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Texas
AgriLife Extension Service -Denton County
306 N. Loop
288, Suite 222
Denton, Texas
76209-4887
January 7
2008
FRUITS THRIVE
IN NORTH TEXAS
Contact: John
N. Cooper, County Extension Agent-Horticulture, 940.349.2883
e-mail:
jn-cooper@tamu.edu
North
Texas is suitable for growing a wide variety of fruits. Home-grown
fruits can be harvested at the peak of flavor giving them a definite
edge over "store-bought" in eating quality as well in minerals,
vitamins, and natural chemical compounds that make fruits so healthful.
Fruits grown successfully in North Texas include apples, blackberries,
figs, grapes, jujubes, peaches, pears, Asian pears, Japanese persimmons,
plums, pomegranates, raspberries and strawberries. All of our fruits
grow best on deep, well-drained, slightly-acid, loam soils. Fruits that
can be grown successfully on moderately-alkaline clay soils include,
blackberries, figs, pears, peaches, Japanese persimmons, plums and
pomegranates.
All
fruits prefer full sun and eight hours of direct sunlight in the summer
is probably a minimum. Plant them
anywhere in the landscape but consider the mature plant size and give
them room. Remember you are not after commercial yields, just the
chance of eating some fresh fruit and perhaps making preserves for
breakfast toast or freezing some for ice cream toppings.
Limited space may restrict you to smaller fruits but peaches and apples
are available in dwarf forms, even container-size. Strawberries take up
little room, especially if you plant them in hanging baskets.
Grapevines can be planted along fence rows and blackberry bushes as
hedge rows.
Japanese persimmons make excellent small ornamental specimen trees, as
do pomegranates. The blossom of peach, plum, apricot, pear and apple,
although somewhat short-lived are also quite lovely in the spring.
These fruits make acceptable small ornamental yard trees.
Fruits require careful attention to irrigation, weed control,
fertilization, fruit thinning, pruning, and pest management. Pruning to
train the growth habit of trees, vines, and bushes, so vital to their
eventual productivity, begins on the day of planting. Plan to implement
a strict spray program for pest control or restrict your fruit planting
to those which have the fewest pest problems such as blackberries, figs,
American grapes, jujubes, pears, persimmons, and pomegranates.
Fruits are typically planted from bare-root stock in the dormant season
so nurseries receive the bulk of their fruit stock in January. The most
important factor in success with fruits is planting cultivars suited to
our local climate. Buy early when selections are best so you get what
you want.
Research by Texas A&M University has shown the following cultivars are
top performers in North Texas. For apples, plant ‘Mollie’s
Delicious’, ‘Fuji’, ‘Gala’, ‘Smoothee’,
‘Top Red’, ‘Red Chief’, ‘Prime Gold’, and ‘Granny Smith’; apricots,
‘Bryan’, Hungarian’, and ‘Moorpark’; blackberries, ‘Brazos’, ‘Brison’,
‘Womack’, and ‘Rosborough’;
thornless blackberries,
‘Apache’ and ‘Arapaho’; figs, ‘Celeste’ and ‘Texas
Everbearing’; American grapes, ‘Champanel’,
‘Black Spanish’, ‘Favorite’, ‘Lake Emerald’, and ‘Norris’; hybrid
table grapes, ‘Orlando Seedless’, ‘Mars Seedless’, ‘Reliance
Seedless’, ‘Flame Seedless’, ‘Thompson Seedless’, ‘Blanc du Bois’, ‘Roucaneuf’,
‘Villard Blanc’ and ‘Seibel 9110'; muscadine
grapes, ‘Cowart’, ‘Fry’, ‘Higgins’, ‘Regale’, and ‘Summit’;
vinifera (wine) grapes,
‘Cabernet Sauvignon’, ‘Chardonnay’, ‘Chenin
Blanc’, ‘Sauvignon Blanc’, ‘Muscat Canelli’,
and ‘White Riesling’; jujubes, ‘Li’ and ‘Lang’; peaches,
‘Sentinel’, ‘Harvester’, ‘Red Globe’, ‘Milam’, ‘Loring’,
‘Dixiland’, ‘Redskin’, ‘Surecrop’,
‘Jefferson’, and ‘Belle of Georgia’; pears, ‘Orient’, ‘Moonglow’,
Kieffer’, ‘LeConte’,
‘Ayers’, ‘Garber’, and ‘Maxine’; Japanese pears, ‘Hosui’ and ‘20th
Century’; protandrous pecans,
’Desirable’, ‘Cheyenne’, ‘Pawnee’, ‘Caddo’, ‘Cape Fear’, ‘Osage’ and
‘Oconee’; protogynous pecans,
‘Sioux’, ‘Elliott’, ‘Forkert’, ‘Melrose’,
and ‘Kanza’; Japanese persimmons,
‘Eureka’ and “Hachiya’; plums,
‘Morris’, ‘Methley’, ‘Bruce’, and ‘Ozark
Premier’; pomegranates, ‘Wonderful’; raspberries, ‘Dorman
Red’; and strawberries, ‘Sunrise’, ‘Cardinal’, and ‘Allstar’.http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu.
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The
information given herein is for educational purposes only. Reference to
commercial products or trade names is made with understanding that no
discrimination is intended and no endorsement by the Texas
AgriLife Extension Service is implied.
______________________________________________________________________________
Extension programs serve people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic
level, race, color, sex, religion, disability or national origin. The
Texas A&M University System U. S. Department of Agriculture, and the
County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating.
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