SHTF Orchard Planting in the Heartland

As for the almonds...any peach tree can pollinate them, but the Ukranian almond trees are much better up north, because they are late blooming(regular almonds bloom in February).

Just found my little peach tree i planted last spring has been plucked clean of its first year fruit.

found one on the ground,looked like something chewed on it,i think it was a tree rat.

Told my husband he needs ta thin the heard of tree rats around if im ever gonna have anything fruit-wise.

Grasshoppers killed my apple tree last summer,took every leaf then my tree died,peach tree made it and i have no idea how.

Grasshoppers took-out my whole garden overnight,thats why im not planting one this season...gonna give it a year off and try again.

Get some chickens to eat the grasshoppers.

Might have been a chupacabra.

I am lucky to already have many apple trees on my property.

What I noticed is that the planter of these trees made it so there was an early varety, a mid variety and a late variety (the apples on this tree were still good on this tree until december! They also stored quite well.)

So I think this is an important thing to consider for any perrenial/tree/shrub SHTF food growing. Kinda like people do with strawberries.

I also have cherries, pear and plum. Trying out peach and apricot. The peach put out some peaches last year but the deer ate them.

Going to plant lots of grapes this year too! Also trying to obtain every type of berry before the SHTF.

I think variety will be an important thing.

On top of that I would learn about all wold edibles in your area. Also make sure yu know what your neighbors are growing in case they turn into zombie and you can "inherit" their land.

Enjoy it while (and if) it lasts. The Powers That SUCK aren't going to let ANYONE escape the Mark of the Beast. If you are going to eat, it will be supernaturally from God, like manna. Or like God fed Elijah in the wilderness.

Your orchard will be either destroyed, or confiscated.

Let me help you figure...

Pellet rifle.

My husband is big on nut trees. We have lots of black walnut (some planted, others were here) and a few pecans. We've tried several times with almonds and so far they have all died :)

I was thinking of an olive but we'll have to keep it in a container. I'm zone 5b/6.

I do try to do the research. We made so many mistakes in the first years!

Thanks for the tips on the Persian walnuts and Ukrainian almonds :)

Found some grapes yesterday - three varieties - and blueberries so will give those a try again. I've failed with both so I'll try another location after a little research.

I've read on the web that we should pinch off fruit on young trees. I can almost not bear to do that, lol, because it's so encouraging. I don't have anything that looks overburdened this year so I'm not going to worry about it.

Not really - not in my lifetime. I sleep will knowing I will live free until the day I die.

I like you, Girl Genius:) We might be kindred spirits:)

This is good advice. I am going to recommend again, Gaia's garden, for those of you looking to establish any type of orchard. It explains, as your orchard begins to mature, you add more pieces to your puzzle. Once your fruit trees are big enough to bear mature fruit and not be eaten by goats:), you add animals (goats and chickens). Goats will eat fallen fruit which invites pests to feast and breed. Chickens and turkeys will eat pests directly while providing you additional food sources (eggs and milk, meat to if that's your thing). This book is phenomenal! Someone made a comment previously about microclimates and Gaia's Garden shows you how to create microclimates on your property so that you can grow things that may not normally do well in your area!! Glad to see someone else already ordered it!!! Happy planting:)

I plan to get chickens one of these days. A lot of peeps around here are raising chickens so I have an organic egg supply otherwise I'd have gotten some by now :)

I've got Gaia's Garden in my shopping cart.

I've been researching how to set up a trellis for our 3 grape plants and so far like this easy system and straightforward explanation in this video:

Wow. I must have a very green thumb then because I only fertilize my peaches every fall and have had no problems for the past 4 years. (knock on wood)

Haven't had a problem with the powdery mildew on grapes but I have something for the to climb so they can spread out and I believe that helps.

Marigolds--helps prevent aphids.

Yes, there a many varieties of grapes (seedless, seeds) as well as berries (thorns, no thorns), I thought that was self-evident but thanks for reminding me that some people aren't aware.

