An American Grape that has small bunches and very resistant to many diseases that are a problem for many Australians who live in hotter humid climate environments.
Come and Visit us At Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery in Kyogle
Come and Visit us at Daleys Nursery we specialise in Fruit & Nut Trees and we sell everything from Avocado Trees to Yacons we also do a really wide range of nut trees if you would prefer something like a Chestnut or a Pecan Nut Tree.
We have beautiful bush foods like the finger lime or if you would prefer something ornamental like these wonderful Magnolias.
If you would like a headstart in your orchard then how about an advanced fruit tree.
Carambola Inside and Out
What my carambola tree or Star Fruit Tree looks like from the outside. It has beautiful weeping foliage that hangs to the ground.
When I crawl in under the tree the bounty of fruit becomes visible, it is loaded with fruit.
Carambolas are delicious eaten straight off the tree.
or they can be sliced to reveal their beautiful star shape
The flowers are also beautiful they are small, pink and prolific
When I buy a DVD player I am almost guaranteed that the first year I have my new purchase it is going to work well. The man sells it to me in a flash box and it is shiny when I use it and works perfectly for me. I then get some DVD's to go with it and they give me that same feeling of owning something new, shiny and I can invite my friends around to enjoy it straight away.
Fast Forward 3 Years
My DVD player is no longer my prized possession, I rarely use it now because my friends have blue ray and sometimes it doesn't even play them. Also I paid $299 and in even in the grocery store they are selling one better than mine for only $99.
Buying Fruit Trees
I buy a Vietnam Dragon Fruit Tree it came to me in a basic black pot and to be frank looked small, hard to handle and cost $17.90. I then spent some time setting up a stump for it to grow over and gave it a place that I thought would get some sun and a bit of shade. Nothing happened for months and over the whole winter it stayed the same. I though what a waist of time, and that I paid too. Spring came and I got some growth and the same as in summer but still it looked bad & nothing to tell my friends about.
Fast Forward 3 Years
My Dragon Fruit has flowered ( I had to stay up till midnight to experience this with a torch ) and the fruit turned from Green to an amazing Red. I also have been studying them and found out they have great health benefits. My local grocery store were chargin $7 just for one of these fruit and my 3 year old Vine has given me 10. My mind is fresh with ideas of how to grow them up poles and train them better so I think if I get some other varieties like the Yellow or Red Dragon fruit. Since it is fruiting now my friends always go to it first and comment on it, and when I shared one by putting a bit of lime on it and the joy they got from eating something different was noticeable on their faces but really it was my sense of accomplishment that I really noticed.
Just about every household has a Lemons and Oranges or whats popular but the problem with this is that when your oranges start fruiting the cost in the supermarket for the same orange is often super cheap and fresh. Because they are so popular the pests of this tree are popular. eg. Gall wasps are often controlled by industrial methods but the home gardeners tree gets attacked and they don't have the resources to out power these pests. Basically if the fruit in your backyard is the same as the one you easily buy every day of the year anyway you are only exposing yourself to 1% of what fruit has to offer you.
So why not choose something like a Mulberry Tree, Black Sapote, Pecan, Sapodilla, Miracle Fruit, Peanut Butter Fruit, Lychee, Soursop, Custard Apple. And when you do choose a variety choose a variety that isn't common to your supermarket. Eg. If you are going to get an Orange tree then grow the Navelina. After you eat this variety you will wonder if they really are selling oranges in the supermarket the taste is so different.
Mistake 2: You are a Cheapskate
A seedling tree might cost $10 but the same tree as a grafted variety can cost upwards of $35. So people choose the seedling and then get disappointed why it doesn't fruit. A grafted tree can fruit often 3 years before a seedling even thinks about bearing fruit plus the fruit being produced is a proven quality and taste. Obvious example is that you eat an orange, love it and then plant the seed. 8 years later that seed produces its first "oranges" and instead of tasting sweet and having orange skin, it has a very light yellow skin and is almost un-edible. Same goes for Lychees, Apples, Pecans, Macadamias etc etc.
Mistake 3: You Plant it "Wherever"
Fruit trees love the sun and they love good drainage. Pay attention to the way the sun falls on your backyard throughout the year, especially in Spring and then make sure you use that space for your fruit trees. Your shady spots are perfect for rainforest trees, so don't let them go to waist.
People who live in the Northern Territory can now choose from our NT Plant List and have them sent to your door. This will happen about 5 times a year so you can place and add to your order at any time until the dispatch date.
Unfortunately there is an extra cost for quarantine as we need to pay for a quarantine inspector to come and check your plants before they are dispatched. This costs starts at $25 per order and goes up depending on how many extra plants you have placed. So to make the order economical you would likely need to order $100 or more worth of plants.
Many of our Bare Root Fruit Trees that we sell in June and July will not give you fruit unless you get the right Chill Hours in Winter.
For Example the Angel Peach Tree has two different varieties. A High Chill and a Low Chill Variety. If you live in Cairns and buy the High Chill Angel Peach you will not get any fruit.
Definition of Chill Hours for Fruit Trees
Time spent below approximately 7 degrees.
High Chill Fruit Trees are 650+ Hours
Medium Chill Fruit Trees are 450-650 Hours
Low Chill Fruit Trees are 150-450 Hours
Silly Question: Do I go outside every day of the year with a stopwatch and a thermometer? Answer: You could, but it is obviously a very funny waste of time
Calculating Chill Hours at your Address in Australia
Just to make it clear straight up plants are alive and as such there is no exact science for the amount of chill hours a certain fruit tree needs, it is always going to be approximate.
