Fruit trees in East Texas! What do you grow?

I am considering planting some fruit trees here in East Texas. I know that peaches and pears will grow here. But what about apples, plums and figs? What kinds of fruit trees have you had success growing?

I don't know about apples, but I know plums, figs and some citrus, ie. lemon, satsuma, do really good. So do blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, some grapes, especially the native Muscadine grape.

over here--several Texas growers
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/fruit/all/

and
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/tropicalfruit/all/

=)

I just attened a fruit tree seminar given by my county extention agent all of those you mentioned will do well but stay away form peaches if you have to have them perfect! thery are a bit tricker than the others.. also if youre going to do blueberries check your soil and water to make sure its right for them..youre farether south then me sould you should have no problem with citus.. me Id have to winter them over in a GH most likely

When I lived in Fort Worth I grew Golden Delicious apples and they did real good. You are in a better area for apples than Fort Worth, so they should do fine. I now live just south of you, a little past Latch. I know lots of people who raise all kinds of fruits in this area and there isn't much you can't grow here. We have just planted our first peach tree here ( a Loring ) but we have grown bananas for several years. We and several friends in the area are just starting a community garden and we all plan to start planting fruit trees and berries. We would like to get several different kinds of fruit and several kinds of the same fruit so we will always have some kind of fruit or berry to snack on all the time. If your in the area, stop by and say hello.

The best place around here to get fruit trees and berry vines would be Bob Wells Nursery, just outside of Lindale on HY 16 (903) 882-3550
Their family has been in the fruit and nut business for over 70 years and they only sell plants that do well in this area.

MiniPonyFarmer,

To help with your selection, be sure you know how many chill hours your area averages and go with varieties that require less than that. If you plant varieties that require more than your area gets, you won't get any fruit. Contact your local AgriLife agent to get that information.

This is a link to a chill hours chart from Raintree Nursery. Looks like I could grow more here than I thought. They recommend that you be conservative when estimating your chill hours unless you want to experiment.

http://www.raintreenursery.com/chill_hours.cfm

Yes, the thing to remember is that the chill hours given is only an average. So some years you get more and some less. If you buy varieties that require that average, you won't get fruit on the years that you get fewer chill hours.That map is slightly off. I found a link to one published by TAMU, but that was in 1998. Things have warmed up a bit and new plant zone hardiness maps have pushed some of us into a different zones. So it's best to check with AgriLife for the latest information. They might also know if there are any miniclimate pockets. The map shows 600 hours for Fayette County, but when I asked the county agent, I found out this part of Fayette gets about 650. One other thing not many sites mention is flowering time. I really wasn't aware of that until we moved to Texas and experienced freezes. Where we lived before, we seldom got any. I discovered my error when my peach and plum trees began to flower. My peach tree is especially vulnerable. I have lost blooms and tiny fruit to freezes 3 out of 5 years. My apple trees fell victims to grasshoppers who seem to love even the bark. They are like locusts — too many grasshoppers and too many pastures from which they emerge.Persimmons bloom late so I've had fruit every single year since they began bearing fruit.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/peach/fig1.html

I am in northeast Tezas, in Plano(just 20 minutes north of dallas) and I grow:

Bing cherry
Methley plum
'pink cascade' (white flesh) weeping peach
dorman red raspberry(heat tolerant variety)
Satsuma(2 varieties)
mexican lime
Meyer's improved lemons
pineapple guava
strawberry guava
jostaberries
dewberries
-T

This message was edited Mar 16, 2009 10:22 AM

You leave all of the citrus outside, seedpicker? My patio is sheltered from the north wind, and I might try a citrus if I don't have to move it. I used to move a variegated lemon and a plumeria into the garage every winter, but my daughter and I have filled up all of the available space with a glass kiln and glass storage and working space, so I'm out of room. I thought I would have the third garage to put all of my craft stuff in, but my husband beat me to it and bought a Jeep. (Younger daughter calls it empty garage syndrome.)

Lynn

Seedpicker ~ what varieties of Satsuma are you growing please? And to echo Lynn, do you leave them out always?

Lynn-
Yes, they are outside. The first few years in the ground, they lost their leaves during winter, but the last few years, they've not even done that...

I keep the meyers trimmed like bushes.

The most sensitive thing is the mexican lime. It usually dies back to the ground, and only gets going again, when it starts to get hot.

We do keep the more sensitive tropical things in our greenhouse, which is nothing more than our large back porch, wrapped in plastic, and heated.

