can't remember what variety of Nectarines we picked out, but we'll have two of them. For apples, I'll get Gold Delicious, Blushing Gold, Prima and Gala - maybe an Arkasas Black. Pie cherries will be Montmorency and sweet cherries will be Queen Anne.

Good luck with your orchard - home grown fruit is a far cry from what you get at the store!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), July 19, 2000.

Don't plant anything until you research the issues involved with having your own orchard. Keeping up with my small orchard (now 13 apple, 1 pear) takes a lot of work. They grow faster than I can prune, every bug, pest, wilt, blight and mold has attacked some or all of my trees and I'm hardpressed to pick all the apples when ready for pickin and can't afford to hire any help. On the positive side my wife makes the best apple pies, we now have a cider mill/press and I'm looking forward to our own cider, and there is a great deal of satisfaction growing your own apples. I agree with the above comment concerning drawf vs. standard trees and I have also been satisfied buying from Stark Brothers. Good luck.

-- Robert (STBARB@usa.net), July 19, 2000.

Stark Brothers is good, but a little too expensive.

Bear Creek Nursery is the best mail order, with a very large selection of fruit and nut trees, reasonably priced.

-- Leo (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), July 21, 2000.

Sorry to take so long, but it is, after all, the busy season. It takes quite a lot of time to care for the garden, the animals, and turn 90 or so chickens from eating machines to freezer fare! Anyway, my favorite is Miller Nurseries in Canandaigua, NY. A very fine selection, and they will replace (free) anything that dies. Kelly is good, too, but I like Miller's. They also have a fine selection of "antique" apples, and may I suggest Roxbury Russet - the best tasting apple you have ever encountered, and virtually extinct in any commercial operation. Not "pretty" enough for the yuppies. I further suggest semi-dwarfs. They bear sooner that standards, and bear well. Easier to care for. Dwarfs, in my opinion, are less desireable because of lower production and a tendency to be "brittle". Good luck!

-- Brad (Homefixer@SacoRiver.net), July 24, 2000.

Alana, Don't forget nut trees and bushes. Many of them are less trouble than fruit trees, easier to store and have more profit potential. There are some excelent organizations to help folks learn about growing nut trees. Northern Nut Growers Association (who have a wonderful web site) is a fine example.

Take a look at my own web site at www.redfernfarm.com for sugestions of easy to care for, possibly profitable fruit and nut trees (Profitable Windbreaks and Shelterbelts). The species listed are for the Midwest, but your climate in Virginia is pretty similar.

Have fun, the planning and selection are very crucial.

-- Kathy (redfernfarm@lisco.com), July 25, 2000.

Hi, Alana. Just one other consideration regarding fencing and orchards: I had a dozen nice apple trees and ten pears, holding their own for two years, but in just one short afternoon.....

The goats loved them to death.

-- Rachel (rldk@hotmail.com), July 25, 2000.

And deer can love them to death, too, especially in a wooded area. It would be wise to plan ahead of time to fence the area well enough to keep the deer out, because you will have to do it eventually anyway, and if you don't do it first, you will end up replacing your trees. Other domestic dangers to a young orchard are sheep and geese. Once the trees are mature, neither species will damage them, but goats will always be a danger, as they love bark! My advice as far as a source for your trees would be to choose a nursery as close to your land as possible, as plants aclimate to their area, and may not do as well farther north or south. Be skeptical of the nursery stock sold at the local department stores, etc., in the spring, because they get whatever the chain managed to buy in bulk, and it often is not suited locally. In our area, they persist in selling red and yellow delicious apples, not-hardy peach varieties, and sweet cherries, none of which like this climate very well! So do some research. Trees aren't cheap, and it's a shame to lose that investment.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), July 25, 2000.