MrsG,

Can you prepare the hole for planting now and have a friend to plant it for you while you are away.

Tony

Oh Tony I wished. No way. Except for me, many of my pals have tarnished thumbs or hire people to do it. I've already prepared the holes myself and am just waiting. I'll be in France looking at orchards.

MrsG,

Make sure you take plenty of photos and share them to us.

Tony

Will do. I'm photographing cherries, mirabelles, peaches, apples, pear,s and of course grapes!

Mrs. G,

Can you hire a kid to come by and plant the trees? Somebody's Grandkid, neighbor kid, some kid from church?

All they'd have to do is chuck the tree in the hole and throw some dirt on top. Offer 15 bucks/tree to plant and I bet you could find someone.

You're not alone in waiting for trees from Arboreum. I still haven't seen the peach tree I ordered from them for this spring. Sent an email, no answer.

I've ordered from them before and got the trees, but their total lack of communication is bizarre. When you send the order in with payment, you get no confirmation when the trees will ship (or even that they received your order) they don't answer emails, and don't have a phone number on their Website.

I wish they would at least mention their shipping season on their Website, or blog some about it so customers know they are still shipping trees.

Lastly, a little off topic but it's not a good idea to post when you are taking vacation on a public website, if there is any way at all someone can trace your identity. Bad guys troll websites looking for info. like that so they can break into houses.

I saw something on the news a few weeks ago about thieves trolling Facebook looking for vacation pictures people post on their pages, so they could break in their houses.

If there is any way to track your identity (like if you've ever put your real name on one of your GardenWeb posts) you might want to edit your post above (If I see you've edited your post, I'll likewise edit mine.)

I have someone staying at the house. But planting is a 'no go' with this person. You're right, I'll call one pal who doesn't mind soil under her nails. Olpea you're right! Thanks so much Mrs.G

I have someone staying at the house. But planting is a 'no go' with this person. You're right, I'll call one pal who doesn't mind soil under her nails. Olpea you're right! Thanks so much Mrs.G

Generally giving out ones exact address is the main thing to not do (and also to not post geotagged photos; check your phone settings carefully). But I tend to avoid mentioning travel until I am back as well.

I agree that paying a kid $20 or finding a friend is the way to go. Even a horrible planting job is better than nothing. If you can't find anyone there are many yard services crews that will do it well, but for more like $50.

Scott

"Generally giving out ones exact address is the main thing to not do..."

Well, with a name like Scott Smith there's not too much to worry about :-) Probably about a million people with your name. I've Googled my name however, and there is no one else in the U.S. that has it, so I'm pretty easy to find.

I just checked the Arboreum Website and they do post a shipping season which normally ends March 1. You mentioned you received your order from them just last Friday, so they must be running behind schedule this year. Their Website also mentioned they send out a confirmation, but I never got one. Makes me wonder if they lost my order, but alas there is no way to know.

I have ordered from them three times and have received zero confirmations. I did once receive an email reply to a question I asked, so the emails are going somewhere...

Thats a good point on what name you have or reveal, I enjoy my relative anonymity (for now -- I'm sure soon there will be ways to pinpoint which Scott Smith I am). Generally making acronyms with your real name is not a good idea either; while your real name will pull up there is probably not much on olpea. I'm just in a rut from the early Internet days.

Scott

"while your real name will pull up there is probably not much on olpea"

Olpea was just something I came up with on a spur. Buddies in college nicknamed me Opie. I had a boyish face then and they said I looked like Opie Taylor from Andy Griffith. Opie was already taken as a profile name, as was Opea, so I went with Olpea.

It is amazing how people can track you down. The other day some guy I've never met called me from NY and wanted to talk peaches (which I was happy to do). He he said he got my contact information from my Website, but wouldn't really divulge how he found my Website. Seemed strange to me since it's so small Google won't pull it up unless someone specifically enters the Website name.

Olpea,

Since you've mentioned your farm's name a few times on the forum, so your website's name is out there. I just googled your farm's name. I saw the whole family and the cat (in the background).

I also think I know which Scott Smith and our Scott here. I don't want to say more. Rest assured, I am not a stalker !!!