Years ago, we lost the porch roof to an April storm, so we decided to replace it with clear polycarbonate roofing.

In the summer it is our back porch, in the winter it is our greenhouse. Maybe you could do the same with your patio?

Or you could plant them in the ground, and then just cover with a sheet for the winter, or use those metal row cover hoops, and some plastic sheeting. That is what I did the first few years, until I figured out they are hardier than I thought...

You are a little colder than me, but they should still do ok in the ground. Just prepare for them to lose their leaves in winter...(no big deal). :0)

Podster-
Yes, I leave them out in the ground.

I'll go outside and look for the satsuma varieties...

I also forgot I have other citrus, too:
variegated lemon
eureka
Ponderosa
& lisbon

Ok, just went out and looked at the names.

Mijo is the first one I bought and planted in the ground, and it is completely evergreen, and didn't lose a single leaf. It is getting large! I thought I could train it into a bush, also, but may have to really whack it, to keep it in check.

Kimbrough is the other one, and it lost its leaves, but the stems are all still green. I tasted a fruit on it last year, even though it was only months new to me, and it was yummy.

Citrus varieties are increasingly harder and harder to find because of the importation restrictions into Texas. You have to find citrus that is grown here, and you are not allowed to get it imported or mailed in from any other state.

The best place to find citrus is at Caldwell's nursery near Houston. That is where several of mine came from that I could not find here, locally.

The Mijo came from here years ago, but they don't sell them here, anymore because of the restrictions. But, I think Caldwells has that listed.

I notice recently(a few weeks ago) that Calloways has satsumas right now. They have the one that starts with an 'O'...either owari, or okitsu...can't remember which one.

This is the link that made me first decide on Mijo, but any of these are good ones for Texas, according to the aggie article here:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/PATIOCITRUS/harvestingtext.html

pss-
here is the link to Caldwells' citrus list. It is quite an impressive and extensive list, especially if you start looking around for citrus in your local nurseries...you'll find there are usually only the usual three choices...

http://www.caldwellhort.com/html/citrus.html

Thank you ~ Mijo is the one I have and have kept it in a pot but didn't protect it. It is loaded with blooms right now. First full year for this one. Appreciate the links.

Bravo! You picked one of the very best ones, especially if it is grafted to sour orange rootstock :0)

You should be perfectly able to plant yours in the ground. Just for added information, I have mine planted on the west side of the house, and in proximity to a brick wall, which is supposed to heat the satsuma from reflected heat, in winter.

I don't know if that has made any real difference, but in reading about micro climates, they said near brick, and on high ground, not lower ground, (

Have you ever been to Sunshine Miniature Trees on Greenville in Dallas? That's where I got the first orange tree I killed. (I just can't grow anything indoors, and that's what I tried with that one.) I think they only sell bonsai trees now, but it's only a mile or two from my daughter's, so I may check next time I'm in Dallas.

Yes, I've been there, but it was years ago. I am pretty sure they don't have citrus, but could be wrong...

I'm pretty sure Calloways currently has a few orange varieties, too. you may want to check it out, if you have a Calloways nearby
-T

The only thing near me that might have a citrus would be Wally World, and I really try to avoid going there.

I've never seen citrus at Walmart but bought mine at a builders supply store that has a nice garden center. They had lemons, limes etc and I just got lucky and hit on a good cultivar for the Satsuma. As it is blooming, I hate to put it in ground right now. Wonder when the best time will be to plant it?

I planted mine early Fall...

but I would think you could plant just after flowering, unless you have a lot of fruit set. If fruit sets, I'd think you'd want to wait until the fruit matures, or you may risk the fruit dropping off

This message was edited Mar 16, 2009 6:20 PM

Thanks, that was what I needed to know. I can't see keeping it potted forever.

We just went to the local builders supply and garden center and they had lots of citrus. A real wide variety of Satsuma, Kumquat, Lemons and Lime. I thought I wanted a lime till I confused myself. They had four varieties. A Mexican lime, a thornless Mexican lime, a Persian lime and I cannot for the life of me remember the fourth. Any thoughts on these? I remembered Seedpicker saying the Mexican lime was least cold hardy. These were grown in the Jacksonville area I believe ~ Joe Smith Farms?

