Author Topic: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?  (Read 4997 times)

TheWaterbug

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 370
    • Palos Verdes, CA, Sunset 23/USDA 11a, Elev. 783'
    • View Profile
Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« on: August 22, 2017, 02:58:27 AM »
My parents have had a really nice plum tree in their Los Angeles front yard for 40 years, but it's finally done. It'll make a small handful of fruit this year, but the trunk is rotted out, and branches are just falling off. It's time to call it a career.


We're thinking of replacing it with a grafted cocktail tree with plums, peaches, nectarines, etc. Where can one buy such a tree in California? A lot of places that sell these trees online are prohibited from shipping into CA.


Thanks!
Sunset 23/USDA 11a, Elev. 783', Frost free since 8,000 BC. Plagued by squirrels, gophers, and peafowl, but coming to terms with it!

CA Hockey

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 428
    • Orange, CA 10a
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #1 on: August 22, 2017, 03:51:37 AM »
H and h nursery in Lakewood. They have a large selection of dwn trees (lots of multigrafted still be trees). You can also go on dwn website and track down what trees you like. I believe you can actually see which nurseries ordered a particular tree type and call them directly, although you may have better luck during bareroot season when the orders come in.

K

fyliu

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3216
    • Burbank/Covina, CA 10a
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2017, 01:47:03 PM »
You can get the DWN ones with all the taste test winners grafted on. Green Thumb Nursery sells their trees but not sure which ones exactly.

TheWaterbug

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 370
    • Palos Verdes, CA, Sunset 23/USDA 11a, Elev. 783'
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2017, 05:20:04 PM »
Thanks! It took me some time to figure out what "DWN" means, but now I know!


It turns out that there are multiple retailers in Los Angeles that carry his "fruit salad" trees, so I'm going to make a visit this weekend and see if they have varieties that I like, and that will grow well here in Los Angeles.


Thanks!
Sunset 23/USDA 11a, Elev. 783', Frost free since 8,000 BC. Plagued by squirrels, gophers, and peafowl, but coming to terms with it!

CA Hockey

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 428
    • Orange, CA 10a
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2017, 10:00:13 AM »
Glad you got some help but while I think it's fun to drop by various nurseries and check out what they have, I think you can save some time by:
1) going on the dwn website
2) click on home garden at the top left
3) select variety finder at top right
4) this will bring you to a page with all of their listed trees. Multi-bidder ones appear at the top of the list but you can use the filters to further refine your options
5) choose the variety you are interested in
6) you should now be at a page that lists which nurseries bought that particular tree. The results listed are for all states so just scroll down until you find the relevant zip codes (how the list is organized on my phone) and give them a call.


Hope this post saves you some time. There's only so much driving you can do, especially here in socal

TheWaterbug

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 370
    • Palos Verdes, CA, Sunset 23/USDA 11a, Elev. 783'
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2017, 02:09:18 PM »
Thanks!


I actually wanted to stop by my local garden center so I can talk to folks who know which varieties grow well, here. The manager at my local Orchard was very familiar with the DWN trees, and he said I should wait until December/January to plant the bare-root ones when they arrive. He says transplanting a potted stone fruit tree at this time of year is setting myself up for failure.


The pricing was also surprising. 5 gallon, 4-in-1 Citrus Cocktail from La Verne for $129!


I hope the bare roots are less expensive.


Yes, I'll research the varieties I want and then I can ask Orchard to order in November or so.


I'm thinking about a cocktail citrus and a cocktail stone fruit for myself, and then a cocktail stone fruit for my parents. And maybe an apple/pear for myself as well. If they're not too expensive.
Sunset 23/USDA 11a, Elev. 783', Frost free since 8,000 BC. Plagued by squirrels, gophers, and peafowl, but coming to terms with it!

fyliu

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3216
    • Burbank/Covina, CA 10a
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2017, 04:06:42 PM »
Wait, citrus doesn't have bare root. Yes, LaVerne grafts 5 to a plant and sells them as 4 in case one dies. They were around $100 when a small group of us went to visit the nursery a couple years ago.

Bare root stone fruits are much cheaper than potted plants. They have a greater chance of survival too.

TheWaterbug

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 370
    • Palos Verdes, CA, Sunset 23/USDA 11a, Elev. 783'
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #7 on: August 29, 2017, 03:05:19 PM »
Wait, citrus doesn't have bare root. Yes, LaVerne grafts 5 to a plant and sells them as 4 in case one dies. They were around $100 when a small group of us went to visit the nursery a couple years ago.

Bare root stone fruits are much cheaper than potted plants. They have a greater chance of survival too.


Yeah, sorry for writing poorly. I meant that I hoped the bare root stone fruits were less than the cocktail citrus that I saw.