"Since you've mentioned your farm's name a few times on the forum, so your website's name is out there."

That must be it mamuang. I'm really not trying to be anonymous anyway.

Someone I don't know emailed me through my website about a month ago. He said he got my name off Gardenweb, so maybe that's where the NY caller got it. I emailed the other guy back but never heard anything more from him. Maybe he didn't get my return email.

Unfortunately the cat in the photo (Frankie) disappeared :-( That was a really fun and beautiful cat, even if she was a little psycho. She would rub up against your leg, but if you reached down to pet her, she would bite you (but not too hard). She would also dig her claws into anyone who picked her up. I don't know why she did this, she was never mistreated. It was almost as if she was so stimulated by being held or petted, she had to give something back. We bought her from another vendor at the Farmer's Market when she was a kitten.

Olpea,
Very sorry to hear about your cat. I don't have a cat but there are 3 - 4 cats roaming my yard. They're the best weapons against voles and moles. Sadly, they don't help with squirrels.

I read your comment on another thread re. PF-1. It bummed me out. I got it based on a recommendation on the forum. It fruited last year for the first time. It's big and not bad, but again, I don't have a lot of other peaches to compare with.

As I read about the experiences Mrs. G, Scott and you have had with Arboreum, I don't think I want to order from it. Thank you for sharing.

I think Arboreum is fine if you are on their schedule. The fact that their communication is little to none is fairly unacceptable. Buyer + $ = communication and customer service. A seller can be exclusive and elusive, and ultimately they will just slide through the cracks as a seller. What is the point of selling exotic, hard to find trees if you cannot set up a ship date? That said, I have two pals coming over to plant my trees should they arrive. I am disappointed as a customer. Mrs. G

"I read your comment on another thread re. PF-1. It bummed me out. I got it based on a recommendation on the forum. It fruited last year for the first time. It's big and not bad, but again, I don't have a lot of other peaches to compare with."

Mamuang,

I'm so sorry you acted on my recommendation of this peach and now I'm dissing it. I fear Milehigh also planted it based on my recs. I'm going to try to be more careful on my recommendations in the future. If it's any consolation, as I mentioned in the other thread, I planted 10 more of these trees last spring, so I was acting on my own recommendations.

I should probably put some perspective on this variety. It's really not as bad as I'm making it out to be.

I look for the best peaches in a given harvest window. In terms of very early peaches (earlier than -25) there aren't a lot of choices out there and this is still one of the best for a very early peach. I know another commercial grower that grows a different very early peach and he admits his peach tastes like pure acid. He sells a lot of them anyway because it's the first peach of the season. PF1 is far far from tasting like pure acid.

Part of the issue is that as I've tried more varieties, my standards have moved up. I think it's a natural progression for any fruit growing enthusiast, but I don't know that's it's automatically a good thing. What I mean is that for the serious fruit grower, fruit evaluating can take on a connoisseur quality, which isn't necessarily relevant because 99% of people are not connoisseurs.

As an example, I enjoy a glass of a good wine as much as anyone else, but I honestly can't tell the difference between an expensive wine vs. a $15 bottle. I'm sure there is a difference that justifies the price, but I'm not able to discern it.

I think fruit growing can be like that (i.e. standards become connoisseur beyond what most folks can discern). Take Fruitnut as an example, he's developed an indoor method for growing fruit that makes him shun fruit grown conventionally outside, even though that outside fruit would taste fantastic to virtually everyone else. (Fruitnut, I hope you don't think I'm picking on you, I admire the methods you've developed for indoor fruit growing.)

When it comes to evaluating peaches I'm my worst enemy. I sold PF1s last summer but warned people they weren't as sweet as they should be and wouldn't let folks buy any before sampling the peaches. After my comments some people didn't look very enthused to sample the peaches, but in every case after tasting they thought the peaches delicious. Some customers gave the impression I was nuts for dissing the peaches. I refused however, to sell some of the later pickings from this variety.

I will keep this variety unless I find something better in it's harvest window. People (myself included) love very early peaches. It usually ripens the first week in July here. It's very nice to have the first fresh peaches of the season on July 4th.

