Growing apple trees, grafting scions

[barnbc76]

As I have taken up making maple syrup as a hobby, I also have grown equally interested in growing apple trees as well. I have noticed many on this message board list apple orchard as an interest of their's. I have a small number of rootstocks I would like to graft onto, and was wondering if anyone here would be interested in exchanging or selling apple scions. I only have one apple tree of a known variety (McIntosh) and another unknown but very good eating apple.

I am a part of a Facebook group called the apple scion exchange group but I have been on this message board longer and was curious to see if others here had an interest too.

[buckeye gold]

I worked for a large nursery in the 70s and ran a grafting crew. I literally have been involved in tens of thousands of grafts. We never bought scion wood, ever. We made deals with orchards to pick up their pruning s in exchange for some started trees. This is pruning season, I bet if you visited an orchard and explained you were only a hobby guy that they would let you pick up some prunings and you would have your scion wood. Heck offer them some Maple syrup in trade. You'd have to sort through it but there is always a fair amount of new growth within the pruned off wood. Have you tried bud grafting on peaches yet? I hope you got good strong root stock, commercially as a lot of the stuff floating around may not be as strong and disease resistant. You can grow some by seed if your just playing around though, including crab apple stock.

[barnbc76]

Thanks for the suggestion, I will use it, but the local nurserys only have a couple of trees I'm interested in. I would like to find some older varieties and some English varieties as well. I have to be careful as really I would probably take anything I don't already have but I can only fence off so many of them at a time from the deer. I don't have any peaches as I am not certain they would really do well in our climate. But I do plan on planting a couple of pear tree eventually. I look forward to grafting for the first real time this year (I tried last year but the scion wood was not totally dormant when I cut it so it didn't work. Any tips or suggestions you have? My root stocks are transplanted shoots from a McIntosh tree, not sure what it is it a very large tree so maybe a seedling rootstock. I hope to have maybe 20-40 trees in my orchard.

[themoonlighttapper]

Awesome idea! We bought 15 varieties of apples on sale last spring and planted them, hope to be able to use future prunings to start to try some grafting of my own. I have no experience with grafting, probably another year or two away. Seems like such an intimidating topic, one of those where the ability to learn at the elbow of an experienced grafter/grower would be so helpful.

[barnbc76]

I agree, at first I thought it seemed crazy to try grafting then I started watching some YouTube videos by a guy named Stephen Hayes and I thought I have to try this. I don't know anyone who could show me personally but his videos (of which he has so many ) are very simple and he does a good job explaining things. He has an apple orchard in England.

[bigschuss]

AI have no experience with grafting, probably another year or two away. Seems like such an intimidating topic, one of those where the ability to learn at the elbow of an experienced grafter/grower would be so helpful.

Not at all. It's actually fairly rudimentary. Rootstock, scion wood, a knife, and some grafting tape and you're grafting. Watch a Youtuve video or two. I do some grafting as a hobby to propagate apples for deer hunting. I like to find Wolf River scion wood as it seems even during a bad apple year, Wolf Rivers always have apples.

[spud]

Grafting is something that I have interest in and hopes to do some this spring. I have about 25 wild apple trees in the front of my house. I hope to graft some of my apple varieties from my orchard onto them just for fun. Im not even sure if that can be done. I have watched countless videos of grafting on You Tube and Steven Hayes does make it look real easy. I will have 600 apple trees in my orchard this coming summer. I plan to start pruning in early march after all tapping is done and I'm waiting for sap to run. If anyone is interested in having some of my pruning they are more then welcome to it. Here is a list of what I have.

Mac's, Frost Bite, Honey Crisp, Liberty, Snow Sweet, Freedom, Northern Spy, Fortune, Zestar, Cortland,Red Rome, Ultra Gold and Snappy Mac. All these trees are on B-118 Root Stock and are growing extremely well. I also have several Pear trees, Cherry Trees, Plum and Apricot. I am no expert at fruit tree growing but My trees are growing great and I only lost one tree in five years. It's great to see so many Traders interested in this. Thank you Maple Trader for allow one thread on this off season topic.

Spud

[buckeye gold]

barnbc76, the key thing is if those suckers/shoots came from below the graft on the mcIntosh. If they did your good if they came from above I would not use them. Basically if they grew out of the ground they are whatever that root stock was.

[barnbc76]

Bigschuss, I have read about wolf river, it would be a good addition to an apple orchard, and I too hope my orchard will benefit my deer hunting as well as the fresh fruit and pies etc. Spudd, thats a nice size orchard. I would be interested in a couple of those varieties. I also have a mutsu (Crispin) tree but I planted that last spring so I don't think I will get more than 1 or 2 scions off it. Buckeye Ithe rootstocks came from the roots of the tree, I would guess it is a semi dwarf as the tree I took it from has a trunk of about 16" in diameter so it is very mature and it's height/spread was only about 15'. Of course it is located in a poor spot and the other McIntosh next to it in a much better spot has a 22" diamiter trunk and a 20+ height/spead and I am not certain that the graft was not burried thus the McIntosh rootstock taken over.

