It's Spring . . . 

 I've Got the Gardening Bug for Fruits 



WILLIAM LORD 



W 



hat are the best types of fruit trees? Every va- 

 riety listed in the dozens of catalogs that come 

 in this time of year sounds like perfection. 

 But not every variety is suited to New Hampshire. 

 What does work? 



Apples are perhaps the most widely grown tree 

 fruits. They are also the most difficult to grow well. 

 The key issue that faces most home growers is pest 

 control and the key pest that frustrates home growers 

 is a disease called apple scab. While you can manage 

 this pest by removing all leaves from the orchard in 

 the autumn and spraying with fungicides in the spring 

 and early summer, most home gardeners will not have 

 super success against this pest. For that reason, scab- 

 resistant varieties of apples are a good choice. The 

 best scab-resistant apples are: 



Liberty October 1, red, large, crisp with good flavor 

 Redfree September 1, red with crisp, white flesh, good 



flavor 

 Prima mid-September, red with OK flavor, does not 



store 



There are many other scab-resistant varieties to try, 

 including William 's Pride, Dayton, and Jonafree. 



What about regular varieties? 



(Yes, they get apple scab.) Of the scab- 

 susceptible apple cultivars, Mcintosh, Macoun, and 

 Cortland are by far the most widely grown in New 

 Hampshire: they are productive, extremely winter 

 hardy, but very susceptible to scab. There are several 

 newer cultivars that have consumers excited. They are 

 crisp, have great flavor, and store very well: Gala, 

 Fuji, Mutsu, and Honeycrisp are the most popular to- 

 day. Of these, only Honeycrisp will survive the harsh 

 winters of northern New Hampshire. In addition, 

 Mutsu and Fuji ripen in October, so sites that frost 

 out early in autumn will not work for these cultivars. 



Pears: Bartlett and Bosc are still the most popular. 

 Bartlett ripens in early September; Bosc, about Octo- 

 ber first. Other great pears include Seckel (small, crisp, 

 and sweet) and Clapp's Favorite. Northern growers 

 should try Flemish Beauty and Nova. 



Peaches and Nectarines: Reliance is the hardiest 



peach, often producing following -25F. But if the 

 grower has a great site where temperatures rarely drop 

 below -10 or -12F, and spring frosts are not a prob- 

 lem, there are better ones when it comes to flavor. 

 Red Haven, Canadian Harmony, and Madison will fill 

 August and early September with great tasting yellow 

 peaches. Sugar May and White Lady are two white- 

 fleshed peaches that are incredibly sweet and juicy. 

 For nectarines (peaches without the fuzz), Mericrest 

 (like Reliance peach, from UNH and extremely hardy) 

 and Hardired are good choices. 



Other Tree Fruits: 



Sour or Pie Cherry. Montmorency is the best. Meteor 

 and Northstar will produce smaller trees which make 

 sense for the home gardener, but flavor is not quite 

 up to Montmorency standards. Sour cherries are very 

 hardy, but they bloom early, so spring frosts are a 

 problem. 



Sweet Cherry. Like sour cherries, these bloom very 

 early. In addition, sweet cherries are not very hardy 

 (-10F often gets the flower buds). Hedelfingen, Sam, 

 Van, and Kristin are all great to eat — if you get them 

 past the winter cold, spring frosts, and hungry birds! 



Plums. I like the prunes the best. They are extra 

 sweet. Stanley is the most popular and it is at least 

 partially self-fruitful. Early Italian and Earlibue are 

 other good choices. They ripen in September. Japanese 

 plums (not self-fruitful) are great too, and they ripen 

 in August. Ozark Premier is my favorite — large, great 

 flavor. Methley, Burhank, and Fellemburg are all very 

 good too. Shiro is a popular yellow one, but it is a 

 poor pollinator for other plums. 



Should I plant dwarf trees? 



For apples, the answer is yes! Dwarf trees bear fruit 

 younger in life than larger trees and take up much less 

 space. Pruning and pest control are much easier too. 

 Popular dwarf rootstocks include M.26 and M.9. A 

 stake for support and tree trunk training is essential 

 for dwarf apples. 



Dwarf pears also bear fruit young in life, but that 

 life can be short outside southern New Hampshire. 

 Dwarf pears are produced by grafting pears onto 



