Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Nov 01, 2007 11:22 am Hi all
I saw these trees at a local market about 8 years ago for the first time and I've wanted to buy some ever since but our backyard is just tooo small and I'm a terrible gardner if things are in pots (I just seem to forget about things and they die)... Anyway I want to be able to grow my own fruit when we finish our new home and I've already been planning out the garden etc - and with the water restrictions around and in NSW with Basix, I have to keep the garden design with those things in mind - so where I'd love an orchard of fruit trees I thought I would have to reduce that to 1 or maybe 2 trees due to the fact that most fruit trees are rather thirsty little critters! not to mention I wasn't looking forward to having to net 6-8 individual trees each season! ... then I remembered the Fruit Salad Tree's ... so now once the house is finished, I'm going to order tree's that have up to 8 different fruits grafted onto them (probably an 8 graft stone fruit tree, a 6 graft citrus tree and a 6 graft apple tree)- therefore technically I get an orchard in a smaller fruit tree.. plus I only have to net (or build an enclosure) for 3 trees (but I get 20 different fruits!).. and they all fruit at different times of the year to avoid gluts and to reduce the pressure on the tree! http://www.fruitsaladtrees.com/ They are an Aussie, family run company - and thats got to also be a good thing right ! Fiona Re: An orchard of fruit trees v's The Fruit Salad tree 2Nov 01, 2007 11:32 am I will be getting some next year that is for sure.... I think the wine barrel option will be good for me, as I will get them free....
Multi Apples and Citrus minus the grapefruit would be good, I think also the Multi Nashis sound delicious too... So three half barrels for me.... Gav & Vanessa Building In Melbourne (Sth East Suburbs) http://www.arkraider.blogspot.com/ Rawdon Hill Construction - Canterbury Heritage Re: An orchard of fruit trees v's The Fruit Salad tree 3Nov 01, 2007 11:32 am What an excellent topic!! Re: An orchard of fruit trees v's The Fruit Salad tree 5Nov 01, 2007 11:47 am Remember than you can request certain fruits - but the graft doesn't always take. That is, they graft all of the varieties on - but some don't survive - so they try and do the best they can to give you your request. Re: An orchard of fruit trees v's The Fruit Salad tree 6Nov 01, 2007 12:34 pm will look into this as we were wanting to put a couple of fruit trees in the back yead Building again . . with Redink Pre-start 04/12 Keys - 03/13 Finishing off. . . Painting/Floor Tiles/Carpet - 04/13 Walk In Robe/Lighting/Blinds and Moving 05/13 Gates/Front Landscaping / Pool 05/13 Re: An orchard of fruit trees v's The Fruit Salad tree 7Nov 01, 2007 8:50 pm Have a look at espalier folks. Training a tree grow along the fence to take advantage of the suns energy for the day and lots less foliage to feed and water.
Steve. Re: An orchard of fruit trees v's The Fruit Salad tree 8Dec 01, 2007 12:00 am have anyone got the fruit salad tree? i know nothing about gardening and not sure whether or not i should get something like this later on. I need something that doesn't die easily and need little maintenance. Or should I not go with any fruits then and go with something else that will live?
Absolutely love the idea of it. Re: An orchard of fruit trees v's The Fruit Salad tree 9Mar 13, 2009 11:34 pm Hi all,
Was just checking out this forum and had to jump in here! I have a fruit salad tree, have had it for about 8 months. Mine is 4 citrus- lemon, lime, orange and mandarin. It is growing slowly, but I am finding that the lemon one is taking over. They did warn me to keep the vigorous branches trimmed, which I am trying to do. I have trimmed it quite severely, but it just keeps on growing! The bottom 2 grafts have not grown past about 10cm yet. I am going to call them back to see what else i can do, i suspect they will say to keep cutting it off. the people are lovely and very helpful- my tree was very healthy and has had no problems with settling in. I originally wanted 3 citrus, but they didn't have any, so I took the 4- they do not always have all mixes in stock- that would be a huge range to keep! Would definitely recommend them, just check out the growth rates of your chosen varieties. Susan Re: An orchard of fruit trees v's The Fruit Salad tree 10Mar 31, 2009 1:24 am What a good topic and I don't pop in here very much I know that here in WA every grower that used to do these has chucked it in. Why? Well importing them from the East isn't very viable seeing that WA has some of the strictest quarantine laws in the world. (from what I know a few WA growers are producing the fruit tree stock to get Queenslands citrus industry going again after being wrecked by disease, but I could be wrong on that) The problem WA growers found was no matter how many grafts/ buds they did, over time one or two would become dominant and the others drop off, die back or be so weak they'd not produce fruit. People buying them were getting annoyed with them and going back 10 years ago, I recall how many were returned in a nursery I was working in. You really pay a heap of coin for these and often the more grafts or buds the more you are paying. To see some grow vigorously while others don't is what you can expect from them. A good novelty though and they make you feel good looking at them Long term, not so good. Very few indeed will do well with all grafts/ buds producing fruit or even surviving. As i say one or at best two buds will become strong and dominant. The multigraft stone fruits and apples and pears are a little better. The most successful multi grafts will be say two plums like satsuma and mariposa that will pollinate each other. or two apples that pollinate each other. Having said that there is nothing wrong with dropping two single graft trees in the same hole together. This limits the size and that makes them more suitable for the backyard. It can work out cheaper than buying one multi graft that has it's limitations in comparison. Fruit salad trees to me are a gimmick for the uninitiated gardener and make some outlets a fair bit of cheap cash . Graft your own, it is so easy and info on it is readily available in books and the net. Why pay all that when you can do it with no experience grafting and get success. You just need one ordinary tree and some small tip cuttings from the selection of citrus you want, a very sharp knife or budding knife and some grafting or budding tape. All of which are not expensive to buy at all . It is fantastic that people are looking to better uses for fruit trees in the garden. They make productive hedges and good autumn colour. They have a use Oh and a tip for some who have fruit trees. If you have two pollinators that flower at different times, cut a few flowering stems off and bung them in the freezer. When the later flowerer starts up, take the flowering cutting from the freezer and tie it to the branches of your late flowerer. You can let the bees do their thing or use a cotton bud to pollinate a few flowers yourself. If you want to attract the bees a little better, mix some honey and water together. first light for a few mornings, go out and flick it on the trees you want the bees to go to. They will be attracted to those trees rather than the weeds or marigolds or whatever else may yield more pollen for them. After a few mornings they will just go there because you trained them Hi , I'm currently going through this now within the Whitehorse council which has a similar set of restrictions. We're having to make compromises with our floor plan due… 3 30576 A survey must’ve completed by a certified surveyor. This form part of every DA requirement 3 223465 |