North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Amelia Hayner <abhayner@gmail.com>]

Hi everyone

I used to be a member of NAFEX and this list many years ago-- feels like a previous lifetime. We had a small farm in VA, and sold it, thankfully, just before the economy went south.

We went south with it, to NC!

We now live in a much more congenial place, in many ways. Even  though it's only about 1 1/2 hours drive away, we are in a different zone- looks like now we are in 8A, instead of 7B.

Different stuff thrives here. The fig trees get HUGE, whereas we were in a frost pocket, and mine froze back to the ground every year. Ditto with gardenias, they are much larger here.

Instead of sitting on deep clay, with a thin covering of loam, we are now on what appears to be sandy-clay, with more loam, and it's less acid.

I want to thank the gentleman that sent me, gratis! the variegated chinaberry tree- he's on this list, or a member here. I think he lived in NC and he was older- hope he's still around. I had to keep the poor tree in a pot for a couple of years before it found it's home, and it was seriously rootbound, but it finally took off last summer and put lots of new growth out. Love that thing- and in keeping with the gift will also pass on a slip to someone else, one day.

I have some questions. Now that my husband is "retired" -- his job at papermill folded up with the mill--- we want to grow stuff to eat, that's not extremely fussy and high maintenance.

Pears seem to do extremely well here.

I see them rottening all over folks yards, in mid-august- no one seems to do much with them, but we love pears.

However, mid-Aug. is prime time for the garden, I would rather be canning something else than pears, if possible

recommendations for late ripening pears? fire-blight resistant as well??

how about persimmons-- any favorite varieties for eastern NC? I speak mostly of the Jap. type.

I have about given up on apples cause they broke my heart back at the old place- fireblight was relentless and the late-bearing types just gave up and dropped their fruit in late Aug after a week or so of 100 degree days.

Husband wants papaws again. I am  not so keen on them, cause I go bare-foot a lot, and stepping on them, fully ripe, is something you REMEMBER.

however, I am willing to plant them somewhere, maybe next to the small woodlot. Again, favorites??

What about cherries? the land is looser here, is it possible to grow them? I see a lot more LARGE flowering cherry trees than I used to in our part of VA-- I assume that the others would grow as well. I was looking at the yellow variety as they said that they were less attractive to birds.

I grew Surefire at the old place, it did bear fruit-- that would wrench your head around on your neck if you ate it!! do sour cherries HAVE to be that sour???

Can't you cook with some that are a bit sweeter??

And, lastly, GRAPES. scuppernong, muscadine- what's best for eating out of hand?

Some of the varieties are very large-- is it possible to split them, seed them, and can them as you would any other fruit? are they firm enough for that??

oops, forgot about peaches.

Are the very early-bearing types from Univ of FL suited for this area??

It would be wonderful if you could somehow beat the beetles and get the fruit without such a battle.

Raintree advertises a plum that gets ripe in oct. - is that true?? even in hot summer areas???

ok, that's enough to go on for now.

oh, also- many thanks to the man who came out to my farm, taught me how to graft, and we did a whole bunch of honey-locust whips that day.

most of them survived, and bore heavily, and the people that bought the farm WERE impressed with that little bit of perma-culture. The sheep ,cows, and donkeys BEGGED for the pods every year.

And I have taught as many people as I can get to stand still long enough, how to graft.

just like I promised you that I would.

glad to be back, but I feel sorry for you guys, I have been saving up questions for a long time.

Amy

now in the "other" Milwaukee