Not sure on the Persian lime, but the thornless lime sounds great! The regular mexican lime is terribly thorny

the other one was probably Key Lime, and its definitely the least cold hardy

I'm familiar with Bearss limes, a variety of Persian Limes. It is more cold tolerant than other limes. Mexican limes and Key Limes are the same. Links to limes:
http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/persianlimes
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/Citrus/limes.htm
http://www.keylime.com/horti.html

Key lime wasn't it, that I would have remembered... seems like it was initials. Maybe TF lime? Odd and it didn't stick. They all looked the same except the thornless for the obvious reason. Off to check out those links ~ thanks much Bettydee!

Question has anyone had any luck with cherry trees?
I told my Grand Daughter (4) I was bring her a Cherry Tomato plant in a bucket for her patio.. She loves tomatoes. But she told me to just bring the cherries... and then asked her Mother(DD) if she knew how to grow cherries .. then told her they grow in buckets ...
So Now DH is wanting cherry Trees. Anything for his Girls ....lol

Texas Gardener Magazine had an article on low-chill sweet cherries.
http://www.texasgardener.com/pastissues/sepoct07/index.html
There is now a small number of 400 - 500 chill hour cherry trees. Only two, Minnie Royal
http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/productdetails.cfm?ProductID=C825
and Royal Lee
http://www.davewilson.com/br40/br40_trees/cherry.html
are readily available.
Planting site for sweet cherries is very important. They need well-drained soils. They tend to have root rot in poorly draining soils. These two cherry cultivars are available in different root stocks. One root stock can handle heavier soils and the other is for growing in sandy soils. This also has to do with nematode resistance.
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/2008/2-6/Cherries.html

One last note. Last month, I attended a fruit tree seminar hosted by the Fayette County AgriLife agent. I asked him whether low-chill sweet cherries can be successfully grown in our county. I was told TAMU is just starting growing trials of the new low-chill sweet cherries. He was not very encouraging. Sweet cherries trees bloom early and that maay be a problem with our late surprise freezes. I ordered these two cultivars from RainTree Nursery to plant in my sandy soil. They arrived in excellent condition, but unfortunately, in the middle of March. In Texas, bare root trees need to be planted in January so they'll have sufficient time to get established before hot weather hits and stresses the new trees. This was llast March. We had record heat, drought and lack of humidity. Poor things didn't make it. They didn't have time to get established and I just couldn't keep them hydrated well enough with their lack of feeder roots. You might be able to find potted ones to plant this fall.

Very interesing information. I always appreciate the effort you go to. I am just curious, do you think it would it have helped if you had potted those to get them thru till the proper planting time?

Maybe I've just been lucky, but my Bing cherry has done very well for me.

It was in full bloom the other night when we had 35 degree night, but didn't affect it. It usually blooms at the same time as the Methley plum, and Pink cascade weeping peach.

Most years it sets fruit, but I read that they drop off, because I don't have a pollinator. Bing need the pollen of another cherry to set and keep fruit. And, I only have the one cherry tree.

Thank you for the links for the cherry varieties. I will have to check those out, so I can find my Bing a "mate".
-T

pink cascade weeping peach
(white flesh fruit)

This one sets a ton of fruit, and I'd be able to enjoy more of them if the squirrels didn't always get to them first

That raintree link mentions stella being self-fertile, and Starks Bros. carries it...

that is where I bought the pink cascade double peach years ago.
http://www.starkbros.com/access?action=product&productID=8532&collection=0

This message was edited Mar 31, 2009 7:45 AM

podster,
It's hard to tell if it would have helped last year. We had a record number of days over 95. The humidity was often in the teens and the roots get hotter in pots than they do when planted in the ground. All my potted plants suffered last year. Most of them went into some sort of dormancy until late September.

Over the years, I've bought most of my fruit trees from RainTree. I purchased two Japanese persimmon trees from Start Bros, paid about the same for them as I would have had I purchased them elsewhere, and received two whip sized trees about 18" tall. One died and the other is still less than 4' tall. I've also purchased from Bay Laurel Nursery when I want a better selection, but noticed yesterday when I tried their website that it wasn't available. I hope they didn't go out of business. I received really nice bareroot fruit trees from them and in January when I needed them. RainTree won't send things out in January.

For some reason when I first clicked on Raintree, it looked like it was wholesale only...
But, I guess I just hit the wrong button. Thanks for the reference.

bettydee,
thank you for all your input ...Now to go read it all.

Yes, I agree. Thank you for sharing your knowledge Bettydee... It is appreciated.

You're all welcome. I hope the information helps.