What fruit trees do you love (Berk hills)
We're in the midst of a major landscape renovation on our property in the lower Berkeley hills and thinking about what fruit trees we want to put in when we reach the planting stage. We have--and are keeping--a mulberry tree that thrives and a dwarf Meyer lemon that generally does well but hasn't fruited in 12-18 months, probably because it didn't get enough water. (This will be remedied by our project.) Both pre-dated us and I'd guess are 10+ years old. The property also had another unidentified citrus that always struggled, though we were never able to concretely diagnose the issue. We'll likely add three more trees, all in a location that gets a lot of sun and is protected from deer. We'll talk to local nurseries, but would love to hear from homeowners what trees have worked particularly well for you, or conversely, what you would NOT recommend based on your experience. Specific varietals would be helpful if you know them.
Our criteria are for trees that are relatively low maintenance, not pest-prone, will fruit consistently beginning in 1-2 years or less, and are REALLY DELICIOUS.
Here's what we're considering:
- Fig
- Fuyu persimmon
- Apple (possibly as Espalier against wall)
- Plum
- Additional citrus tree-- grapefruit or oro blanco, kumquat, orange, non-Meyer lemon
Thanks!!
Parent Replies
My neighbor has a mini orchard and has many amazing fruit trees.
One tree produces plums and apricots from one tree. It's delicious and so awesome to get 2 different types of fruits from one tree. Their fig tree is beautiful, smells amazing, and very delicious. Another unique tree they have is Pineapple Guava tree -- fruits are delicious and you can't really buy them at the store. Loquat is a tree that I see a lot in our neighborhood. It's delicious and another unique fruit that you don't see in stores. We had an apple tree that unfortunately died from fire blight. This is a common disease and lethal. :-( This disease hits pear trees as well. Our plum tree is maintenance free and is very (too) prolific. Not exactly a big tree, but our neighbor's pomegranate tree/bush is a little gem that we appreciate.
Fuyu persimmons are gorgeous - the leaves as well as the fruit, and the bare branches, too. But they won't start fruiting very much for some years - as many as 6 or 7.
Plums produce so prolifically around here you will be giving away bags of them!
Pretty much all citrus does well - but oranges are challenging, as we don't get much heat, and heat makes sweet.
Another delightful option is an apricot - many different varieties do well here!
Best of luck!
We have all of the trees you're considering (and a few more to boot!) Some things to think about:
We don't live in deer territory, so I can't speak to those issues. Raccoons, rats, and squirrels are our biggest problems (and they are BIG problems). Although we love our fruit trees, we're opting to replace some of them with non-fruiting trees as they reach end of life to better manage the critter issues.
Our old house had two apple trees and while they were fun and yummy, I also felt like a terrible failure because every fall, the apple trees would just start dumping fruit like crazy all at once. I would try to pick apples frequently, and I always thought about trying to organize something where friends, neighbors, a food bank, etc. helped me but never quite got around to it. I ended up composting a lot of apples.
Climate is a big factor in fruit-tree choice. Around here, our summers are too cold and our winters too warm for a lot of fruit trees. And many fruit trees require a lot of water.
Citrus other than lemon is often not successful around here, because most types need summer heat to sweeten the fruit. Grapefruit is particularly problematic. You might do okay with a mandarin next to or espaliered against a warm wall. Citrus are shallow-rooted so need regular water; they also need a lot of iron and nitrogen, and can get scale infestations.
Many figs also need more heat than we have -- not to mention fewer squirrels! These are also trees to plant/espalier by a warm wall. I've done well with Brown Turkey and Excel. A great thing about figs is that they need relatively little water and are pretty easy to maintain.
Persimmons like water -- during dry years we siphon out the bath water onto the persimmon's soil, otherwise all the fruit falls off unripe.
Apples, plums, pears, peaches, apricots, etc. need a pollination partner of a different variety or you will get little or no fruit. If your neighbor has a suitable sweetie for your tree, you may be OK, but not all trees of the same species will be suitable. You can get trees with multiple grafts like 4-way apple trees to ensure pollination, but frankly most of those trees have the same varieties you can buy at the grocery store. You can also close-plant fruit trees so they dwarf each other through competition; planted this way, they don't take up much more space than single trees. Or if you're ambitious, you can graft additional varieties onto your own trees.
Apples: My favorites that I grow are Golden Russet, Cinnamon Spice, Esopus Spitzenburg, Gravenstein, and White Pearmain. Note that apples need a certain amount of cold weather to break dormancy properly. This is a reason NOT to espalier an apple against a wall -- the tree wants cold! If I could, I'd grow Ashmead's Kernel, but it's not cold enough in our flatland yard. But maybe your yard is cold enough?
For a good selection of fruit-tree varieties, try Trees of Antiquity (www.treesofantiquity.com). They especially have fantastic apple trees (try to stick with their Zone 10 recommendations). Another good source is Raintree Nursery (raintreenursery.com). These are mail-order operations, and while getting a tree that way may seem strange, it's often the best way to go. After all, trees sold in nurseries are also shipped bare-root around the country.)
Finally, consider planting pineapple guava, aka feijoa. The trees are lovely, with gray-green evergreen leaves. The flower petals are sweet and edible and a favorite with birds. It's the fruit my neighbors ask for, it's expensive in the stores, the trees are easy to take care of, and they don't need a lot of water. They only problem is being sure of pollination -- our tree is self-fertile but some varieties are not.
We've had good luck with Satsuma mandarin tree in two different Albany/N. Berkeley locations. Tolerates some drought and neglect (though of course prefers to to!).
We have the Owari variety, which is a semi-dwarf variety.
We've also benefitted from our generous neighbor's prolific (mission?) fig tree, but I see that it grows quite large, if that is a consideration.
We have the most prolific cherry tree in our yard! We also had a lovely mulberry tree, but the neighborhood deer loved it a little too much. We purchased both from Westbrae Nursery.