anyone heard of Mike McGroarty's Backyard Nursery
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18 years ago
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diggerdan
18 years agoedwoodtick
18 years agoRelated Discussions
Extreme pruning for backyard orchard culture - does it work?
Comments (44)Here is a bit of an update on my on highly pruned trees. I have 4 sweeet cherries, all pruned to less than 7 ft tall, all started as whips 4 or 5 years ago. Last year they bloomed but no fruit due to a late frost. Here are photos with 2 of those trees now, one is blooming well and the other is almost open. The others are either blooming or almost blooming. I also have several apples, a pear, and figs, which have been pruned with a similar philosophy, but it's too early to post photos from this year's flowers or fruits. The apples and pear look like they'll also have lots of flowers. Maybe it does work. We'll see. Since there are lots of flowers now, maybe there will be lots of cherries this summer. There is still some room for more growth, I can let them get to 7 or 8 foot without a problem, but plan to continue the somewhat drastic summer pruning as we have done so far. These were from a big box store and it did not state what rootstock, other than 'semi dwarf'. I did not use to multi-trees per hole method because I was not aware of it at the time, but otherwise am doing the summer pruning as described for backyard orchard culture....See MoreStarted my Backyard orchard
Comments (14)Hi Mike - we've messaged back and forth before from the Citrus Forum. I'm in zone 7b, Raleigh NC, which often acts more like zone 8. I'm originally from Norman OK. My property also has Eastern Red Cedars around it and all of them show signs of Cedar Apple Rust. I bought disease resistant apples and all but one of them show signs of the disease but it doesn't overwhelm the trees and some years it barely shows up. Same thing for my Quince trees - they show signs of Cedar Quince Rust. So I would plant whatever variety does well in that area and plan on doing a bit of disease management part of the year. It's all worth it when you can pick fresh, ripe apples. The newer cultivars William's Pride and Goldrush have done well for me. Arkansas Black is the one that requires no spraying and shows virtually no disease at all. The first couple of harvests will have wimpy flavor but after a few years they get really tasty. Nothing beats Goldrush for flavor as far as I'm concerned. Keep in mind that a lot of apples bear alternate years so you won't get a huge harvest every year. In my yard, wildlife eventually figured out what I was growing so now I have to bag and spray and build wire barriers AND trap. Good luck. Plant what you can find and just know that you will be replacing a few of them in a few years. Peach trees grow like weeds and can suddenly die for no reason so don't worry about them too much, just keep planting new ones every couple of years....See MoreAnyone heard from Mike(bigeasyjock) or DAVEandLAURA?
Comments (13)I was watching the news last night and wondered about Mike and some of the other good folks down that way. absolutely tragic what is going on down there in all of those southern states. I also have been down to the French quarter. Hard to believe what is happening down there. Our fearless leader was going down there to look himself. i hope he pays as much attention to our own homeland vs overseas. Don't want to get into a political discussion. Just want everyone to be safe. Kurt...See MoreHow profitable is a backyard nursery?
Comments (145)It's an awful lot of work, and the chances of being able to make a living in a backyard are small. I use 10 acres and make a living, but not a great one. If you are serious about this: * Sell your house. Use the proceeds to buy an acreage about 45 minutes out of town. 45 mintues here is the magic number for prices. We bought a house and 80 acres for about what just a house in the city cost. * Search Youtube for 'backyard nursery' * Get a copy off of Amazon of Dirr's "Manual of Woody Landscape Plants" It's about 50 bucks second hand. * If you are restricted for space and strength, the money will be in producing liners. A liner is a plant grown to be sold to other growers. Typically from 1 inch to 1 foot tall. Find out what's popular by visiting greenhouses and nurseries in your area. At each one find out if they buy pre-grown plants, or if they buy smaller plants and grow them to size. Garden centers tend to be the first, wholesale only nurseries tend to be the latter. Retail nurseries are often a mix. * Pick things that are easy to propagate * Pick a spectrum of things to spread the work load....See MoreRoberta_z5
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