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KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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Posted by
michael357 5b, KS (
My Page) on
Wed, Dec 3, 14 at 14:33
| It was reported in our local paper this week that 120 years ago, KS had more than a million more Apple trees than CA and about the same number of peach trees. According to a book I have published by the KS State Horticultural Society in 1899, my county alone had 781,000 bearing and 122,543 non bearing peach trees. Staggering numbers to me. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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| Pretty neat! Nebraska at one time was one of the highest, possibly even the largest before prohibition, grape producing states. We have had a large increase in small vineyards in the last 10 yrs. |
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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Michael,
We will need to do our part and plant more apple trees! Those are surprising numbers! |
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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| The Dust Bowl years of the early 20th Century may have put a damper on much of that business. Wherever possible, it did not take many years after any new Euro-American settlement in the U.S. for fruit trees to follow, also there was the Navajo and their peaches. Only 40-some years after the Lewis & Clark journey, there were cherry orchards in Oregon near their route. "The apple woman of the Klickitat" is a good book for anyone who can track it down, about a gal from New York who moved to the slopes of Mount Adams in Washington pre-1920 and began growing apples. |
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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- Posted by fruitnut z7b-8a,4500ft SW TX (My Page) on
Wed, Dec 3, 14 at 23:33
| Tells me KS has decent weather for fruit trees but not good enough for large scale production. Commercial growers need fruit at least 9 yrs out of 10. CA is nearly 100% cropping. Around here it's 50% for apples and less for stone fruit. |
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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| Well KS should keep at it. If we can beat CA in apples, so can you. Washington may grow more apples, but we kick their butt in tart cherries. We don't produce that many sweet, but they grow well here all the same. I buy local sweets and they are awesome. The Amish here produce some very good sweet cherries. Where I get mine. |
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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| California is well....California. It's not going to be beat for a lot of reasons. 120 years ago the population density of California was by percentage exponentially lower than today. The markets are there, the weather is there, the easy access to low cost labor is there...really for that matter, what isn't there when speaking of fruit production? There are sooo many factors that make California a Fruitopia it isn't even funny. Good luck Kansas. |
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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| Kansas has numerous challenges when it comes to growing fruit such as apples and peaches. We have late freezes in the spring that nip the fruit blooms, cold winters that may prevent peaches from blooming, diseases, droughts etc.. We can successfully grow things such as certain varieties of blackberries and grapes consistently that are late blooming and not susceptible to many of the diseases. Certain other climates mentioned are far more hospitable for fruit growing than Kansas. In time fruit breeders will develop later blooming fruit trees with higher disease resistance. Kansas has rich loam soil and clay which with a few amendments and time is highly productive. |
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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| Kansans and folks in nearby states interested in growing hobby fruits or local market fruit should find this encouraging. Of course the West coast will not be beaten in terms of the price of wholesale production, but to members of this forum, that's not much of an issue. To me this suggests that the majority of seasons should provide an abundance of fruit in Kansas orchards. Olpea, you are not crazy! |
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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Harvestman,
Your right in June we get cherries, juneberries and nectarines / apricots some years, July cherries, peaches, raspberries, blackberries , pears , apples & grapes , august peaches , pears, apples, September Aronia, apples & pears, October apples and pears, November apples and pears. Mulberries, goumi, gooseberries papaw, persimmons and other minor fruits fill in the gaps. The problem is you can't count on all of it so you can't create a market and then not meet your obligations. Blackberries and grapes are prove. Crops |
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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| If you sell your produce at a farmers market you don't need to have any one thing on any given year- you can even skip a year if you have other income. |
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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| Some folks around here speculate that the large numbers were the result of gov't timber claims. Good chance sects, disease nd the dust bowl wiped out many to all of the trees. Lots of the people left during nd after the dust bowl leaving orchards unattended, that didn't help any. Clark: sadly, I won't be planting any more fruit trees, it's becoming very difficult to manage what I have. 15 Is my limit. Yes we, like everyone have our wn unique regional challenges growing crops. Personally, the wind screws with me an awful lot. |
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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| Absolutely Michael the wind broke off over half my grafts last year and broke out several big limbs from my peach trees. Harvestman even at the farmers market you get to be known by your produce " the tomato guy" or "blackberry guy". Maybe to your point I can be known as the guy that shows up with all the different weird fruit. TurCre about vinyards popping up all over Nebraska I think that's great. We to are getting many small vinyards popping up. The thing that appeals to me most about fruit production is that it's very kind to the land. I've noticed my land is more than twice as rich as it was. I'm slowly branching out into nut production. This year I'm going to try pecans , chestnuts, carpathean walnuts. I'm growing hazelnuts now but so far all the nuts have been blanks. I'm also leaning towards nitrogen fixing low maintenance bushes such as goumi and buffalo berries. The different crops I grow will likely be valuable to future generations because not many people nowadays take risks like that with expensive bushes. Even though no one I know grows Aronia or goumi they are both excellent crops for Kansas. |
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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- Posted by olpea zone 6 KS (My Page) on
Fri, Dec 5, 14 at 4:06
| One thing I wonder about w/ California growing the lion's share of our fruits and vegetables is the coming water availability. As more people continue to move to CA (I hear the weather's nice out there) more water will be diverted from agriculture to human needs. Will this eventually reduce the competitiveness of CA to grow fruits and vegetables on a large scale? Maybe they will just pipe water long distances (from the Midwest) like we do w/ oil. I don't know. There are more peach orchards cropping up in KS and MO. It's really being driven by the "buy local" movement. Cold winters and spring frosts are definitely the biggest challenges. In that regard, apples are a better bet. The only problem w/ apples is that there isn't as much local demand. Clark, I think you are right about nut production. KS holds the pecan experiment station for the Midwest in Chetopa. There is a decent pecan industry in KS and MO. The only problem w/ pecans is that they need lots of rain/water. It gets pretty desert like as you move toward western KS. Hman, Thanks for the vote of confidence, but anyone who picks this lifestyle by choice is crazy (Think of that next time you're pruning someone's trees in fridgid weather.) As has been said before to anyone taking on the challenges of growing fruit - "Welcome to the asylum."
:-) |
RE: KS fruit tree history, 120 years ago.
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| Well, at least in my asylum you don't always have to produce crop to eat. The uncertainty actually enriches the pleasure of anticipation. My clientele are often denied the pleasure of extended anticipation when it comes to the simple (and greatest) pleasures. I'm in the entertainment business more than the farming business. Farmers are my heroes, but I don't really want to be just like them. Too hard, unless you inherited the farm and it's a productive one. |
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