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Several thoughts occurred while looking over your list.
1. Not sure of your micro-climate, but, while the peach trees themselves are quite hardy, the buds of most varieties are quite susceptible to winter kill if exposed to sustained temperatures of 0 or less for more tham 48-72 hours. The result is a peach tree with ample growth, but hit-and-miss fruit production.
2. Walnut trees tend to produce a prodigous amount of fruit on a bi-annual basis. They're a wonderful shade tree, but have the drawback of excreting a toxin from their roots which makes it difficult to use the soil above the root area.
3. The American Chestnut is very susceptible to a blight which kills the tree. The disease is similar to Dutch Elm. Try to get specimens which have been propogated from blight resistent stock.
I was going to mention this, also. The tree is extremely versatile, but very unfriendly to other plant life in the same vicinity either below it's branches or above it's roots.
Yes both the roots give off a plant toxin and the leaves give off an anti-fungal.
My map has one walnut tree in a far corner, not in the middle of a cluster.
And we have terrible issues with fungi and mold. I am rather hoping that walnut leaves mixed in the potting soil, will help limit the mold issues.
I knew an elderly Italian man who told me about the fig tree his father grew in the yard in Federal Hill, Providence RI.....when they had first come to America.....in the fall they would dig up the tree and wrap it in quilts and old blankets and bury it horozontal in the ground and mulch heavily with straw.....and then in the spring dig it up and replant it.....they kept it going for years and had figs for themselves and all the neighbors........"the storal to the mory is".....I believe figs are more of a warm weather tree.
In Canterbury NH at the Shaker Village....the brothers used to plant peaches in between the large buildings where they were sheltered from freezing winds....and grew peaches even before UNH developed the Reliance peach to withstand northern winters.
My other observation is that ginko trees are beautiful.....we had them on campus at my school in Indiana....gorgeous shapes tree....BUT the fruit of the ginko is extremely foul smelling....much like Valarian root....(it smells like dog poop). When the trees were first imported from asia...to the USA....there was an idea, to only import male trees to circumvent this little horticultural surprise.
Ginkgo trees are male or female. Only the female tree produce nuts, and only when pollinated by a male tree. My supplier has 'un-sexed' trees, so you do not know until years later if you got males or females, or a mix. I am only getting one. So in theory, I should never need to deal with the issue of their nuts. I only want the leaves.
ginko nuts are wonderful, in Thailand we can only afford to eat them during chinese new year, they are expensive, to us any anyway while I still live in Thailand.
let me know if some one have ginko fruits on the ground, i will be there to pick them up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by elston
My other observation is that ginko trees are beautiful.....we had them on campus at my school in Indiana....gorgeous shapes tree....BUT the fruit of the ginko is extremely foul smelling....much like Valarian root....(it smells like dog poop). When the trees were first imported from asia...to the USA....there was an idea, to only import male trees to circumvent this little horticultural surprise.
If you can find a conducive spot for them, where they have the least impact on other trees, they do yield an interesting nut. We've harvested them from neighbors and elsewhere for years.; Extremely hard to crack. the hardest, but a spicy and pungent walnut. Makes good extract for flavorings. the wood is renown for good quality furniture .
Where I grew up walnut orchards are common.
I have a BIL who did have 400 acres of grapes, recently ripped them out and replaced them with walnuts.
All rootstock is black walnut, because it is so sturdy, resistant to disease and pests.
There are always new varieties of nuts to graft on the tops; thin-shelled, mild tasting, and with self-removing hulls.
ginko nuts are wonderful, in Thailand we can only afford to eat them during chinese new year, they are expensive, to us any anyway while I still live in Thailand.
let me know if some one have ginko fruits on the ground, i will be there to pick them up.
In a few years, when these trees get big enough to determine their sex, perhaps we can graft a limb onto it, to produce a few nuts for you.
I will definately plant some Ginko trees, i plant one in Miami, it survived for about 3-4 years, very slow growing some insect ate the bark, i move the plant to Virginia it did not survive last winter (soil too wet(clay hold water), too cold I don't know.)
let me know if you have luck with them, I also use gonko leafs to make tea, it suppose to help blood circulation?.
Quote:
Originally Posted by forest beekeeper
In a few years, when these trees get big enough to determine their sex, perhaps we can graft a limb onto it, to produce a few nuts for you.
Leslie Cummins and Tim Seabrook operate: 'Five Star Nursery and orchards'. Hand-grafted, certified organic, hardy heirloom fruit trees. Fruit stand and community cider house. Which includes peaches.
Brooklin, Maine.
Guess I will have to check with my family, since they all live in Brooklin, and have for many generations.
I was planning to grow Reliance but someone told me about a better tasting peach that does well in 4. I don't remember its name off the top of my head.
The McKay (Wisconsin Balmer) is supposed to fair quite good in zone 4. I like the flavor better than the Reliance.
Another one is the Contender. 1000+ chill hours, and is a freestone peach so they are easy to can without fighting to get the flesh off the pit. Not bad flavor at all either, much better than the Reliance.
Neither are in it with the "Haven" family of peaches IMHO, but still very likable peaches.
Key is to finding soil that isn't going to have water standing on the roots in the Spring. Peach trees are not nearly as hardy as an Apple tree when it comes to water and root rot. Well drained soil and if you have a slight hill that faces the sun the best place is about halfway down the slope. Out of the wind coming over the top and therefore the lower windchills during the winter, and the lower portion of the hill where it levels off or forms a valley acts like a cold sump and the bone chilling cold will not last as long around the tree itself.
Good luck Forest in your selection of trees this year. Should be some good additions to the Apple trees you planted last year.
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