North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Mark or Helen Angermayer" <hangermayer@isp.com>]

Thanks to all who replied to my soil test questions and especially to Jim
and Donna for the free lessons.  I guess my main challenge now is to find
the ingredients and somehow get the fertilizer mixed correctly.  Even if I
can't get it mixed or applied exactly as recommended, at least the test let
me know that the soil is very low in Phosphorus.  This may partly explain
why some people around here have a hard time getting peach trees to fruit.
That's why I asked for recommendations for peach trees even though I have
other fruit trees as well.  I've talked with two different people who waited
many many years before they got peaches from their trees.  Indeed this year
was the first year for peaches from my oldest peach tree and it produced
only 20-25 flowers which which yielded 4 peaches (less than I expected for
the size of the tree, but I did prune it very hard last winter).  Strangely
apples and pears produce abundantly around here without any care whatever.
Perhaps pome fruits are more tolerant of low Phosphorus soils than peaches.

Thanks again,
Mark Angermayer
Zone 5 Kansas