Which fruit trees have you tried and are having splitting issues with? Oranges and Pomegranates are probably the most plant-and-forget type of fruit trees around here.

Figs and jujubes are also very easy here.

I don't have splitting issues citrus or anything that ripens in May or June. All of my trees are on drip irrigation and I'm wondering if I'd do better with flood irrigation.

Here is a list of everything I've had splitting issues with.

Pluot - Flavor Grenade

Pluot - Flavor King

Pluot - Dapple Dandy

Nectaplum - Spice Zee

Asian Pear - Shinsheki

Pomegranate - Eversweet (I have another unknown pomegranate variety that does not have this issue)

Peach - Red Baron

Fig - Panache (dropped fruit and leaves after first monsoon, the leafed out again)

I've had better luck with the following early season fruit trees.

Peach - Desert Gold

Peach - Flordaprince

Peach - Eva's Pride

Nectarine - Desert Delight

Pluerry - Sweet Treat

Plum - Santa Rosa

Aprium - Flavor Delight

Other thoughts...

Pluot - Splash: tree burnt up and died in the heat this summer.

Apricot - Gold Kist: tree was doing well till one of my dogs ate it in April.

Pomegranate - Parfianka: first year in ground, tree too small for fruit

Pomegranate - Desertnyi: first year in ground, tree too small for fruit

I also planted five bare root apple trees this April, all of them are too small for fruit, but they did surprisingly well with the summer heat.

I have a few citrus trees as well, but none of them have done that well. They start to burn when the temp gets above 110. I think part of the issue is that they're planted too close to my block wall and get too much reflected heat.

I've heard of splitting issues with a few of those, especially panache fig. What does your drip watering schedule look like in summer? I find that some of my plants do better with a separate (usually more frequent but less water) watering schedule (like my guava) than the rest of my plants. Based on the soil drainage rate, it might be worth experimenting with more/less frequent watering along with less/more water just to see how they perform.

I have a tangelo in a spot that sounds similar to yours (up against a south facing wall) and it's leaves too seemed to burn a little its first 2 years, but now it seems to handle the spot better.

On a side note I bought an apricot tree this year and I meant to get a Gold Kist but I got a Katy accidentally. I was gonna change the order but then I read more about the Katy and I think I'll stick with it. I hope it performs as well as I hear the Gold Kist does.

During the summer I normally water every 3days. If it's really hot and things start to look sad I'll go to every other day. As the weather cools I switch to once a week then every 2weeks in Winter, then back to once a week in Spring. All of my fruit tress are on the same watering circuit and I've varied the number of drippers to try and account for different watering requirements. My plan for the new orchard will be to have each type of tree on it's own watering zone so I can better adjust my watering.

If your trees have been in the ground for 3 or more years and are looking sad on a 3 day watering schedule, they might need a good amount of mulch around them, and maybe longer watering times so their roots go deeper. If they've been in the ground for less than 3-4 years then I wouldn't worry too much about the fruit as long as they're staying alive, but make sure you're watering deep (at least 2 feet down). A lot of fruit trees can be temperamental their first few years.

Btw, how did your Santa Rosa plums do this year? And if you don't mind me asking, how old are they, and how much sun do they get? It's one of the trees I'm considering.

This is the 2nd year in the ground for most of my trees. Would the fruit be less prone to splitting on more mature trees?

My Santa Rosa is on it's 3rd year. The fruit this year was okay, but didn't compare to the ones I've tasted in California. Also, it wasn't very productive this year, especially given the size of the tree. The tree is very vigorous, and it seems to be more interested in vegetative growth rather than fruit production.

If I were to recommend a 'plum' tree it would be the Flavor King Pluot. My tree has been fairly vigorous, the blossoms have a wonderful perfume that borders on intoxicating, and it set a pretty good crop this year too (about 3dozen). The downside is that most of my fruit split after our first heavy monsoon where we an inch of rain in one day. I only ended up with 3 or 4 ripe fruit but they were out-of-this-world-good; by far the best plum I've ever tasted. It needs a pollinator, which is why I have the Santa Rosa. If you want a plum that is self fruitful one of the guys at Mesquite Valley Nursery told me that Burgundy Plum was his favorite, but I've never had one myself.

Yeah, length of time in the ground can help with fruit split. I'm not sure of the reasons but I think it has to do with the plant getting more regular moisture when it's getting water from deeper in the ground. Also the tree is generally less stressed out at that point, and that has a factor in fruit splitting, along with taking up fertilizer better.

That Flavor King Pluot sounds perfect. I especially like scented flowers on trees. I may need to get a bigger back yard soon for all these trees and their pollinators :)

The scent of the Flavor King was what first attracted me to the variety. I walked by a bunch of them at a nursery when they were in boom and decided I needed one based on the scent alone. I describe the smell as "plum candy".

You can always plant two trees in the same hole. Dave Wilson Nursery advocates planting trees really close together to keep them small and easy to manage. Check out this article on their website.Backyard Orchard Culture

Most of my trees are planted 6ft apart and I've still run out of room in my current backyard. The new place I'm moving to is 3x the size of my current lot, so I should have a lot more options.

