[georgiarebel]

Dumb question here... Do dwarf fruit trees production dwarf fruit, or does that just mean a smaller tree?

The reason I ask is because I have a semi-dwarf bartlet pear that is full of fruit, but they aren't very big. (about the size of a baseball). Are they ready, or will they get bigger?

Also have two semi-dwarf granny smith apple. Only one has fruit. (Three small apples.)

Finally I have a semi-drarf elberta peach loaded with small fruit last year, but nothing this year.

:shrug:

Can I plant more trees (Zone 8) now, or should I wait until the fall or winter?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

GR


semi-dwarf bartlet pear

Fruit

Semi-dwarf granny smith apple

Semi-drarf elberta peach

 

[woodspirit]

Hi, they are all good questions. The short answer is no. They produce normal size fruit. If you make a pear into a Bonzai tree and it develops fruit, it will still have normal size fruit.
Looks like your pear and apples are fairly young and newly planted. Regular apples for instance can take ten to fifteen tears before fruiting. Dwarfs will usually produce well after about year three. One way to increase the size of your pears is to thin out the fruit that is already on the tree. One reason for less or no fruit this year may have to do with so many bees dying off from the use of Bayer pesticides. Another might have to do with a late frost that kills off the flowers in spring before they fruit. Be careful not to spray insecticides on your trees when they are in flower or that could kill off the pollinators also. Apples need another apple type or crabapple to cross with to get good fruiting. Most pears do too!

 

[georgiarebel]

woodspirit,

Thanks for the reply and great information.

Yes, the trees are still kind of young. I planted them about two years ago. Funny thing was when I brought them home the apples trees had a few apples about the size of you thumb on them already.

Didn't think about the bee problem this year. Read somewhere that 85% of the bee population has died off. Kind of scary when you think about food reproduction. Also read it was a serious enough problem to be briefed all the way to the Vice President.

I might have the trees planted too far apart. (20ft) That's why I questioned planting more this time of year.

I'll go ahead and thin them out and pay a little more attention to them with a drip irrigation system.

We did have a late frost this spring come to thing of it, and a pretty serious drought in April and May.

I just hope to beat the naysayers who've told me I can't grow fruit trees in my area. Most who don't even try, and then have the nerve to say I told you so. We'd like to have a nice mini orchard in that part of our property.

GR

 

[WisJim]

You should thin the fruit when it is the size of a quarter or smaller. Makes a bigger difference than doing it now. The fun thing (do I really mean FUN?) about fruit trees is that you are always learning something new, either from other folks or from your own experience.

 

[woodspirit]

Twenty feet is plenty close.
Drip irrigation is the best. Never spray the leaves of trees. It is unnecessary and really bad for them.
Whenever anybody tells you that you can't do something then you should always do it. Don't ever let anyone discourage you with words. Monkeys make all kinds of noises. Most aren't important.

 

[georgiarebel]

Actually ate one of the granny smith's tonight. Figured it would be hard as a rock, but it was good. Maybe a few years will give me some decent fruit.

GR

 

[chris30523]

Late frost here got all of the peaches. I have not had much luck with apples so far. I am going to try again this fall.We are in an apple growing area.I just have to find the right variety. Where did you get your fruit trees? The only place I have found close (and that is relatively speaking) is Lowes. I have mail ordered trees in the past and have not had much luck with them.

 

[chuckhole]

You are in GA? There is a large place there in GA that I have mailordered from called TyTy's. They are located at:

TyTy Nursery
4723 U.S. Hwy. 82 W.
P.O. Box 130
TyTy, GA. 31795

My place is in the Oak Savana region of East Texas (Zone 8) and is similar to GA. I try and order from the southern nurseries since they grow varieties that are more likely to survive here.

We plant new fruit trees ONLY during the month of February while they are still dormant. This gives them a chance for the roots to dig in before the tree starts to come out of the dormant stage. Do not fertilize during the first year and side dress them with mulch in the Fall.

If you have cedars near by, they can transfer "cedar rust" to your apple trees. We have not had much luck with apples. So far, only one tree out of seven planted in the past three years has survived. Three of five pears have survived and the Oriental Pear is going like gangbusters. We will keep trying. Two years of drought and one year of floods here in Texas..........maybe next year.

 

[VALENT]

hey Chuckhole, what varieties did you plant? Did you plant any figs? Mine are doing pretty good. Unfortunately, the raccoons really like them.

 

[chuckhole]

I have had over 50% of my figs die too. I do not remember the varieties of everthing. I will make a list this weekend. Since our place (between Centerville and Buffalo, TX) is 130 miles north of our house in Houston, we only see it on the weekends.

We have been planting fruits over the past three years and we will keep trying until we get them established. As you can see from the list, we are having to replace dead trees every year. Between our mistakes and the first two years of drought, we have learned a lot. We lost all 17 of our grapevines the first year. The hogs and the deer ate everything. Now we are putting 6'x6' fences up around each of our fruit trees and the vinyard will not be replanted until we finish the 8' fence around it and get the water pipe run over to it. I have another 400' feet to go and a creek to cross. But I just bought a used metal bridge this week (yes really......4'x24') for $300 so that is a major obstacle out of the way.

4-figs (5 died)
3-nectarines (3 died)
3-peaches (2 died)
2-appricot (2 died)
3-plum (2 died)
3-pear (2 died)
4-apple (6 died)
7-pecan (6 died)

 

[VALENT]

I cant believe you bought that bridge. I wanted to buy it. Take a picture of it sometime. I would like to see what I missed out on. Thats odd on your figs. Mine are doing well. But apples-- I dont know. One is dead the other two look like they want to die.

 

[pixelphotograph]

Georgia rebel I live in Macon area I'm on the border of zones 7b 8a.
I have pear and apple trees on my property.
dwarf and semi dwarf plants should produce fruit within 3-5 years. So its cool that you have fruit already on yours.
One person mentioned TYTY nurserys they are very good another good one is Johnson Nursery.
http://www.johnsonnursery.com/
They are in Ellijay Georgia and they have lots of great fruit trees that will grow in our area. They also can answer alot of your questions.

 

[chris30523]

Georgia rebel I live in Macon area I'm on the border of zones 7b 8a.
I have pear and apple trees on my property.
dwarf and semi dwarf plants should produce fruit within 3-5 years. So its cool that you have fruit already on yours.
One person mentioned TYTY nurserys they are very good another good one is Johnson Nursery.
http://www.johnsonnursery.com/
They are in Ellijay Georgia and they have lots of great fruit trees that will grow in our area. They also can answer alot of your questions.

I didn't know about them (johnson) they are more in my climate zone than Ty Ty. We have problem with cedar rust here too. I am going to check them out!!

 

[naturewoman]

Are you sure those are Bartlett pears? They aren't shaped right. They almost look more like an asian pear. I just took out a huge, old bartlett pear tree last year, and I got small to huge pears on mine (because I didn't thin the fruit) and watering is essential for large pears too...but they have the same shape as immature fruit as they do when fully matured. Yours are too round.

 

[MELOC]

i agree that you should thin them for better size, but it is too late. you may as well enjoy what you have this year. also, irrigation is important when the fruit is swelling...not so much now.

 

[georgiarebel]

Are you sure those are Bartlett pears? They aren't shaped right. They almost look more like an asian pear.

That's what the tag on the tree says unless it was labeled wrong.

pixelphotograph,

We're almost neighbors; we're down the road in Cochran. Thanks for the heads up on the Johnson nursery. Heard some good things about TYTY, but I'm always looking for other nurseries. We purchased these at Lowes. They haven't done bad, would probably get a better product at a nursery.

GR