I also plan to start thinning this tree more aggressively. Fruit quality can suffer more from a heavy crop load for some varieties. Last year I over-cropped a pear called Harrow Sweet and it wasn't as good as it normally is. A couple other pears thinned appropriately were better, even though Harrow Sweet would normally have been better.

I'm now trying Rich May (-33) a peach from Zaiger genetics. I've heard some good things about it. If it's true, it may be the best very early peach out there for folks east of the Rockies.

Mrs. G,

I sympathize with your frustration and glad you found someone to plant the trees. I can understand the folks at the Arboreum not wanting to spend a lot of time "holding customers hands" while they wait for their trees to arrive, but it's not unreasonable to expect some minimal level of communication. I notice they don't even list their names on their Website.

If they send me my tree, I'll probably order from them again because they occasionally carry some varieties I really want to try, despite that I'm left completely in the dark up until the day the order arrives.

Olpea, thanks so much. I do know they have great varieties of fruit trees, but if you don't receive them or if they have -0- tolerance for shipping dates that is not good business. There is more than one climate zone and like other nursersies they should ship accordingly. About your peaches. My, my. (giggle please), you are 'peach picky'! Maybe I'm just so enthralled with everyday off the tree Elberta's that I think they're the best peach I've ever eaten. Cannot wait for 'Shui Mi Tao' to fruit (if it arrives) to taste a fabulous peach. I am really in awe of all of the varieties out there. There is a peach for everyone. Your recommenations are excellent, your taste in peaches is extraordinary and we everyday peach lovers, rarely know the difference. Thanks for your support. I have three peaches and would like just one more. Which one should I buy? Thanks Mrs. G

olpea,

Don't fear about my PF-1. I did exactly what you did; I found the best peach for the ripening time frame and chose based on that. I start with PF-1 and go to O'Henry.

I've been thinking about the issue with PF-1 and I was wondering how one could thin the peaches in such a way that they all ripened at the same time. I'm so new to this that there is probably a way but I just don't know it. It's not about size I don't think, and I didn't think it was about position on the tree either. But if one were to remove all the later ripening peaches then maybe the first ones would be really good.

I thought the first PF-1 was really good and I raved about it here, but you are right in that the later ones don't have the flavor or sugar. Last year was my first to taste it so I don't have a lot of personal data on it. (Sorry if I'm hijacking the thread)

Thanks Milehigh,

I plan to get rid of any PF1 fruitlets that are close to the trunk or look to ripen in the most shaded areas. I've also found leaving the biggest fruitlets at thinning seems to tighten the harvest interval and produce a little better quality peaches. Sometimes I've left smaller fruitlets in preference to have more even distribution on the shoot, but I think this is a mistake. Those smaller fruitlets on that shoot grow into smaller later ripening peaches. Not that all small peaches on a given tree ripen later, but as a general rule smaller peaches ripen later than the bigger ones on a given tree.

I haven't tried a really aggressive thinning approach on this tree yet, so I don't know if it will help as much as just letting the later pickings drop to the ground. I've been harvesting PF1 for 5 years and still trying to figure it out.

Did you want me to send you some Baby Crawford wood? If you want, maybe I could bud one for you this summer and send it to you for the cost of postage after it calluses. If interested send me a reminder in late August. I've had the best luck with weather for budding around the 1st of Sept.

Mrs. G wrote: "Thanks for your support. I have three peaches and would like just one more. Which one should I buy?"

I only have one peach that I can call my unequivocal favorite for flavor. I'm somewhat ashamed to say it's a Walmart peach tree I planted 9 years ago. It was a mislabeled tree and I've no idea what variety it is. I just know it gets bac. spot horrible bad if I don't keep it sprayed with Flameout. However, it's consistently my best tasting peach. Some others are as good as it sometimes, but it's excellent every year and every peach is as good as the first one picked. I made two more copies of this tree last fall.

Beyond that there's just so many good peaches out there and I'd hate to say just one. I grafted a batch of Redhavens and O'henrys last fall and moved them to the farm this spring, so you could say that I have a pretty high opinion of those varieties. I'll note both Scott Smith and Hman don't think that much of Redhaven, so maybe it doesn't perform as well on the east coast. I love it here though.