I don't know what you were trying to say about what causes scabby apples, you left that part blank because no-where did I imply that you can "ignore" your plantings. I was hoping that it was again self-evident that when I said easy, it meant some are easier to grow than others and this is my experience in the Heartland.

You do have a point, my strawberry patch is small, if I don't want to clean it out (leaving a little space) it does have a very few areas that get moldy. For me, it's never been so much that I took any time to clear it out. 95% of the strawberries are not having problems with the mold. By the time I pick what I want throughout the season, the mold doesn't have a chance to spread so it's really been no effort on my part.

Thanks for sharing the "other" side of the stories, it's just far different from my experiences.

Again, if you fertilize the peach tree properly in the fall, there MAY not be a need for spraying as in our case.

This is very different than what I tried with my grapes last year. My husband attached a lattice to our fence and we tried to grow them there. There were doing fine, but then the drought hit here in Texas, worst ever in recorded history. I was so devastated:( We lost an avocado tree, our grapes, raspberries, blueberries and a ton of permanent, already established landscaping. I am grateful that our mulberries and peaches survived. I might give the method in the video a try again next year if there is an opportunity for it, given the current circumstances of the world and all. This method would give me more space to grow more fruit.

I don't know what region you are in but there are two great plants that I have a fascination of sorts with but haven't had success with due to the drought last year. The paw paw tree and the passion fruit. The paw paw requires some tedious care in the beginning but once it is started, it will begin to expand itself by suckers (self replicating plant). The passion fruit is very hardy but considered invasive by some (I have to wonder how anything that produces food can be considered invasive). It grows on a vine which produces very unique flowers, the paw paw also produces very unique flowers that attracts a certain kind of very beautiful butterfly. Here is a link to a guy that sells passion fruit plants and paw paws. Look for passiflora incarnata and asimina triloba (paw paw). He has plants available for both right now.
[link to www.easywildflowers.com]

for the powdery mildew, could you use a spray made of food grade peroxide or neem oil?

quoting EM to Girl Genius(:


This is very different than what I tried with my grapes last year. My husband attached a lattice to our fence and we tried to grow them there. There were doing fine, but then the drought hit here in Texas, worst ever in recorded history. I was so devastated:( We lost an avocado tree, our grapes, raspberries, blueberries and a ton of permanent, already established landscaping. I am grateful that our mulberries and peaches survived. I might give the method in the video a try again next year if there is an opportunity for it, given the current circumstances of the world and all. This method would give me more space to grow more fruit.

I don't know what region you are in but there are two great plants that I have a fascination of sorts with but haven't had success with due to the drought last year. The paw paw tree and the passion fruit. The paw paw requires some tedious care in the beginning but once it is started, it will begin to expand itself by suckers (self replicating plant). The passion fruit is very hardy but considered invasive by some (I have to wonder how anything that produces food can be considered invasive). It grows on a vine which produces very unique flowers, the paw paw also produces very unique flowers that attracts a certain kind of very beautiful butterfly. Here is a link to a guy that sells passion fruit plants and paw paws. Look for passiflora incarnata and asimina triloba (paw paw). He has plants available for both right now.
[link to www.easywildflowers.com]


I know this wasn't directed toward me but I'm curious what you paw paws are like while growing. I really wanted to plant some of these until I found out they grow around here buy the river and the flies like them. I was going to put them in the back - kind of hidden but it freaked my hubby out about their natural habitat so I didn't. We live in a small city and have a descent size yard so I don't have the deer or goats to worry about, just many birds and beetles and a cat from the neighborhood that likes to kill our nesting birds. Hubby is a lawn manicured freak and I'm more earthy mama. I would love to have wild growing like my grandmother had all over but my husband considers that too hippie so we compromise, I get to plant pretty much everything I want and he gardens and takes care of the plantings but we put them in "borders"-LOL. We always get compliments so we're walking that fine line between our worlds. I'm telling you this so hopefully you'll have a better understanding of what I'm asking about the paw paws. I heard they're like cream bananas and make terrific cream pies.

