The always prolific, Kelly Pear
I’m reminded, when speaking of berries, fruit trees, and nut trees, of what a friend and fellow farmer, told me recently. “Tennessee is known as a place where you can grow anything … just nothing particularly well.” Our erratic annual chill hours in winter and high rainfall year-round, combined with our repressive summer heat and humidity, both inspire and conspire. Case in point: The olive trees I purchased after a series of warm winters arrived in time to witness two of the coldest on record. They reside to this day in the greenhouse of the friend mentioned above. Yet my optimism remains marginally undimmed, as the list below shows.
We have two primary orchards. The older, of apples, was planted in September 1999; the newer, more diverse, starting in 2012. Throughout the rest of the farm, we have tucked in little bits here and there, all in an effort to create a snacking environment, one that not only has gustatory appeal but that also adds resilience to our lives. And, we have planted dozens of ornamental and shade trees along the way.
Apple
- Arkansas Black
- Yarlington Mill
- Fox Whelp
- Kingston Black
- Magnum Bonum
- Super Red Fugi
- Grand Gala
- Golden Delicious
- Brayleet
- Horse
- Gala
- Honey Crisp
- June Red
- King David
- Calloway Crabapple
Pear
- June Sugar
- Seckel
- Kelly
Cherry (Montmorency)
Plum
- American
- Burbank
- Methley
Peach (Contender — fittingly, a lone survivor)
Quince
- Cook’s Jumbo
- Lisle
- Meech’s Prolific
Mayhaw (Big Red)
Fig (two orchards)
- Brown Turkey
- LSU Purple
- Yellow Long Neck
- Plus a few varieties I failed to record
Mulberry (small grove of four trees)
Elderberry (two groups of plantings)
Hazelnut (American, grove of eight)
Blackberry (thornless)
Blueberry (high bush)
Grape
- Concord
- Muscadine
- Scuppernong (technically a muscadine)
- Norton
- Lomanto
- Black Spanish
- Chambourcin
Pawpaw
We have a variety of cultivars and natives planted in two groups. The first is a small orchard on the edge of a wood, the second a dense planting in a wooded opening. The latter consists of native trees and is our attempt to establish them on our farm as naturally occurring. Native pawpaws are common to this area; we just haven’t found any on our farm.
Pecan (five varieties)
Gooseberry (two bushes)
Persimmon
Although we did not plant these, our farm is home to two large American persimmon trees. They overlook the farmyard area and are harvested yearly, if not by us, then certainly by the wildlife.
Ah the, it Foxwhelp!
I already have all the malic acid I need in my cultivars, so I didn’t order a tree of it. Does it do what you want it to do? It seems there are any number of apples around which bear that name.
What’s yours like; do you have pictures of the fruit?
Yep, and a lot of what passes for Foxwhelps apparently were mislabeled in this country. I got mine from an old man in Georgia (Lawson’s nursery). He is long since dead and the nursery closed. He specialized in old heritage southern apples. Yet, FW isn’t listed in Calhoun’s work on old Southern apples. So, it is anyone’s guess if this is the authentic Foxwhelp. Almost all of my apples, regardless of variety, are dry and woody tasting, unless heavily sweated. These, that I have, are small primarily red with a yellow side. They harvest in July to early August.
Dry and woody tasting… all of them, all the time? I’ve not a great store of apple experience myself, but from what I do have there seems a good deal of environmental influence in apple quality from year to year (and thus likely from location to location). Numbers of apples per tree can be quite variable over seasons and is typically controlled by management in commercial orchards. A very heavy fruit load will result in smaller apples and other quality issues. Are there commercial orchards in the vicinity that have different results?
Have your piggies ever had apples to try? Dry and woody tasting might not be off putting for a porker. I ask because I’ve wondered about planting some apples in the woods and just letting them be. No assistance other than giving them a fighting chance at some access to the canopy. Harvest would merely be picking some choice fruits and letting the rest be for the pigs. Any thoughts?
There are people trying to systematize the appley piggie thing: https://elizapples.com/
With a ripening window that early it could be something like a Margaret (which I have; we might be able to compare them next year or the year after).
What happens to them when they’re sweated? Do they get juicier, or just better tasting?
I’ve always wondered why sweating, which is nearly always done with winter apple varieties here, seem optional in other parts of the world. Those late varieties are meant to be stored in a cellar, providing fresh apples over the winter because they are decidedly unripe when they need to be picked.
Still, half a ton of chopped brush around each one of them in autumn, and you might find they even taste juicy straight from the tree 🙂
Thanks for the elizapples link Michael. Lots to chew on there. Especially like the note that the pigs themselves come with diverse eating habits… based on their genetics and how they’re raised. Good to know.
