About Fruit Trees

Apples
Cherries
Peaches
Pears
Plums
Quince
Scionwood
Rootstocks for Grafting

Apples

Jump to: Choosing a rootstock | Growing apple trees

Choosing the Right Apple

Not sure where to start? Check out our Apple Chart!

Summer apples ripen in summer, are generally crisp only for a short period, do not store well, and are often best for cooking.
Fall apples store longer and are useful for a wide variety of purposes.
Winter apples ripen mid to late fall, store well, and reach their best flavor after weeks, or even months, of storage.
Dessert apples are delicious eaten raw.
Crabapples are less than 2" in diameter. Some crabs bear edible or culinary or cider-making fruit. Some have persistent wildlife fruit that hangs on the tree for weeks or even months. Others have hardly any fruit at all. Some are beautiful ornamentals.
Cider apples are especially suited to making fermented “hard” cider. Some cider apples are also good dessert fruit, but most are not.
Subacid means tart!
Russet or russeting is a skin texture (fairly common on apple varieties and on a few pears and potatoes) which looks and feels somewhat like suede.
Bloom is a naturally occurring dust-like yeast film on the skin of some varieties of apples, plums, grapes and blueberries.

Choosing a variety: Not every variety may be right for you. All-purpose apples are just that—they’re good for a bunch of jobs. If you're planting just one tree, perhaps start there. However, if you’re a history buff, consider the historical varieties and maybe plant one that originated nearby. If you don’t eat many apples but love pies, go for the pie apples. If you’re a dessert connoisseur, skip all the others and go for the highly flavored dessert varieties. Some are strictly for cider. Some are great to put out at the camp for summer use. Some are perfect for those who want fall fruit but don’t have a root cellar. Others keep all winter and into the following summer.

Hardiness zone: The USDA plant zone hardiness map is a guide designed to assist gardeners and orchardists in choosing suitable plants. The zones are based on the average annual minimum winter temperature. The lower the temperature, the lower the zone rating number, and the “hardier” the plant. Zone 3 is about as cold as it gets in any part of New York and New England. Most of northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine would all be Zone 3. The central part of the four states would be Zone 4. The southern half of each state would be Zone 5 or 6. This can vary from site to site depending on elevation, proximity to the coast and other microclimatic factors.

When choosing apple varieties, note the zone rating at the end of each description. If an apple has a Z3 rating, you will be able to grow it successfully in the coldest locations in Maine, as well as two or three zones “south.” In other words, if the rating is Z3, it may be in its prime in Z3, but should do well down to Z5 or 6. Typically, it will not perform well outside of that approximate range. Note that hardiness works both ways: you can’t grow mangoes in Maine, and you can’t grow most apples in Florida.

Bloom times: Early season, midseason, late season bloomers—should you be in a tizzy about pollination? No. If there is at least one other apple tree somewhere in your neighborhood, the bees will do their thing, and you’ll get fruit. It can be a wild roadside apple tree. It can be an ornamental crab. It can be old or young, in your yard or your neighbor’s. But it must be different from yours. In other words, avoid planting ten Honeycrisps if no other apples are in sight.

Most apples flower at about the same time, so timing is almost never an issue. However, if you live on a desert island with only an early bloomer and a late bloomer, you should plant a midseason bloomer, too.

Choosing a Rootstock

Rootstock determines the size, longevity, hardiness and growth habits of a tree. After enthusiastic response from customers, we continue to offer an assortment of dwarf and semi-dwarf rootstocks in addition to the standard.

Looking for rootstock to graft your own trees? See: Rootstock for grafting.

