Please Help with Fruit Trees

I have no experience with fruit trees, or any trees for that matter. However, I would like to grow some.

I picked up a Gala apple, a Satsuma plum, and a Tartarian cherry at Costco yesterday. I was told by a gentleman working nearby that they would all pollinate each other. However, after a bit of research, it seems that I will need three more trees of each type, different variety?

If I do need to get three more trees, I was thinking about planting two trees to each hole. Anyone have success with this?

One more thing - is it too early to plant them? I am in the Willamette Valley, Oregon.

Thanks

I found a web reference that gives info on all of these--it wouldn't hurt to do a little more searching though, sometimes different places will have slightly different information.

According to this site, Gala apples are self fruitful which means you wouldn't need a second tree. http://www.davewilson.com/br40/br40_trees/br40Apples.html

The Tatarian cherry is not self-fruitful, so you will need another cherry to pollinate it, supposedly any sweet cherry will work
http://www.davewilson.com/br40/br40_trees/br40Cherries.html

And the Satsuma plum needs Santa Rosa or Beauty plum to pollinate it
http://www.davewilson.com/br40/br40_trees/br40Plum_Prun.html#japanese_plums

You might also browse around on the edible fruits & nuts forum, you'll probably learn a lot about growing fruit trees from reading the threads that are there:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/fruit/all/

I don't know anything for sure about planting in one hole--my thought would be that it might not be the best thing for the trees, but if someone who actually grows these tells you otherwise I would trust them. If space is a big concern for you, they sell fruit trees where two complementary varieties are grafted onto one tree so that you get the pollination you need without having to plant two trees. And as far as when to plant, my thought is it would be OK since the trees are dormant now and the ground won't freeze in your zone, but I would check with someone in your zone before you do anything.

Planting 2 trees in one hole is not a good idea. Either the stronger one will strangle the weaker or they will both do poorly in the long run.
There was a long thread on this question last year in the 'trees & shrubs' forum.
Andy P

Please don't plant two trees per hole.

I believe your Tartarian Cherry is actually Prunus avium 'Black Tartarian'. When it states you can pollinate it with another sweet cherry, what that means is that you can use any other Prunus avium cultivar as a pollinator. I chose 'Bing' and 'Stella' for my 'Black Tartarian' but again, any P. avium cultivar will work.

Your Satsuma Plum I believe is a Prunus salicina cultivar. So is 'Santa Rosa' and 'Beauty'. The reason why those two may have been recommended at the above site as good pollinator choices is because that particular nursery had them in their inventory but I believe you can pollinate your Satsuma Plum with any Prunus salicina cultivar. I don't have a Satsuma Plum but I do have a Santa Rosa Plum. I chose it because it is resistant to black knot. One slight issue with choosing the Santa Rosa cultivar as a pollinator for your Satsuma is that there was a Queen Rosa sold as a Santa Rosa, an Early Santa Rosa, and a Late Santa Rosa. I honestly don't know which one I have and I found out about this after I planted it. Mine sets well in the presence of the "President' which is also black knot resistant. I guess what I am saying is that you might want to steer clear of a Santa Rosa Plum as your pollinator as it might not flower at the same time as your Satsuma unless you know exactly which Santa Rosa you are buying and that's going to be a real son of a gun to figure out. Try the 'Beauty' or another P. salicina cultivar.

I suppose Gala is technically a self pollinator but you're going to get considerably better fruit set in the presence of a pollinator. Gala is cross of Kidd's Orange Red and either Golden Delicious or maybe it was Red Delicious. Any of those would be fine but probably any apple tree that blooms at the same time would be perfectly fine too.

I have a small "hobby' orchard here of around 30 fruit trees. Take your time and research what you buy as pollinators very carefully to avoid frustration and disappointment.

Salem,
Another thing to consider - particularly if you're limited on space - is that if there are other fruit trees in the neighborhood, you may have plenty of potential pollenizers already present in the landscape. For example, if nearby neighbors have ornamental crabs, there'll be PLENTY of apple pollen available to set crops on your Gala.

That's a really great point. Then she'd only need to buy two more trees instead of 3.

Here are my experiences:

1. I planted 2 peach trees in one hole many years ago. They were set about 2.5 feet apart. They were planted in a sunny lawn area. The fruits were always small (2" to 2.5" in diameter when they should have been 3.5" to possibly 4") even after the trees were fully grown and they were receiving adequate water and fertilizer. I can not rule out the cause of the small fruits to the fact that they were planted in the middle of a lawn, which competed with the trees for water and nutrients.

2. I planted 2 pluot trees in one hole in the back yard garden and they were again set 2.5 ft. apart. This time there was no lawn to compete with the trees. The fruits were smaller than usual (1.5" to 1.75" diameter instead of 2.5" to 2.75"). The trees grew to about 4 feet tall in 2 years before I moved away from that home. I don't know how they fared afterwards. The fruits could have been smaller than usual because the trees were still immature and they could also have been small because I didn't bother to thin them.

Steve

This message was edited Mar 7, 2007 1:08 PM

This message was edited Mar 7, 2007 1:13 PM