Time to get your Bare Root Fruit trees ordered

[Hillside Desolate]

Bare root season is upon us.

What is bare root?

It is the time of dormancy for deciduous trees/shrubs/vines , this allows them to be shipped, and gives you a head start when planting. Due to dormancy the tress with not experience transplant shock. Also bare root trees generally coat a fraction of their potted counterparts. They will ship when ready to be planted in your region. In our case March.

Although bare root trees can be shipped anywhere in the country, they tend to do better if shipped from a similar climate. Knowing this last year I still ordered some rare varieties from a trusted PNW nursery with negative results. However I have also ordered trees/berries and muscadines from Willis Orchards out of GA with great success (except for raspberries) https://www.willisorchards.com/

They specialize in varieties suited to the American South. I highly recommend their southern blueberry collection. Great price. They sent me good plants that are now bearing well. They also stock American natives like Chickasaw Plum (sand plum), American Plum and Pawpaws. If you can get a green gage plum, old French variety and perhaps the best plum on the planet.

This year I picked up these

Willis Orchard Company

Elevate your orchard with our Indian Blood Peach trees for sale. These red-fleshed cling peaches with white streaks are ideal for culinary use and preservation.

www.willisorchards.com

Willis Orchard Company

The Kieffer Pear is an old-fashioned favorite, growing in most parts of the southern United States. Order these trees for sale today from Willis Orchards!

www.willisorchards.com

 

[Roy]

I have ordered from the Oklahoma state forestry service in the past. This year I ordered from the Missouri state forestry service - their prices are really good, and they ship to your door. The shipping is high but still better priced than Oklahoma, and they have some options OSFS does not that will do well here.

 

[Roy]

Hillside, any updates on your suggestions here? I laid off planting anything that wasn’t cattle forage for a couple years, but the same ideas are still in my mind.

“
Burnt ridge nursery in WA is a permaculture nursery hand has great prices and reasonable shipping, I am trying their stock in OK for the first time this year but generally plants going from north to south do well as opposed to the other way around Burnt Ridge Nursery & Orchards | Fruit Trees, Nut Trees, Berries for Sale | Buy Plants Online

Both of the above stock mayhaws and pawpaws

I recommend peaches and plums for our climate. Currants express is lily the native golden current should do good. Also look into sea berry for nitrogen fixing”

 

[Rick James]

Nectarines are a decent option and they produce in July. Most fruit trees around here produce in August or September

 

[Hillside Desolate]

Hillside, any updates on your suggestions here? I laid off planting anything that wasn’t cattle forage for a couple years, but the same ideas are still in my mind.

“
Burnt ridge nursery in WA is a permaculture nursery hand has great prices and reasonable shipping, I am trying their stock in OK for the first time this year but generally plants going from north to south do well as opposed to the other way around Burnt Ridge Nursery & Orchards | Fruit Trees, Nut Trees, Berries for Sale | Buy Plants Online

Both of the above stock mayhaws and pawpaws

I recommend peaches and plums for our climate. Currants express is lily the native golden current should do good. Also look into sea berry for nitrogen fixing”

Burnt ridge is a Top tier operation, I have used them a bunch in the past back in WA. However almost every thing I have bought from then has done poorly in OK, including OK natives.

 

[AER244]

Is there a variety of cherry that will do well in OK?

 

[Hillside Desolate]

Is there a variety of cherry that will do well in OK?

Sour pie cherries will grow here. Some people have had luck with sweet cherry Stella which is also self fertile and a natural dwarf. OK just is too hot forcherrys and has too much rapid change in temp. On the PNW coast they did so well that they naturalized and grew wild in the forrest.

 

[ClintC]

A little off topic but. if you like cherries and everything about cherries. You need to hit up the cherry festival in Trever City, Mi. I took the family there last year and had a blast. We found all kinds of stuff make with cherries. The wife brought be cherry flavored coffee beans.

 

[Trekrok]

However almost every thing I have bought from then has done poorly in OK, including OK natives.

Do you think it's due to the plant/tree or the shipping? I have no knowledge in this arena, but I'd think shipping would be pretty traumatic to plants?

 

[Hillside Desolate]

Do you think it's due to the plant/tree or the shipping? I have no knowledge in this arena, but I'd think shipping would be pretty traumatic to plants?

Its due to the environment it was raised in. It generally takes a plant several years to change climates, in this case northern maritime to humid continental/subtropical is quite a jump. I will say from experience that plants raised in the north do well when moved south, but the opposite is not true.

The environment is also true with seeds. If the parent plant was from a similar.climate they will do well.

 

[AER244]

@Hillside Desolate how long until your newly planted pear and peach trees bear edible fruit? Do all bare roots have a similar timeline?

 

[Hillside Desolate]

@Hillside Desolate how long until your newly planted pear and peach trees bear edible fruit? Do all bare roots have a similar timeline?

This depends on the age of the tree at planting. This is usually measured by caliber, which is the diameter of the tree. The larger the diameter the more mature the tree. "normal" caliber many trees are sold at is around 1/2 inch, most trees fruit at 1 inch. Peaches are pretty quick, usually 2 years, sometimes you can get first year fruit; however you should remove any fruit that starts to form in the first year so the tree puts energy into roots not fruit. Pears are usually around 4 years after.planring. the Willis orchard site I linked sells their trees by caliber

 

[Hillside Desolate]

Hillside, any updates on your suggestions here? I laid off planting anything that wasn’t cattle forage for a couple years, but the same ideas are still in my mind.

“
Burnt ridge nursery in WA is a permaculture nursery hand has great prices and reasonable shipping, I am trying their stock in OK for the first time this year but generally plants going from north to south do well as opposed to the other way around Burnt Ridge Nursery & Orchards | Fruit Trees, Nut Trees, Berries for Sale | Buy Plants Online

Both of the above stock mayhaws and pawpaws

I recommend peaches and plums for our climate. Currants express is lily the native golden current should do good. Also look into sea berry for nitrogen fixing”

We built this in Seattle with burnt ridge stock. Unfortunately the project got too political and too cultural for my taste.and I walked.

Beacon Food Forest

Beacon Food Forest combines agroforestry and permaculture design principles to create a diverse and resilient edible landscape.

www.beaconfoodforest.org

 

[Hillside Desolate]

Restoring Eden is also a great nursery that does mail order, but they are also in the PNW. The owner Troy is a little younger a great guy that defs on fire for the Lord. I really miss him but am glad he exist and is doing well. They carry a bunch of stuff no-one else does, I think they have the most fig varieties in the country and are the only LuBarra distributor I know of in the US. Lubarra is ran by this Swiss genius that wants to revolutionize home scale fruit production.

restoringeden.co

 

[Roy]

Love the food forest idea. Never heard of Lubarra

 

[Hillside Desolate]

Love the food forest idea. Never heard of Lubarra

Lubera, spelled it wrong.

LuberaEdibles® | Aktuelles

gaertnerbuch.luberaedibles.com

Unfortunately it is really hard to get plant material into the country post patriot act.