Victoria County Master Gardener Association
ph: 361-935-1556
nancyk
2018 Oct 12
FALL FRUIT TREES
Trees, more will be available at Victoria County Master Gardener Fall Plant Sale
October 12, 2018
By Brenda Heinold - Victoria County Master Gardener
Edited by Charla Borchers Leon
Supermarket peaches cannot compete with the flavor and juiciness of a homegrown peach. There will be six peach tree varieties available at the upcoming master gardener plant sale. Shown here is a Tropic Snow peach grown in the backyard of a Victoria County Master Gardener.
Pear trees boast beautiful blooms as shown here. The number of blooms indicate a likely abundance of pear fruit, but it is highly recommended to thin them out when they are small (only the size of a cherry) for improvement of mature fruit size. This will also decrease the chance of tree injury from a heavy fruit load. Both Keiffer and Shinseiki varieties, which are good for fresh eating, canning, preserving and in desserts will be available at the Victoria County Master Gardener Association’s Fall Plant Sale.
The Natchez blackberry is a thornless, trailing cultivar designated a Texas Superstar plant in 2013. The bush, available at the upcoming sale, produces an abundance of large, elongated fruit which is the largest produced by a thornless cultivar. Shown here are berries in May just beginning to turn red. They should be ripe to a glossy, black color by late May or early June with a sweet, delicious taste.
If you go
WHAT: Victoria County Master Gardeners Association Fall Plant Sale
When: 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 20 (or until sold out)
Where: VCMGA Pavilion, 333 Bachelor Drive, Victoria Regional Airport (across from air traffic control tower)
Trees expected at sale
Peaches
- May Pride
- Tropic Snow
- Tropic Beauty
- Mid Pride
- Rio Grande
- Red Baron
Plums
- Methley
- Santa Rosa
Pears
- Keiffer
- Shinseiki
Pomegranates
- Wonderful
Apples
- Anna
- Golden Dorsett
Blackberries
- Arapaho
- Natchez
- Ouachita
Fig
- Celeste
- Texas Everbearing
Persimmon
- Fuyu
- Hachiya
- Native (Female)
Blueberries
- Climax
- Pink Lemonade
- Tifblue
Miscellaneous
- Loquat
- Arbequina Olive
PHOTO BY TEXAS AGRILIFE EXTENSION
Oriental persimmons can be grown as small trees or shrubs and provide a striking focal point in the fall landscape. With cooler weather, leaves change from green to yellow and red while the fruit turns a deep orange that blends in with the foliage, as shown here. It can cling to the bare branches long after winter winds defoliate trees. Consider the persimmon tree available at the upcoming plant sale for fall color and fruit.
Fall is the best time of the year for gardeners in Victoria and surrounding counties to plant fruit trees, shrubs and other perennials.
Time to plant fruit trees
For years, it was understood that late winter was the best time to plant fruit trees. Although that might have been true when only bare-root plants were available in nurseries, the wonderful container-grown fruit and ornamental shrubs that are available today fare better when planted in the fall in southern climates.
- Advantages of fall planting
Planting in the fall allows the tree a longer period to produce a robust root system before the warm weather of spring stimulates growth and production of leaves. A better-developed root system results in a healthier plant. Planting a fruit tree in the fall can even hasten production of fruit by a full year.
- Selections can be challenging
The challenge for southern gardeners is finding a good selection of appropriate fruit trees in the fall. For that reason, the Victoria County Master Gardeners are featuring a number of excellent fruit trees in this year’s fall sale. The backyard fruit producer who wants to grow healthy, delicious fruit will find a good selection of peaches, plums, pears, berries and other fruits.
Peaches
Although a backyard gardener needs only one peach tree to produce fruit, many choose to plant more than one variety.
- Planting different varieties can result in continual fruit
Since different varieties ripen at different times, a careful selection of trees can result in fresh peaches from early May through mid or late July.
- Chill hours
Featured will be six varieties of peaches that grow well in the Victoria area, where winters usually result in 200-500 chill hours.
- May Pride: 175-200 chill hours, ripens early May, yellow flesh, delicious, showy/large pink blooms
- Tropic Snow: 150-200 chill hours, ripens mid-May, white flesh, freestone, excellent flavor (rated a 10)
- Tropic Beauty: 150 chill hours, ripens mid-May, yellow flesh, medium-sized with great flavor
- Mid Pride: 250 chill hours, ripens late May to early June, yellow flesh, freestone, exceptional flavor
- Red Baron: 250-300 chill hours, ripens mid-June to mid-July, yellow flesh, freestone, large and richly-flavored (rated a 10); showy, double red blossoms
- Rio Grande: 450 chill hours, ripens mid-June to July, yellow flesh, freestone, Large fruit
Plums
While only two varieties of plums will be available in the sale, they both have low chill requirements and are self-fertile.
The first is the Methley, a purplish plum with red flesh that ripens in June. Methley is a heavy bearing and beautiful tree for the landscape. The second plum is the Santa Rosa which ripens in late June.
Pears
Look for Keiffer and Shinseiki pears. Keiffer is an excellent canning pear, suitable also for preserves. It is an Oriental variety that exhibits good resistance to fire blight, ripening in September and October.
Shinseiki pears have good dessert quality and, thus, are great for fresh eating. They ripen July to August and exhibit moderate blight resistance.
Persimmons
As ranchers and deer hunters know, native Texas persimmons grow well in the Victoria area. They are prized for their beautiful bark and small fruit much loved by deer and birds. Each tree bears either male or female flowers with fruit appearing only on the female trees.
For the first time, VCMGA has been able to procure female-only Texas persimmons. Additionally, there will be Fuyu and Hachiya persimmons. Fuyu, a non-astringent variety, can be eaten fresh without being fully ripe. Hachiya is a beautiful, astringent variety that makes a striking landscape tree. The fruit can be eaten once it is fully ripe or after being frozen or dried.
Blueberries, blackberries
In addition to fruit trees, the sale will feature blueberries and blackberries. Although the Victoria soil tends to be a little alkaline for most blueberries, three rabbiteye varieties grow and produce well in our area, particularly if planted in half whiskey barrels or similar containers. All blueberries available require chilling hours in the 300-450 hour range. Tifblue produces delicious berries from May to July. Climax produces its fruit all at once in late May. Pink lemonade blueberries are interesting in that the delicious fruit is not blue at all; instead, it ripens to a dark pink.
VCMGA has chosen three thornless blackberries. All three are very productive, yielding medium to large berries. Arapaho and Natchez require 500 chill hours. Ouachita requires 300 chill hours.
Other fruits
In addition to the fruits listed above, there will also be apples, figs, pomegranates, olives, and loquats available.
Look for sale information on ornamental shrubs, perennials, and annuals in next week’s column.
The Gardeners’ Dirt is written by members of the Victoria County Master Gardener Association, an educational outreach of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension – Victoria County. Mail your questions in care of the Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77901; or vcmga@vicad.com.
ph: 361-935-1556
nancyk