Looks good. Isn’t Halford a really hardy rootstock? You don’t see those available much, even tho I think Boyer’s uses it on their peaches.
While I’m here in OK visiting, I’ve been checking out the various big box stores and farm supply stores for trees. Lowe’s doesn’t really have anything tree related right now. Home Depot has a few, including some tart cherry and peaches.
But the place that has lots of trees is Atwood’s, a local farm supply place. They had a lot of apple, peach, and plum in bareroot bags on sale for about $15, and a few potted fruit trees. They also had some very nice bareroot pecan trees available for about $20. My mom wanted a pecan, so I got her one. I’m planning on planting it today.
Lots of things I liked about that post. First, it’s nice to see that I’m not the only one who puts trees in a shopping cart and then spends the next days or weeks arguing with myself about whether or not to place the order. ha! I’ve got trees in shopping carts at 2-3 different places most of the time. ha.
Second, while I hate to hear about your bad luck with your vehicle, when you mentioned it was a jeep I wasn’t surprised. In my last job my City (work) vehicle was a grand Cherokee, and in college I had regular jeep cherokee as my personal car. They both were the most trouble ridden cars I’ve ever owned. I hate to say it, but my last 2 vehicles have been foreign SUV’s and just like your Honda, they’ve needed nothing but gas and oil.
Even though I did get quite a few trees this year, I think all of us can relate to that feeling of disappointment from not getting more. Whether its due to insufficient space, money, time, or whatever, I don’t think any of us get all all the trees we want, so you certainly aren’t alone in that regard!
Finally, I can say that more than most people, I understand what its like to teeter over a decision to buy a tree because you worry it may not work for your location. Some people here seem to enjoy pushing zones, and others are fundamentally against it. I understand both sides of the argument. I also forget that even though I lived in KY for years and am about 1 mile from it now, you are quite a ways north of me and that can make a big difference. All that being said, please allow me to encourage you to follow your heart when it comes to tree selection (within reason, of course). What I mean is that if you really, really want to grow a particular fruit and it is rated for your zone (or very close even) then give it a try. People who’s opinion I trust very much (and still do) told me with great confidence that I’d never or almost never get any apricots or sweet cherries here in the south, and at various times I’ve had people say that certain plums, persimmons, and figs might not work. And in some cases they’ve been right. And getting fruit 1-2 years doesn’t prove them wrong, at all. But my point is that I I took a chance on some things I really wanted, and in many cases it has worked out well so far. If I only get fruit once every few years on a few of my trees, it will still be worth it to me. In short, I don’t think you can ever know that your exact weather, soil, microclimate, etc might support, so again…follow your heart and give it a shot. It might become your favorite tree. If not, you won’t have to spend that next 10 falls carrying it in your shopping cart trying to decide whether to order it or not. After all, $25 won’t go far on car repair anyway!
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I just planted arctic glo last spring, right now it has a decent amount of flowering buds, I will probably let it keep a few fruit this year just to taste, so I can’t comment on it yet. I do have fantasia it has done well, and the taste is very good. I should note that fantasia is on citation which severely dwarfs peaches and nectarines, bUT seems to make large and very tasty fruit
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I believe you need two trees for pollination if you want actual pecan nuts. That and they have to be different varieties as well. The male and female flowers bloom at different times so they cannot self pollinate. That is if she wants actual pecans. If she wants a pecan shade tree them you do not have to worry about that.
Yeah, I knew about the pollination issue. We planted 8 last year on the farm, four type 1’s and four type 2’s. When we got to the store I did some research on the varieties they had on sale. I ended up getting a Cheyenne, which is a type 1 variety, which means it sheds pollen before it’s pollen receptive.
There might be a big old pecan tree next door. According to my sister, she said she’s seen squirrels carry the green husks around, so it may be able to donate some pollen to the new tree. But, it’ll be at least 5 years before it matters. But, if it doesn’t produce it’ll still be a nice shade tree.
I actually just finished up planting it in the back yard. You talk about a chore! It must’ve had two foot long tap roots. I didn’t think I’d ever get it deep enough. But, I got 'er done, after prob 3 hours. Thankfully the soil was easy to dig, but it was work. Probably be feeling it tomorrow!
