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Help in choosing polinators

18 years ago

I'm a rookie starting a new back yard mini orchard in

zone 8 SC. I'm ordering all the trees from Johnson's

in Georgia(apples, plums,& pears). I want a very hard,

crunchy sweet not tart apple. I've chosen a red delicous

that ripens in September, and a fuji that ripens in Oct.

The sales person recommended freedom as a polinator for

the red delicious, as it also ripens in September, and a

gold rush as a polinator for the fuji,as it ripens in

october. Are these good choices as polinators and will

they meet my taste criteria?

I've also chosen AU Rubrum & AU Rosa for plums, and

Ayers with Maxine as a polinator for pears. Are these

good pears. Thanks for your suggestions.

Ray

Comments (8)

  • 18 years ago

    First advice, don't be in too big a hurry to put all your trees all at once. Oh, what the heck, go right ahead. Although as a newbie you will be learning quite a bit and your mistakes might be painful to undo at a later date. But that's what it's all about.
    You seem more concerned about when apples ripen than when they flower. Coincident flowering periods are necessary for pollination. There are bloom-time charts available although I can't remember where. And most apple blooms will overlap enough unless you put an early and a late together.
    Fuji is a good choice because it is self-fertile in my experience, although opinions vary on this. It's a marvelous tasting apple that keeps very well. It does require ample sunshine to sweeten up properly.
    Red Delicious is a tasty apple. Alot of people think it's overgrown and would prefer something less common. But it is a tasty, crisp apple. Although in my experience it is highly susceptible to scab and I would personally avoid it for that reason. I don't want to spray for scab and there are plenty of resistant varieties that don't require spraying.

  • 18 years ago

    A red delicious is the very last apple I would plant if you want a hard crisp juicy apple to eat. I used to live in an area famous for apples and the farmers grew a lot of red delicious apples they sold to the government for the soldiers to eat. The claim by the army was soldiers would only eat red apples. No one living in apple country used red delicious them self. Al

  • 18 years ago

    Rayrose:

    Generally agree with the comments of TCStoehr and Al, and if I were you would rethink your variety choices. The ripening time of an apple has nothing to do with its bloom time and pollination, but your sales person from Johnson Nursery doesn't seem to know that either. It is sometimes a mistake to focus fruit tree orders on only one nursery, since you are limited by the particular varieties they sell.

    If you want a crisp, sweet apple, Fuji is an excellent choice, but I have both Red Delicious and Freedom here, and would never plant them again. There are lots of RD strains, but they are not particularly flavorful in general, and not very good keepers. Freedom is a very poor quality apple, unless you want to make pies or blend it in cider. It is tart when slightly underripe, and gets mealy fast after that. I also have a Goldrush, which is excellent in every respect, so that one is a winner.

    In Southern Carolina you can easily grow very long-season apples like Fuji, but I would suggest you also look at Pink Lady, which may be even better than Fuji, if you can find one. I would also suggest you consider planting Gala as an earlier apple to eat while you are waiting for the others to ripen. Gala has double the flavor of Red Delicious, keeps pretty well for an early apple, and meets your crisp and juicy requirements.

    It will be worth your while to wait and shop around a little more, since planting an orchard is a long-term thing, and you want to get it right the first time if you possibly can. The advice of one person from one nursery is a good start, but don't rely on just that. If you have two apple varieties, or there are any other apple or crab trees in the neighborhood, pollination will not be a problem for you at all. Gala, BTW, is an excellent pollinator. Once they start bearing, apple trees normally set so many fruits that you have to thin them anyway to improve size and quality.

    If you plant hard, late apples like Fuji, Goldrush, and Pink Lady (or even Granny Smith), and you have a spare refrigerator, you can keep apples into February and March in good condition. That becomes important when the trees start to produce, since you can't eat them all at once.

    Sorry I can't comment on your plum and pear choices, since I don't grow any of the varieties you have named.

    Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

  • 18 years ago

    I want to thank you all for your comments and especially
    Jellyman, whom I have followed on this forum for many years
    and who's opinion I respect. Johnson's has Gala and Pink
    Lady(Cripps Pink Variety). Should I order these two along
    with Gold Rush and cancel the rest, or do you recommend
    any other nurseries and varieties that I should investigate. Thanks again to all of you.
    Ray

  • 18 years ago

    Rayrose:

    I don't think I would toss out Fuji. I know there is some disagreement from people who consider it "too sweet", but I regard it as delightful and it keeps forever in cool storage. It's only real disadvantage that I have seen is that it tends to be a tipbearer, but this can be overcome to some extent with summer pruning. However, you would have two similar quality apples in Fuji and Pink Lady. I like them both. Pink Lady tends toward tight, upward growth, but nobody's perfect. You can spread the branches. Pink Lady fruit has a little more of a barrel shape, while Fuji is flatter, but coloration is similar unless you get one of the newer red sports of Fuji.

    Don't know if your nursery carries antiques, but of the dozen or so I have tried the best are Yellow Newtown (Albemarle) Pippin and Ashmead's Kernel. Both of these are crisp and delicious in a different way than the modern apples. Ashmead's is a little earlier, and is a russeted apple, but it's what's under the skin that counts. Albemarle as I grow it here stays green even when it is fully ripe and sweet, but compares in keeping qualities to Fuji or Pink Lady.

    Or, if you want a really fine sauce apple, plant the old Yellow Transparent. This is a very early apple, and you can have your sauce made and in the freezer by mid-July and in some years even earlier. Good for pies too, though it's not a fresh eating apple except for a few people with unusual tastes, and it has to be used promptly as it has near zero keeping qualities. In the final analysis, it's all up to you, but I did want to caution you on Freedom and to a lesser extent on Red Delicious, neither of which I regard as worth planting.

    Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

  • 18 years ago

    Don

    What is a "tip bearer"? Since Fuji and Pink Lady are
    so similar, would you still advise getting both, or
    would you choose one over the other, and which one.
    Ray

  • 18 years ago

    Rayrose:

    I wouldn't second guess all the info available on the net defining a "tipbearer". Plug "tipbearing apples" into your Google function and read all about it. A little more Googling would give you a much better basis for judgment on apple varieties, and lots of other things. Google was not available when I planted Freedom and Red Delicious, or I would not have them. Times have changed, for the better.

    Both Fuji and Pink Lady are wonderful apples, but if someone were holding a mattock over my head I would probably choose Pink Lady. It's a close call.

    Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

  • 18 years ago

    Thanks Don

    I've spent the whole morning reading about "tip bearers"
    and how to prune apple trees. This is like going back to
    school and I'm 61 years old. LOL
    I can see now that growing good fruit trees is not as
    simple as most people think.
    Ray