Fruit trees?

Do any of you have or have planted fruit tress for whitetail?
Will they grow in Sonora?

I'm thinking about getting a couple of pear trees to try. I know they will not start producing for a couple years.

I have often wondered the same thing thought about planting a pakistan mulberry

you would have to protect for the first couple of yrs at least, the deer will eat the bark, don't think you would have much luck in your area.

Unless you have a way to water them I don't think most fruit trees will work. The only fruit tree that I am sure will work is a pomegranate. I don't think the pomegranates will help with wildlife.

pomegranates will not produce without abundant water, I have one in my back yard

Thanks guys. I'll keep researching as well.

I have Pear and Peach trees for my eating and the deer eat them up every summer I also make pear jams and freeze the extra pears for bait. Deer will eat every peach off the trees lol and then eat pears. Pears last a long time and they make good bait for Archery season in fall.

Very nice. I read the deer love them.

I have about i5 pear trees that are very mature. I may get a pear crop every 4 or 5 years. The trees are in a valley not the rock. They don't get pears either because they bloom then it freezes again and the blooms drop. They get blooms and it hails and the blooms drop. They get blooms and pears start to grow and it turns off dry and the pears fall off before it is time. Not trying to discourage you just telling you reality.

Cant hurt, but it will be a struggle to get them established.

we had a lease years ago in western Llano county with an old homestead that was surrounded with about a dozen large pear trees. This was before anyone had "feeders" and the deer were thick around those pear trees when the pears started to fall. My dad had a couple of pear trees at his shop and he would pick up the bad fruit off the ground and put in a 5 gallon bucket to take to our ranch to dump out, they were usually gone within a day. We tried planting pear and fig trees at the ranch, but the deer kept them nipped off at the ground. We took some re-mesh (like you put in concrete) and made a 6-8 cage to allow the trees to grow for a couple of years to get established. We still have several fig trees down by the artisan springs where they got water during the drought years.

i have 5 pear trees on my land, keep deer coming from all over

if you can plant fruit trees, that's one of the best attractants

We have wild plums and persimmon trees on our place in Lee county. No idea if they would grow out at Sonora but the deer eat every fruit they can reach.

Pear trees are pretty hardy. The best is native persimmon and wild plum, they are very drought tolerant and deer love them. Plant persimmon on the banks of wet creek or around stock tanks. Wild plums grow very well in draws.

where can I buy sappling native persimmon and wild plum?

I am putting in a bunch of grapes this year, would like to add the 2 above

Thanks for the responses. I think I am going to plant a couple and see how it goes.

I would check with your local USDA office. I know they have sources for native trees.
I started my own from seed I got off another ranch in the area. It wasn't hard I just planted them in 5 gallon buckets and raised them for a year then trans planted. The plums are bushes and will spread. The persimmons are trees and omly sread on their own if the fruit that falls off makes it to seed. You will have to keep a guard around the trees for the first couple of years for them to get established. If not the deer will eat all of the foliage.

TexasKC I'm over in Old Dime Box and as a kid we had a large grove of wild plums. they are gone now. was wondering if you could spare a clump. have been looking for some to possibly trans plant and try to get a grove re-established.

squirrels will eat up the pears too - even while still green/small, long before deer get to them, so something to consider if you have them around.

Sonora is a tough place for fruit as pointed out before you get late frost/freezes, you can get hail and then you get lack of rain that is only helped if you have irrigation and you are there to run the irrigation

I would say after native pomegranates the next easiest would be grapes and then a distant third MIGHT be apples, but apples have additional issues like a pollinator needed and bees in the area

contact the experiment station below they have some deer research and probably can let you know what plants will bring in the deer that are much less "work" than a fruit tree and if you still want a fruit tree Womack Nursery is probably your best bet for info

http://sanangelo.tamu.edu/satellite-stations/sonora/

http://www.womacknursery.com/



what types of grapes are you putting in, how many and what area of the state

you need to choose carefully to get the best results and to have long term viability

also if you have commercial vineyards in your area please be considerate about the spread of Pierces Disease (which is oak wilt for grapes, phony peach disease for peaches and citrus greening for citrus all spread by the same family of bacteria)

I am planting about 10 grapes around the 3 ponds I have; zone 7 of Texas Eastland
Glenora
Muscodine

I am not aware of any existing vineyard, the guy to the north of me will
eventually have a vineyard (he's into making wines)

I'll be on the look out for the disease

You guys can buy seedling plums and pecans for the State of Texas.

Another great resource is Womack Nursery. Go to "wildlife cover" and they have wild rainbow plums.



Womack Nursery
Texas Seedling Store

thank you,,,, just ordered a bunch

thanks for the reply

Muscadine are not susceptible to the disease (only French wine/table grapes) and there is no concern about spreading Pierces Disease in your area because your area is already loaded down with it and anyone that plants Vinifera (French wine and table grapes) will not have a vineyard for long

but thank you for the answers and consideration.....if you were in the hill country or dallas area or anywhere west of I-35 and north of Austin paying attention to getting "clean" grapes from a reputable dealer is much more of a concern......east Texas it is already there and will never go away

you can also get American/French Hybrids from the TV Munson Center in Dennison if you want something besides Muscadine or there is a variety called Blanc Du Bois that is very popular for wine and table grapes that is PD resistant

Sonora is a tough place for fruit as pointed out before you get late frost/freezes, you can get hail and then you get lack of rain that is only helped if you have irrigation and you are there to run the irrigation

I would say after native Persimmons the next easiest would be grapes and then a distant third MIGHT be apples, but apples have additional issues like a pollinator needed and bees in the area

contact the experiment station below they have some deer research and probably can let you know what plants will bring in the deer that are much less "work" than a fruit tree and if you still want a fruit tree Womack Nursery is probably your best bet for info

http://sanangelo.tamu.edu/satellite-stations/sonora/

http://www.womacknursery.com/

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the above should have read native Persimmons not pomegranates

could not go back and edit when I saw the error

Waderraider1 pm sent

do you work for research station or womack?
what part of state are you in ?

if you're near me, i may ask you to come take a look at what I plan to do

I worked for one in the past and I am in west Texas

I am familiar with east Texas though because I went to school in Nacogdoches

I will be glad to tell you all I can if it helps you

several nurseries in Austin regularly stock mexican plum trees, which is what I see all over the place. You'll see these used in all kinds of low/no maintenance locations like highway right of ways, landscaping in shopping malls, offices, etc. I know the Big Red Barn had them an the Natural Gardener too.

The are easy to grow and the put out a lot of fruit. I make jelly with the fruit. This year i froze all the leftover skins/pulp/and seeds and then dumped it out by me feeders. The deer ate it up, preferring it to corn. And I think the hogs cleaned up what the deer didnt get.