What fruit trees to grow with least diseases

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by maxmillan, Apr 1, 2013.

  1. maxmillan

    maxmillan Member

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    I live in East Vancouver with a south facing backyard. I have blueberries, blackberries, garlic, Swiss chard, kale, St. John's Wort, lavender, oregano, thyme, wormwood, and lemon verbena growing with a plot of grass. What kind of fruit tree(s) can I grow best here with the least disease? I do not want my current garden riddled with diseases. I was hoping to plant a peach, apple and/or cherry tree. Do I need male female pairs, two breeds of each, etc? If I have to deal with diseases or high maintenance to prevent diseases I will not grow fruit trees. I believe in companion planting and NO harmful chemicals.

    I do not want trees that will have invasive roots as I live in a 100 year old house with questionable underground pipes.

    Lastly, I do not want trees that are too tall that they overshadow my other plants.
     
  2. vitog

    vitog Contributor 10 Years

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    The only fruit tree that I can imagine coming close to your requirements is the prune plum. It's self-fertile, not bothered by disease, and easy to maintain at a small size. The only pests that affect my prune plum are aphids; they have to be kept under control.
     
  3. Tree Nut

    Tree Nut Active Member

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    Forget peaches and cherries. I recommend a columnar apple such as golden sentinal which do not have scab issues.
     
  4. Sundrop

    Sundrop Well-Known Member

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    If you like fresh, sun-ripe, not treated with chemicals fruit why not to plant Raspberries and Strawberries?
     
  5. maxmillan

    maxmillan Member

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    I already have a thriving raspberry bush, a thornless blackberry bush and a few varieties of blueberries. Strawberries are finicky and the critters like them too much. A tenant in the house wants to grow a peach tree but think this may bring disease to my vegetables and berries.
     
  6. Sundrop

    Sundrop Well-Known Member

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    Planting Italian Prune is a good idea. Vitog has already explained some of the advantages. I can add that myself I have never had an aphid problem on my tree. The fruit can be eaten fresh, used in baking, in many kinds of preserves, frozen or dried so you will not face a dilemma what to do with too much fruit, as it usually is the case with other kind of fruit trees.

    As for your tenant's Peach tree you can be sure that its presence will not have any negative impact on the health of your berries and vegetables.
     
  7. mort

    mort Active Member

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    I have a number of dwarf apple trees that produce very well and are about 6 feet high with pruning. You can buy them with two or three varieties grafted onto one rootstock so that they will use each other for pollination. They fruit fairly soon and produce nice apples. I do not spray at all and just keep an eye out for tent catapillers which are not hard to take care of.
     
  8. woodschmoe

    woodschmoe Active Member 10 Years

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    Asian Pear, sometimes called Apple Pear...forget the woody, bland ones you might know from the store, fresh from the tree they are incredible. Nice looking tree as well. Only real issue I have is with pear slugs (sawfly larvae), but this is easily controlled and doesn't spread to surrounding plants.
     
  9. maxmillan

    maxmillan Member

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    I bought a dwarf tree with 4 different apple grafts, a dwarf peach tree, a lemon lime tree which I will keep potted so I can move it inside during winter and I snagged a seven-ft tall Ambrosia tree! I forgot that I have 4 blueberry potted plants from last year ( it was hidden behind a couple of in- ground blueberry bushes!

    Question now is can I transplant my blueberries into the ground now or should I wait?
     
  10. vitog

    vitog Contributor 10 Years

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    I just planted a potted blueberry that I bought at a garden centre a couple of weeks ago, and it is doing fine. I would plant now; the longer you wait, the more rootbound they are going to be.
     

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