Welcome Scott. Great to have you here.
Incidentally, your message was a challenge to read. The sentences did not fit in the box in the usual way and required scrolling back and forth to see them in their entirety.
Thanks Steve for the reassurance. I had no idea some of those trees could grow at 8k+ ft. We are at 6k and change so Iām feeling better about our prospects.
Fortunately we are close enough to Denver to not get any moose or bears. However, Iāve seen reports of those bigger critters poping up east of us. Bears like apples like honey so hopefully we can avoid having to deal with them.
Welcome to Fruit Central!
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Welcome, Scott! I spend 10 years in the Goshen/Middlebury area (N. Central Indiana, for those who donāt know) also on 5 acres. Raised our 3 girls there, great, great place to raise kids. And, had the most awesome veggie garden Iāve ever had, stuff grows like mad out there, the soil was liquid gold. And got my Master Gardener certification in Indiana (Elkhart Co) as well. Loved it there, but hated the winters, lol! Glad you found us, and look forward to your fruit posts!
Patty S.
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I think you will do fine with the trees at your lower elevation. I wouldnāt be too sure about the bears however. They have a very sensitive sense of smell, and reportedly can smell food several miles away. They may miss your apples if there arenāt too many of them ripening at the same time. But they will likely find your bee hives. Much easier to keep them out before they get a taste of your bees than after. Same for apples too, but that is probably less of a worry. You might want to check with your local dept of wildlife person. They usually have recommendations on bears and even may have a solar fence charger for you to use (or so Iāve heard).
Dan,
I see you have Black Gold sweet and Montmorency sour cherries. I planted North Star sour cherry a couple years ago and got first fruits from it this season. Great look, taste and earlier ripening - about 10 days earlier than Montmorency. You might try it - sour cherries take up much less room than sweet cherry trees - and maximize your fruit set for both sour cherries as well.
Since you already have Honeycrisp. have you considered Keepsake, its seed parent? Later ripening, same snap to the bite and reputed to have much more flavor and keep well into spring. I have yet to try one, but long to get close to it someday. My yard is already packed!
Yours for a fruitful season,
Dave
Hi everyone. Iāve been an appreciative reader since I found this forum a month or two ago. My family moved to Alaska in 1971 when I was a kid and Iāve been here ever since. I coasted through some minimal gardening without much interest nor success, then in the fall of '15 a local nursery owner told me she grew peaches here in a greenhouse. I magically and instantaneously received a Fruit Tree Obsession. The next year I ordered a peach, a nectarine, and a cherry tree and put them in my new greenhouse. I rationalized I should grow fruit because my daughter had many food allergies. This year we got about 50 peaches and an increased severity of said obsession. Greenhouse space being too limiting, I built a moose fence and moved my interest outdoors with about 45 trees (apples, plums, sweet and sour cherries)-even though my daughter is now completely healed of her allergies. For 2017 I am hoping to fence in half an acre or so and continue this reckless pursuit. The fence gets costly because of its height requirement, as moose are voracious tree eaters and talented jumpers. Iām really hoping to get peach trees to produce outdoors for me.
I live in the warm end of zone 5. The region is attractive for fruit potential because most of the bugs and diseases arenāt widely imported yet. Birds, yellow jackets, moose, and voles are the main concerns. Growing season is short enough that Redhaven peaches wonāt mature outside. Most summers recently have been warm with many days in the 70-80 degree range, but we have an occasional summer where 60 is the norm.
Iāve been learning a lot from all the discussion on this forum. Thanks everyone.
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Welcome Palmer.
Z5 in Alaska- how is that possible?
My brother just moved to New Hampshire from a much colder part of Alaska and I installed a bearing age orchard for him with trees from my nursery. He and his wife had a pent up desire for doing warmer weather gardening. Now I have to teach him how to prune.
At least he lives in a part of NH that doesnāt have moose or bear.
Welcome and good luck with your outdoor orchard.
Welcome.
Harrow Diamond peach might work for you. It might be adequately cold hardy AND early-ripening enough for your purposes. White Oak Nursery of PA has it. See nursery threads for their contact information.
Cummins of New York and Edible Landscaping of Virginia also sometimes carry it.
Good luck.
Welcome, Palmer, glad you found us. Not sure weāve got anyone else on the forum from Alaska, so we will be very interested in hearing how your gardening goes up there.
Patty S.
Thanks for the suggestion Matt. I hope to track down some HD to try this summer. The numbers make peaches here seem quite doable, but from what I hear the big problem is the short season doesnāt allow them time to go dormant for winter.
In early winter, you might try manual defoliation (pick off the leaves by hand) and try to force the tree into dormamcy.
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Hi Everyone, I have been reading posts on this site for a while now and thought I would introduce myself. My name is Phill, I am a 30 year old structural engineer that lives in Boise, ID. This past year I planted 16 fruit trees is my relatively small backyard. The trees that I planted included plums, peaches, nectarines and asian pears. I have really enjoyed taking care of my backyard orchard and canāt wait until spring time when I have 7 more trees coming! The picture below shows my row of my plum trees in late October after one season of growth.
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Welcome Phillip. Hope you enjoy the fruit growing community.
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Welcome Phil!
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Welcome Phil! That is a beautiful back yard set up, and for one year old trees, they seem quite large and well developed. Sounds like youāve got the fruit tree bugā¦just be warned that it usually seems to be a life-long condition that requires constant treatment and on-going therapy (planting new trees, reading about fruit trees, and spending lots of time around others with the same affliction right here on GF! 
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Welcome, Phill.
My friend says engineers are usually logical and organized. It shows. 
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Welcome Phil, looks great!
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Everything grew well except for my superior plum which has a horrid branching pattern