I've only harvested about 30 different varieties, so compared to the number of peaches out there, there's a lot I haven't tried yet. I've got probably about 60 varieties now planted at the farm and 30 of them I've never tried, so I'm sure my favorites will change as I have the opportunity to try more. I maintain Scott Smith is really the one to ask. He has the most diverse experience of trialing unique peaches of anyone on this board.

Mrs. G.

First of all, I hope your trees arrive tomorrow before you leave for vacation. Secondly, I apologize for hijacking the thread. I'd like to respond to Olpea.

Olpea - please do not blame yourself for the recommendation. You are not responsible for what I decided to plant. You are not to blame, period. In fact, I appreciate it when you (or anyone else) give recommendations. I'll wait to see how my Autumn Star will turn out. It did not grow much last year and may not be big enough to bear fruit until next year.

The way I look at it, any of my tree-ripened peaches is better than store bought peaches anyway. If this PF-1 turns out to be sub-standard for taste, I'll have a tree that I can practice grafting on. I intend to learn to graft pomm this year and stone fruit next year. It won't be a waste.

Thanks Mamuang. Maybe the nurseries read these posts as well, if not they should and would learn what we all really need and care about regarding our trees and orchards. Maybe Arboreum received my email finally asking them to delay shipping for a bit. Who knows? I'm going to start grafting next year. Mrs. G

Mrs. G.

I hope Arboreum received your e-mail in time and honor your request. I don't think I could order from a nursery that lacks communication like that.

My grafting knives and parafilm arrived. I am waiting for Dr. Farwell grafting seal. I hope I'll still have all my fingers after my grafting experiment!!!

I wish you a fun-filled vacation time in France.

MrsG this is such an exciting thread
so glad you found someone to plant & someone to house sit
don't forget to post pixs of your delightful trip!

Olpea pls don't regret advising here
it is free advice & very valuable as well!
& its not like your twisting anybody's arm

You folks are too nice.

Mamuang,

It sounds like you put in PF1 because of me. Sounds like you also put in Autumnstar, which is another peach I've highly recommended. I still love Autumnstar BTW. It consistently produces very large peaches that taste great. I've tasted them side by side against O'Henry and O'Henry is only very slightly better. I had to try several peaches of each to determine which was better, it was that close.

If you do decide to nix PF1, please let me know and I'll send you some scionwood to practice your grafting, or I'll make you a copy of something and send it to you for postage. I was looking at my peach tree list tonight and have about 40 varieties that are legal to propagate (either non-patented or the patent has expired) so I'm sure we could find something you like. The patent on Rich May has expired so it's legal to propagate.

I also noticed on another thread you're interested in Winblo. I planted 3 of them this spring. I could bud one of those for you. I hope to bud some more of these for myself anyway this fall.

olpea,

I saw AutumnStar at Costco and I was really tempted. Does it ripen the same time as O'Henry? I have PF-17 and PF24-C, besides the PF-1 and I am not sure if I want to keep them. I am not all that impressed with the Paul Friday cultivars.

MrsG47,

Let us know what happens with your tree shipment. Wishing you a fabulous trip!

Milehigh,

Autumnstar ripens a little later than O'Henry. In my notes, I have Aurtumnstar ripening about +43 and O'Henry at +33, but I don't think there is that much difference b/t them. I think I'm a little off on O'Henry. Namely, I believe it ripens a few days later for the most part. I write down the when the first peach is picked and sometimes varieties have only a very few peaches the first couple days, so it sort of throws off the date from when the peaches really come in.

One thing about O'Henry is that it has a very long picking window, so that there is quite a bit of overlap between O'Henry and Autumnstar.

If I were you I would keep the PF 24C, since you're in zone 5, unless it's just a really horrible peach. I've heard wonderful things about how it will produce when all other varieties have winter kill.

I agree with your skepticism about the Flamin' Fury series. I've had Lucky 13 and 7A for several years, and while they are good peaches, they don't stand out as exceptional. That said, I still wanted to give some of his other varieties a try, so I planted the following last year: 5B, 9A-007, 15A, 17, 23, 24-007, 25, 27A and 28-007.

