On Sat, 19 Jul 2003 00:19:09 GMT, animaux
wrote:


You can dwarf them if you choose to. I believe it's rather easy to keep these
in bounds. The 'Dixieland' has a rating of 400 chill hours.

Why do you need dwarf? Room issues?

V

That's part of it, yes.

Also, any tall trees would block the light from my only available
tomato patch.

See my response to Victor, below, for more.

David

On Sat, 19 Jul 2003 00:19:09 GMT, animaux
wrote:


You can dwarf them if you choose to. I believe it's rather easy to keep these
in bounds. The 'Dixieland' has a rating of 400 chill hours.

Why do you need dwarf? Room issues?

V

That's part of it, yes.

Also, any tall trees would block the light from my only available
tomato patch.

See my response to Victor, below, for more.

David

On Sat, 19 Jul 2003 00:19:09 GMT, animaux
wrote:


You can dwarf them if you choose to. I believe it's rather easy to keep these
in bounds. The 'Dixieland' has a rating of 400 chill hours.

Why do you need dwarf? Room issues?

V

That's part of it, yes.

Also, any tall trees would block the light from my only available
tomato patch.

See my response to Victor, below, for more.

David

On Sat, 19 Jul 2003 22:19:03 +0000 (UTC),
(Victor M. Martinez) wrote:

David Wright wrote:
I've just done a non-exhaustive search on your two varieties and
haven't found whether they are available as a dwarf or semi-dwarf? Can
either of you help?

I've never seen a peach variety that was available as "standard" and dwarf.
But you can prune the peaches to be quite short. What is your controlling
variable?

I have more than one variable. Since I'm gardening from a wheelchair,
I want trees that are small enough that I can drape them with
bird-proof cloth to protect the fruit, and also so that I can get to
them when my wife isn't around. And, if my fruit trees grow higher
than 8-10 feet or so, they will block the light to my tomatoes.

'Tis a puzzlement.

BTW, avoid fruit trees from Park Place, they've had the same trees in the
sand for a couple of years now.

Now that I've been thinking about small trees, I remember having
bought some from Stark Brothers way back in the '70s when I lived in
Idaho and was still ambulatory. We had a backyard full of little trees
that had nice apples and pears.

I've found some nice looking matches
http://store.starkbros.com/info.html

David

I've seen some dwarf peaches in the nurseries, even bought one once. We planted
it in a pot but despite of efforts it died. We got it more for the "cute"
factor than for actually harvesting peaches from it.

--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 21:16:43 +0000 (UTC),
(Victor M. Martinez) wrote:

I've seen some dwarf peaches in the nurseries, even bought one once. We planted
it in a pot but despite of efforts it died. We got it more for the "cute"
factor than for actually harvesting peaches from it.

Dwarf trees provide full-size fruit if planted in the ground.

David

Howdy folks,
In regards to this message:

(Victor M. Martinez) wrote in message ...
I've seen some dwarf peaches in the nurseries, even bought one once. We planted
it in a pot but despite of efforts it died. We got it more for the "cute"
factor than for actually harvesting peaches from it.

I'll second the above. I tried one, out of a sense of
experimentation. No luck. No one who I have ever talked to that ever
bought a 'dwarf' peach tree has ever told me they had success with
them. I would be certainly happy to revise my opinion if I see
otherwise. I suspect like many plants that have been bred for dwarf
status something was lost along the way interms of hardiness and
production.

take care,
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

Howdy folks,
In regards to this message:

(Victor M. Martinez) wrote in message ...
I've seen some dwarf peaches in the nurseries, even bought one once. We planted
it in a pot but despite of efforts it died. We got it more for the "cute"
factor than for actually harvesting peaches from it.

I'll second the above. I tried one, out of a sense of
experimentation. No luck. No one who I have ever talked to that ever
bought a 'dwarf' peach tree has ever told me they had success with
them. I would be certainly happy to revise my opinion if I see
otherwise. I suspect like many plants that have been bred for dwarf
status something was lost along the way interms of hardiness and
production.

take care,
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

David, now that I think of it, they do sell dwarf fruit trees, but they are
grafted onto dwarf root stock. I haven't seen them down here, but when I lived
up north I know we used to sell them. However, we did our own grafts. I didn't
actually do it, the director of deciduous trees did it.