I was watching a planting video from DWN, and they prune the heck out of the plants when they put them in the ground. There's almost nothing left! Is that normal and necessary?
Sunset 23/USDA 11a, Elev. 783', Frost free since 8,000 BC. Plagued by squirrels, gophers, and peafowl, but coming to terms with it!

fyliu

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3216
    • Burbank/Covina, CA 10a
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #8 on: August 29, 2017, 03:32:31 PM »
I didn't see that video. I bought peach trees from Home Depot to graft other stone fruits onto and they grew fine without pruning. A few twigs towards the bottom of the tree aborted themselves along with the grafts on them.

I think some branches will die by themselves if you don't prune them, depending on how much roots it's able to grow. Maybe some pruning helps it keep all the grafts, so it doesn't decide to abort the smallest ones.

Tree dad

  • MangoNan
  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 3
    • San gabriel/ Los Angeles 10b
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2018, 09:37:33 PM »
Hi I’m new to the forum. Here to learn and share everything and anything about fruit tree growing and plants in general. First things first though. can anyone help with changing my username? Thanks

Tony714

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 232
    • Fountain Valley OC , SOCAL, 10b
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #10 on: March 04, 2018, 11:35:25 PM »
I got mine from Greenthumb nusery.

SoCal2warm

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1554
    • zone 10 and zone 8a
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #11 on: April 04, 2018, 02:39:47 AM »
Traditionally you normally wouldn't find a cherry in a cocktail stone fruit tree, but much more recently this problem has been solved through the use of a myrobalan plum interstem. And of course today low chill cherry cultivars are available, not the case 30 years ago.

These cocktail stone fruit trees still have to be carefully managed though, with so many grafts, the rootstock variety could potentially overtake any of the grafts if not watched over and skillfully pruned back. Don't keep up with a 5-variety stone fruit and in 8 years it might only be 3 varieties.

containerman

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 200
    • Modesto,CA Area 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #12 on: April 04, 2018, 07:19:37 PM »
Another option is to buy 3-4 trees of your liking say a nectarine, peach, plum, pluot and plant them together spacing them 18 inches apart and have them spread out from June - Aug-Sept. Its called backyard orchard culture look it up on youtube with Dave Wilson Nursery. These will be much better than the 3 or 4 in one trees.

fyliu

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3216
    • Burbank/Covina, CA 10a
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #13 on: April 05, 2018, 12:19:40 PM »
I heard that the multiple trees in close plantings become more vigorous due to root competition, from a DWN spokesperson. I wonder if that's going to create a problem for people that want to keep their trees more manageable. I think DWN would tell me to buy trees on dwarf rootstocks in that case. But how does 4 dwarf trees compare to 1 regular or semidwarf? I thought cultivars on dwarf rootstocks suffer more from nutrient deficiency and tends to decline earlier?

Is the idea for 4 trees that they will merge into one? Like having multiple rootstocks? I think nursery trees are on the same rootstock. Or do they grow them from seed?

So far, I have 4 trees 4-5ft apart in staggered rows. They have half a dozen cultivars on them. I'm doing multiple trees for safety since one tree dying would mean a 25% loss. The downside is a disease killing one tree might spread to the others since they are so close, although not as close as DWN suggests. The spacing is my space to risk compromise since I don't want to give too much room to any one type of tree. More room is of course better for managing diseases and such.

containerman

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 200
    • Modesto,CA Area 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #14 on: April 06, 2018, 01:14:40 PM »
the concept is keeping the middle of the tree open like you would a single tree and 18 inches apart are enough room for 2-4 trees planted close together and keeping them smaller in size through pruning. Also it gives you more varieties spread out over longer period of time. Take a look here and you can also see it on youtbe

http://www.davewilson.com/home-gardens/backyard-orchard-culture

CA Hockey

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 428
    • Orange, CA 10a
    • View Profile
Re: Cocktail Stone Fruit Tree for Southern California?
« Reply #15 on: April 08, 2018, 10:39:12 PM »
If planting closely, prune them like a hedge so they merge with each other, or if planting in tree-like groups, prune each individual tree so that each one grows into its own space (ie, Pluot from 1-3, peach from 4-6, nectarine from 7-9, cherry from 10-12) without encroaching on the airspace of the adjacent neighbor tree.


If planted on ththe same rootstocks, then I think they don’t compete with each other or wncourage each other. I’ve heard that different rootstocks help growth through competition although I’ve read on this forum where people have tried multiple rootstocks and something fails completely which is I assume an example of a weak rootstock being killed off or outcompeted by a stronger rootstock.

All hearsay. I haven’t tried it myself