easy first time fruit tree?

I have new space in my garden and would like to add a few fruit trees. I'm thinking apple or pear but I'm affraid these will require to much mantenance. Any suggestions on easier varietys, or another fruit to try?

Apple trees aren't difficult and if you get dwarf or semi-dwarf, you won't have to wait several years for them to begin producing apples. Before you purchase, check to make sure the varieties you choose have good disease resistance (especially to fire blight). Also make sure you get at least two varieties that will cross pollinate with each other. I have purchased several fruit trees from burntridgenursery.com and always gotten very healthy and good looking trees. They also have info concerning which trees will cross pollinate with each other which is very useful. Another fruit tree that I don't find troublesome to grow is plum. I have pear trees and haven't found them to be any trouble but they will take longer to begin producing fruit. I do have peach trees too but they require lots of work because I think every insect known to man loves either the tree or the fruit. I wouldn't have gotten a peach except for the fact that I'm retired now and have more time to fool with the upkeep and they are my hubbies favorite.

If you only have room for one tree; get a grafted tree that has 4 or 5 different varieties in one. I have such an apple, pear and cherry.
I wouldn't recommend different fruits on one tree; they always tend to get into a powerstruggle.
I get my trees from Dave Wilson. You can also find a bunch of information on their website, just google them.
Cherries are easy children too.
Christie

PS besides resistance to disease and rootstock, cross pollination and chilling requirements are equally important.

Mulberry.

Easy as can be. No spraying, the only pests are the birds and squirrels who will happily share or eat all the unused fruit and mine came into bearing within 3 years (had a couple fruit last year, but the squirrels assured me they wanted to make sure the fruit was ok for us to eat and they didn't share any)...And the grafted varieties are self-fertile! (so you need only one)


Just plant it away from the house and any paved surfaces as the berries can stain.

~Chills

thanks for the encouraging ideas.I will give it a try. I allready have a mulberry ,that was here when I moved in and that is a treat. I'll keep you all posted.

It all depends on your climate. Peach trees grow great for me here in New Mexico. So do all the others. If I could have only one fruit tree, it would be an apricot. They are so delicious. But your county agent will know which fruits and which varieties grow best in your area. Many apples won't bear here because of our late frosts. But the county agent knew of 2 that worked very well here. Also on cherries, both sweet and sour, there are self fruitful varieties. In other words, you only need one tree. It can pollinate itself like a tomato. To me fruit trees are the best tree for people who have smallish lots. They aren't very tall, and they are very ornamental year round.

if u have one mulberry your sure to have a grove in no time. the day they are ripe the birds strip the trees here.

I have never grown a mulberry, but I will take your word for it. I think they are illegal in Albuquerque. They are only allowed to plant the fruitless kind. Do you ever eat mulberries? Are they good?

An easy first-time fruit would be a mulberry, raspberry, blueberry or a gooseberry if you are looking for something that is plant it and forget it until harvest. If you put in a raised bed, raspberries can be contained and the only work you have to do is mow them down in the fall.

Apples I would not recommend unless you happen to like tree-ripened apples, they require work if you want anything edible due to codling moths and apple maggots. You also get a host of other "fun" stuff such as fireblight , cedar apple rust, and rosy apple aphids. I bypass most of the summer pesticide sprays by bagging my apples with footies, but that takes a weekend just to thin and bag with all the trees I have. Kaolin clay spray is an option I've heard of for organic pest control, but I haven't bothered with it.

Pears - you're looking at 6-7 years before you get anything, i.e. "plant pears for your heirs". They are susceptible to fireblight more so than apples. There are also no effective dwarfing stocks for pears if you have a small yard.

Cherries - they tend to be picky where you site them (cherry trees will release cyanide and kill themselves if they are planted on a wet site) and they attract birds who will steal your crop (which in your point of view, is a good thing or bad thing). If you plant a tree on Giesla 5 dwarfing rootstock, you can easily net the whole tree though - also makes it easy to spray the tree for cherry fruit fly control.

Peaches - peach leaf curl, aphids and borers. You'll have to spray for control.

Plums - see comments on peaches.

You are right about the pears. Our climate is cool so fire blight isn't much of a problem, but you are right about the 6-7 years to bear. There are pears that are fire-blight resistant though.
I have a 5 year old seckel which has reached it's all time high for bearing -- 8 tiny little pears on it for this year. My other two are 4 years old, and have no pears on them. The trees and blossoms are very pretty though and 6-7 years go by before you know it.

you can plant Nanking Bush cherries and all you have to do is pick them. No maintenance required.
RED

Mulberries can be delicious, but the native mulberry is very astringent. More so than a native persimmon. There are varieties available out of the Iran/Iraq area, I think, that are every bit as good as a blackberry or boysenberry. They are easy and carefree trees as far as I know. I like my persian black mulberry.

Mulberries can be very invasive - seedlings coming up everywhere and hard to pull out.

Native mulberries are delicious when ripe. However they are only good for eating out of hand. They become blah when cooked.
RED

Persimmons are almost "no maintenance". No spraying or special care in my garden. You ought to check local nurseries to see if any oriental persimmons do well in your region.

Think about Starkspur pears and apples. They also have other fruits in comspur. Might add a few next spring. Trees are not so big and the fruit is large and so good. They require very little care and we have really enjoyed them. Look at Stark Bros Nursery. That's where we ordered ours

My favorite mail order nurseries are Raintree, Trees of Antiquity and Bay Laurel, but you might consider some of the ones that are closer to you. But it is most important that you find a tree that grows in your area's climate and soil.
I have bought from Stark and had good luck, but from my point of view the other three are better.

Pajaritomt, said 6-7 years for pears to bear fruit. I have had this 4 in 1 Asian pear for four years and it has borne fruit every year. The first year I stripped all the fruit. It was in a 5 gal. container when I bought it. So maybe two years old at that time. I live in the desert with maybe 300 hrs. chill time each year.

Wow! That is a great pear tree! It looks to me as if it is an Asian pear. I have only European pears. As far as I know Asian pears don't grow here in the mountains where we have cold winters. European Pears grow well but they take forever.

I live in Ill. where the temp. alsoays gets down to 10 degrees and occassionally to 0. I have a 3 in 1 Asian pear that is 8 yrs old and is loaded every yr. For the easiest tree try a 2 or 3 in 1 Japanese plum' for bush fruit, Blueberries, Nanking bush cherries, gooseberries & currants are all easy
RED

So maybe I could grow Asian pears here !

I would certainly think so. I am zone 6. The only crop failure I have ever had was last spring when we had a rare 4 days where nightime temps plummetted to 18 to 20 after they had bloomed. I have a dwarf 3 in 1 and probably will get about a bushel this yr.
RED

Imred, You will like asian pears. They tree ripen, unlike european pears, and they hang on the tree for quite awhile. Crispy like an apple, juicy, sweet but not quite as intense a flavor as the european pear. The birds don't seem to bother them as much as other fruit.

OH yes I like them. BUT I went out this am and had lost a limb to a rainstorm we just had and it had lots of pears. I hope I can save a few buds on it to regrow or I will lose one of the varities
RED

Sorry, Imred, about the loss of your limb ( tree). On a three in one, that's a big deal. I think I may have to have one myself. I really like Asian pears and didn't think I could grow them here.

if your space is limited check out the various websites on planting multiple fruit trees in the same planting holes. they do require pruning though. Also try some espalier trees. Sour cherry trees are hardy and north star is very dwarf. I have no room for apple trees so I planted colonnades this year. Stark bros often has them on clearance toward the end of spring.