In Australia we are privileged to get the website for the Bureau of Meteorology and this allows us to find the Average temperature of the coldest month. We then use this temperature to Estimate the chill hours.
Step 2
Data about: Temperature
Type of Data: Monthly
Select: Mean Minimum Temperature
Weather Station: [Type your own Suburb here]
Nearest Bureau: Closest to your address
Click: Get Data
Step 3: This will give you a view of the Monthly Mean Minimum Temperature for your suburb.
Step 4: Scroll down the page to the last year of information and select the Lowest Monthly Mean Temperature which is usually in July but sometimes June.
Step 6: While you are looking at this number take note of the previous year minimums. Perhaps this year was an exception and you might like to use another years minimum. So in this case I am using 7.2 degrees.
Step 7: Now we want to find the Mean Maximum Temperature that matches this figure from Step 6 So I need to remember 2011 and the month of July. ( yours might be June )
Go back to the BOMS Climate Data Online ( Likely already opened ) But this time select:
Data about: Temperature
Type of Data: Monthly
Select: Mean Maximum Temperature
Weather Station: [Type your own Suburb here]
Nearest Bureau: Closest to your address
Click: Get Data
Step 8: Scroll Down to the latest year and select the temperature for the corresponding month to step 6.
In my example it is 21.1 degrees.
Step 9: Now we want to add the Mean Minimum Temperature and the Mean Maximum Temperature together and divide by 2 to get the average. In this case (7.2+21.1)/2=14.15
Step 10
Now we try and fit this number into the Chill Hours Table below. The Chill hours in this table are commonly used to describe Fruit Tree Chill Hours and you will see them across the Daleys Fruit Tree Website in descriptions, across the web and fruit tree reference books.
Chill HoursAverage Temperature for coldest month
0 19.7 degrees (No Chill)
300 15.5 degrees (Low Chill)
330 15.3 degrees (Low Chill)
450 14 degrees (Medium Chill)
500 13.6 degrees (Medium Chill)
520 13.1 degrees (Medium Chill)
600 12.7 degrees (Medium to High Chill)
800 10.2 degrees (High Chill)
1100 7.9 degrees (High Chill)
1250 0 degrees (Very High Chill)
So for the case used which was 14.15 degrees we can approximate this to 330-450 Chill Hours or Low Chill. If a plant that requires Medium Chill was purchased it might produce fruit some years when the winter is colder but not others when the winter is warmer.
Things to Consider
Remember how we said you could take a stopwatch and a thermometer outside? Well here is your chance. The weather station that you chose in step 2 is very unlikely to be exactly the same as your backyard orchard. So what you can do is every morning just before sunrise record your backyard orchards temperature. Then go to the BOMs Climate Data Online and fill out the form for Daily Data by selecting:
Data about: Temperature
Type of Data: Daily
Select: Minimum Temperature
Weather Station: [Type your own Suburb here]
Nearest Bureau: Closest to your address
Click: Get Data
Now if the reading you got from the thermometer in you backyard orchard is lower then the BOMs minimum temperature you can assume that you will get slightly more chill hours then the calculation you got by using the above steps. This means that you "might" be able to get fruit with a higher chill variety.
Conclusion and Final Note
If you are reading this it is likely that you are a fruit lover who wants to test the boundaries of what is possible. At Daleys we have come to accept that people in Victoria (Australia's High Chill Country) want to grow Tropical Fruit Trees and people in Rochampton (Australia's Low Chill Country) want to grow high chill temperate fruit trees even though we don't like your chances of getting fruit. However some of you have many examples where you have succeeded. The Daleys Fruit Tree Forum has many of these stories.
If you are in a Low Chill environment and want to grow fruits such as Blueberries, Apples, Plums and even Cherries then we often have varieties that are Low Chill. For example the Acerola Cherry Tree crops in Low Chill Climates.
Growing High Chill Fruit Trees in a Low Chill Climate
Now if you know that you don't get the right chill hours and are still super keen to grow high chill plants my only other suggestion is to grow your plants in pots and get yourself a super big freezer to put them in during winter. JOKING!!!!!!!!!!
Surprisingly when some fruit trees look like sticks this is the best time for planting. Cherries, Apricots, Raspberries, Almonds, Peaches are often sold as Bare Root Plants. The Problem "Dear Daleys Nursery: You have one Bare Root Fruit Tree I want but the other one won't be ready until next year. What Can I do?" The Solution
We have a special Bare Root Page that allows you to order the stock now but receive them in June/July. YES you can purchase anything off our IN STOCK PLANT LIST. Good news is they are sent in one go saving you freight costs. Bare Root Stock to PRE-ORDER | PLANTS IN STOCK NOW
About Bare Root Fruit Trees
Too Simple... Many people think of Fruit Trees with Luscious green foliage and bright fruit LIKE THIS... (Click If Image Does not Load) BUT... Apricots, Cherries, Persimmons, Plums and Almonds will never produce fruit unless they appear to die LIKE THIS... WHY... For the colder climates of Australia during Winter the temperature drops below 6 degrees. Many amazing fruit trees will only grow in these colder climates because they need these Chill Hours so that come spring they will BLOSSOM, FLOWER AND FRUIT LIKE THIS...
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Mistake 2: You are a Cheapskate
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