[themoonlighttapper]

That sounds like quite an orchard! I planted several of those varieties last year, several others are on my wish list. I can only dream about having an orchard that size, but hopefully one day...

This may be an ignorant question, but.. how do you go about maintaining a supply of rootstock for new grafts? Certainly you wouldn't have to purchase new rootstock all the time, or would you?

[buckeye gold]

The only way to be sure of your root stock is to buy it or at least get it from a tree your sure of what it started as. It been so long ago that I lost track of what the popular rootstocks are now. I done this in the 70s and left the nursery field for 30+ years then went back to it after I retired about 5 years ago as a retail associate, so I'm out of the loop now.

[johnpma]

Does anyone know of some good books on the topic of growing apple trees?

We put in a "wildlife package" this past spring. It was a dozen or so trees (Liberty, Gold Rush, and Honey Crisp) We though it would be easy HA! I think every deer in a 5 mile radius found the trees and cleaned off all the buds :( So I fabricated some cages from concrete mesh and encapsulated the trees to protect them from the deer. About August I see the leaves on the saplings turning brownish red color. BLIGHT!! Ugh!!! Much easier planting Zucchini :)

[bigschuss]

Does anyone know of some good books on the topic of growing apple trees?

We put in a "wildlife package" this past spring. It was a dozen or so trees (Liberty, Gold Rush, and Honey Crisp) We though it would be easy HA! I think every deer in a 5 mile radius found the trees and cleaned off all the buds :( So I fabricated some cages from concrete mesh and encapsulated the trees to protect them from the deer. About August I see the leaves on the saplings turning brownish red color. BLIGHT!! Ugh!!! Much easier planting Zucchini :)

Yup..then there's apple borer and/or crown rot which you are almost certain to get if you're not careful and diligent with spraying routines. If you do manage to get trees to grow and be healthy and mature and productive, you'll then have black bears to worry about. I have been planting, grafting, caging, pruning, protecting apples on my land for about 15 years now. It's a TON of work and I think to do it with any success involves chemicals and pesticides that I am not too fond of. For my purposes as a means to attract deer...apples are just way too much effort and expensive.

[spud]

Buying Root Stock is the best way to go according to the books i have read. Root stock does not cost a bunch but about $1.50-2.00 each for 100. One of my favorite books on apple tree growing is ( The Apple Grower ) by Michael Phillips who happens to live in NH. The Brown/Red leaves that were mentioned might not be a problem if those leave were on Honey Crisp trees. Honey Crisp leaves for the first 5 years with change colors very early and show all sorts of signs of poor health. This is very common and they will change this habit in time. I have seen this on my Honey Crisp trees but my 5 year old trees do not do this anymore. I had 3 year old Honey Crisp trees that browned early this last summer. Your situation could be different and maybe there is something wrong and the trees need to be sprayed more. I spray all my trees every 10 days in the summer. It does not cost a lot of money to do this but the cost will increase as the trees grow bigger. There are many very successful organic apple grower out there but I have no interest in that. The author of the book i mentioned is all organic and I guess he does great. I am trying to get as many blemish free apples as I can and i have been told spraying every 10 days will give you the best chance. Deer can be a very big problem in a apple orchard. I have tried several sprays and nothing seemed to work very well until I was introduced to a deer repellent called Plantskydd. NO deer will touch your trees if you spray it with this product. I have 8 deer in my orchard everyday for the last month and there is no tree damage at all. They bed down in my orchard but will not touch the trees. They will give the trees a sniff and then move on to the next. They are waiting for the spray to wear off ( Three Months in winter )or for me to forget to spray on time. In the summer I spray every three months but each month I will spray just the new growth because the deer will come nibble on that if I don't. In Early April I spray all the trees again because the deer love the swollen buds. I spend about $200 per year on deer repellent and about $300 on Chemicals/Pesticides. One other variety i have that i forgot to mention in Wine Crisp. Out of all my varieties my favorites are Honey Crisp, Snow Sweet and Freedom. These three apples taste great.

Spud

[johnpma]

WOW Spud great info! Thank you very much!! What pesticides do you use? I have hung Irish spring soap to keep deer away but they even get use to that. This year we are adding Christmas trees too so this is going to get really interesting :)

[spud]

WOW Spud great info! Thank you very much!! What pesticides do you use? I have hung Irish spring soap to keep deer away but they even get use to that. This year we are adding Christmas trees too so this is going to get really interesting :)

The three main chemicals i use on my trees are Imidan-(Insecticide) Captan-(Fungicide) and Carbaryl used for fruit thinning and the control of Japanese beetles.

Spud

[barnbc76]

Johnpma, i have heard the first year for apple trees can be difficult until they develop better roots, perhaps next year it will be better.

