Apple Trees and the bees

[spud]

I was asked by some Traders early this spring to give them updates on my apple orchard. I planted a few hundred more trees this spring and they seem to be growing good. One hundred of those trees are RED ROME and they seem to be growing the best. There was about 40 of them that had one or two apples but I picked them off just to let the tree grow. We screened all the trunks with 26 inch screen just to protect them from voles during the winter months. The deer are staying away because we spray all the trees with deer repellent. A couple of black bears have picked a few but no big deal. The only bad thing is about three weeks ago we have a massive hail storm and it knocked about 80% of my apples off the trees. The other 20% are all marked up and some are rotting. All my tree are fine so thats all that matters to me. By losing most of the apples now the growth of the tree might increase for the rest of the summer. My trees are from 1-5 years old and they tend to grow about two inches bigger (caliper) each year. I only lost about 100 bushels so thats not bad. I plan to plant 250 more trees next spring and then be done. This is just a hobby but I do hope to start selling apples next season. I should have about 250 bushels by next season. I have 13 different verities of trees. My cherry trees did very well this season and I made cherry jam. The Pear trees should start fruiting next year along with the Plum trees. I am planning on downsizing my maple operation in the next 4 years due to low back issues. When I jumped up to 9000+ taps it kinda took the fun out of sugaring a bit. It started to become more like work. The two older kids have no interest in sugaring and are leaving to college next week. I'm not sure if any of the other five kids will want to sugar. If they do then I get 65%. :lol:

Spud

[mudr]

Awesome. I put a bunch of trees in the ground this spring. Smaller, like oversized seedlings/small saplings, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 diameter. What kind of screen did you use for the voles, I may want to do that with mine before winter.

[spud]

Awesome. I put a bunch of trees in the ground this spring. Smaller, like oversized seedlings/small saplings, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 diameter. What kind of screen did you use for the voles, I may want to do that with mine before winter.

The screen I use comes in 100 foot rolls. It is aluminum screen and I buy it through a local guy in Franklin Vermont. You can order the same stuff through your local hardware store I am sure. I pay $53.00 per roll.

Spud

[3GoatHill]

What do you use for deer repellent?

[spud]

What do you use for deer repellent?

I use Plantskydd on all my fruit trees. It is organic and it works great. You can spray the trees in the Fall when the leaves are gone and it will last all winter. In the summer I spray once every 4-6 weeks because the new growth on the branches can be 6-10 inches in that amount of time. The deer will eat the new growth and leave the rest of the tree alone. I have deer in my orchard every night and the trees are just fine. Plantskydd.com

Spud

[3GoatHill]

Thanks! Sounds a little more effective than my old .35 Remington