Fruit and nut trees?

chad whittington

chad whittington

Member
Anyone have any suggestions on fruit, berry or nut trees/bushes?
I’m looking to plant wild persimmons on my property. But I’m also looking for other fruit or nut trees in SE US area that are good draws for turkey and deer. Want large producers that require minimal care.
Like a variety of trees that fruit at different times of the year
Any input is appreciated


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have been working with a nursery near me that has mostly nut trees. I help gather genetics and work a bit for trees and seeds. Chestnuts, hazelnuts, and oak crosses. I chose bur X gamble crosses for the quick growth and its ability to produce acorns at a young age. I placed them on the south side under some large red oaks with the idea they will grow well with the southern exposure but being shorter growing they will not effect the red oaks which the deer are always going through but not really eating from until later in the season. I am doing patches of chestnut crosses (later dropping wildlife strains) chinquapins, and hazelnuts. My goal is to boost our grouse and turkey populations while keeping the deer coming in so I have planted some smaller clovers around all the trees for a longer draw.

I am also freeing up feral or wild apple trees as I find them and grafting on different strains for more variety and a continuous drop from individual trees. Persimmons are my next pick-up with some pears. Im in upstate NY so the winters are a bit cold and snow can get fairly deep so I usually hinge cut some maples and they HAMMER it almost immediately. Im a complete novice with food plots so planting trees seemed like the best option for my low tech style of habitat improvement.
 
Butcher said:
I have been working with a nursery near me that has mostly nut trees. I help gather genetics and work a bit for trees and seeds. Chestnuts, hazelnuts, and oak crosses. I chose bur X gamble crosses for the quick growth and its ability to produce acorns at a young age. I placed them on the south side under some large red oaks with the idea they will grow well with the southern exposure but being shorter growing they will not effect the red oaks which the deer are always going through but not really eating from until later in the season. I am doing patches of chestnut crosses (later dropping wildlife strains) chinquapins, and hazelnuts. My goal is to boost our grouse and turkey populations while keeping the deer coming in so I have planted some smaller clovers around all the trees for a longer draw.

I am also freeing up feral or wild apple trees as I find them and grafting on different strains for more variety and a continuous drop from individual trees. Persimmons are my next pick-up with some pears. Im in upstate NY so the winters are a bit cold and snow can get fairly deep so I usually hinge cut some maples and they HAMMER it almost immediately. Im a complete novice with food plots so planting trees seemed like the best option for my low tech style of habitat improvement.
Click to expand...
That sounds like you have plenty of nut trees. I'd suggest starting into food plots with a small clearing of 1/4 to 1/2 acre and planting Ladino clover. That would give you a big deer draw for 3/4s of the year, and even if the nuts are dropping your deer will still come to the clover every evening. Ladino clover is the only planting that will do well on a very small plot, and is easy to maintain after it's started. You should be able to put it in with a limited amount of equipment.
 
I would contact your local state forestry folks and see what sorts of trees and shrubs are native to your area. Many DFW's have tree and shrub sales as well. I got a bunch of stuff from MDOC last year. The trick is figuring out what will work best in your area. You can look to trees like sawtooth, chestnut, apples, pears and the like as well.....but I think trying to remain focused on native plants will serve you best. Pears and crab apples seems to be about as maint free as your gonna get in the fruit tree world from what I have seen and read. Don't forget about trees and shrubs that will provide browse as well.....they don't have to provide a fruit or nut to be a valuable food source for your deer. Deer will browse many tender shoots of trees and shrubs as well. Sorry I can't help further....I just am not familiar with what may be native in your area.
 
Mennoniteman said:
That sounds like you have plenty of nut trees. I'd suggest starting into food plots with a small clearing of 1/4 to 1/2 acre and planting Ladino clover. That would give you a big deer draw for 3/4s of the year, and even if the nuts are dropping your deer will still come to the clover every evening. Ladino clover is the only planting that will do well on a very small plot, and is easy to maintain after it's started. You should be able to put it in with a limited amount of equipment.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input Mennoniteman. I am interested in doing food plots and started a very VERY small one just to give it a test go this year. Its about 12x12 foot and I used a cheap bag of what turned out to be almost entirely rye grass. I was not impressed and started looking around for more info and now im here!
Why does ladino do better in small plots over other clovers? My equipment level is I have several hand tools, a mantis rototiller, a chainsaw and a crazy obsessive drive to do what I can with what I have. Plus Im 30 so young enough to work hard but old enough to do it a little smarter at this point.

There are two roughly 1/4 acre areas I am working on but being that I cut the trees down and move them all around on my own its a slower process. I am trying to finish one 1/4 spot this winter so I can start constructing a log cabin from the good logs I've saved which will also be a shoot house.
 
Butcher said:
Thanks for the input Mennoniteman. I am interested in doing food plots and started a very VERY small one just to give it a test go this year. Its about 12x12 foot and I used a cheap bag of what turned out to be almost entirely rye grass. I was not impressed and started looking around for more info and now im here!
Why does ladino do better in small plots over other clovers? My equipment level is I have several hand tools, a mantis rototiller, a chainsaw and a crazy obsessive drive to do what I can with what I have. Plus Im 30 so young enough to work hard but old enough to do it a little smarter at this point.

