How to Plan for a Homestead Orchard

Maybe you are like me and don’t have your homestead yet. Or maybe you are living on your dream property already, but it does not yet have an orchard. I would suggest that you start your planning for a homestead orchard as soon as you can. Read on for how to plan for a homestead orchard.

Because fruit trees do not start producing right after planting, you will want to have them be one of the first homestead projects you tackle either in the spring or fall.

Depending on the type of tree you get, it can take up to 5 years to get a crop of home grown fruit.

So what should you start with?

Think of the types of trees that grow all your family’s favorite fruits. There isn’t much of a need to grow fruits your family won’t eat.

For us this list is long, but to control my excitement, I put them in order of how we will buy and plant them incase I can’t get them all at the same time!

1. Apples (including a crab apple to pollinate)
2. Peaches
3. Cherries
4. Pears
5. Nectarine
6. Apricot
7. Plum

Also, consider what grows well in your region. I would love to have a fig, citrus, and also an avocado, but I know those will never grow in the region we plan to move too. If you are in a warmer region, though, those are great options, along with pomegranate and mulberry.

How many trees should you plan on purchasing

This also depends on a few factors.

Space

How large is the area you will be planting in? Do you have a few acres or less than an acre?

Keep in mind that the space has to be in full sun. So keep an eye out for what is around the proposed orchard spot that might shade it out. Is there a barn, tall trees, or other obstructions?

You also want to make sure that you aren’t planting where water will gather with the spring rains. Fruit trees do not want to get flooded out.

Size of Trees

Trees range in size from mini-dwarf to the standard. In between are dwarf, semi-dwarf, and urban/columnar. I like the sketch of the sizes at Rain Tree Nursery because it gives a nice visual and shows what you will need to pick the fruit.

The type of tree or the rootstock it is grafted on will really make a difference in your orchard plan.

For example, the mini-dwarf only grow 5-7 feet tall and needs about 8-10 feet of space in between trees. The standard size, in contrast, grows up to 20-30 feet tall and needs 20-30 feet of space in between.

One thing to consider if you have all the space you need and then some is how quickly the trees start to bear fruit and for how long.

The smaller the tree, the quicker it will start bearing fruit. Yet it will not bear fruit for as many years.

The standard size trees will not bear fruit as quick, but they will bear fruit for many more years than a dwarf tree.

I plan to have a mixture of the dwarf, semi-dwarf, and standard size trees if our property allows. Even if we have enough room for all standard size trees, the dwarf trees will ensure that we start getting fruit a year or two sooner. And then we will also have the standard size trees that will bear fruit for many more years after the dwarf size has ceased its production.

The amount of trees needed to pollinate

Making sure you purchase trees that have the ability to self pollinate or purchasing trees that need another pollinator is a very important part of planning out your orchard.

For example, apples must have a pollinator. What that means is that you need to buy more than one variety of apple to have any fruit develop.

And though it might sound nice to have an early crop apple and a late season storage apple, that most likely won’t work out for you because they will not be blooming at the same time to be able to cross pollinate.

My advice to to make sure you spend time looking at different apple varieties. Make sure your choices bloom in the same time or you purchase a white blossomed crab apple to be a pollinator of multiple apple trees. Some apples also need two additional apple trees to pollinate them.

Other fruit trees that usually need to have pollinators are pears, plums, and sweet cherries.

Usually apricots, nectarines, peaches, and sour cherries do not need a pollinator and you would be safe to plant just one of those trees if you purchased the correct type.

Other Factors to Consider when Planning for a Homestead Orchard

The Region you live in

You will need to make sure you are planning your orchard with your growing zone in mind. All local plant nurseries will be able to help with this, along with all the websites that I share below for purchasing trees. If you are not yet sure what your growing zone is, check out this growing zone map of the US.

Trees will be rated for a certain cold hardiness. You will need to pay attention to how cold it gets where you live and know that you are purchasing trees that will survive cold temperatures. Also be aware that some trees do not do as well in warmer summer temperatures.

There is one other thing to be aware of and that is the number of chill hours. I learned about this when I was touring a peach farm local to me here in Arizona. The peaches they grow in Arizona need to have very low requirement of chill hours, which are an approximation of how many hours of weather your area has that is between 32 degrees and 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

The trees each have an approximate need of these chill hours to come out of dormancy in the spring and fruit like normal. You do not want to plant your favorite tree from the north in a warm climate to find out that the chill hour requirement cannot be met in the warmer climate.

Also take note that just because trees are being sold where you live, does not mean that they will be a match for the chill requirement, so make sure you talk to a local that knows or do your research on a specific variety.