Here is a pic of my handiwork, plus a pic of the huge tree next door.
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Nice job with the tree. I didn’t mean to sound like a “know it all”. Since you were not at your home and visiting your mother I just wanted to throw that out. I was not sure when you were planning on going back to visit. Then trying to run around and find another pecan tree to plant. If you have my luck it would mean one of two things. I would either not be able to go back until the wrong time of the year or they would be completely out of the pecan tree I needed. I didn’t want your mom to scold you for not planting two trees if she wanted actual pecans. Never a good idea to be on the bad side of your mom. Especially if she calls you by your first and middle name as well. At least where I come from it is never a good sign. YIKES!
No worries. She doesn’t know about the pollination needs of pecans, I mentioned that to her at the time, but I don’t know if she knows what I’m talking about. She prob assumes you plant a pecan tree, and in a few years you’ll get some nuts.
We were at Atwood’s, a local farm store, and we saw a bunch of bareroot pecan and some fruit trees in front of the store. The pecans were a bargain, in my eyes, at $20, considering their caliper and size of the roots. So, I guess she might’ve been influenced by my impression of them. I said I might even take one back home with me.
So, yes, she would like some nuts off the tree, but they might be moving from this place in a few years so it won’t matter. But, if they do stay, and that tree next door is a pecan, she might have some to enjoy in a few years.
They also had a nice caliper (maybe 9/16"?) Jonathan apple for $13. I know I said I’m done buying any more trees, but that’s hard to pass up.
BTW, she never used my middle name while scolding me, but would usually use my formal name, not my nickname. “Robert! Quit aggravating your sister!” or somesuch…
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Thanks Jason, please let us know how the Arctic Glo does, if it does produce this year. Fantasia is another hardy nect I was considering, so it’s not off the list.
Our university (UK) ag program doesn’t recommend Citation rootstock in Kentucky based on trials they’ve done. The ones they do are Bailey, Lovell and maybe Halford. No Citation, Nemaguard, Tennessee Natural or Guardian.
I know I couldn’t pass up a deal on that apple tree. I bought a pear tree from a retail farm store simply because of the price at the end of the spring season. They were all half price PLUS additional $5 off. They were all raggedy looking trees except for one. I HAD to buy it. I put it at another property I owned at that time. I go by that property on occasion and the tree is still there. I had a Kieffer pear there so it had another pollinator to use to produce fruit. I just could not pass that price up.
I don’t see much from Plantmegreen on the board. For reference I ordered 5 trees, 2 plums 2 peaches and 1 apple. All trees were suppose to be 2 -3 tall and cost $8 - $9 a piece. Shipping was roughly $15 from Florida to Virginia. Took 2 days to get to Virginia. The trees I received were all 3 feet plus in length. 2 had really good roots they other 3 had mediocre roots (looked like they had been trimmed). Attached is a pic of the trees with the better roots. I would order again. Also they use nemaguard as there plum and peach rootstock, mm111 for apples. Nemaguard may not have been the best rootstock for clay, but I will give it a try. Trees ordered - Granny Smith Improved, Methley Plum, Dawson Plum, Sugar Giant Peach and Gold Prince.
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Need some quick advice. I received my order from AC Nursery today - Rich May, Victoria, Crimson Rocket, Gloria, Encore and TangoOs Peach trees. In Virginia we are looking at 23 F Friday Night and 26 F Saturday night, then warming to 32 F plus the next 10 days. Am I better waiting until Sunday to plant with the sub freezing temps coming?
I would wait until it gets back above freezing, just keep the rootballs moist and out of the freezing cold until then. Technically as long as the soil’s workable, that is, not frozen, it would probably be OK to plant before then, but it’s only a couple days later to wait.
Nice selection of peach trees, BTW. What kind of caliper, height, roots do they have? I would’ve liked to git some peaches and cherries from them, but they didn’t have the varieties I wanted.
Oh, also I have ordered trees from Plantmegreen last year. I got eight pecans and a couple pears from them. Two of my pecans didn’t make it thru their first summer, but from what I understand, bareroot pecans have high transplant failure rate than fruit trees. One of the pears grew like gangbusters, but the other barely did anything. I got an Orient and Pineapple pear.