Standard rootstock: Most of the apples we offer are on standard full-sized Antonovka rootstock (and occasionally another full-sized rootstock). Standard trees have deep, substantial—and therefore hardier—root systems. By selecting the varieties appropriate to your district, grafted on standard rootstock, you may well be planting a tree that will be picked by your grandchildren’s grandchildren. Standard trees will grow to be large, but you can manage the size with pruning. The largest trees in our orchards are now about 30 years old, yet the tallest are well under 20' due to careful pruning. Although standard-sized apple trees may be planted as close as 10–15' apart, they were typically planted 30' apart in 19th-c. orchards. We generally plant standard trees 20–25' apart with good results. (Trees on standard stock are shipped at 3-6'.)
Semi-dwarf and dwarf rootstocks: We offer an assortment of semi-dwarf and dwarf apple trees on Bud 118, M111 and Bud 9 rootstocks. Each has great advantages for some growers, but these size-controlling rootstocks also have their limitations. Please read on and decide if they are what you want. If you are uncertain, stick with the good old standards, which are extremely rugged, hardier, more tolerant of drought and poor soils, very long-lived, and more capable of thriving under a regime of benign neglect.

Bud 118 semi-dwarfing rootstock produces a tree about 85–90% of standard size or even larger. Sometimes Bud 118 trees are called semi-standards or even standards. Considered to be more precocious (fruiting at a young age) than standards, and probably more productive. Very hardy, though not as hardy as Antonovka. Plant about 20–25' apart.
M111 semi-dwarfing rootstock produces a tree about 65–80% of standard size. Sometimes M111 trees are called semi-standards. M111 may not be more precocious than standard-sized trees. However they will likely be more productive. M111 has a relatively shallow spreading root system, does well in light soils, and is relatively drought tolerant. Prone to suckering; not as long-lived or hardy as Antonovka. You can plant them closer together than standards, about 15–20' apart.
G890 semi-dwarfing rootstock produces a tree about 55–65% of standard size. Adaptable to different climates and soil types, deeply rooted and hardy. Highly resistant to fireblight—the varieties we offer on G890 are ones we’ve found to be susceptible to fireblight in some locations. Plant trees 10–15' apart.
Bud 9 dwarfing rootstock produces a small dwarf tree, 25–55% of standard size. This makes it easy to spray, prune and pick. It requires less space in your yard and will fruit at an early age. Trees should be staked or trellised for support. These trees are hardy, though not as hardy as Antonovka, and they won’t live as long. You can plant trees 5–10' apart.

About Cider Apples

Each year we offer a different assortment of the best European and American cider varieties, including new wild apple introductions from local fruit explorers and cidermakers. Many of these are NOT for fresh eating. They do however possess qualities that make them very desirable for fermented cider production.

About Seedling Apples

These trees were grown from seeds, rather than grafted onto rootstock like the other apple varieties we offer.

These standard-sized trees will grow to 20–30'.

About Flowering and Culinary Crabapples

A crabapple is any apple with fruit smaller than 2" in diameter. All crabs bear edible fruit, some more favorable for culinary use than others. Some fruits are persistent, hanging on the branch through winter and providing forage for robins, jays and waxwings in the early spring. The flowers, tree form and even the shape of the leaves can vary subtly or profoundly. Most are magnificent in bloom and ornamental year round, especially in winter when the leaves drop and the trees show off their interesting forms.

Growing Apples

Soil: Adaptable, but prefers well-drained fertile soil.
Sun: Full.
Pollination: Requires a second variety for pollination. Any apple or crabapple blooming within a quarter mile will probably do.
Planting and Pruning: See our planning and planting and pests and diseases pages for more information about soil prep, planting, pruning, and pest control.
Spacing:
- For trees on Antonovka and Bud 118 rootstock, 20–25' apart.
- M111 semi-dwarf, 15–20' apart.
- G890 semi-dwarf, 10–15' apart.
- Bud 9 dwarf, 5–10' apart.

Cherries

Stone Fruits Widely cultivated around the world and adaptable to most of New England. Not highly particular as to soils. Clingstone means the fruit’s flesh sticks to the pit (or stone) and a freestone pit drops cleanly away from the flesh. Like our apples and pears, all our stone fruits are grafted trees.

Sweet Cherries Prunus avium

Generally grow into large trees although the flowers are tender and fruiting can be iffy in central Maine and north. We are testing the hardiest varieties and hope to keep adding more varieties.

Mature trees reach 25–30' tall.

Pie Cherries Prunus cerasus

Also called Sour Cherries. Delicious enough to eat right off the tree and especially good in pies. They fruit in early to midsummer and don’t mind heavy soil. Pie cherries are generally divided into two groups: Morello types have dark red spherical fruit, dark juice and relatively small compact trees. Montmorency (or Amarelle) types have light red slightly flattened fruit, clear juice and medium-sized somewhat open trees.

