Plan Now for Next Season’s Home Orchard

Several types of tree fruit can be grown in Georgia. Some of the
more popular for the home orchard are apples, pears, peaches,
plums and nectarines. For a successful orchard, you need to plan
way ahead.

All of these fruits require good sites, pollination, pest control
and maintenance. The best site is one with plenty of sunlight,
air drainage and good soil structure and chemistry.

Plant your trees where they will get the most sunlight. If you
plant them in rows, orient them north to south.

Put them, too, where cold air will drain away from them on frost
nights. Cold air drains downhill, so put fruit trees on top of a
hill on a southeastern-facing slope. If the area is flat, put
them where cold air can drain away unblocked by bordering
woods.

Well-drained Soil

The soil should be well-drained. A sandy loam to sandy clay loam
is best. Have soil samples analyzed for nematodes and pH. Add
lime to bring the soil to a pH of 6.5. Your county extension
agent can help with this. Now is the best time to analyze the
soil for next year’s orchard planting.

Select varieties that will do well in your specific climate.
Georgia has two systems for designating hardiness zones.

U.S. Department of Agriculture zones in the state range from 6b
(the coldest) to 8b. These are most often used by nurseries and
seed catalogues. Georgia designations range from 1 (the coldest)
to 5. These are used in University of Georgia Extension Service
bulletins about tree fruit production.

Protect Pollinators

Pollen is moved by wind and insects. Bees and other pollinators
improve the pollination of most fruit trees, so protect them.
Don’t spray insecticides when they’re working the flowers.

Fruit trees are either self-fruitful or self-unfruitful. The
latter group requires pollination from a different but compatible
variety known as a pollinizer. Peaches and nectarines don’t
require pollinizers, but apples, pears and plums do.

Many apple varieties can be grown in Georgia. They are listed in
the chart below with their planting zones and pollination codes.
Stayman must be matched with a male fertile member of group C to
produce fruit.

Pears, Fire Blight

Select pears based on their susceptibility to fire blight. A
number of Asian and hybrid pears are grown in Georgia. Asian
pears have to be planted with another compatible pear variety.

There are hundreds of peach varieties to choose from. Select them
based on planting zone and harvest date. The ideal variety
requires so many hours of chilling that it breaks dormancy,
blooms and sets fruit when the danger of frost is over. Of
course, most varieties aren’t ideal.

A few nectarine varieties are also available. However, the lack
of fuzz makes the fruit more susceptible to insects and
diseases.

Several new plum varieties have been developed for the Southeast.
They generally have very low chill requirements and thus flower
at about the same time. Plant them along with a different variety
for pollination.