Here are a couple that I would do business with:
http://edibleforestnursery.com/index.htm
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/trees.htm
http://www.sln.potsdam.ny.us/
http://www.cumminsnursery.com/default.htm

Thanks for the links, Wisjim...I've already ordered mine...due to arrive this spring, so I'm sure I'll be full of questions...Now I have some sights that can answer them!

Perhaps this is too obvious, but ask everybody in your area what trouble they have had when planting fruit trees. I am thinking of dangers like hungry rabbits and deer, drought, freezing weather, caterpillars etc, so you can prevent damage beforehand.

nocar

I worry most about late spring freezes. Its seems the past few years (last year) that it'll get really warm early (like early April--stay warm) and then we'll get another cold blast. Any thing that opens early around here is probably going to pay for it later....

Last April...
High was 82F for the month, the low was 29F...it was BEAUTIFUL month!

Last May
High was 81F for the month, the low was 27F 2 nights in a row...

These stats will be very close to what i'll see in my new place, vs my old place that sat in a VERY cold pocket (I had night time lows of 10F+ less then @ the reporting station 6miles away)

WisJim

Thanks for the tree links! Trying to search the internet sometimes is like looking for a tree in a forest! Another valuable proof of the powerful potential of the collective intellect and knowledge!

I've had young apple tree branches munched off by deer. I've had a couple of little trees killed by rabbits. One of my pear trees was killed by a goat that got loose.

I surround my young fruit trees with circular, five-foot-high cages of welded wire secured to the ground with metal stakes that I make out of insulation hangers. This approach has proven effective in warding off deer, of which we have many. The deer don't attempt to jump over the walls of the cage because the diameter of the enclosure is too small. After a couple of years the trees are large enough to cope with the deer, and the cages can be removed. It's a bit awkward, but it beats sheared-off branches.

The West Virginia wildlife quickly taught me my lesson about the importance of protecting young trees. All my fruit and nut trees are now enclosed in wire cages, with skirt down to the ground to ward off rabbits, and high enough so that the deer can't munch at the height their mouths usually reach.

Thanks for the tips about protecting your small trees....could anyone post a pic of your protected trees...we have a bunch of deer here and the trees are due in the mail in March, and I'd like to have whatever I would need on hand, and have an idea of what it should look like. Thanks!

I don't have a pic on hand, mommy, but the concept is straightforward. Go to your local farm-supply store and buy a roll of five-foot-tall welded wire (it ain't cheap---the smaller, less expensive gauge will do). Cut the wire into lengths that will accommodate your growing fruit trees---I usually use 10-foot sections. Roll the section into an "O" and secure it in that shape by cutting and bending a few pieces of wire at one edge of the section and wrapping it around wire at the other edge (you'll figure this out easily enough). Alternatively, use separate pieces of wire as fasteners. Just a few such connections will keep the thing in shape while being easily "untieable" to allow egress and ingress into your little structure when necessary. Put the thing over and around your planted tree and secure it to ground in three places (none near the "door") with U-shaped metal or plastic stakes (I make mine out of insulation hangers). Check these stakes periodically through the year to make sure they don't work loose or end up in your lawnmower's blade. As the tree grows, you will probably have to make various adjustments in the protective structure, including expanding it by adding another section of wire. Note that this will protect your tree against deer and other large animals but not gnawing mice. Best protection against mice is not to use too much mulch and to keep the area around your tree mowed (I don't recommend those plastic trunk guards because bugs can hide under them). Occasionally you will have to remove the wire cage to mow where the grass grows up beside the wire. It's some work but it will keep the deer out, and after a couple of years you can remove the cages for good. Good luck with your trees and keep us posted on their progress!

PS: Be sure to wear good eye protection whenever working with wire like this. NO EXCEPTIONS. The cut edges can snap around unexpectedly and scratch your face and eyes.

I've had deer and the neighbor's cattle actually tear limbs from a 10 year old 25 foot tall Gala apple tree, to the extent that the tree died.
But that seemed to be an unusual situation--I suspect the apples and the tree may have been tastier than other varieties.

I usually put some 4 foot wide chicken wire around newly planted trees for the first year or so. One lightweight steel fencepost is usually enough to support the fence, and 4 feet tall is enough for a year or so, and seems to discourage most deer. I have more trouble with rabbits, voles, and mice, so I also wrap aluminum window screen scraps around the lower 12 to 24 inches of the trunk.

I haven't had any trouble with small animals likes voles, Jim. I don't know why I've been lucky that way, except maybe because I keep the areas around the trees well clipped.

Thanks, Heinekin for the info...more to this farmer life than meets the eye!

Thanks to all for the posts. I learned alot while reading the thread.

I've decided to try to start some peach saplings from cuttings. I know this is the time of year to do it. The mother tree has unopened buds.

I've seen reference to "rootone" elsewhere on the web. I found something similar called "root start" at Home Depot. I noticed that the active ingredient is butyric acid and then saw on Wikkipedia that that's the acid that gives parmesan cheese and rancid butter it's odor.

I don't think I've got rancid butter in the fridge, but I do have parmesan. Anybody have any opinions, or other advice?

I love preparing for peak oil! Heehee... My (newly panicky) hubby gave me a $100 budget for veggie seeds, a $250 budget for fruit trees, and he also made me buy the $200 pressure canner I've been wanting for years! Wheeee!

Here's the trees I bought and just put in:
Almond, 'All-in-One'
Apple, 'Empire' and 'York'
Apricot, 'Canadian White Blenheim'
Cherry 4-in-one, 'Ranier', 'Bing', 'Lapins', 'Van'
Peach, 'Snow Beauty'
Pear 4-in-one, 'Comice', 'Anjou', 'Bartlet', 'Bosc'
Pluot 'Flavor Queen'
Walnut 'Franquette'

Also got:
Grape, 'Flame Seedless', 'Thompson Seedless' 'Autumn Royal'
Thornless Boysenberry
Raspberry 'Cumberland Black Cap'

Already have:
Grape, 'Concord'
Peach 'Early Elberta'
Pomegranate 'Wonderful'
Black mission fig
Wild blackberries
Strawberry 'Sequoia' which I can NOT get rid of!

I got all the trees and berries at my local nursery (independantly owned!!) as bare root and they all look fantastic. All 4 to 6 feet tall, most well-branched with a good shape, well labeled (most are Dave Wilson Nursery), nice roots, and have a 90-day guarantee to grow. I planted the cherry near the house on purpose so I could see it bloom. ))))

Now we gotta make the cold frame so I can start my cold-season veggies. At some point we hope to build a greenhouse (we've been saving up old sliding glass door panels) and maybe have some dwarf citrus and aloe plants in there. And year-round tomatoes! We're in Sunset zone 7, I think USDA zone 8 or 9? It's impossible to tell on their map, we're in the mountains of California just west of Yosemite, 3200 elevation.

Another project is to get a woodburning cookstove. Yeay peak oil! LOL