Pie cherries are significantly hardier than sweet cherries but flower buds may be damaged in colder winters. We often encounter excellent crops in central Maine.

Mature trees reach 10–15' tall.

Other “Cherries” For some interesting fruits sometimes called “cherries,” see Cornelian Cherries and Nanking Cherries. Sometimes we also stock Bush Cherries and Dwarf Sour Cherries, so check back in future years!

Growing Sweet and Pie Cherries

Soil: Prefers well-drained fertile soil; pie cherries are more forgiving and adaptable than sweet cherries.
Sun: Full.
Pollination:
- Most sweet cherries need a second variety for pollination, so plant two or more for best results.
- Pie cherries are self-pollinating.
Spacing:
- Plant sweet cherries 25' apart.
- Plant pie cherries 15–20' apart.
Planting: See our planning and planting and pests and diseases pages for more information about soil prep, planting and pest control.

Peaches

Northern New England peach growing can be very successful. The trees often bear so heavily that the fruit needs thinning and the branches need support. Some winters can be hard on certain peach trees, and they may die. Other trees live for many years. Replant and try again. They are worth the trouble, and since they bear young, you won’t have to wait too long!

Peaches are usually unaffected by pests or diseases in northern areas, the occasional exception being peach leaf curl. PLC is not a fatal problem but does need to be controlled if you get hit with it. Look for crinkled or puckered foliage in spring. Remove affected leaves and compost them. Spray the tree with lime, sulfur or copper early the following spring while it is still dormant (before any buds open!) Onion, garlic or horsetail spray while leafed-out may also be effective. It’s common for peaches to have black gummy wounds. This is usually harmless and happens from any environmental stress, even when a bird or a bug looks sideways at the tree.

Mature trees will be 10–15' tall.

Growing Peaches

Soil: Prefers well-drained fertile soil.
Sun: Full.
Pollination: Self-pollinating. You only need one tree.
Spacing: Plant 20' apart.
Planting: See our planning and planting and pests and diseases pages for more information about soil prep, planting and pest control.
Pruning: Prune in spring after the buds begin to swell and show pink. Remove dead and inward-growing branches. Make a few bold cuts to bring main branches closer to the trunk. After cutting back any main branches, thin last year’s shoots and cut them back to about 12–18". When you’re done, the tree shape should look something like an open hand reaching for a peach, with the tree not much taller than 10' or so.
The goal is to keep trees small and open. Peach trees grow vigorously each year and fruit on the previous year’s wood. Leggy branches will break from the weight of fruit.

Pears

European Pears Pyrus communis

Native to temperate Europe and Asia, pears can grow up to 100' tall in the wild. Many pear varieties are hardy in New England but tend to take longer to come into bearing than apples and might not bear every year. Farther south, pears tend to bear annually. Pick fruit when green and ripen it on the shelf. Or, for optimal eating, try this method, from Ed Fackler of Rocky Mountain Orchard: “…when fruits exhibit slight color changes, begin to test pressure (using your thumb) near the stem. When there is a slight ‘give,’ pick all the fruit, store at or near 35° for 7 or more days. Then remove them as needed, allow them to sit at room temps for 2–4 days which allows them to ripen to peak flavor.” Pears are on OHxF97 and will reach 25' or taller at maturity. (2½–6' trees)

Perry Pears Perry is fermented pear juice—the pear equivalent of hard cider. While you can ferment any pear juice, the best perry is made from small dry astringent varieties selected over the centuries just for that purpose. Most of these perry pears are not suitable for fresh eating or cooking. These trees are a good investment—they should live to be about 300 years old.

Growing European Pears

Soil: Prefers well-drained fertile soil.
Sun: Full.
Pollination: We recommend planting a second variety for pollination, though some pears may be self-pollinating. Bloom times are similar for all varieties we offer.
Planting and Pruning: See our planning and planting and pests and diseases pages for more information about soil prep, planting, pruning, and pest control.
Spacing: 15–20' apart.