Have you been able to get to the Natural Gardener? They have a small grove of
fruit trees in the yard near the herb garden. I believe it wheelchair
accessible. It's all in the pruning. People who are ambulatory prune their
fruit trees so they can reach them, as well. The fruits at Natural Gardener are
wide, but not more than about 7 feet, if I recall correctly.

Don't quote me on this, but if you remove the central leader, you encourage more
lateral growth, this a canopy, but not very tall.

V-may I ask how you became wheelchair bound? Was it an accident? Either way,
I'm touched that you have to endure it, but have found ways around it. Did you
ever read the book The Abled Gardener?


On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 20:38:27 GMT, David Wright wrote:


I have more than one variable. Since I'm gardening from a wheelchair,
I want trees that are small enough that I can drape them with
bird-proof cloth to protect the fruit, and also so that I can get to
them when my wife isn't around. And, if my fruit trees grow higher
than 8-10 feet or so, they will block the light to my tomatoes.

'Tis a puzzlement.

BTW, avoid fruit trees from Park Place, they've had the same trees in the
sand for a couple of years now.

Now that I've been thinking about small trees, I remember having
bought some from Stark Brothers way back in the '70s when I lived in
Idaho and was still ambulatory. We had a backyard full of little trees
that had nice apples and pears.

I've found some nice looking matches
http://store.starkbros.com/info.html

David

On 21 Jul 2003 18:30:52 -0700, (Steve Coyle) wrote:

Howdy folks,
In regards to this message:

(Victor M. Martinez) wrote in message ...
I've seen some dwarf peaches in the nurseries, even bought one once. We planted
it in a pot but despite of efforts it died. We got it more for the "cute"
factor than for actually harvesting peaches from it.

I'll second the above. I tried one, out of a sense of
experimentation. No luck. No one who I have ever talked to that ever
bought a 'dwarf' peach tree has ever told me they had success with
them. I would be certainly happy to revise my opinion if I see
otherwise. I suspect like many plants that have been bred for dwarf
status something was lost along the way interms of hardiness and
production.

take care,
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

I think it's more a problem of finding a rootstock which would tolerate our heat
and drought, along with a variety which is feasible for grafting onto the dwarf
stock. It's two variables which can be a large problem. Too few chill hours
and we don't get fruit. Many of the trees which do well on grafts need 800
chill hours and we will never get that in this zone.

David, now that I think of it, they do sell dwarf fruit trees, but they are
grafted onto dwarf root stock. I haven't seen them down here, but when I lived
up north I know we used to sell them. However, we did our own grafts. I didn't
actually do it, the director of deciduous trees did it.

Have you been able to get to the Natural Gardener? They have a small grove of
fruit trees in the yard near the herb garden. I believe it wheelchair
accessible. It's all in the pruning. People who are ambulatory prune their
fruit trees so they can reach them, as well. The fruits at Natural Gardener are
wide, but not more than about 7 feet, if I recall correctly.

Don't quote me on this, but if you remove the central leader, you encourage more
lateral growth, this a canopy, but not very tall.

V-may I ask how you became wheelchair bound? Was it an accident? Either way,
I'm touched that you have to endure it, but have found ways around it. Did you
ever read the book The Abled Gardener?


On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 20:38:27 GMT, David Wright wrote:


I have more than one variable. Since I'm gardening from a wheelchair,
I want trees that are small enough that I can drape them with
bird-proof cloth to protect the fruit, and also so that I can get to
them when my wife isn't around. And, if my fruit trees grow higher
than 8-10 feet or so, they will block the light to my tomatoes.

'Tis a puzzlement.

BTW, avoid fruit trees from Park Place, they've had the same trees in the
sand for a couple of years now.

Now that I've been thinking about small trees, I remember having
bought some from Stark Brothers way back in the '70s when I lived in
Idaho and was still ambulatory. We had a backyard full of little trees
that had nice apples and pears.

I've found some nice looking matches
http://store.starkbros.com/info.html

David

On 21 Jul 2003 18:30:52 -0700, (Steve Coyle) wrote:

Howdy folks,
In regards to this message:

(Victor M. Martinez) wrote in message ...
I've seen some dwarf peaches in the nurseries, even bought one once. We planted
it in a pot but despite of efforts it died. We got it more for the "cute"
factor than for actually harvesting peaches from it.

