Hey all,
I was really glad to be able to make it to Sam Benowitz (owner of Raintree Nursery)'s talk today at the CUH with City Fruit (an organization of Seattle fruit-tree enthusiasts). I thanked him for the donation of trees to the P-Patch. The fruit-people there were very happy to hear of the UW's orchardist endeavors! Here are some of the notes I took while he talked, if you're interested in such things. He also gave out a good short list of some notable fruit tree varieties (good/bad in different aspects) that I'll bring down to the farm Monday.
Blueberries: They're native here. Self-fertilizing, but produce better with at least a couple of varieties.
He strongly recommends an evergreen variety called "Sunshine Blue." "Misty" is a good pollinator for it. Optimum soil pH is 5-5.5. Their roots are fibrous and shallow, so you want a bigger hole than for a fruit tree when you're planting them. You prune them down to the red shoots.
Evergreen huckleberries like partial shade (unlike most fruit plants, that need LOTS of sun).
Blackberries: "Cascadian" = native. Lots of natives are sweeter and nicer than Himalayan, etc. If you don't let the runners touch the ground, they won't spread. There's now an everbearing variety. "Navajo Thornless" is a good one.
Rasberries: Pop up everywhere and spread, but easy to pull up/transplant. Plant on a mound so soil doesn't get water-logged. Two types: July-bearing and everbearing (Aug-December). Everbearing: Cut to the ground every winter. July-bearing: Canes bear every two years, cut two-year-old ones after bearing and leave one-year-old ones. "Caroline" yellow rasberries have 50% more antioxidants than any other variety.
Strawberries: "Tristar" = REALLY productive (Everbearing, you can fertilize them in summer as well as at other times). "Musk" is a really nice Italian variety, but needs male pollinator unlike others! Alpine strawberries spread from seeds (yellow and white).
Other growable edibles: Tayberry, Marionberry, boisenberry, gooseberry, sea buckthorn, aronia (native), cranberries, elderberry (red and blue), linganberries (groundcover, easy to grow), currants, eleagnus, blue honeysuckle.
You can plant ground cover plants around fruit trees after 5 or so years; want to let trees get established first.
Pruning: 95% of cuts = "thinning cut" - total branch. "Heading cut" is part of the branch. Makes branch grow back faster. With combination trees, the top variety (pointing most upwards) will grow fastest. You can tie some weights on those branches to slow them and tie lower varieties up so they point/grow more upward.
Apples: "Spinosid" (sp?) = good organic spray for maggots/coddling moths if you don't want to put the nylon footies over all the fruits. Crabapples can pollinate normal apples.
Pears: Not much rootstock available for dwarf varieties. Have to use semidwarf and prune.
Plums: "Methley" = easiest fruit to grow.
Peaches: "Frost" is the best variety for our cool climate.
Papaws: take 10 years to get big, need more heat (not easy).
Cherries: Go for "self-fertile, sweet" varieties
Figs: Highly recommended. Put in warmest place in yard, like by a wall under eaves on the south side. You can take a sheet of plastic and extend it downwards from the eaves to the ground ("eavesdropping") and have a mini-greenhouse. "Desert King" = good variety.
There are Cornus Mas trees outside the CUH (on the street-side) that have edible fruit that not many people know are edible!
I was really glad to be able to make it to Sam Benowitz (owner of Raintree Nursery)'s talk today at the CUH with City Fruit (an organization of Seattle fruit-tree enthusiasts). I thanked him for the donation of trees to the P-Patch. The fruit-people there were very happy to hear of the UW's orchardist endeavors! Here are some of the notes I took while he talked, if you're interested in such things. He also gave out a good short list of some notable fruit tree varieties (good/bad in different aspects) that I'll bring down to the farm Monday.
Blueberries: They're native here. Self-fertilizing, but produce better with at least a couple of varieties.
He strongly recommends an evergreen variety called "Sunshine Blue." "Misty" is a good pollinator for it. Optimum soil pH is 5-5.5. Their roots are fibrous and shallow, so you want a bigger hole than for a fruit tree when you're planting them. You prune them down to the red shoots.
Evergreen huckleberries like partial shade (unlike most fruit plants, that need LOTS of sun).
Blackberries: "Cascadian" = native. Lots of natives are sweeter and nicer than Himalayan, etc. If you don't let the runners touch the ground, they won't spread. There's now an everbearing variety. "Navajo Thornless" is a good one.
Rasberries: Pop up everywhere and spread, but easy to pull up/transplant. Plant on a mound so soil doesn't get water-logged. Two types: July-bearing and everbearing (Aug-December). Everbearing: Cut to the ground every winter. July-bearing: Canes bear every two years, cut two-year-old ones after bearing and leave one-year-old ones. "Caroline" yellow rasberries have 50% more antioxidants than any other variety.
Strawberries: "Tristar" = REALLY productive (Everbearing, you can fertilize them in summer as well as at other times). "Musk" is a really nice Italian variety, but needs male pollinator unlike others! Alpine strawberries spread from seeds (yellow and white).
Other growable edibles: Tayberry, Marionberry, boisenberry, gooseberry, sea buckthorn, aronia (native), cranberries, elderberry (red and blue), linganberries (groundcover, easy to grow), currants, eleagnus, blue honeysuckle.
You can plant ground cover plants around fruit trees after 5 or so years; want to let trees get established first.
Pruning: 95% of cuts = "thinning cut" - total branch. "Heading cut" is part of the branch. Makes branch grow back faster. With combination trees, the top variety (pointing most upwards) will grow fastest. You can tie some weights on those branches to slow them and tie lower varieties up so they point/grow more upward.
Apples: "Spinosid" (sp?) = good organic spray for maggots/coddling moths if you don't want to put the nylon footies over all the fruits. Crabapples can pollinate normal apples.
Pears: Not much rootstock available for dwarf varieties. Have to use semidwarf and prune.
Plums: "Methley" = easiest fruit to grow.
Peaches: "Frost" is the best variety for our cool climate.
Papaws: take 10 years to get big, need more heat (not easy).
Cherries: Go for "self-fertile, sweet" varieties
Figs: Highly recommended. Put in warmest place in yard, like by a wall under eaves on the south side. You can take a sheet of plastic and extend it downwards from the eaves to the ground ("eavesdropping") and have a mini-greenhouse. "Desert King" = good variety.
There are Cornus Mas trees outside the CUH (on the street-side) that have edible fruit that not many people know are edible!
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