What Kind Of Fruit Trees Grow Best In North Ga?
Posted by admin on January 22, 2010
My husband and I have just bought our first house that comes with 4 acres of land……..I love to be outside and garden, I am wanting to grow some type of fruit trees and berries bushes? What are the best types of fruit trees for Ga? Also the best berries bushes for GA?
You should be able to grow just about any type of fruit tree that you like with the possible exception of citrus. Apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, and cherries should all do well in your area. Citrus needs to be frost free all year, so you could conceivably keep one or two in pots and bring them inside for the winter.
As for berries, again, just about anything that you like. North GA has about the same climate that we have here in AR so whatever you like the best should grow. Grapes should do well there too.
Order a seed catalog from Burpee.com or Parks Seed (they are free to sign up for) and look at the zone maps. They will tell you what does best in your area and you can usually find them cheaper than buying from a nursery.
I can personally recommend paw-paw trees, native persimmons, fig trees, blueberries and berries of all sort. You might think it’s Georgia so peach trees are de riguer but you’d be wrong. Oh sure, they grow well enough but the only way you’ll see fruit from them is to spray them with pesticides on a set schedule.
I also just planted some pineapple guava bushes, we’ll see how they do. My passionflower vines do great but not everyone likes passionfruit.
Two fruits I’d like to try and believe would do well around Athens are kiwi and muscadine.
As far as native persimmons go, not many people are aware that there are seedless cultivars available from Nolin River nursery and others. Oriental persimmons are great and can be pretty large. You can find seedless and non-astringent varieties of those too.
These can be eaten while firm as an apple, just wait for them to turn orange so they will have developed sweetness. I have discovered that the best time to eat maypops (passionfruit) is November, December, Janurary. The outside will be shriveled and brown but the pulp will be sweet and you eat seeds and all. A few more fruits to try are jujube, mulberry, pomegranate, and Chinese che (cudrania tricuspidata). You can also eat the fruit of cactus which of all things is called tuna. You very carefully remove the glochids then chill them and eat seeds and all. They taste like watermelon. The kiwi come in two types. Let’s just say the fuzzy and the fuzzless. There are also two type of edible fruit dogwood you can grow: cornus kousa and cornus mas. Hidden Springs nursery in Tennessee has several of the fruits mentioned. About the pineapple guava, they are perfectly hardy here and the fruit and the flowers are delicious. That leaves crabapple, mayhaw and plums which will feed you and wildlife and make excellent jelly.
You have to put in some blueberries
Asian Pear – bought from Pike nusery – Well grown and give lot of good fruits .
Watermelon – Excellent
Pumpkin – Wonderful
GOOD LUCK !!!