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paracletefarms

New gardener/homesteader from Texas

ParacleteFarms
9 years ago

Hello all, not sure if introductions are required but here goes.

My little slice of heaven (12 acres) is in N.E. Texas. So far there's 41 chickens, 1 dog and 2 kittens. Hopefully goats and cows in the future.

The garden and orchard area is about 1/2 an acre. Fruit trees currently are:

1 x Jonathan apple
1 x Golden delicious apple
2 x Methley plum
1 x Santa Rosa plum
3 x Harvester peach
1 x Red Globe peach
1 x Moonglow pear
1 x Oriental pear
1 x Hall's Hardy almond
1 x Texas Mission almond
1 x Red Navel orange
1 x Satsuma mandarin orange
2 x Black Mission fig
1 x Texas Everbearing fig
1 x Celeste fig
1 x Kadota fig
1 x LSU purple fig

I'm hoping to add close to 40 more fruit trees this winter too, haha. Still lots to learn and do with the project list being never ending!

Comments (16)

  • jimmy56_gw (zone 6 PA)
    9 years ago

    Nice piece of land, Sounds like you got a great Fruit orchard going, Good luck.

  • eloise_ca
    9 years ago

    Congrats ParacleteFarms, and I wish you great success on your farm. Of course you will need to plant some lemons!

  • insteng
    9 years ago

    You sound like my place. I have 56 acres and right now about 30 different fruit trees. I will be adding about 10 more this fall. Most of them I have planted the last couple years though I have a fig tree that is really old as well as a couple 75 year old pecan trees. What type of trees are you planning on planting this fall?

  • ParacleteFarms
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks everyone for the welcome :)

    Eloise_ca ... Lemons (in containers) are definitely on the list, they are kinda hard to find around here but I'll keep an eye out.

    Insteng .... I have a huge list to plant this fall, the bulk of which I've seen in the Burgess Seed Co. Catalog. The low prices are exactly what my budget needs and a few friends have had great experiences with them so I'll probably give them a shot .

    My list so far is : 1 dwarf Granny Smith apple, 1 dwarf Macintosh apple, 4 dwarf moor park apricot, 1 dwarf Stanley plum, 1 dwarf blue damson plum, 1 dwarf red haven peach, 1 dwarf Elbert's peach, 1 Bartlett pear, 1 dwarf Bartlett pear, 1 dwarf Kieffee pear, 8 paw paw, 4 wonderful pomegranate, 1 halls hardy almond, 1 texas mission almond, 2 dwarf minnie royal cherry, 2 dwarf royal lee cherry, 3 dwarf ichikikeijiro persimmon, 1 Meyers lemon, 1 Lisbon lemon, 1 bearss lime, 1 key lime, 2 jujube (variety?), 2 loquat (variety?), 2 bay laurel tree, and 100 or so rugosa rose (hedge) seedlings.

    Not sure on what fig varieties I should add but I'll be looking for basically any cuttings I can within a tight budget, to grow about 100 fig trees eventually.
    I'm sure I'll be looking for more fruit varieties , especially with some recent varieties recommended to me.

    Anyone's experience with similar trees would be welcome. My goal is to grow hardy/regionally adapted fruits for my family's consumption and for selling to other homesteaders, gardeners, etc.

  • fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
    9 years ago

    Lemons and limes aren't good candidates for NE Texas. At least not without a greenhouse. I'd skip those on a tight budget. The Stanley, Damson, and Bartlett aren't well adapted either but better than tender citrus.

    Rabbiteye blueberry do pretty well in that area.

    Texas A&M used to have fruit plantings at Overton. You might check there and online at Aggie Hort.

  • ParacleteFarms
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Fig trees at the gated entrance on both sides . Shown are Black Mission on the left and Celeste on the right. Right side of the gate is a kadota and LSU purple fig.

  • ParacleteFarms
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Free range chickens having a snack in front of the orchard/garden .

    This post was edited by ParacleteFarms on Fri, Aug 29, 14 at 22:40

  • ParacleteFarms
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Newly potted Satsuma Mandarin orange and Red Navel orange.

  • RedSun (Zone 6, NJ)
    9 years ago

    Do you plant to sell the fruits? 60 fruit trees are a lot....

  • ParacleteFarms
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Posted by fruitnut z7b-8a,4500ft SW TX (My Page) on Fri, Aug 29, 14 at 22:26
    Lemons and limes aren't good candidates for NE Texas. At least not without a greenhouse. I'd skip those on a tight budget. The Stanley, Damson, and Bartlett aren't well adapted either but better than tender citrus.
    Rabbiteye blueberry do pretty well in that area.

    Texas A&M used to have fruit plantings at Overton. You might check there and online at Aggie Hort.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The citrus were kinda at the back of the list as strong hopefuls. Kinda banking on them coming up for sale around tax return time and you are sure tight about them being not so budget friendly ! Lowes, calloways, etc had some citrus trees approaching 40.00 each!

