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Published on 04/24/01

'Exotic, Common Fruits' June 21-23

If you like a little challenge in growing backyard fruits, the "Exotic and Common Fruits for Home and Garden" may be what you're looking for. The unusual program, which includes the Southern Fruit Fellowship annual meeting, will be in Tallahassee, Fla., June 21-23.

The program starts on an informal note June 21 at the Quality Inn at 2020 Apalachee Parkway in Tallahassee. Registration, from 6 to 8 p.m., clears the way for a musical jam session from 8 to 10 p.m.

The Friday morning session will start at 8:30 a.m. with a look at mulberries, cherries and persimmons and at fruit cultivars for south Georgia and north Florida. It will end with a session on mangos and other tropical fruits.

Tour Just Fruits Nursery

At 11:30 a.m., the group will head for Just Fruits Nursery in Crawfordville, Fla. They'll stop for a box lunch along the way.

In Crawfordville, participants will tour feijoa and other plantings at the nursery. The afternoon will end with a visit to Wakulla Spring, one of the world's largest and deepest freshwater springs.

The Saturday morning program will start early with a 6:30 buffet. After-breakfast sessions will look at fruit production in southern China and berry production in Chile. At 9 a.m., the group will tour the Florida A&M Viticulture Center east of Tallahassee.

Tour Attapulgus Peaches, Mayhaws

The afternoon sessions offer a tour of the University of Georgia, U.S. Department of Agriculture and University of Florida Moderate Chilling Peach and Nectarine Breeding Program and the UGA Mayhaw Orchard at Attapulgus, Ga. The program will end at 3 p.m.

The registration fee is only $20. It's free for those who want to attend only the Attapulgus tour. Rooms at the Tallahassee Quality Inn can be reserved for $57 plus tax (call 850-877-4437).

To learn more about the program, contact UGA Extension Service horticulturist Gerard Krewer at (229) 386-3410 (or e-mail gkrewer@uga.edu).

Dan Rahn is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.