----- Original Message -----
From: Alan
Haigh
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 6:36
AM
Subject: [NAFEX] fruit that grows well in
shade
Here's a contribution to the question of what
fruit does well in the shade. You probably already know the traditional
answer of currants and gooseberries but the following are some of my personal
observations. This is something I've looked at a lot because of all the
non-commercial sites (home and estate orchards) I manage. These
sites are often solar challenged because my region in southeastern NY is
essentially forest.
First of all, the earlier the fruit ripens the
more likely it is to get adequate sun- think cherries, mulberries, Japanese
plums, apricots, and early peaches. Also think of the sweetest cultivars
or at least those highest in soluable solids. I was surprised to
discover that the Elephantheart plum growing on my property in about 70% shade
was capable of fairly reliably producing large harvests of amazingly sweet
fruit- the shade probably actually delays flowering a bit. E.H is one of
the latest Japanese plums we grow here. Earlier ones like Methely and
Shiro are at least equally shade tolerant. Ozark Premier seems not to
be.
Of course many European plums have extremely
high levels of soluble solids but in limited experience I have found them not
to be shade productive. It's strange that on wet years with lots of
cloud cover the Europeans sweeten up very well so I'm a little confused at how
poorly they seem to do in less than about 70% exposure. Of course their
high susceptibilty to brown-rot increases the liability of shade.
On apples I have even less conclusive
evaluations. I have seen Baldwin produce a few tastey apples in complete
shade and because it continues to ripen after most of our forest trees have
defoliated it may pick up some late sugar. Northern Spy seems to need a
lot of sun. Baldwin is a high-brix apple and Spy not so much. I would
suggest that appples that produce adequate sugar throughout the tree, where
seconds (the smaller less colored fruit) are of good quality are likely to do
well in relatively shady sites. Fuji is an example of such an apple and
it is extremely high in soluble solids.
Asian pears seem to do poorly in the shade
because they need to obtain very high levels of sugar to have any flavor at
all. Bartlett and Seckel do pretty well while Highland and Aurora do
not.
Most of the smaller non-tree fruits we
grow here are fairly shade tolerant- you know, blueberries, raspberries,
blackberries, kiwis and so on. If you like paw-paws or autumn olive (I
like the first, not the second) they certainly tolerate some shade.
That's about the extent of the
contribution I can make. While it's good to know that you don't need
absolute sun to produce some quality fruit that doesn't stop me from being a
fanatic for full sun. Those couple of extra hours of sun at the
beginning and end of each day can make the differnce between good and
exceptional fruit for many varieties. I'd certainly appreciate
some input on this subject from othere list members.
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