This spring I planted 35-007.

Regarding PF1, I think it's interesting what Paul Friday says about his own peach. From his Website:

"PF1-This peach is picked as early as July 1 in Michigan and a month before Redhaven. It is hardy, blooms late, juicy, sweet, and has fewer split pits than most early varieties. The fruit is of much less quality than all other Flamin' Fury peach varieties but has been planted extensively as it ripens when there is not much else."

Olpea,

Please let us know how the new PF's do this year. I planted PF1 last year and it looks to be ready to flower this spring. PF15a and Big George (+56 day) should arrive soon for planting.

Olpea,
Thank you so much for your offer. You are so kind. I read about close planting. My peaches are in a row of 7-8 ft. apart. I think I can squeeze one or two trees in that row.

I don't think I can trust that I'll be successful in grafting any time soon. I may as well buy a whole tree. A few years from now, I may ask if you can spare me some scionwood!!!

I still like my PF-24 C. Last year was an exception because the fruit got bad scab and it rained when it's about to ripe resulting in rot.The weird weather last year was a big factor.

Thank you assuring me that Winblo peach is fine in zone 6. Where did you order yours from? I am thinking to order from either Fruit Tree Farm or Vaughn nursery.

I got my Autumn Star from Schlabach's. They did not have O'Henry. For convenience's sake, I got AS. I bought PF-24 C from Cummins. It cost me $52. AS from Schlabach was $21. Granted, Cummins' tree was bigger but it cost twice as much!!!

Mamuang,

I got Winblo from Adams, but I'm sure they're out by now. They run out of everything so fast. I tried to order TangOs last year in July and they were out already.

As a side note, one thing that's aggravating about Adams is that they have crown gall in their soil. Last year I moved some trees that I'd bought from them the year before and two of them had galls. I've moved trees around quite a bit before and never seen galls. This spring they actually shipped me a tree with galls on it! I know which one it is and plan to watch it closely, as a sort of experiment.

Folks on this forum have mentioned crown gall doesn't affect the performance of their trees and it may be somewhat ubiquitous in soils. I haven't seen any performance problems from Adams' trees yet, but as a premier supplier of fruit trees to the U.S., I think Adams should do better.

I've wanted to try 24c and the Big George Bob mentioned, but they seem a little hard to find. Although I do it sometimes, I hate to order just one tree because it's so darn expensive.

Let me know in August if you want me to bud a Winblo for you. I do have crown gall in my soil (full disclosure here) but it must not be very bad. I dug up and moved a combination of 43 personal grafts and peach seedlings to the farm this spring. Of those, only one showed any evidence of crown gall (I threw it out.)

Just received an email from Arboreum. They apologized for my 'heart attack' over the trees. They will ship later. And apologized for getting back to me late. Whewww. They also mentioned I could send my gardener home now. Humor! Mrs. G

MrsG, I also waited for 2 months before Arboretum answered my two emails. I received the trees(2) about a week after their single email. They were impressive (great roots) and worth waiting for. I still haven't planted them, it's been weeks, but I filled a large plastic bag with potting soil around their roots and kept it moist, and the trees are in the shade. The trees are leafing out right now and I'm just about ready to plant them (had to build really good gopher cages to plant them in).

Yes, they are jerks for not answering emails and leaving us hanging not even knowing if we will receive the plants. If they sent out mediocre trees they wouldn't have any business...but lucky for them they have these rare varieties and send out very nice trees. Even the cardboard box was impressively large! So we have to grin and bear it.

John

Yes that about sums it up, John. They have the best trees, period. Every single fine root is there. They take off much faster than trees from anywhere else. Other nurseries should learn something from how they grow trees.

Re: their dismal customer service, I don't think they think themselves a regular nursery. Its fine with me if they just mentioned it on their website before you placed your order.

Scott

Just an update on my tree order from Arboreum. The order was just one tree and it arrived in good condition today. Fully dormant and a nice well feathered maiden.

Hi guys and Olpea that is great news, now I really can't wait. Still no trees but they're supposed to be here by the 22nd. I can't wait for my latest peaches! Mrs. G