Fruit Trees

I love trees. In the desert a tree is a gift. We have a small fruit orchard: apricot, peach, pear, apple and plum trees. In lucky seasons we actually get some fruit! Here is a pic of the apricot tree in full bloom on a rare rainy day in Santa Fe. Just want to share.

Very nice.

Nice! My yard is blooming as well, got an ornamental that always has about a dozen butterflies and 3-4 bees on it.

I love the idea of fruit trees. I grew up on the Texas coast, where there is one kind of tree--Live Oak. My family had fruit trees in Lousiana; figs, mayhaws, pears, everything. It was like magic to me as a boy.

When I grew up we had 2 apple trees, a peach tree, a cherry tree with 4 different varieties of cherries on it, and a bunch of ever bearing raspberries in the back yard. fond memories........

Grew up in Las Vegas with apricot, apple, pear, plum, and fig trees, with raspberry and blackberry bushes. Hard to find fruit that tastes quite the same, though that may be due to sentimental reasons. Always having a stock of homemade jams in the cupboard is something I miss.

We're working on growing some in our yard. We planted an italian plum, a cherry, blackberry, some currents and a couple blueberries 2 years ago. We added two figs last year. We're hoping to get a usable supply of berries finally this year. My wife's parents have a bunch of fruit trees and berry bushes; we hope to catch up!

WildBoar said:

... We added two figs last year.

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What is the deal with fig trees? The old Italians here in Jersey go crazy trying to grow fig trees. Problem is the climate or shall I say the winter is not conducive to growing fig trees here. So what do they do? Every fall they wrap them in blankets and what nots and cover them with garbage cans. Then in the spring they uncover them and wait until the trees start producing figs. It's funny. As soon as one of the guys sees the little figs budding, he'll start making phone call to tell his buddies he's got some figs growing. This will go on back and forth all season. Then they'll brag on who had the best figs or the most off their trees.

I LOVE fresh fruit!!! But fruit trees are a royal PITA. We have maybe 5 apple trees, 3 -4 cherry trees, 3 pear trees, 2-3 plum trees, a nectarine tree, 5 gigantic blue berry bushes, several grape vines and we're being over run by blackberry bushes. Way too much maintenance for me. Ugh.

-AJ

99Limited said:

What is the deal with fig trees?

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I dunno. We just really love fresh figs, and they are hard to find in the local stores. And if you do find them, they are often not ripe enough, and they cost ~$1/ ea. Over the last couple of years we have found two local garden plots where figs were flourishing, so we figured we would give them a shot ourselves.

I had never seen a fresh fig until I was ~25, and we took a trip to Italy. We visited some distant relatives who lived in a secluded mountain town, and they served us a large bowl of fresh figs from their trees. I was hooked for life!

I have two big avocado trees that grow at most 1-2 avocados a year. I need to figure out what to give them as a supplement to get them to produce.

Oh man, I wish I could have avocado trees.

here's a link to the California Avocado Commission's website. Troubleshooting tips are half way down the page:
http://www.avocado.org/grow-your-own-tree/

swarfrat said:

Oh man, I wish I could have avocado trees.

here's a link to the California Avocado Commission's website. Troubleshooting tips are half way down the page:
http://www.avocado.org/grow-your-own-tree/

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Thanks

Deckhand said:

I have two big avocado trees that grow at most 1-2 avocados a year. I need to figure out what to give them as a supplement to get them to produce.

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you need a male and a female tree to cross pollinate otherwise little to no fruit. Duh!

sachem allison said:

you need a male and a female tree to cross pollinate otherwise little to no fruit. Duh!

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I have no idea on determining sex on our trees. I have read conflicting info on them having both sexes, getting pollinated from neighboring trees, etc. The two trees are definitely over twenty years old and they flower at least once or twice a year. Only one tree ever has an avocado and it's usually only one or two maximum. Would love o figure something out. We make avocado dip all summer with cilantro, hot peppers, etc.

just saying it takes two to make babies.lol i was just messing with you, but you do need to have both sexes and plenty of water, we used to use grass fertilizer as, the nutritional balance is close to what the need. My mother is a nursery woman i'll give her a call and find out what she says.

sachem allison said:

just saying it takes two to make babies.lol i was just messing with you, but you do need to have both sexes and plenty of water, we used to use grass fertilizer as, the nutritional balance is close to what the need. My mother is a nursery woman i'll give her a call and find out what she says.

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Sounds good. Thanks.