Hi All, Lane County Extension Service Master Gardener John Fischer here with KLCC's Good Gardening. If you want success in your yard or garden, follow this advice: right plant, right place. The other options - wrong plant, right place - right plant, wrong place - and the dreaded wrong plant, wrong place will all require fixes.
For example, we had a nice mature apple tree in the backyard when we moved in 40 years ago. It produced reliable crops of tasteless mealy bug infested fruit. It sometimes seems like a new tree will never catch up, but I cut down the Granny Rotten, planted a Fuji - which had only recently become available in the U.S. - and have picked thousands of tasty apples over the last 30 years.
The peaches on our place needed six sprays of sulphur a year. Too much for a working family man. The old ones died, so I planted curl resistant peaches that need no sprays. They produce enough fruit for pies, fresh eating, sharing and drying. You can still spray them if you miss that activity.
Finally, after learning to graft fruit trees, I topped one of two yellow transparent apple trees and grafted six varieties onto the trunk. Now we have good late season apples on a healthy rootstock, and plenty of super early yellow transparents from the remaining tree.
Of course if you are just getting started on your yard you can follow the advice initially - right plant, right place. A little research before digging the hole will save you a lot of fixing later. Looking at what works for your neighbors, asking at local nurseries or the county extension office will produce good results. The internet is fine, but is often trying to sell you something while it informs.
But if you have something that's not working for 5 years, it likely won't work - ever. Starting over will give you better results than wishing for a miracle.
Curl resistant peaches: Frost, Oregon Curl Free
Curl resistant nectarines: Kreibich, Pacific Pride