Asian Pears Pyrus pyrifolia

There are thousands of named Asian pear cultivars in China, where they have been grown for more than 2000 years. They bear young and are long-lived. Asian pears differ from European pears: they are crisper and very juicy, sweet and mild with a nutty background, and are roundish in shape. Because they set heavily, thin the crop once or even twice during the first two months after bloom to ensure large fruit. Leave about one fruit per spur. Unlike European pears, they should be tree-ripened. When the seeds are black, the pears are ready. They ripen in late summer and keep for several weeks with refrigeration.

Asian pears reach 15–20' at maturity.

Growing Asian Pears

Soil: Prefers well-drained fertile soil.
Sun: Full.
Pollination: We recommend planting a second variety for pollination, though some Asian pears may be self-pollinating. Some European pears, notably Bartlett, will also act as pollinators.
Spacing: 15–20' apart.
Planting and Pruning: See our planning and planting and pests and diseases pages for more information about soil prep, planting, pruning, and pest control.

Plums

Hybrid Plums Prunus spp.

Extremely hardy crosses between various Asian and American species; may fruit even after severe winters.

Hybrid plum fruiting can be inconsistent but it’s worth the trouble! Warmer areas will see longer bloom times. Cold late springs may force blooming all at once. Both of these conditions can be optimal for plum crops. At other times, it can be a little hit or miss. Bloom times are similar for all the varieties we offer.

Hybrid plums are less susceptible to black knot than European plums and have few issues other than Japanese beetle and plum curculio attraction.

At maturity, hybrid plums are roughly 15–20' tall.

Growing Hybrid Plums

Soil: Prefers well-drained fertile soil.
Sun: Full.
Pollination: Requires a second variety. We recommend planting at least 4 different varieties close together. Including an American Plum Seedling in your grove can help ensure pollination.
Planting: See our planning and planting and pests and diseases pages for more information about soil prep, planting, and pest control.
Spacing: 15–20' apart, or closer for a thicket.

Mulberry Morus spp.

Sweet flavorful purple-black 1" blackberry-like fruit is delicious fresh, in sauces, pies, fruit leather or smoothies. What fruit you don’t pick, the birds will. Great tree for viewing a huge variety of birds up close. Plant it next to the chicken pen where it will rain chicken feed into the yard for several weeks, or put down a sheet to collect the fruit as it falls.

Dense round-topped tree is one of the last to leaf out in the spring and one of the first to set fruit. Ripens in mid-July and continues for several weeks into late summer. Fast growing, even in poor soils. Prefers moist well-drained soils but otherwise adaptable. Full sun to partial shade; withstands pollution, drought, wind and salt.

Quince

Quince Cydonia oblonga

At one time, every Maine dooryard had a quince, a small tree with large tan or yellowish aromatic fruit with mild light yellow flesh. The fragrance is so intoxicating that just having a bowl of ripe fruit on the table might distract you from getting around to cooking them! Large lovely white to pink flowers—not to be confused with the small-fruited Chaenomeles, Flowering Quince. The wood of mature trees becomes impressively gnarled and twisted. Quince are native to Asia.

Great in stews and preserves. Makes a fragrant orangey-pink jelly—unlike anything we’ve tasted. Sometimes added to hard cider. We asked longtime Fedco friend Aktan Askin, who grew up in Turkey, the world’s largest quince producer, what he most loves about the fruit: “I love the sound a big, fully ripe quince makes as it falls off the tree and hits the ground. So solid. So invincible. Thunk! But that aside, I really just love eating fresh quince with a spoon. Carving little balls out and chewing to juice them in my mouth.”

Ripens in October in central Maine; may not ripen in coldest areas. Susceptible to fireblight and apple borers.

Trees reach 10–25' at maturity.

Growing Quince

Soil: Prefers well-drained fertile soil.
Sun: Full.
Pollination: Self-fruitful, but plant more than one for better yields.
Spacing: 15–20' apart
Planting and Pruning: Prune like an apple tree, and protect young trunks from apple borers. See our planning and planting and pests and diseases pages for more information about soil prep, planting, pruning, and pest control.

