• There aren't many types of fruit trees grown in South Carolina on a mass scale.fruit of christmas tree image by JoLin from Fotolia.com
  
  There aren't many types of fruit trees grown in South Carolina. In fact there are really only two, with a few extras that farmers toy with. For mass production on a large farm level, South Carolina's main fruit trees are the apple and the peach. This does not mean that other fruit trees cannot be grown here, but only that these are the ones that you will typically find for sale, and the ones that are grown for their fruit.
  
  

Apple Trees

• Apple trees are probably one of the most used fruit trees in South Carolina. Oconee and Spartanburg counties are home to two-thirds of the state's apple orchards, while the rest of the counties growing the other third. Grannie Smith apples are the biggest producing variety, however growers have many other types of apple trees as well. The Red Delicious and Yellow Delicious are the second and third largest produced. Apple blossoms are highly susceptible to frost damage and must be kept warm the early spring when blossoms can be damaged by late freezes. Soil in most locations must be adjusted so that the pH level is around 6.5.
  
  

Peach Trees

• Peach trees are the other commonly grown fruit tree. Most are grown in the middle of the state, with the second largest growing area being the mountains, and the least being the coastal area. Peach tree production has fallen greatly since the 1950s, when records started being kept. Some of this is due to diversification to other type of fruit trees, while the rest is due to farms going out of business. Peaches are also threatened by deep freezes that can damage the peaches themselves as well as the blooms. Growers set up fans to keep air moving so frost cannot settle. The soil for peach trees needs to be slightly acidic. In some areas of South Carolina the acid content needs to be increased to grow healthy peach trees.
  
  

Nectarines and Other Trees

• Nectarines, pears and plum trees are also grown in South Carolina, but not in mass numbers. The most grown of the three is nectarines with more than 30,000 trees in the state. Most of the nectarines are located in the upper half of the state. Nectarines are citrus fruit that fall prey to the same issues as other citrus fruit. Frost is not kind to the blossoms and insects sometimes attack the sweet fruit.