Hello everyone. A thread of this sort may have been started somewhere here before now. If so, then maybe it can be diverted to the thread most pertinent.

I've been wondering about what other types of unusual fruits everyone grows? I'm especially interested in what folks are growing in the colder zones - say Z7 & colder (Not neccassarily exclusively. Don't want to completley exclude the warmer zones, or even some greenhouse oddities, of course. i.e. Anyone ever grow pineapples in a greenhouse up north?)

I'm mostly curious about some of the lesser known (to most folks) stuff such as Kiwi, Pomegrantes, Che, Jujubes, Asian Persimmons, & whatever else that might fall into a similar category. You know, the odd stuff that will survive mostly outside of a greenhouse but not the typical stuff such as apples, pears, & peaches.

Myself, I've started a couple varieties of pomegranates, one type of lycium species (Goji berries) & a couple varieties of prickely pear.

I also grow some thornless blackberries & a couple cultivars of elderberries. I guess berries are a bit more typical but not everyone goes out of their way to grow some of them like they might grow fruit-bearing trees. So maybe berries & similar (especially the uncommon stuff) can be included too :-) .

I hope you don't mind this digression from figs Jon. Just thought it would be nice to hear more about "what else" everyone gorws. Just set me straight if I'm out of line here :-]. 

sour and sweet cherrys and maulberrys are like weeds too I need a bigger yard
I want an almond tree but not cold hardy enough

Figs (obviously)
Nanking cherries (2 in-ground)
AU Rosa plums (2 in-ground)
Stella cherry (1 in-ground)
Blueberries (5 in-ground)
Pineapple guava (1 potted)
Grapes (2 potted)
Thornless blackberries

And a wide assortment of heirloom peppers, tomatoes, ramps and other things we like to eat, but hardly find in in a suitable format anywhere....

Figs, in ground and containers

Grapes in containers until Spring

Hey Jason, I planted 2 Thornless Blackberry shrubs near my blueberry garden.  Within one year, those blackberries took over my Blueberry garden.  It took me 3 years to finally get rid of them!  I hope yours are planted in containers!

asperigus, pawpaw, persimon, raspberries, black raspberries, black berries, haskap berry,
plums (santa rosa, shiro, burbank) cherry, several types of unknown grapes,
black walnuts, jerusalum artichoke, red currant, black currant, josta berry, rhubarb, mulberries.
next year planting chinese chestunts, hazelnuts, hicans, heartnut, saskatoon berries, more pawpaw, more haskaps, more blackberries, apricot, maybe another plum or two. 
plans for kiwi some year, asian pear, more grapes, pecans.

grant
z5b

Blue Ribbon Sugar Cane (large chewing old time variety)
Carlos Muscadine Grapes
Scuppernog Muscadine Grapes
Nagami sour Kumquat
Meiwa sweet Kumquat
Nippon Orangequat
Keifier Lime
Meyers Lemon
Ponkan Mandarin
Sunburst Tangerine
Washington Navel Orange
Louisiana Sweet Orange
Red Navel Orange
Hamlin Sweet Orange
Calamondin Orange
Ruby Red Grapefruit
Blood Orange
Owari Satsuma
Brown Select Satsuma
Florida Home Pear
Southern Bartlett Pear
Biscamp Pear
Orient Pear
Tanashi Persimmon
Hacihya Persimmon
Suruga Persimmon
Fuyu Persimmon
Fuyu Imoto Persimmon
Saijo Persimmon
Kiowa Blackberries
Three varieties of Peaches...........removed last month....for more fig trees.
Candy Pecan
Elliot Pecan
Melrose Pecan
Sumner Pecan
Cape Fear Pecan
Native Pecan

100+ different varieties of figs

Dan

Like Jason we are growing the Nanking Cherries.  Cherries have not done well here (Zone 7b), so I'm interested in how well your Stella Cherry is doing Jason.

I would also recommend trying Goumi.  It is a cherry like fruit.  We have two different varieties now, but our first was self-fertile for many years.  I think they are very cold hardy (check the catalog description first though).  Our children like these very much fresh, and I make some really good sauces and desserts with these.

Here's what we grow though:

Blueberries (lots!)
Figs
Apples
Pears
Goumi
Nanking Cherry
Grapes
Elderberry
Pecans
Persimmons
Paw Paws
JuJube
Raspberries
Plums
Apricots
And lots of garden vegetables year-round with winter hoop tunnels.

Best wishes and happy holidays to all.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

p.s. Just to be clear, Nanking Cherries (a bush cherry) do VERY WELL here, it's just the standard tree varieties we have had trouble growing.

I'm in zone 5b. 

In containers:
2 Figs *
1 Pomegranate, Eversweet *
Strawberries ^
Sweet potatoes
Banana, Dwarf Novak **
* overwintering in the garage
** overwintering in the basement
^ overwintering in the garage to protect the containers

In the ground:
Tomatoes, Jetstar, Sungold, etc.
Pimento peppers
1 Jonathan apple, semi dwarf
Black raspberries, Jewel, John Robertson & Mac black, etc.
4 Blackberries, Triple Crown & Black Satin
3 Blueberries, Chippawe & Bluegold
1 Grape, seedless Concord for pies!

