I want to plant fruit trees but I have goats

[PendergrassRanch]

Thanks for all the replies!

I'm not just doing fruit trees. We are going to have a mix of different types (no eucalyptus LOL) I just wanted to know what types of fruit would be off limits. I can't grow avocado trees if my life depended on it so no worries about that We will probably doing a hedge type in their direct line of sight and then the fruit and others along the outer edge of that line.

 

[Southern by choice]

Years ago we had a baby orchard. How do I do a big sigh?

We had pears, peaches, 2 apple varieties, nectarine, plum, and cherry. The constant pruning, neem oil, and thinning of fruit was a pain in the ***! We also could not grow them organically in the region we were in. Had extension agents out etc. they just laughed...good luck with no pesticides! The final straw for us was the yellow jackets that would bore into the fruit. The massive fruit piles on the ground became unmanageable. We ended up having THOUSANDS of yellow jackets that bore holes into the ground...we are talking HUNDREDS of these "hidden" nests. If you, a kid, a dog anything stepped on one of these holes..out they swarm and they can sting over and over AND they WILL follow you. We couldn't walk our property anymore, and one of my sons stepped in the wrong place..they swarmed him he ran into the house the YJ followed. They were even up in his clothes stinging everywhere...if you know what I mean. Following weekend..every tree was cut down and pulled out. The cherries always got eaten by the birds. :/

We have a lone pear tree here...same problems! Yellow jackets. The pears are delicious though! I can deal with one!
Maybe a few wouldn't be too bad but they are still hard to manage pests without poisoning your food with pesticides.

Some fruit trees will grow rather qiuckly and provide a little shade but for privacy- nah, not worth it. Privet grows VERY fast and is very hardy...makes for a great "fence". But then that's not shade.

 

[Harbisgirl]

Wow, I did not know that. We have ALOT of jellow jackets in our area. I was concidering planting a few fruit trees but now I think I may have changed my mind. I'm allergic to bees and have a hard enough time trying to evade these miserable, hostile little insects.

 

[pdpo222]

Also when the fruit is rotting on the ground it smells. It's the fermenting that makes the fruit smell. We cut down all our apple trees the first year after we moved in. The smell the yellow jackets, just wasn't worth it. We planted maples. We planted silver maples cause they grow fast. Aspen trees grow fast just don't live real long usually. But the give shade fast but spread so can be a pain too. Silver maples shouldn't be planted near cement cause their roots come up above ground. We have no cement so np and they aren't anywhere near the water pipes or septic tank.

 

[PendergrassRanch]

The fruit trees would be in the far corner of the property as far away from the house but closer to their house. We aren't looking for an impenetrable barrier, just something besides air! There is already a huge oak tree there and the peach tree. They would be between the creek and our fence. The space varies but they wouldn't actually be in the pasture or anywhere near a building where roots can tear it up.

 

[Alice Acres]

We don't have any yellow jacket issues with our fruit trees.

Also, we don't use any pesticides on them. (3 Apple, 2 pear, 2 peach). We have really nice fruit from all of them - got our 1st 6 peaches off one of our little trees this summer. We do keep the fallen fruit picked up. After a big wind (we have lots of wind), we go out and pick up the fallen fruit in 5 gallon pail, and we feed it to our stock in controlled portions. This summer with the drought, the fruit was about the only fresh stuff they got. :/

 

[Southern by choice]

I definitely think fruit tree problems are very regional. I wouldn't think you'd have a problem with the same stuff being in Minnesota.
There really isn't anything like picking fruit right off the tree! MMMM! This area for us is the same as when we were up north, unfortunately. I would love to have fruit trees again!