I'll second the above. I tried one, out of a sense of
experimentation. No luck. No one who I have ever talked to that ever
bought a 'dwarf' peach tree has ever told me they had success with
them. I would be certainly happy to revise my opinion if I see
otherwise. I suspect like many plants that have been bred for dwarf
status something was lost along the way interms of hardiness and
production.

take care,
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

I think it's more a problem of finding a rootstock which would tolerate our heat
and drought, along with a variety which is feasible for grafting onto the dwarf
stock. It's two variables which can be a large problem. Too few chill hours
and we don't get fruit. Many of the trees which do well on grafts need 800
chill hours and we will never get that in this zone.

David, now that I think of it, they do sell dwarf fruit trees, but they are
grafted onto dwarf root stock. I haven't seen them down here, but when I lived
up north I know we used to sell them. However, we did our own grafts. I didn't
actually do it, the director of deciduous trees did it.

Have you been able to get to the Natural Gardener? They have a small grove of
fruit trees in the yard near the herb garden. I believe it wheelchair
accessible. It's all in the pruning. People who are ambulatory prune their
fruit trees so they can reach them, as well. The fruits at Natural Gardener are
wide, but not more than about 7 feet, if I recall correctly.

Don't quote me on this, but if you remove the central leader, you encourage more
lateral growth, this a canopy, but not very tall.

V-may I ask how you became wheelchair bound? Was it an accident? Either way,
I'm touched that you have to endure it, but have found ways around it. Did you
ever read the book The Abled Gardener?


On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 20:38:27 GMT, David Wright wrote:


I have more than one variable. Since I'm gardening from a wheelchair,
I want trees that are small enough that I can drape them with
bird-proof cloth to protect the fruit, and also so that I can get to
them when my wife isn't around. And, if my fruit trees grow higher
than 8-10 feet or so, they will block the light to my tomatoes.

'Tis a puzzlement.

BTW, avoid fruit trees from Park Place, they've had the same trees in the
sand for a couple of years now.

Now that I've been thinking about small trees, I remember having
bought some from Stark Brothers way back in the '70s when I lived in
Idaho and was still ambulatory. We had a backyard full of little trees
that had nice apples and pears.

I've found some nice looking matches
http://store.starkbros.com/info.html

David

On 21 Jul 2003 18:30:52 -0700, (Steve Coyle) wrote:

Howdy folks,
In regards to this message:

(Victor M. Martinez) wrote in message ...
I've seen some dwarf peaches in the nurseries, even bought one once. We planted
it in a pot but despite of efforts it died. We got it more for the "cute"
factor than for actually harvesting peaches from it.

I'll second the above. I tried one, out of a sense of
experimentation. No luck. No one who I have ever talked to that ever
bought a 'dwarf' peach tree has ever told me they had success with
them. I would be certainly happy to revise my opinion if I see
otherwise. I suspect like many plants that have been bred for dwarf
status something was lost along the way interms of hardiness and
production.

take care,
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

I think it's more a problem of finding a rootstock which would tolerate our heat
and drought, along with a variety which is feasible for grafting onto the dwarf
stock. It's two variables which can be a large problem. Too few chill hours
and we don't get fruit. Many of the trees which do well on grafts need 800
chill hours and we will never get that in this zone.

Howdy folks,
In regards to this snippet. from this thread.

I have more than one variable. Since I'm gardening from a wheelchair,
I want trees that are small enough that I can drape them with
bird-proof cloth to protect the fruit, and also so that I can get to
them when my wife isn't around. And, if my fruit trees grow higher
than 8-10 feet or so, they will block the light to my tomatoes.

You can 'espalier' (chsp?) a standard fruit tree. Pruning it
regularly and with some precision to roughly two dimensions along a
fence. Most examples you see in photos are going to be standard fence
heights five to six feet, but I would be curious just how low you
could have the fence for accessability. It seems doable to me.

For some pictures and a description of how to do the pruning, this
is a page from the Victory Garden TV site on doing an espalier of a
fruit tree at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/victorygarde...w/pp/espalier/

I am interested if anyone does know of a variety of dwarf peach
that does well in a container here in Central Texas. Let me know, my
daughter is always wanting plants I cannot find, and I gotta keep her
happy.

Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

Steve Coyle