On order 2 dwarf apricot trees, one for me and one for the neighbor for cross polination. What a neighbor!!

Everything with stars are not zoned for my area but still I'm trying to grow it anyway.

Jon sent me a banana tree this past Summer.
I have a Santa Rosa plum, nothing yet.
Two Jujubes
Have grown a coconut palm once and a pineapple
Took down the grapes and planted kiwi instead.
Some citrus trees in pots

Then there's my dads veggi garden.

Hi Nhardy,
Can you tell me how the pommegranate does for you?
Has it overwintered successfully? fruiting yet?
just wondering because it is one plant I have been thinking of trying.

Grant
Z5b

I'm nowhere near zone 7, but here in zone 9 here is my list,
Fig
Loquats
Mulberries
Muscadines
Grapes
Pomegranate
Satsumas
Blackberries

but the thing that has grown the best for me is FRIENDSHIP.

"gene"

John,

My in-laws (aunt) in PA have several goumi trees.  The berries are smaller than a nanking!  Do they have varieties that have larger berries?!

I've already lots three Montmonrency cherries, all from Johnson's in Ellijay, where my plums and Stella came from.  When the first two bareroot Montmorencies went south, I figured it was just me (yet my AU Rosa plums, planted at same time, are over 12' tall now).  So, I bought a 7gal potted Montmorency, picked it up in person so they wouldn't need to ship and it keeled over also.  That was about the time I decided that damned Montmorency cherries weren't for me.  As much as I want pie cherries, screw it ....

The Stella is 1st year whip, and didn't do a whole lot this year.  It is all budded out and looks like it could grow a good 5-6 feet in 2011.  Based on others growing them around Atlanta I've talked to, I'm not expecting fruit till 2012, assuming the world doesn't melt down or something.  ;)

The Nanking cherries are hit or miss.  I trim my trees back to about 18" tall after fruit drops.  In the 2nd year one tree put a respectable little load, the other had 3 berries which the birds quickly ate.  3rd year, I could have filled a 5gal bucket with all the fruit.  This year (4th year) they I got about a handful, even though they managed to flower really, really well (beautiful to look at), and I went out of my way to mingle branches between the two trees to spread pollen.

I'm constantly trying to grow different things, and I always get rid of things that either need spraying or additional care. So far I got rid of the Apple tree that I had grafted 8 different varieties on it. As well as my multi grafted plums. Several potted fruit trees had to go to make room for other stuff.
Here's my current collection of fruit.

1. Jujubes 15 varieties
2. Persimmon 12 varieties
3. Pawpaw 5+ varieties
4. Che
5. Quince
6. Mulberries 5 varieties
7. Pomegranates 5 + varieties
8. Figs 250 varieties
9. Peaches
10. Apricots 3 varieties
11. Asian pears 4 varieties
12. pears 4 varieties
13. Grapes 3 varieties
14. Raspberries
15. black raspberries
16. Black berries 4 varieties
17. Gooseberries 3 vareities
18. Bananas 2 varieties
19. Guavas 3 varieties
20. strawberry guavas
21. lemon strawberry guavas
22. Pineapple guava
23. oranges
24. mandarine
25. persian lime
26. pineapple
27. Hardy kiwi
28. wineberry
29. Atemoya
30. June plum
31. Mango
32. Avocado
33. Pitanga
34. Goji berry

Good thread...

Avocado and mango should not grow here in Tallahassee (too cold) but I am testing the theory with excessive cold protection and TLC. We harvested our first two pineapples (after 15 months) this summer.

In Ground
Florida Avocado :: Y1 pot. Y2 ground (2010). 1st frost killed top. 8'
Blueberry :: Premier, Tifblue, O'Neal, Climax, Brightwell, Bluegem, Star
Figs :: Hardy Chicago, Stallion, Kilmartin Unknown
Kent Mango :: Y1 pot. Y2 ground (2010). 1st frost damaged leaves. Covered
Red Lady Papaya :: Y1 pot. Y2 ground (2010). Cold killed leaves. 6'6"
Hale-Haven Peach :: 2011 final spring before compost bin
Methley Plum :: 2011 final spring before compost bin
Wonderful Pomegranate

In Pots
Florida Avocado
Blackberry
Blueberry :: Premier, Tifblue, Powderblue, Brightwell, Winsor
Figs
Mango :: Kent, Keitt, and Valencia
Meyer Lemon
Naranjilla
Pineapple
Strawberry :: Camarosa, Sweet Charlie, Pineapple Crush Alpine, White Soul Alpine, Yellow Wonder Alpine

JD

Figs
Fuyu Persimmon
Saskatoon
Asian Pears
Plums
Blue Berries
Raspberries
Red Currant
Grapes

Took out all apples, peaches, hachiya persimmon, some pears and hazelnut to make room for fig trees. We always have more than enough fruits to share with friends except for figs as over 90% are grown in pots. This year the in ground figs especially from Desert King & Osborne Prolific have been bountiful.

