North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Doug Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>]

Ginda, if you want to plant another species not closely related, I recall
that Robert Nitschke (founder of Southmeadow Fruit Gardens) said that
English Morello cherry did well against a north wall, that the fruit was
of better quality in that situation than in full sun. Perhaps that would
be comparable to your 1/2 day sun.

I suggest that you still get out as much of the old tree as you
conveniently can. I find a pick very useful in gravelly or rocky soil.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

On Thu, 3 Oct 2002, Ginda Fisher wrote:

> Tom:  I'm pretty sure the whole tree is dead.  I'm afraid of infection,
> but not of active competition from it.  Besides, my soil is very rocky
> and there's no way I'm digging out 5'x5' for a tree.  I expanded my
> garden by about 8 sq ft this fall (and only one shovel's-blade deep). It
> took an entire day and I still bear the wounds - the rocks fought back.
> If this is a compelling reason not to plant an apple tree there, then I
> won't plant an apple tree!
>
> David:  The shade is provided by a nearby white pine and some oaks.  No
> black walnut within reach, and the nearest maple is plenty far away.
> The spot gets a little more than 1/2 day of sun, I'd guess, mostly in
> the afternoon.  The white pine is slated to be removed some day, but I
> was planning to wait until myh children had outgrown their tree-climbing
> years.  The closest oak is my neighbor's, but I think it's far enough
> away to not be too serious a problem.   There's a wild seedling crab
> growing practically underneath it that's doing great.