125: Tom Spellman on Backyard Orchard Culture Pt 2

The resource of Dave Wilson Nursery for the home orchard.


Tom has been involved in the nursery business since 1973. At that time, he was a freshman in high school and rode his skateboard to work. Since then he has worked for several different nurseries including Nogales Nursery where he learned landscape design, installation, irrigation and construction. Armstrong Nurseries where he worked with hybridizers, growers and retail on the weekends. La Verne Nursery which specializes in Avocado, Citrus, Sub-Tropical fruit trees and grafted ornamentals, where he was general manager for 20 years. And currently is the southwestern sales manager for Dave Wilson Nursery.

Dave Wilson Nursery is the largest grower of fruit, nut and shade trees in the USA. They grow 10,500,000 plus trees per year and ships wholesale worldwide. Over the past 20 years Tom has also done television, video, radio, written, conducted workshops and lectured on the concepts of Backyard Orchard Culture and fruit growing in general. Tom’s dedication and passion for quality fruit growing has taken him to dozens of states in the USA as well as several countries around the globe to consult and lecture on fruit trees and fruit growing concepts.

In this Podcast:

Greg and Tom share their passion for fruit trees and talk about some of the resources that home orchard growers have through Dave Wilson Nursery and online. Tom talks about some of the learning experiences he has had over the years and a couple of pet projects at the Nursery including an online video library for backyard growers as well as a small orchard experiment with its real world challenges.  He also explains about hybridization and how that is different from genetic modification.

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Listen in and learn about:

  • More about Dave Wilson Nursery and where they send their trees
  • More about FruitTube and what you can learn from this resource
  • Videos in the online library, from visiting different orchards to cooking with fruit to grafting and beyond
  • What is available for backyard orchard growers from the Dave Wilson website
  • How hybridization works with fruit trees and some examples of successful hybridized varieties
  • How long a hybrid is monitored before being brought to market
  • How he is excited to work with the South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine and what project he is working on there
  • How he is working on re-writing the book on some apple varieties and their chill hours based on research currently in progress
  • His suggestion to podcast listeners on growing varieties that you will use, and growing varieties that are tried an true
  • His 80/20 rule for varieties in a backyard

Go HERE to listen to Tom Spellman on Backyard Orchard Culture Part 1

Books Tom Recommends:

The Home Orchard

Luther Burbank: His Methods and Discoveries and Their Practical Application. Volume I

How to reach Tom:

www.DaveWilson.com – backyard growers section

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