There are two roughly 1/4 acre areas I am working on but being that I cut the trees down and move them all around on my own its a slower process. I am trying to finish one 1/4 spot this winter so I can start constructing a log cabin from the good logs I've saved which will also be a shoot house.
Click to expand...
Yellow clover is a weed. Red clover doesn't take grazing pressure as well in small plots. White Dutch clover is short lawn type clover. Ladino White clover is just perfect for food plots, is high in protein, handles grazing pressure well, lasts years longer than red clover, and is very persistent once established. It takes about a year to get a good stand established, then, if you spray grass weeds yearly, and mow it high once a year it should last 7-8 years or longer.
 
j-bird said:
I would contact your local state forestry folks and see what sorts of trees and shrubs are native to your area. Many DFW's have tree and shrub sales as well. I got a bunch of stuff from MDOC last year. The trick is figuring out what will work best in your area. You can look to trees like sawtooth, chestnut, apples, pears and the like as well.....but I think trying to remain focused on native plants will serve you best. Pears and crab apples seems to be about as maint free as your gonna get in the fruit tree world from what I have seen and read. Don't forget about trees and shrubs that will provide browse as well.....they don't have to provide a fruit or nut to be a valuable food source for your deer. Deer will browse many tender shoots of trees and shrubs as well. Sorry I can't help further....I just am not familiar with what may be native in your area.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response j-bird. I fully agree about having shrubby browse around. My neighbor cuts firewood fairly regularly so there are always fresh openings. I spent a good hour shortening a swath of red osier dogwood to about hip high last winter to keep the new growth at browse height. I do some hinge cutting of maples on the border and dropped several large poplars that had some great regrowth this year. I let the stumps of some young cherry, maple, and ash grow back over the summer with the idea that it would provide some browse and maybe cover. As for tree purchasing I have seen that the DEC has good prices on evergreens that I would like.
 
Last edited:
Butcher said:
Thanks for the response j-bird. I fully agree about having shrubby browse around. My neighbor cuts firewood fairly regularly so there are always fresh openings. I spent a good hour shortening a swath of red osier dogwood to about hip high last winter to keep the new growth at browse height. I do some hinge cutting of maples on the border and dropped several large poplars that had some great regrowth this year. I let the stumps of some young cherry, maple, and ash grow back over the summer with the idea that it would provide some browse and maybe cover. As for tree purchasing I have seen that the DEC has good prices on evergreens that I would like.
Click to expand...
I don't know if it will grow in your area or not but elderberry.....is a great shrub for deer to browse on. It can get pretty big but you just cut it back and the deer will hammer the fresh green growth before it hardness off. It is a good shrub for pollinators as well. Like I said I have bought small numbers of shrubs for Missouri Department of Conservation before to get some shrubs I otherwise didn't have. Other plants may be DCO (dwarf chinkapin oak) and native plums (native ones tend to grow in colonies and as such provide a summer food source and cover). Those just came off the top of my head. Like I said....they may not do well in your area....so you will have to do that homework.
 
I actually found a wild elderberry growing near a deer trail on my neighbors while setting up a stand site in late august. I picked a handful of the berries just to start a few plants for my chickens but now that you mentioned it the bush was pretty chewed up. I will look into wild plums. I have already got some chinquapins that will be going in this spring. Another shrubby plant I have seen deer munch pretty well is multiflora rose. Its all over and it grows like crazy so before september I go chop the taller stalks to 3 foot tall and the deer like the regrowth in early bow. Ive been doing that for a couple years now and its an easy to do and free bit of food for deer.
 
Allegheny Chinkapins - tastes just like a chestnut but half the size. Mine drop in November.

And it would be a travesty of justice for a Southern Man to not have a Yates Apple Tree.
 
Native Hunter said:
Allegheny Chinkapins - tastes just like a chestnut but half the size. Mine drop in November.

And it would be a travesty of justice for a Southern Man to not have a Yates Apple Tree.
Click to expand...

Im not a southern man being in NY but I have seen lots of your pictures on here native and I can see you have some BEAUTIFUL trees. I will have to look into yates and see if they will thrive in my zone (5b). Are they good?
 
Butcher said:
Im not a southern man being in NY but I have seen lots of your pictures on here native and I can see you have some BEAUTIFUL trees. I will have to look into yates and see if they will thrive in my zone (5b). Are they good?
Click to expand...

I know a guy who grows them successfully in Indiana, but I don't remember his exact location. However, I think he would be in 5b. Also, the new Nursery that just opened up in PA called Blue Hills sells them, and his drop chart shows them hanging even a little longer than they do here in my more southern location. Mine is holding 80% fruit right now and will probably drop into early November before being done.

Yates is a heirloom apple that was almost forgotten about, except in the south where people relished it for cider making. The taste for fresh eating is also great, but it is a small apple, which is a negative. However, the size is just perfect for deer. It's much larger than most crabs, but smaller than most popular apples.
 
Native Hunter said:
Allegheny Chinkapins - tastes just like a chestnut but half the size. Mine drop in November.

And it would be a travesty of justice for a Southern Man to not have a Yates Apple Tree.
Click to expand...

I’m in Mississippi. I was told apple trees don’t do well to stick with crabapples


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
chad whittington said:
I’m in Mississippi. I was told apple trees don’t do well to stick with crabapples

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I was told the same thing about Kentucky. More Fake News...………..

BxP95Fh.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Flatwood natives?
Replies
1
Views
1K
Headdigger
H
Kade.Poole
Food Plots Down South
Replies
6
Views
1K
MarkDarvin
MarkDarvin
possum
Southern pine beetles, Burning north facing slope and other questions
Replies
2
Views
797
Mennoniteman
Mennoniteman
MOVol
Mixing turnips, radishes, and/or rape with Crimson Clover and Awnless wheat?
Replies
16
Views
3K
MOVol
MOVol
C
Chestnut trees
Replies
12
Views
5K
coolbrze0
C
Back
Top