Heirloom or the Most Disease Resistant

When I started my research for what varieties of trees I wanted in my homestead orchard plan, I found that there are so many more varieties that I ever knew existed. Some are company specific and only sold on certain websites, yet there are so many out there that I just didn’t know about because they are not as popular anymore or not as easy to come by.

I also noticed that several of my favorite websites for purchasing trees have a great variety of heirloom trees. They are sometimes called heritage or antique varieties because they are just that – old. Some people say anything over 50 years qualifies, but most say over 100 years old. These are the first apple varieties in our country that were planted by homesteaders and backyard gardeners. They planted them for the marvelous taste they brought every year. The apples may have fallen out of popularity once food started being produced and shipped farther away. Therefore less people know about them due to things like they may not have shipped well or the apples were not as uniform in shape to sit at the grocery stores to sell.

I get super excited to research new apple varieties and so it is no surprise that I plan to have much of my homestead orchard be full of heirloom varieties.

Why would people plant anything besides heirloom? Well, that is because since those first varieties, so many new varieties have been cultivated. These trees are not genetically engineered, but have been bred for a natural tolerance to certain diseases. It is great to have some of these trees in your home orchard because they may take a little less work to get great results, as in you may not need to spray or use other methods to keep the tree as healthy as possible.

Nostalgia

For me, there is an apple tree that is a must in my orchard. To my great delight I found it on several of the online orchard websites I have been researching.

I am from Sonoma County, California where the Gravenstein apple is well known. It is the apple my grandmother used to make her best pies. This apple also makes amazing eating fresh and apple sauce.

The Gravenstein is a tripod, meaning it takes two other certain types of apple varieties to pollinate it. It is also an early season apple, so it defiantly has certain requirements to make sure it produces well. Yet, I don’t think that I want to do without trying this apple in my orchard. There aren’t that many left in Sonoma County due to the increasing urban sprawl. It would also be something totally different in the area we plan to settle. And most importantly, it would make me smile every time I bake an apple pie with my grandmother’s pie crust recipe and the apples that made her pies so delicious. It would also be my go-to for making my apple pie filling to can each year.

Resources for Purchasing Trees

Defiantly go down to your local nursery to see what they carry and talk to an expert on your climate to see what does well there, especially if you are new to the area.

Also, are there local farmers selling fruit at the farmer’s market or u-pick places? Talk to them. See what they think grows well and what they would suggest not bothering with. It is always wise to hear many voices.

This is not the type of purchase you really want to be doing at Lowe’s, Home Depot, or those killer deals you see coming in at Costco.

But even before you do anything else, I would suggest spending some time looking online at a few resources before you shop. That way you will be armed with some knowledge going into it.

Websites for Researching and Purchasing Fruit Trees

These are the top websites that I have found. I liked that they all have a good variety of trees. They are also easy to navigate and have a lot of information on each type of tree.

1. https://www.starkbros.com
   Stark Brothers has been around since 1816 and has a large variety of fruit tress. They also have many other varieties of plants. They have a great reputation and their website is very user friendly. I learned a lot from them. You can search specifically for heirloom, disease-resistant, by your zone, by the size of tree and several other ways.
   
2. https://www.treesofantiquity.com
   I love using Trees of Antiquity’s website. It is full on information and easy to navigate. They specialize in 100 percent heirloom trees, and their apple trees are all organic. This is not a last minutes purchase, however. Make sure you don’t wait to reserve your trees because they sell out before they ship out according to the correct planting season.
   
3. https://www.orangepippintrees.com
   Orange Pippin Trees does not have as many varieties of fruit trees, but they have an excellent website that is so user friendly. It lists the trees in easy to navigate ways. You can see the picking season, how long the fruit keeps, what it is used for, and more.
   
4. https://raintreenursery.com
   Rain Tree Nursery has a large variety of trees including trees for warmer climates. They seem to have the widest variety of sizes of trees to choose from, yet I find their site a little more tricky to search. It can still be searched in several ways, however, including size of tree, growing zone, ripening and harvest times.

Are you ready to plan your orchard?

There are a lot of factors when it comes to planning for your homestead orchard. Along with that, it can be quite a large purchase. Think about what you want to do with your cherries. Are they strictly for eating off the tree? Do you want to can them? Make pies? There are different varieties for a reason and they all have their unique qualities and uses. Same with your apples, peaches, and any other fruit tree you plant.

I hope that planning your orchard is as exciting for you as it is for me. I dream of the day that we can pick our own fruits, preserve and share our harvest. And maybe even host a dinner or two in it.

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