That's pretty cool, I didn't know you could do that with the trees 18" apart. I will try one of those examples in the high density diagrams this year since I ordered a few trees.

I'm near Oracle & Ina. I've had good luck with persimmons (Hachiya, Saijo & Fuyu), Anna Apple (self fertile but does much better with a pollinator--which I discovered when my Ein Schemer died), some figs (I've tried a couple dozen varieties and most are susceptible to souring--Black Mission is consistently good), apricot (Royal Blenheim & Gold Kist), Desert Gold Peach (though it's at the end of its useful life and I think I'll replace it with Earligrande), Wilma avocado (no local retail sources, but several other varieties have been grown here successfully), and some citrus (Oro Blanco grapefruit, Lisbon lemon, and Washington Navel). I've had little success with plums (Santa Rosa & Elephant Heart) and none with pears (Bartlett, Shinseiki). I play around with a few other obdballs (pawpaw, Rainbow white sapote, and dragon fruit in ground; Pickering mango, cherimoya, & Lychee in pots) but nothing has fruited yet.

Any other fig varieties you'd suggest? I planted a Panache Fig last November, but it hasn't done very well.

How long have you had the Shinseiki pear? Mine didn't do much this year, but I planted it in January, so I wasn't expecting much.

As far as your peach tree, have you considered Flordaprince? It ripens about the same period as Desert Gold but tastes a lot better.

My Panachee isn't doing much either--it is among the weakest growers in my yard. The "standard" varieties I have, or have tried, that have gotten large enough to fruit, include Black Madeira, Black Mission, Conadria, Celeste, Desert
King, Excel, Hardy Chicago, Improved Brown Turkey, Ischia Green, LSU Gold,
LSU Improved Celeste, LSU Purple, Marseilles Black, Panachee, Tena, and Violette
de Bordeaux.

The souring I referred to is caused by a tiny beetle (the dried fruit beetle -- Carpophilus spp.) that enters the fruit through the "eye", or ostiole. In Tucson, the beetle appears around the time of our monsoon. I went several years, enjoying good harvests, before it showed up, and then everything changed. That's why I've tried so many fig varieties, hoping to find ones that aren't affected. I've had very little luck so far. Desert King is safe because its crop ripens before the beetle appears, and LSU Purple looks promising for October, on the tail-end of the season, after the beetles are no longer active. The trouble with LSU Purple is that it takes several years of growing before the tree produces decent fruit. You may get lucky and not ever have the beetle in your yard, but I wouldn't count on it.

My Shinseiki pear was prone to fireblight, and although it bloomed and set fruit, they never got larger than a marble. Eventually I quit watering it and let it die.

Thanks for the recommendation on Flordaprince. I;ll have to see if I can find a good comparison of it and Earligrande.

How did your Violette de Bordeaux do? It's one of the ones I was considering along with Kadota and Peter's Honey.

I've never tried Earligrande, but according to the description from Dave Wilson Nursery it fruits about the same time as Flordaprince. I was thinking about planting a Earlitreat because it fruits earlier. As far as Flordaprince goes, I replaced my Desert Gold with one, and I'd never consider planting another Desert Gold.

Violette de Bordeaux was one of my favorites until the beetles arrived, but now 100% of the fruit is inedible. I'm hoping to build a big wire mesh enclosure to protect the fruit from birds (I had a 120'x28' tree cage covered with plastic bird netting, but it didn't hold up to the sun and wind). Then, the plan would be to keep chickens in it as well, in hopes that they would eat the beetles and their larvae (and also take care of the weeding, help with fertilizing, and supply fresh eggs).

What part of Tucson are you in? It's always nice to find a variety that has been proven locally, and the Flordaprince sounds like a winner. I have a Babcock that has been underwhelming--I wonder how it would work if I cut it down and grafted Flordaprince onto the stump?

I don't have any experience with grafting, but I'd say it's worth a shot if you've got a healthy rootstock in the ground. I'm currently on the west side of Reid Park but I'm going to be relocating close to Park Place mall. Are you in town or further out? I'm wondering if maybe the beetles are a localized problem?

I'm near Tohono Chul Park. I don't know anybody else with such a severe beetle problem, so maybe you'll be lucky. On the other hand, I didn't see any beetles in my yard for the first eight years or so.

I got 2 violette de bordeaux fig trees earlier this year and one has already put out a bunch of fruit already. I agree with others that it's one of the best tasting figs (I had to net it to save the figs from birds). Although the figs are smaller than some other varieties.

I got a tiny Olympian fig starter plant about 2 months ago and it's already 3 feet tall and has already started producing figs. I have a bunch of other varieties that were starter plants or cuttings, but no signs of fruit yet on them.

Your VdB figs will get bigger (and better) as the trees grow; it's also very prolific. If you can somehow avoid the souring problem, it's a hard variety to beat.

For another opinion on Panachee in Tucson, I talked with another local fruit fan this morning who has a pretty large tree (it came with the house about a year ago) a few miles northwest from my place, and she said it's doing great and producing excellent figs. So, apparently they can thrive here too, if the conditions are right.

I suspect the issue with my Panache is that the soil in my front yard isn't very good. Even the Palo Verde in my front yard seems to be growing really slowly. Hopefully the soil at my new place will be better.