Just as I suspected. We're not just fig nuts we're fruit nuts! Guess I better get more specific about what I'm growing:

1)  Mullberry: 1 unk var that volunteered in my yard.
2)  Thornless Blackberry: Arapaho, Triple Crown, & 1 unk.
3)  Thorny Blackberry: Kiowa
4)  PawPaw: 1 seedling + many wild ones down on the creek.
5)  Pomegrantes: 2 unk var
6)  Goji Berry: Several seedlings
7)  Apples
8)  Grapes
9)  Sugar Apple (Annona) 1 sm. seedling
10) Elderberries: Johns & Wildwood Cellars Hybrid
11) "Wild" Black Currants: Sevearl rooted cuttings
12) Ginseng: wildcrafted in KY, grown in pots
13) Peaches
14) Pineapple: Attempting to grow from tops.
15) 50+ small fig trees and continuing to grow in varieties.

Many things on my wish list that I look forward to trying.

Bass, is Pitanga the same thing as Suriname Cherries? I used to find loads of suriname cherry growing in FL -  both red & black fruited varieties. I would stand by a bush and eat them until I had my fill :-) . Many people don't care for the flavor but I really like them - especially the black ones.   

Bill, Yes Pitanga is the same as Suriname cherries. Jon is the expert on them, hence Pitanga Diego. 

Much of my planting are young and not producing yet, and hoping I can still list some of these things after this winter.

Hi Jason.  I several different varieties of cherry trees and had no luck with any of them.  They didn't produce but a few and died in a few years.

I keep our Nankings trimmed to 5-6 feet and they produce pretty well most every year.  I do have a larger variety Goumi, but I will have to check the tag to tell you the variety (sorry), but I will check and get back to you.

Great thread Saxonfig.  And yes you are right.  Probably nearly all of us a Garden nuts, not just fig nuts, but I do like figs pretty well I must admit.

Also, we grow mushrooms.

i have been looking into a nearby foraging class for mushrooms to go hunt them out, but i've been thinking about in-home growing.  i've also been thinking about ramping up my ramps production along with some gourmet mushrooms to sell to local restaurants.  maybe i could make a business out of it?  that could be pretty damn cool.

John, I was confusing Goumi with Autumn Olive!  Autumn Olive is fairly similar to Serviceberry (aka "sugarplum"), only a different color.  I have some photos of the fruit, but a quick trip to Google Images search will provide pictures. 

Hi Jason.  We tried Autumn Olive but didn't like it, and a Forestry neighbor also said it was an invasive species, so we took it out.

The Goumis have done very well though.  I have two varieties.  The first I just can't remember the variety and I don't have any records unfortunately, but the second is definately a Red Gem

http://www.onegreenworld.com/index.php?cPath=1_28

I like the Red Gem but the kids like the other one.  The Red Gem is larger, and to me better flavored but both are good.

We get our mushroom plugs from Fungi Perfecti

http://www.fungi.com (I think)

Growing in a stump is really easy.

Hope you are well my friend, and happy holidays.

John

Grant, We just got the pomegranate in the spring. It was 9 in. tall from Durio. It was 37 in. tall when I put it in the garage last month. So no flowers or fruit this year. I picked Eversweet because I read it takes 5 month to fruit mature after it flowers on new wood. I really wanted the dwarf parfianka for it's size and taste. But I read it takes 6 to 7 months for the fruit mature. I'll have to prune the Eversweet, but that should be no big problem to keep it dwarf in size.  I wish I was a little further south to be able to plant in the ground a cold hardy variety. Bass has posted pictures of his havested fruit from his cold hardy varieties.  I saw an episode of Gardening by the Yard on pomegranates & thought it would be fun to try to grow if I could overwinter it.

I thought about trying to grow an avocado, papaya or an olive tree. But had second thoughts on how big they get. I tried to grow a lemon & an orange, but no luck overwintering them in the house. I'm trying to overwintering a gardenia in the basement underlights. So far so good.

Bass; Thanks for the clarification on the syn of Pitanga. I'm assuming you grow yours in your HH. Do they fruit pretty well for you in the green house?

I also see from your list above that you grow quite a few other tropical/sub-tropical fruits. Would you mind telling us a little more about how well some of those do for you? Such as the Annona, Mango, Guavas, etc. 

I'm kinda curious about the tropicals since I plan to build a greenhouse of my own (hopefully by the end of next summer). I definately want to try some Annona varieties. In FL I grew a sugar apple from seed and really liked it. And if I can get a Mango tree to fruit in a GH I am on it! What variety is your Mango Bass?

I had two mango cultivars & two mature seedling trees in my yard in FL. One of the cultivars was Kent but I never did figure out the variety of the other one but it was just too good to not be a cultivar. I always wanted to grow some outstanding varieties such as Mallucca & Nam Doc Mai. I sampled those 2 & they were great! Both were completly fiberless if I recall correctly.

Hey Jon. Which varieties of Pitanga would you reccommend for greenhouse culture?