Saturday, April 19, 2014

Fruit trees from Stark Brothers

There WILL be peaches this year, good Lord willing.  The blossoms made it through the latest frost and freeze.  I have two peach trees out by the road:  This one is standard size, and the one nearer the road is a semi-dwarf.  


There's also a dwarf peach tree back by the mobile home.  When I'm ordering fruit trees, I make sure to order trees that don't bloom too early in the year, because I don't want the late freezes to steal my fruit.  I also try for varieties that produce at different times, so we have fresh fruit for a longer period.  


This is a two-in-one plum tree.  When I received it, along with four other dwarf trees, I didn't realize there were directions on that tag at the bottom.  So I noticed it wasn't trimmed right down to a single stick like the others and lopped off some little branches.  THEN I found the directions and saw that I was not to prune above the white line painted on it.  Thank goodness I did leave little stumps there where the two varieties of plums had been grafted on.  


This is the sweet cherry tree that died... mostly.  I thought it was a total loss and emailed Stark brothers for a replacement.  When I went out to cut it off at ground level, I saw there was life at the bottom.  Of course, it wouldn't be any good unless the new growth was coming from above the graft:  Imagine my surprise when I cautiously felt below the shoot and found that it was, indeed, above the graft.  It's about six inches tall now, and obviously very much alive.  I also have the replacement Stark sent me, up here near the old house.  

I can't begin to tell you how happy I am with Stark Brothers.  In all my years of dealing with them, this was the first replacement I've had to request.  Their trees are reasonably-priced, around $21 for most of them, I think.  Oh, and here's a nice perk:  If you sign up for an account on their site, they keep a record of all the trees you've bought from them:
I can log on to my account and see what varieties I have.  I can click on "view plant manual" and find out exactly the sort of care each tree needs.  My two older peach trees aren't listed because I had not set up an account at that time.  In fact, I don't think I had a computer back then.  

Peach and apricot trees can bear fruit in two years.  Apple and pear trees take longer, as do plums.  

The trees arrive bare-root, either spring or fall.  I really like the fall planting best.

5 comments:

  1. Hmmm, maybe I will try one. I have been here 6 years and have never planted a tree or shrub because it just screams permanent to me. Bad enough my little doggy is buried in the back yard next to my ex's dog. I would hate to have someone accidently dig them up someday! I may get one fruit tree.

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  2. Make it a peach or apricot tree and you will have fruit in 2-4 years.

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  3. Just thinking of all that delicious fruit you are going to have. YUMMY!

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  4. It's great that your trees will soon be bearing some fruit for you. Fresh peaches are wonderful!

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  5. I have a dwarf Reliance peach and a dwarf Bartlett pear from Stark. The peach tree was so loaded with blossoms in its second spring. I culled many, but I had people ask me what I had done to get that tree to be so productive? Um, I planted it in the ground and watered it well. I would love to have more trees from them, but my yard is not too large and already has many trees.

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