I have an area that is shaded with the neighbors trees until about 2.30. Then it gets the sun until it sets. What can I plant there? I am open to pretty much any fruit tree. I was thinking if nothing would work, maybe crabapples? Crabapples seem to be one of the hardiest of fruit trees., but I don't know about the sun they need?

I googled crabapple trees need about 8-12 hours of full sun to really be productive.

I think serviceberries don't need as much light. Look them up. Also, nankin cherries.

I am brain blurbing....so you will have to google them both and see what you find.

I know that salmon berries grow in the woods....where they grow where you live? Of course that is a bush...(like the nankin cherries). Both are pretty big bushes though, about 6 foot tall or so.

I love the salmon berries by the way...very tasty, like a mild raspberry.

Paw paw might be worth searching its light requirements.

Serviceberry in the west is probably called Juneberry in the east. Euell Gibbons once said that this genus has some potential for domestication, because there is a lot of variation in fruit quality.

I believe blueberries and hazelnuts are somewhat shade tolerant. Both are also shallow-rooted and wouldn't have as much competition as a tree from the roots of the neighbor's trees. (tree roots can extend 50% farther than the height of a tree--a 50' tree can have roots that spread 75'.)

quote:

Originally posted by CountryKitty:
I believe blueberries and hazelnuts are somewhat shade tolerant. Both are also shallow-rooted and wouldn't have as much competition as a tree from the roots of the neighbor's trees. (tree roots can extend 50% farther than the height of a tree--a 50' tree can have roots that spread 75'.)

WOW...I'm in trouble. Her trees are 80 feet tall! I'd better use some good fertilizer.

quote:

Originally posted by CountryKitty:
I believe blueberries and hazelnuts are somewhat shade tolerant. Both are also shallow-rooted and wouldn't have as much competition as a tree from the roots of the neighbor's trees. (tree roots can extend 50% farther than the height of a tree--a 50' tree can have roots that spread 75'.)

I know from experience in Florida that blueberries are not very shade tolerant. They will survive in rather heavy shade but they won’t thrive. I have 3 blueberry bushes in my yard and I put them in the only place I could dig deep enough to plant them since my yard had several 30+ year old pine trees. They were there for about 3-4 years in the shade, but they didn’t grow very well. Then in 2004 I had the trees cut down and my yard is now almost full sun for most of the day. In just a few years the bushes were about double in size and even in a bad drought I get at least 3 quarts of berries from each bush.

quote:

Originally posted by Mt. Shasta Garden:
Serviceberry in the west is probably called Juneberry in the east. Euell Gibbons once said that this genus has some potential for domestication, because there is a lot of variation in fruit quality.

Thanks to all...I am also looking into gooseberries and currants.

Gooseberries and currants will plant themselves in the sun. The only fruit I have seen growing in the shade in the wild are strawberries and rasberries.

I have a plum in shade, it flowers but doesn't fruit, and it grew extroardinarily tall to find some sun. I have one service berry which isn't doing well due to deer, but the wild ones around here grow on rocky slopes, in the sun. Choke cherries will grow naturally in very crowded situations, but again, in the sun.

Perhaps you can build up a raised bed around the trees and put in a strawberry patch. Rasberries are water hogs and don't share well, but those strawberries are very easy keepers.

Maggie

I think you can plant about any fruit tree there. This time of year the sun is high overhead and your trees will get plenty of light. That is as long as they are not directly under the canopy of the neighbors trees.