    I got lucky one day at Lowes with the garden center supervisor , she was sick of dealing with the fruit trees and offered everything for half off. The only trees I didn't already have at home were the citrus so I gambled the 15.00 each with these. They already had a few fruit on them so I felt a little hopeful.

    The damson, Stanley, and Bartlett were purely because are listed cheap (9.99) and were dwarf where I needed a shorter fruit tree that wouldn't shade out the fourteen 50'x4' raised beds along the southern interior perimeter of the orchard/garden.

    This picture is from early spring so it's hard to see the other trees, but what I'm filling in this winter will be the perimeter running west - south - and east .

    Any recommendations on 2 dwarf plums and 1 dwarf pear that would be better in our area? I'll check out the Overton A & M station too, thanks for the heads up :)

    This post was edited by ParacleteFarms on Fri, Aug 29, 14 at 23:13

  • ParacleteFarms
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    About the Blueberries, they are really high in my wish list ! I have to tear down the old house (on the top right inside acre) and in it's place up to the shade line of that huge pecan tree I'm going to do a few varieties (recommendations?) of high bush blueberries. Just pacing it off I might be able to squeeze in four or five 50' rows of blueberries in raised beds, which would push the beds almost all the way to the driveway (lawns are over rated, haha)

    The area south of the circle drive way is the garden/orchard area, which this next year will be entirely lined along the outsides with fruit trees. Inside the circle drive way will be 2 more almond trees to round that out and the herb garden filling the grassy area in the circle drive for done years until the almonds shade those out.

    This post was edited by ParacleteFarms on Fri, Aug 29, 14 at 23:15

  • fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
    9 years ago

    You're a world away from my operation in West Texas. If you could get information from A&M in Overton it would be much better than my input. I was there once to discuss fruit and attend a fruit field day but that was 1980. I remember seeing lots of peaches, blueberry, and blackberry. The later would be a good choice. They do well in east TX.

  • Bradybb WA-Zone8
    9 years ago

    I've ordered some things from Legg Creek Farm in Douglas,TX,which is north of Houston,near Nacogdoches.
    The prices were fairly low and the plants were in good shape.They were offering free shipping at the time,so it worked out well.
    They might be able to supply or give info to help with your project. Brady

    Here is a link that might be useful: Legg Creek Farm

  • maryhawkins99
    9 years ago

    Persimmons will do well with a little water; IâÂÂve had better luck with Fuyu than ichi; IâÂÂd try an astringent persimmon also, perhaps a eureka or hichaya. Jujubes do great also with a little water, try a Sugar Cane. Blackberries always do well.

    YouâÂÂve got a bunch of cedars, youâÂÂll have to spray your apples for cedar apple rust; or you could try some resistant varieties, like Mollies Delicious or King David. Peaches thrive, but the commercial growers spray every week.

    IâÂÂm about to give up on apricots, late spring frosts always get them. Also IâÂÂm waiving the white flag on sweet cherries, if they can get something bad they do.

    Google âÂÂAggie Fruitâ thereâÂÂs lots of info. Fwiw thereâÂÂs an A&M person Ray McEachern who generated this list for Dallas & North Texas, which at least is close to you:

    1:. Orient pear. "If you only have one fruit tree, this should be it," he told my radio audience. (Other pears that would be suitable include Garber, Moonglow and Ayers.)

    1. Ouachita (thornless) or Kiowa (thorny) blackberries. He referred to Kiowa as being extremely vigorous and productive, but Ouachita being an option for people who just don't want the thorns. (Other thornless types: Navaho and Arapaho. Brazos blackberries, long the favored variety, are still good.)
    2. Methley plum, a good pollinator, both for itself and for other plum varieties. (Other plums include Bruce, Morris and Ozark Premier.)
    3. Blanc duBois grapes, a white grape that he listed as "the grape of our future." (Other grapes included Black Spanish and Champanel.)
    4. Redglobe peaches (for DFW and northward) and June Gold (for south of DFW). Dr. McEachern recommended that you buy plants budded onto Halford rootstocks for alkaline soils such as the Blackland Prairie. (Other choices include Ranger, Harvester and Majestic.)
    5. Eureka persimmon.
    6. Black Beauty muscadine grapes (East Texas acidic soils only).
    7. Caddo pecans DFW and eastward; Sioux and Western west of Fort Worth.
    8. Tifblue blueberries (East Texas acidic soils only).
    9. Sunbar and Spanish Sweet pomegranates are showing great promise in Texas, based on research done by Drs. Larry Stein and Jim Kamas.
    10. Alma figs. (Other choice:
  • insteng
    9 years ago

    I was going to recommend Legg Creek Farms as well. That is where I am ordering my trees this year. If you need fig cuttings I have one that the owners said was planted when the original house was built in 37. The tree is huge and has really good figs but I have no idea what type it is.