You got a good deal on your trees from them considering their size. I can’t comment on the rootstocks as I’m in Kentucky, and our soil’s a bit different than yours. I will say UK doesn’t recommend Nemaguard for us, mostly because it hasn’t proved to them to be real winter hardy. But, it may be fine for you.
Ime unsure about citation for peach/nectarine, it severely dwarfs and the wood on the trees looks different but it does make large and sweet fruit. 2 year old nectarines on citation had much better fruit with all the rain last summer than the same age trees on lovell did. However that may change with age and a more normal summer. Citation on plum/pluot/apricot trees have been just fine so far. Some are going into fifth leaf with no issues. Most of my peach/nectarine are on lovell, which is what I will get from now on
I just went to Kroger, of all places, and they had some decent fruit trees for $12.
They had Blazeprince and Early Augustprince peaches which are really great for our area. (I think those varieties were actually developed by UGA recently.)
They had Ayers and Moonglow pears which are disease resistant (very important for this area.)
They’re from someplace called Freedom Hilla Nursery, which I’ve never heard of, but at least you can do your research on them if you’re interested.
Of course, for apples they had Honeycrisp and Gala apples, but you can’t win them all.
So for $12, if you have a Kroger near you, it might be worth a look.
I’m hoping spring of 2017 will be my last big planting.
Apples:
Purple Passion
Sandow
Harrison
Campfield
Frostbite
Scarlet O’Hara
Windham Russet
Pear
Paragon
Persimmons
Inchon
Russian Kaki
Huk Kam
Izu
Valeene Beauty
Nectarine
Harko
Honey Kist
Plum
Hildreth
Golden Transparent
Pawpaw
Summer Delight
Peach
Hakuto
Rio Oso Gem
Winblo
O’Henry
Berries/Other
Langley Gage Gooseberry
Carmine Goumi
Gariguette Strawberry
Sweetcrisp Blueberry
Springhigh Blueberry
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SMC, Judging by that list, fat chance that 2017 will be your last planting if you are still alive in 2018.
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SMC, I fear that NorthWoodsWis4 is right. But, maybe you can gradually step down a bit. For the last 3-4 years I thought that I was making my last big planting. I always found more room. Now, I’ve been expanding onto other properties as well (2/3 of the trees I’m planting this year).
This year, I’m still planting a reduced number:
13 jujube from ToA, JFaE, and Burnt Ridge
6 plum/pluot
2 apples- the new Midwest Apple Improvement Assoc. releases
5 St Julian and 3 OHxF87 rootstocks
That’s 21 trees (29 if you include rootstocks), down from 34 last year. The year before (2015, another last big year) was only 20 trees, but had over 100 bushes, vines, berries, and rootstocks. I averaged over 40 trees in the previous 3 years, so I would treat that as a baseline 
My Izu is in a protected location and I think it stays a few degrees warmer here than where you are. But I still get a ton of dieback on Izu, so you’ll probably need to protect it to get fruit.
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I’m planning on keeping the Izu in a container and seeing how that does. I’d like to use it in some breeding work since it’s one of the earliest to fruit. Same goes for the Huk Kam, which is a blue kaki persimmon. I’ve got a few other persimmons in containers and they seem to be doing well so far. Flowers last year but no fruit yet. Hopefully this year. Plus having container plants bloom out early indoors in the spring seems like a good way to control pollination, like Tony is doing with his apricots in another thread right now.
As far as ordering more trees goes, you’re both probably right. I’m sure I’ll squeeze in a few things next year. Although there’s not much space left at this point, and that includes a driveway full of potted figs, persimmons, dwarf apples, and apricots.
And it is relatively hardy for a Kaki- just not enough for our area unprotected. A lot of the less hardy ones would completely die back to the ground, rather than just mostly.
I grafted that one two years ago and it seems to be pretty hardy- no noticeable die-back at -9F.
It’s also just nice to have things growing at this time of year. Space indoors is the main issue, as I’ve pretty much filled it (like the yard), with the less hardy plants (figs, lychee, mango, etc).