Scionwood

We sell scionwood in two ways:

By the stick: One 8" stick can graft 3 or 4 trees.
By the foot: For orchardists grafting large numbers of trees of a particular variety, we also offer scionwood by the foot (minimum order of 10 feet). In our own nursery work, we are usually able to graft 6–8 trees from one foot of scionwood.

Storage: You can graft right away or store scionwood for later use. It will keep quite well for several weeks in the fridge or in a cold dark basement, root cellar or shed. Storing scionwood close to freezing temps can be okay, but the very cold temperatures in a freezer will kill it. Scions will also die if they dry out or are stored without special protection from ripening veggies or fruits. We recommend triple plastic bagging your scionwood. There is no need to dampen the scionwood or to insert wet paper towels before bagging it, as this can lead to mold.

What does a person do with scionwood?

Scions are twigs. They have no roots and will not grow if you plant them. They are cuttings from dormant branch tips, intended for spring grafting.

Is grafting easy? Yes, once you get the hang of it. Experienced grafters often have 100% “take” with their grafting. Beginners often have less. While you can learn to graft from a book or video, we highly recommend the old-fashioned way: find a real person to teach you. MOFGA and other organizations have grafting classes every spring. Find one near you!

There are two general ways to graft fruit trees in spring:

You can bench graft by grafting scionwood onto rootstock (see next page). Generally we do this indoors in late March or early April. We keep the little grafted trees packed into a bucket of damp sawdust in a warm spot in the house (77–86°) for a couple weeks to promote callus development. Then we harden them off in a colder (but not freezing) place for a week or two before planting out in nursery beds anytime from late April to mid-May. If trees have begun to leaf out before planting time, we slowly introduce them to direct sunlight before setting them out. In a couple of years when the trees are 3–6' tall, we plant them in the orchard.
You can also topwork scionwood onto established green growth and the bark slips easily from the wood when cut, but before petal fall. The window for topworking is roughly the whole month of May in central Maine, but often can be successful for a week or so on either end.

Fedco’s Organic Growers Supply offers everything you’ll need for grafting and pruning—knives, pruners, saws, wax, tape and more.

Scionwood Collection at Fedco

Scionwood season at Fedco is a truly hopeful time. Each tiny dormant bud on every stick we ship out has the potential to become a new grafted fruit-bearing tree. Last winter we collected more than 22,000 feet of scionwood from nearly 200 varieties of apples, pears and plums! We ship about half of those scions to customers across the country: first-time grafters, orchardists, apple collectors and cidermakers alike. The rest is distributed to our local growers to propagate most of the fruit trees found in this catalog.

During the frigid days of January and February, scionwood collection is in full swing. We bundle, label and seal the wood in bags to store in our cold warehouse. In March we measure, snip and label the scions for shipping. As our founder John Bunker says, we are passing the baton.

There is no single Fedco Orchard. Over many years John and others from Fedco have built friendly relationships and collaborated with orchards around Maine. In exchange for permission to collect scionwood, we have offered grafting in the spring, pruning in the winter, or traded some trees from the Fedco inventory. A win-win for all.

We have also sourced some of our rare and difficult-to-find varieties from out-of-state orchards. For instance, Poverty Lane Orchards in NH, home of Farnum Hill Ciders, was one of the first in the Northeast to grow many of the now popular European cider apple varieties. For years they shared generously with us while we built up our own scion banks. We continue to collect rare and important varieties and graft them into our own orchards to ensure access in the future and to localize and streamline our winter scion collection.

Hardy Rootstocks For Grafting

We carry a selection of rootstocks that we consider to be some of the best options for home or commercial use. Even without grafting, any of these will produce fruit suitable for wildlife. For rootstocks we do not currently stock, or for larger calipers or larger quantities, please contact us for information. We also offer knives and grafting supplies in the Organic Growers Supply branch of Fedco.

Please note! We do our best to provide ¼" caliper stock. Because of factors beyond our control (such as weather!) stock may be 3/16–3/8". We cannot guarantee scion or rootstock diameter.

Please join us in late March for the annual Seed Swap and Scionwood Exchange, held every Spring at MOFGA in Unity, ME. Visit mofga.org to learn about other organic orcharding classes and events.