Strongest fruit trees for my area??

[secuono]

So now that I've made 3 out of the 6 new paddocks, I realize I need to put in shade/shelter for my sheep.

I'd like to use fruit trees for this, apple and pear. Only ones I'll eat, lol. But they need to be dwarf or real small and super disease resistant. I cannot be spraying them, ever, with anything.

Anyone know which varieties are resistant, tiny and grow well in Virginia?

Then, best place to order these from?

 

[canesisters]

totally following.....

 

[Nyboy]

Good luck not spraying apple trees. Crabapple are pretty tough but fruit is very small. Pears need less spraying

 

[flowerbug]

if you are going to use the trees for shade then i think you'd want taller trees? dwarf trees are not as strong growing as the larger selections and i have no idea that they are selected for resistance to diseases. you'd have to check each one for suitability for your area (how much cold it needs). also, if you are in the mountainy areas perhaps you have a good microclimate for them that others lower down won't have.

i would plant apple seeds and see what comes up and then cull out the ones that aren't resistant. of those after some years you may get a few that are edible. i'm sure sheep won't mind anyways... those that aren't edible can be used to make hard cider like the old days. that's what they were mostly grown for back then...

if you do plant your own seeds they go in the ground in the fall and will sprout the following spring. buy a varied selection of apples and the complexity of apple genetics should give you a good amount of variations in there to work with.

i don't know anything about pears.

 

[secuono]

Maybe I'll just try to root Mulberry branches instead. =/

 

[Nyboy]

Much better off with mullberry you eat berries your livestock eat leaves. Burnt ridge nursery carrys large selection and pack for mail very well

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

if you are looking for apple/pear trees that are dwarf you really should be looking at the rootstock they are grafted to. pears use OHxF87 as a 'dwarf' rootstock and it is relatively easy to find if you want to graft in the late winter/early spring. i don't recommend using quince for pears since they sucker like crazy and can become invasive. for apples here in the Northeast we use a lot of Bud 9 since they are cold hardy & are dwarfing trees (10'-15') that don't get very tall. you can keep most in check by cutting/pruning to keep them short. FedCo Trees or Cummins Nursery carries the rootstock but need to get your orders in by February for FedCo and Cummings is still selling up till now but pickings are getting slim. Burnt Ridge is on the west coast.

these might help if you think of grafting or happen to see something in your area that might work for you.
https://www.orangepippintrees.com/articles/fruit-tree-advice/rootstocks-for-pear-trees
https://www.orangepippintrees.com/articles/fruit-tree-advice/rootstocks-for-apple-trees

check with your local extension service at a local college. they should be able to tell you what works best in your area.

for me i have 2 decent pear trees that cross pollinate and little issues with pest or disease so far-Moonglow (full sized at 15-20') & Kieffer (dwarf currently at 12'). Bartletts i've had issues with in the past so i won't get them for this property. i have a few new varieties i grafted this year to add to the yard-Potomac, Warren, Carl's or Clapp's Favorite (forgot which one), and i have 2 others but not sure if they took to their grafts & still watching them carefully. lots of apples i just noticed this past week are finally showing they took to their grafts to Bud 9 & the Geneva 11 (another dwarfing rootstock for the north).

 

[canesisters]

I'm curious about sheep and fruit trees. Having a fruit tree in with horses or cows can be risky because they will gorge on all available fruit and can become very sick. Will sheep not do that?

 

[ducks4you]

My horses have their very own Golden Delicious apple tree, which they acquired when I redrew the fence lines for the new fencing 10 years ago. They do not gorge on their tree, but there is never any fruit left on the ground. Gorging would only happen if they discovered a fruit tree and were starving. Don't think you need to worry about this.
Btw, I think crabapple would be your best choice. I understand that they are disease resistant and hearty. I had to hack an slash my pear tree last year bc it was turning black from blight and thought that it wouldn't make it. Peach trees are picky. Apple trees can also get blight and I had to hack and slash my red apple tree, which is recovering, but I make get about 1 dozen apples from it this year and that is disappointing.

 

[Jared77]

What are you trying to do with the pears?

There is a winter pear tree at my SIL house and that thing is bullet proof. Always produces, and its been ignored most of its life. I've made pear butter with them that's really good. Little sugar, cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg, or all spice and let it cook forever in the crockpot. We can it and its good to go.