Here I'm looking for ideas for low maintenance fruit or nut trees. The trees would be medium sized, not the chestnut or walnut trees, too large. Also, no high maintenance trees, like cheery, apple and pears.

So far, I'm thinking of native American persimmon, American hazelnut, Mayhaw, crabapple....

The american persimmon looks nice interesting. I do not know if the birds would get most of the fruits. Not sure if the fruits should be thinned or get messy when dropped.

I heard the nuts from American hazelnut trees are smaller. And the squirrels would get the nuts before we humans do. I can live the smaller nuts, but do not want to pick just 10 to 20 nuts per day, having to walk some distance.

Mulberry is too large and the fruits are messy along the driveway.

Jujube trees are nice. But it is hard to find cheap trees, unless I can grow from seeds.

Maybe some good taste small crabapple (or similar) should be considered.

I've never grown any of the Asian persimmons but maybe one of them would be better for your needs. I think hazelnut sounds like the best fit.

Jujube would be the ideal trees. But I just do not want to put a valuable trees in that location, if I can just spend $10 for two hazelnut seedlings.

I think Asian persimmon still requires some maintenance, like spray, thinning, etc?

Early Spring

Ripening Fruit in August

I use American persimmons for deer specifically because they are native to my area and low maintenance. You can't do much maintenance on hundreds of trees scattered across a couple hundred acres. Astringency helps me because flying and climbing animals don't much bother the persimmons. The don't get fully ripe until the fall on the ground. At that point deer have an equal chance as other wildlife.

Most critters in the woods eat persimmon when they are ripe. So if you are living with wildlife in the area, they will keep the persimmons cleaned up pretty well from the ground.

There are also some oriental persimmons as well as crosses between American and Oriental that are astringent. For a situation like yours, they may be a fit. If you use Lotus rootstock instead of Virginia they tend to be smaller trees. Many of the Oriental persimmons ripen on the tree and do not fall. If you use an astringent variety, they will be largely protected from animal use until they ripen. At that point you will need to compete with climbing animals. In a landscape setting you would not have the fruit on the ground issues if you don't have wildlife around to clean them up.

My personal experience is with American persimmons for wildlife. I just throw Oriental out as an option for you. Others can help with specific varieties. I don't know if they are as maintenance free as American.

Thanks,

Jack

I got them for around $2 from lawyer nursery but they appear to be out of stock currently

I am a big believer in blueberries. Low maintenance, spring bloom attracts pollinators, puts on a good fall display, makes for a good hedge, tasty berries. I recommend mounding up soil a foot high, planting the bushes 4-5 feet apart, acidifying the soil, and mulching with pine bark to keep the weeds down.

Being that were in New Jersey I recommend native edibles. We have big problems here already with invasive plants.