Have you looked at your State Ag info?

Here is a link that might be useful: fruit info for MO

Did you check them out at Garden Watchdog?

samsthumb:

I ordered fruit trees from Stark Brothers off and on for years, and 90% of the time or more was satisfied with what they sent me. They did go through a reorganization and change of ownership a few years ago, but not much seems to have changed. The catalog sure looks the same.

Like all of the big diversified mailorder nurseries, Stark does not really grow most of their trees, but buy from contract growers. Most of these are professional, and produce strong, well-grafted trees, but once in a while you could get a dud. However, Stark stands behind their trees, and if you complain they will replace them. As for shipping costs, you ought to ask Stark Brothers, not us, or look in their catalog or at their website where this kind of information can be found. Since most of their stuff is shipped from Missouri, it shouldn't be too much in your case.

I think growing fruit trees is a wonderful hobby, even for older people (I am kind of old myself), but trees like apricots and cherries will require some level of maintenance to keep them healthy, nice looking, and actually producing fruit. There is nothing automatic about growing tree fruits. Before you load your mom up with young fruit trees, make sure she is willing and able to do the pruning, spreading, spraying, fertilizing etc. that comes with the territory, especially if you are not there to help her.

The apricot and cherry varieties you mention are good ones, but you can't raise any apricot in Missouri without regular spraying against plum curculio, oriental fruit moth, and other critters. I raise apricots here myself, and if I do not spray regularly, especially early in the season when the fruits are just developing, the insects are waiting and ready to pounce.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Stella cherry: I have one, 3 1/2 years in the ground -- eastern Iowa. It's been really healthy and grown like a weed, but still hasn't produced viable fruit (unlike the peach that I planted nearby at the same time). If anything, the cherry is in a better spot than the peach -- pretty much full sun. Last year, it produced little green fruit, but none made it to maturity. This year, we didn't even get that because it flowered when it was still frigid outside due to our funky winter.

Satisfaction with tree: moderate. If we don't get any cherries within the next two years, I'll downgrade that to "low".

karenrei:

It is normal for cherry trees to set fruit that does not develop fully for the first year or two. But rootstock type also influences precocity of bearing, and if you have one of the full-size models (often called semi-dwarfs) it could take longer. You can speed things up by buying trees on a truly dwarfing rootstock like Gisela 5 or Gisela 6, but the trees are more expensive. They also offer the significant advantage of staying smaller at maturity.

Of course no cherry tree can deal with the deepfreeze you had this spring. If you have a normal spring next year, and the tree still does not set and hold cherries, I might become a little concerned.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I have a Compact Stella cherry on Colt rootstock in full sun. It grows very vigorously, more than any of my apples or plums. This spring was its third leaf and it flowered a bit and got a handful of fruit up to about the size of a tic tac. I'm hopeful for next year. The weather wasn't very conducive to fruit production when it bloomed this year.

I chose Compact Stella because it is self-fertile, on sale, and has some genetic dwarfing. Since buying it I've seen more praise of Lapins which is also self-fertile.

Don, or others, I have a question. Is it common for a cherry tree to have some flowers that have only the male parts? When I went to hand pollinate some of them it seemed that such was the case for most of mine this year.

I don't think that curculio or fruit moths will be much of a problem with apricots in S. Missouri, as you will probably only see fruit perhaps once or twice every 10 years or so, due to the early bloom and late spring frosts. However, they would still make nice ornamental trees.

kiwinut:

You are right, and I probably should have told Sam's Thumb that, or maybe directly to Sam himself. But, after the 4-night deepfreeze we had here at Easter, well after apricot bloom, I still have apricots all over the Tomcot, Puget Gold, and even a 2-year Goldcot. If I can keep the bugs off them, it will be the best apricot harvest I have ever had. It's against all the odds, and I can't figure it out. But the trees did have an awful lot of blossoms.

Still in all, 3 apricots trees could be too many of one thing, and it might be better to substitute a peach for at least one of them.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA