fruit trees for the garden

Hello everyone,


I am looking at the fruit trees at the moment to plant in my future 10 x 10 back yard.

So I will have three 10m long fences and want to plant as many trees as I can there. My back yard is facing south-west so I hope it will be OK for the trees and not too hot over summer.

I have come across two websites which I really like.

One is for the grafted fruit trees with up to 6 different fruits on one tree

http://www.fruitsaladtrees.com/

I have seen a few trees like this in our Bunnings. Have anyone bought fruit trees like this before? Would love to hear a feedback. I am not sure if 6 fruits per tree is what I am after but if I can have say three different sorts of apricots on one tree, peaches on another tree, plums and apples that would be great i think.


Another interesting site with the dwarf fruit trees

http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/fruit%20pages/dwarfs.htm

I really want smaller trees as I have two huge peach trees on my back yard right now and it is a nightmare to tell you the truth. Peaches are so nice and tasty but the trees are so big so we can't put the net over it and birds are eating almost all of the fruits. Not only it is unfair to us but it is very noisy and so messy on the back yard during the fruiting time

Any thoughts on this one?

And the last but not least I am thinking to put either japanese maple tree or weeping wisteria tree (would be first choice if I can find it at reasonable price) on the front yard in the middle of it. The size is 5m deep x 10m wide but at least 3 meters will be taken by the drive way from the width and 1 meter by paving around the house from the depth. So the actual size of the planting area will be about 4m deep by 6.5 m wide. On the border with the foot path I want to plant standard roses (I think I can fit 5 there). Along the fence next the the neighbour's garage wall I want to plant two lilac trees and right in the middle will be this plant (maple or wisteria). The rest of the ground will be covered by instant turf.

I am also looking at concrete garden edging either done by professional or diy option.

Would be interesting to hear any comments or suggestions about my plans.

I won't claim to be an expert, but from talking to someone I know who has a nursery, we were originally looking at getting dwarf fruit trees for our place and she recommended to just get the full size ones and keep on top of the pruning so they don't get to be full size. They also produce better fruit apparently (and if our apples are anything to go by she was right! They're huge!)

The grafts are good if you're getting a tree that needs cross pollination to be able to fruit. You can get 1 tree with 2 species of plum for instance to do the same job that would need 2 trees normally. We got caught out with that and have just bought another plum tree to give our current one a "mate".

That's interesting sir snagger. I was looking at dwarf fruit trees to. Good to consider.

Another option is planting two types in one hole (there must be a word for this...), some say it works better as multi grafts are less hardy.

That said I'm still interested in multi grafts. I'm going to keep my eyes out at nurseries for maybe a lemon and orange (already have a huge grapefruit tree and a young Tahitian lime). I really want a lemon tree!

Hello,

I have planted 2 plum, lime, apple, lemon, peach, orange, necterine, manderin, cherry, and fig.

The citris has been planted in between the others so when the others loose their leaves I still have green leaves on every 2nd tree.

They have been in for 2 years and the are doing very well and are fruiting well.

I have planted them about 1 meter apart along my back fence which is 16 meters.

Rather than start a new thread , I'm going to hijack this one if thats ok

I recently received a pear tree as part of a local council initiative. Problem being it was missing the tag identifying exactly what type it was. They have told me they distributed Sensation, Packhams Truimph and Josephine varieties so it is one of those three. At the moment there is only about half a dozen or so leaves left on the tree, meaning i haven't been able to narrow down which variety I received.

Getting to my point (finally), any suggestions on a second type of pear tree I should get for cross pollination purposes, given I don't what the type is I already have?

do you need to buy another one if you neighbors are planting others for you??

Here's a cross-pollination chart for you: http://www.dialatree.com.au/Fact%20shee ... 0Guide.pdf

Given that you don't know what you already have it may be a bit tricky to get a cross-pollinator but if the tree's going to be dormant for a few months now there's no real hurry anyway. I would suggest you wait until the tree you have "wakes up", ascertain which variety it is and then plant a cross-pollinator ready for the next fruiting season. Some schools of thought say it's best to let a tree get established before you encourage fruiting anyway.

Of course, as BSTAR has pointed out, if your council has distributed different varieties of trees to many of your neighbours then the bees can simply visit your neighbours for the necessary pollen

We planted mostly dwarf fruit trees but some not. The orange is 6yrs old and gives lovely oranges already (bushy one on right)



http://www.limemortarblog.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/garden-fruit-trees.html

Wow LeanneR, that is gorgeous - your grass and soil look so luscious and the edging looks great.

Growing dwarf lemons and apples for many years, I disagree. We have had amazing success with ours, beautiful tasting fruit and lots of them, and they have been only recently planted out, a couple have been in pots for seven years and so laden with fruit that we have given some to neighbors, juiced them and put in iceblock trays for the freezer, bottled some and so on. The tastier the fruit depends a lot on the soil and how much water they are given.

Hi vladmari,

I planted triple grafted fruit trees that are now almost 40 years old now, but I let them grow. the plum and almond are still going, but not well. The almond is 4 metres high at least with similar spread and the parakeets are getting mist of them... then we have multi-coloured 'flowers' - cute when they hold on with one foot and eat with the other... pests... but I can't shoo them away. Still the triple gives the cross pollination as Sir Snagger and CH2012 very importantly alluded to. Bees will travel though so you can still be lucky with singles. I found that nectarines and plums gave the best crop. If you want the best taste... that's quite another matter and the Santa Rosa was by far the best tasting plum. There's one favourite with apricots and the Johnny is hard to beat in apples, but the new Jazz id great in season. Happy days choosing, cheers

Leonardo_23

Hi Leonardo_23, thanks for the information. I have bought triple grafted apricot tree (Moorpark, Trevatt and Hunter) and plum tree for my sister (Santa Rosa, Mariposa and Satsuma). It would be really interesting to see how it will perform. All other trees are just a single varieties. I will also buy lemon/lime in autumn. I missed it this year and apparently is it very popular combination so no more left this year.

Anyone have experience/comments/suggestions with Avocado trees ?

Avocados like to be protected from wind. Best to put shadecloth around young plants as a wind barrier. We've grown some from seed but not sure how they will go, they aren't fruiting yet. Got the tip from a local farmer....his are beauties!

Cheers Treeseachanger, yes we have also grown a couple from seed which are about 1/2 meter high (still in pots). Trying to work out where/when to plant etcetc.
Seems they can grow to a rather large size if the one near to us is any indication, so controlled growth might be required.

I have a question about a newly planted apple tree? I have been told to remove the buds for the first few times as this heaps it grow more fruit later on. Is this true?

mitch 26 how old is the tree and how solid it is?
I live in Melbourne and planted a granny smith apple tree and it has been very happy. I didn't need to take any buds of. If the tree cant cope it will drop the flowers themselves. I think this is more important on slowly growing trees like citrus.

its only very new B STAR. like 3months old.

I've heard that advice before, also to remove all the first fruit crop to strengthen the tree, but never did it and have had success anyway... the pruning we have done is to remove branches that are growing inward, nothing else.

They like a rich well drained soil but watch the possums especially when they flower. The little buggers will eat all the flowers and young shoots and your avo tree will look like a lawnmower has gone over it. This will happen in spring /early summer but if there is no food for them in winter they will come back and eat some of the older leaves as well.

Stewie