Franks Red Hot sauce ma'am. I put that shit on everything.

Last Edited by CharlieMurphy on 04/16/2012 01:18 PM

I know this wasn't directed toward me but I'm curious what you paw paws are like while growing. I really wanted to plant some of these until I found out they grow around here buy the river and the flies like them. I was going to put them in the back - kind of hidden but it freaked my hubby out about their natural habitat so I didn't. We live in a small city and have a descent size yard so I don't have the deer or goats to worry about, just many birds and beetles and a cat from the neighborhood that likes to kill our nesting birds. Hubby is a lawn manicured freak and I'm more earthy mama. I would love to have wild growing like my grandmother had all over but my husband considers that too hippie so we compromise, I get to plant pretty much everything I want and he gardens and takes care of the plantings but we put them in "borders"-LOL. We always get compliments so we're walking that fine line between our worlds. I'm telling you this so hopefully you'll have a better understanding of what I'm asking about the paw paws. I heard they're like cream bananas and make terrific cream pies.



D'Light, I have not grown paw paws, I have only researched them. They do prefer shade for the first year and moist soil. They will get suckers like a fig bush so they will make an orchard of their own. I read that the flowers have a pungent odor but I don't know if that means that it will be a permeating smell or just an up close smell. I haven't read about flies liking them but I guess flies like rotting fruit, so that might have been the experience of the person making that reference or maybe they are attracted to the stinky flowers. I read the same as you did about it tasting like cream bananas and making good pies, also heard they freeze well for later use. they don't keep well for long fresh so I read that is why they were never used commercially. I was drawn to the fact that the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly feeds exclusively on the young leaves because I love the idea of having a fairy type yard so I can relate to your situation well with yours and your husbands gardening differences:) Oh and the passion fruit also attract several different types of butterflies.

We also live in a small town out in the country and have a fairly large yard but the neighbors might talk if we had something too strange going on here:) Such as sheet mulching which I learned about in Gaia's Garden. It is like a compost heap that you layer with spoiled hay and manure to build the soil underneath, you leave it for nine months, then simply move it to another spot and begin planting. It sounds fantastic and I understand the concept of building the soil underneath but I can already see what the neighbors would be saying if we had seeming trash mounds in various locations in the yard lol:) so we don't do that.

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sorry, wasn't logged in. this is me:)

(That post above you was me on another computer) -- here is a link to a really great resource for all types of fruit/nut trees and berries: [link to www.tytyga.com]

They are very knowledgeable and will chat with you about what works in your area.

for more goodness!!

Also regarding the powdery mildew on the grapes -- I think this is what lets one grow natural yeast from...

LINK TO MAKING YEAST FROM WILD GRAPES
[link to allrecipes.com]

baking soda spray

[link to neilsperry.com]

Thanks for the tip (tyty). I planted the blueberries and grapes that were in rolls into containers. I'm exhausted - moved another load of flagstone today! We have nine more trees to get into the ground so this week will be busy...I thought we bought 3 grapes but we actually bought 5.

No garden this year for me,grasshoppers and worms were all over everything last season so im letting them run their course this time around.

Just to much work and money lost last year.

Whew - planted nine large trees today

All I have left are the berries and the grapes.

Awesome! Did you dig the holes by hand or rent a back hoe?

My husband is super strong so he does the digging part :)

We planted 18 trees in the last week or so - all between 4 and 11 feet tall. He dug holes twice the width and depth of the containers. We have excellent soil - 16-24" of good black dirt, lots of worms. We have 15 berry/grapes left and 7 small evergreens and 4 rose bushes (I keep trying rose bushes, but so far only one has done well).

Plus, we have a bunch of trees we started in our garden that must be moved this year ... whew - lots of work!