Mississippi Fruit Trees for Sale

Mississippi Fruit Trees For Sale

Want to know all about growing fruit trees in Mississippi? There are different things to consider for growing and choosing from the right Mississippi fruit trees for sale, such as the

Climate
Soil type
Precipitation
Growing zones
How to choose the best suited fruit trees for Mississippi

Mississippi Overview

Filled with indescribable rivers, canyons, and woods, Mississippi is predominantly the ancestral home of the Biloxi Chickasaw, Choctaw, Houma, Natchez, Ofo, Quapaw, and Tunica tribes. These native tribes have vast knowledge on how to take care of the land in ways that cultivate biodiversity, protect trees from diseases, and don’t harm nature. After white settlers colonized the region, Mississippi entered the Union as a slave state in 1817. It gets its name from the French “Messipi” – the French rendering of the native American Anishinaabe (Ojibwe or Algonquin) name for the river, “Misi-ziibi,” meaning “Great River”. Due to the introduction of many different fruit varieties, Mississippi now has many orchards growing apples, peaches, and many other fruit trees. We have listed some of our best Mississippi fruit trees for sale below.

Magnolia Mississippi State tree — The Magnolia tree, Mississippi’s state tree

Climate

The climate has a huge influence on fruit trees, just as trees have a large impact on the climate. For example, many fruit trees require a certain number of days of cold temperature in order to bear fruit in the spring (chill hours).

Mississippi has a humid subtropical climate, characterized by hot and humid summers, and cold to mild winters.
The average high during the summer ranges from the 80s-90s.
While during the winter, the temperature stay around the 50s.

Soil Type

Most fruit trees need mineral-rich, well-drained, and loamy soil.

Although Mississippi has many different types of soil, the state soil is the Natchez soil. This soil is not only fertile, used especially for woodlands and pastures, but also covers around 170,000 acres of fertile land.
If you would like to know the soil in your county, check these USDA soil surveys.

If you would like to see what soil type you have in your backyard, you can do a simple squeeze test.

When you do the squeeze test, you will know that you have loamy soil if after squeezing a handful of moist soil, the soil holds its shape but crumbles after lightly poking.
If you want to also check for Ph, drainage, worms you can try these DIY easy tests.

Precipitation

Most established fruit trees will need about an inch or so of rainfall every 7-10 days in order to grow and be healthy. Annually this would mean a minimum from 36 – 52 inches of rain. Periods of drought can harm the tree while long periods of rain can cause diseases such as scab and canker for apple trees.

Mississippi gets on average around 54 inches of rain annually.
However, the southeast gets more rain (61 inches) than the northwest (50 inches).
Additionally while snowfall is rare, it can happen during the winter months.

Mississippi Growing Zones for Fruit Trees

Growing zones help growers know which trees will thrive in their region. For example, certain peach trees with 5-8 growing zones, shouldn’t be planted in a 3b zone because the low temperatures will harm the tree.

Mississippi has growing zones ranging from 7b to 9a.
In summary, temperatures get cooler the further north one gets.

The map below shows the growing zones of the different regions in the state, with some regions reaching 5°F and others reaching 25°F. You can find the zone for your zip code here.

Mississippi Growing Planting Zones USDA — USDA Map of Mississippi Growing/Planting Zones

Best Mississippi Fruit Trees For Sale

There are many trees that will grow well in Mississippi. In fact throughout the regions, there are already many apple, peach, plum and various other fruit orchards. In order to pick the right trees for your specific location and needs, you should therefore also consider the following characteristics for each tree. You can read more about these considerations here.

Pollination
Rootstock
Chill hours
Disease resistance

For growing apples and peaches, be sure to choose the trees with the right chill hours since Mississippi doesn’t experience very many cold winter days.
Since sweet cherries bloom early and can be damaged by a late frost, we recommend growing tart cherry varieties.
Additionally, Japanese plums grow better in the south than European plums.
Since European pears need more winter cold, they are best grown in the north. However, Asian pears can be grown well in both northern and central parts of the state.

Some of our recommended trees to grow in Mississippi include