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Raintree Fruit Growing Blog

  • Grafting Pawpaws

    Grafting Pawpaws

    I describe using whip-and-tongue grafting on pawpaws in this post. I attempt a description of the grafting process, as well as indulge in sharing my interest in the overlooked pawpaw, one of North America's most interesting native fruits.
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  • The Raintree Nursery Guide to Pollination

    The Raintree Nursery Guide to Pollination Some of the most common questions we get here at Raintree Nursery are about pollination. Honestly, those are pretty good questions and deserve a closer look to explain more completely. Pollination itself is the...

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  • 5 Reasons Your Trees Won't Fruit

    5 Reasons Your Trees Won't Fruit By Raintree Nursery Horticulture It's happened to everyone at some point; you've done everything right and your favorite fruit tree isn't giving you any fruit! You've tested the soil, you've piled on heaps of...

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  • Organic Control of Some Orchard Insect Pests

    Organic Control of Some Orchard Insect Pests

    Certain insects can be damaging pests to orchard fruit. The apple maggot and spotted wing drosophila are two fruit fly species that I monitor and control at Raintree. Biologically intelligent organic controls give the home orchardist hope for having clean in spite of these flies. Monitoring for apple maggot and Suzuki fruit fly using traps is a powerful tool for me. The traps also catch and kill some adult flies. When used widely, traps can help make a real dent in their populations. I discuss the life histories of these insects and how understanding their life cycles can be applied to their control. The codling moth is also mentioned.
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  • The Persimmon Tree: Centuries of Fall Colors and Sweet Rewards

    The Persimmon Tree: Centuries of Fall Colors and Sweet Rewards

    The American and Asian persimmon trees in Raintree's orchard bear delicious late season fruit and add warm fall colors to the visual palette on a walk through the orchards. Persimmons are remarkable and useful trees, with attractive foliage, sweet fruit, and hard wood. Individuals trees can be quite long-lived and the Asian persimmon has a long cultivate history in East Asia, with many named varieties and much cultural significance. I relate me experience with the persimmons at Raintree to their desirability and interest in general.
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  • Mulching Fruit Trees

    Mulching Fruit Trees

    I describe spreading wood chips around fruit trees in the orchard at Raintree Nursery. I'm excited that we just got a large load of wood chips dumped at the nursery. Wood chips, and other types of mulch, provide many benefits to fruit trees and the orchard ecosystem as a whole.
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  • Espalier and Other Intensive Pruning and Training

    Espalier and Other Intensive Pruning and Training

    Intensive training and pruning strategies can produces trees that grow smaller and more densely, resulting in more fruit on a per area basis. For the backyard (or front or side yard) urban orchardist espalier can be a great fit. Commercially, fruit trees are increasingly grown in an intensive, high-density fashion. More inputs and maintenance are required to grow trees this densely, but the reward can be an artful fruiting sculpture!
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