You may recall that I've been discovering and trying to propagate heritage/heirloom trees from around the wider Piopio area here at Struan Farm over a number of years now. I've been learning and finding my way, and it's a long game. I should note upfront that some of these will be conventional varieties that people will recognise. To make life easier I have named them for the names of owners or properties.
We've had the "Huia fig" growing for many years. Figs are really easy to grow from cuttings. This is tree #2 growing on the point out past the tawa groves, #1 is down in the Pet Paddock by the Homestead. What's interesting is that this one tends to fruit earlier than the other, so we manage to have an extended season.
This past winter we decided to turn this point past the tawas behind our house into a heritage fruit tree orchard, protecting it from stock. The Huia fig is already established and fruiting. I was able to plant out "Grandpa Anselmi" and "Mapiu Settler" damsons after sprouting them from stones and growing them in pots for two seasons. I've protected "Mapiu" from rabbits since it's still quite small.
For plums we've got "May White" and "Waitouru" growing away in this area. These trees were also sprouted from stones. The former is a red skinned, gold flesh fruit, very sweet and good for eating. The latter is red and red.
I've got some surplus damson trees to share with the community, as well as some seedling peach trees and red currants.
In our other orchard areas we've got "Karen J's peach," "Hester's peach," "Henare's peach," and the "Northland nectarine," while in Chook World I've planted two grafted "Peter the Hermit's Golden Delicious apples." The latter were my first and only attempt to graft, and I managed to have beginner's luck. I still have some apple and pear rootstock growing down at the back gate, and hope to get out next July to take scion wood from a few other special apple and pear trees around the district. The scion wood is taken in July, after which it sits in the fridge in plastic bags until September, when it gets grafted. So you can understand how this all takes just a wee bit of time?
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