Organic Trials
This is a long report on how various plants did in a wet zone
7 environment (Oregon foothills, elevation 800') These plants
are almost never sprayed and range in age from 2-10 years.
Apples: All apples produced well this year. The most productive
was liberty. The best tasting (IMHO) is Hudsons Golden
Gem. Nothing else came close. Most are on M26 or M9-m111
rootstock.
Apples in good health - Akane, Enterprise, Freedom,
Hudsons, Goldrush, Liberty, Williams Pride
Apples with reduced vigor or experiences pest problems.
Golden Russet, Spartan, Sweet 16, Wealthy
Blackberry: We have only Navajo and it is indestructible.
Blackhaw:Slow growth, never fruited
Blueberries: Bluecrop, Darrow, Duke, and Olympia all did well
with zero care. Lots of fruit which has to be netted.
Cherries: Lapins, Stella, Montmorency, and many others. None do
well without lots of attention.
Chinqupin: Very slow growing, nuts are very small.
Cranberries: Several un-named varieties tried and all do well.
Not very popular as a fresh snack.
Cornelian Cherry: Very hardy but so far no berries. The plants
are 8 years old.
Figs: Only Desert King and Brown Turkey have been somewhat reliable.
This climate is marginal for figs, but building a simple
thermal wall makes figs good performers.
Goumi: Dependable and popular with the birds.
Grapes: Himrod is always the top performer. On some years it is
necessary to play with thinning, pruning, and plastic to
get sweet grapes. Other grapes which are close behind
the himrods are canadice, glenora. Less vigorous are
Einset, NY Muskat. Another 10 grapes have not fruited
yet, including Swensons Red, Suffolk Red, Steuben, ....
Kiwi: All the hardy types grow well but demand care. All the
fuzzy types get cold feet. The Issai has been dependable
but not very productive. Ken's red and Ananasnaja grow
well but have not started to fruit yet. They are about
5 years old.
Lingonberry: Doesn't do well with competition and dry conditions.
We have given up on them.
Mulberry: the Illinoius does well. The Russian and Chinese have
not done as well.
Nanking Cherry: No fruit after 5 years.
Walnuts: Slow to produce, but very happy. Varieties tried
are: Barney, Black, Buartnut, Butternut, Heart, English,
Manaregon, Spuregon, Russian, and others.
Chestnuts: Slow to produce, but very happy with the climate.
Grafted Clossal is first to produce nuts.
Yellowhorn: Slow growth and no nuts after many years. So much
for believing catalogs.
Oaks: Many grow slowly here but few survive on their own.
I've given up on trying to integrate oaks into
forestry environments or forest gardens.
Stone fruit: Plums, peaches, apricots, etc. all have problems
with this wet climate. The plums seem to do best and
we do have some local wild plums. So far the only
named variety that has produced is Methley.
Paw Paw: Trees do well but are slow to fruit. No fruit after
4 years. Wells, Prolific, and un-named varieties are
being grown.
Pears: Most pears seem to do well. By far our favorites
are the Asian pears. They are close to being care
free. The pear list is long.
Sea Berry: Not a carefree plant. My advice is to forget it.
Quince: hardy and has potential.
Shipova: No fruit but the tree is doing well after 3 years.
Saskatoon: grows well here but can't compete with the
apples for ease of use and productivity.
Strawberries: We grow Ranier without any problems. Occasionally,
the beds are rotated into new areas.
Rice: We tried it this year and will not try it again. Other
grains do much better.
----
jeff owens, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.teleport.com/~kowens
underground house, solar power, self-reliance, edible landscape
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