Had to look up the Mayhaw… had never heard of it. So one makes jelly with it? Do any of the livestock have an interest? How productive is it? Do you know which species your ‘Big Red’ belongs to?
I’m guessing the bees like it, any thoughts on the bee angle?
Such an impressive list – makes me want to overlook the quibble that one really shouldn’t have two “primary” anythings. 🙂
We have mayhaws here. Taste ist variable. One not far from here has fruit which tastes like orange lemonade. Pits are lethal.
Now, now, Mr. Quibbler. I grew up eating mayhaw jelly. But, I had no experience with the tree or fruit. I still don’t. I planted two and one survived. Apparently they are not self-pollinating or they need a very long time to mature. Not sure on the bee angle, I’ll have to report back in a year or ten.
Michael,
I’d sign up for orange lemonade.
These sound very much like apples – quite variable (at least in the wild… cloning for commercial apples is necessary for commerce, but does take much of the excitement out of the experience IMHO); must be cross pollinated, and the seeds are not to be eaten (though I think lethal in the apple case is a bit over the top).
If your single tree has flowered and not set any fruit whatsoever then you know they have matured and do require cross pollination. For apples you can get grafted specimens that have different clones grafted on the same stem and thus can effectively pollinate themselves… (between the clonal flowers).
Will also second Brian’s notion that orange lemonade sounds like it would be worth a go. The fruits of diversity!
Pips, not pits. Must have been the perry…
I have another one on my property, a hybrid, which hasn’t fruited yet. If it isn’t any good, I’ll just get me a scion from up the road.
I meant they’re lethal for your teeth 🙂
C & M (like a railroad, at least with the oncoming messages),
Some things for me to consider. I have accepted the dry and woody state of the apples for too long. Early on I tried to mitigate it with everything from mulching to sprays. But, everyone around us has the same issue. So, for the past five years i have just let them be.
I do pulp them for cider and get a fair amount of juice. Sweating does make them a bit more juicy, Michael. Just don’t bite into them and expect to keep your fillings. I’ve tried the extension office. But, they no longer pay farm calls. They pass you up the chain to an old codger at UT who is only interested in retirement. Sigh.
We do rake up the windfalls and feed them to the pigs, Clem. They have no problems with consuming them.
The extension agent, or, lack of, gripes me. I have always felt that a more knowledgeable orchardist would be able to give some sound and quick advice upon inspection.
With all that said, I make plenty of cider and lots of chutney.
Cheers,
Brian
Dry and woolly is of course the mouthfeel of most classic West Country cider apples; if the GD and the other dessert varieties have the same feel to them and can only be juiced/discarded and you’re getting good juice yields, high sugar readings and tasty beverages out of the cider apples, you already have your answer:
You are in Southern Cider Country – plant every available vintage cider variety (like I do) on MM111 🙂
Ask Eliza – she’ll probably be able to recommend any number of varieties to you.
And of course: Let the herbivores spread the apple pips to every corner of the farm.
C&M Railroad. I like it. Now we get WordPress to write a crossing guard widget, a loud and obnoxious warning horn app… then we sell the RR to Warren Buffet (he needs something to go with BNSF… which he dropped over 26 billion to purchase about 8 years ago).
But with all this apple sauce I’d forgotten to inquire about the pecans. Five varieties – are they bearing yet? If so, any impressions to share?
Dunklin County Missouri (in the Bootheel) has pecan trees all over the place – but all the trees I know of are in yards and along streets/roads. I don’t know of any groves there. I did once visit a commercial grove in Georgia. Impressive. But back to the rural Dunklin County trees… not sure if the locals have kept track of the varieties they have. Some of the nuts are pretty characteristic of their variety so there may be some knowledge I’ve not tapped into there. We never had any luck with pecans close to St Louis (growing up) – and haven’t even bothered to attempt them here in central Ohio. So pecans have always been a treat reserved for visits to the family in Dunklin County.
C&M Railroading. We’ll get us Roger Stone as mentor.
You imagine he is being railroaded… or that he has done his share of railroading in his career? Apparently the Mueller probe is having a look at Roger. Live by the locomotive… die by the locomotive.
I was thinking Ozzy Osbourne might serve for our railroad symbol. Going off the tracks…
I thought we’d do the railroading and learn from the best.
Having said that: I’m listening to a curated version of your miserable two-bedroom play every week and I’m also able to talk personally to people swept up and hither by the actions of those acting in it. Lots of fun – I think I’m beyond mentorship by now 🙂