What fertilizer if any should you use on rootsocks, some of mine did not really grow at all like 6" (that was do to a poor root sytem when I uprooted and transplanted them)

[spud]

The fertilizer I use for my apple trees is 10-10-10

Spud

[johnpma]

Johnpma, i have heard the first year for apple trees can be difficult until they develop better roots, perhaps next year it will be better.

What fertilizer if any should you use on rootsocks, some of mine did not really grow at all like 6" (that was do to a poor root sytem when I uprooted and transplanted them) When I spoke to the nursery where I purchased the small saplings they told me no fertilizer in year one.....not sure why. I'll be out back tomorrow and plan on taking a closer look at what they look like.

[spud]

If your looking for good root development then use Gypsum on your apple trees. I fertilize my 1 year old trees with 10-10-10 and they double in size every year. I measure my calipers every year just above the screen ( 26 inches ). My trees grow 2 inches every year. The books say to stop fertilizing in early July but I continue until September 1st in most cases. If your getting more then 16 inches of new growth on your branches then stop fertilizing for the rest of the year.

Spud

[mudr]

FYI guys, I'm loving this thread. Keep it coming. I only have a small orchard, but would love to start grafting and expanding some day. I "jokingly" tell my wife I will retire at 40 and go back to farming for my retirement job, living off of maple, honey, and apple income.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[johnpma]

Went out today to hang tubing Took a close look at my trees they have buds but the deer are biting off the tops of the trees I will try some fertilizer as we move towards the spring thaw

[barnbc76]

Mudr you can start grafting this year, watch YouTube videos by Stephen Hayes apple grafting.

[mudr]

Mudr you can start grafting this year, watch YouTube videos by Stephen Hayes apple grafting.
The biggest holdup is trying to find some place to plant it. I've watched a few videos, it seems easy.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[barnbc76]

Question for the pros, what would be the easiest graft for a beginner to try? I tried practicing the saddle graft, not working too well. I always seem to end up with gaps, I think I need a better knife. I tried a utility knife and a small pocket knife both very sharp. The only graft I feel confident with is the cleft graft but that has limited uses.

[spud]

The biggest holdup is trying to find some place to plant it. I've watched a few videos, it seems easy.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

That should not be a holdup at all. Just buy the next lot over and go for it. It only money. Haha

Spud

[bowtie]

Thinking that I am going to start grafting trees myself, I have planted about 125-150 fruit trees,primarily apple, but would like to graft from some trees that I have found that are outstanding producers or hold their fruit longer, for the wildlife. I found a class on Craigslist in ne Ohio that is $70 and you get 2 trees, also there is a nursery near Ithaca that specializes in selling grafting materials, on the website they seemed like they would be very helpful. I am also going to "plant" a few hundred acorns this year in hopes that I can sell some and transplant the rest. Trying to find reasonable priced sugar maples to plant that are decent quality but not having much luck.one other thing when fertilizing make sure you do it with the correct fertilizer and in the proper time, if done wrong it can delay a trees ability to produce fruit, more is generally not better.

[barnbc76]

I was just outside today cutting scions, I have about 15 -6" scions of Mcintosh and 10 of a variety I am still not certain of, it seems to be a heavy cropper, although bienial the apples are small (did not prune or thin) with green, and yellow with pink/red blush when ripe in october they are crisp and very sweet a good eating apple. I have tried to take the apple identy test for it online but I was just going by memory so it gave me a bunch of varieties. Looks like a grimes golden to me, will know better this year as last year there was no apples.

If anyone wants to trade I have these available let me know, now is the time for most areas to collect them in dormancy.There are specific ways to store scions in refridgerator so you would need to read up on that.

[Run Forest Run!]

Great thread. I saw some Golden Hornet crabapples in a local ditch last November and marked the trees with florescent pink survey tape. I am planning to harvest some scions when the time is right. The crabapple jelly and juice that I made from those little beauties was outstanding! My steam juicer was running 24/7 last Fall as most of the crabapple trees around here were loaded!

[barnbc76]

Great thread. I saw some Golden Hornet crabapples in a local ditch last November and marked the trees with florescent pink survey tape. I am planning to harvest some scions when the time is right. The crabapple jelly and juice that I made from those little beauties was outstanding! My steam juicer was running 24/7 last Fall as most of the crabapple trees around here were loaded!

Very cool, are you experienced in grafting? I have some crab apple trees, dont know what kind they are, they have large thorns. I am curious can I graft with them? There was an old crab apple tree cut down that send out new shoots, i have considered using them as rootstocks if they would work but it is annoying with the thorns.

[spud]

If anyone wants to trade I have these available let me know, now is the time for most areas to collect them in dormancy.There are specific ways to store scions in refridgerator so you would need to read up on that.

Should they go in the refrigerator or freezer? I plan to start pruning real soon now that I am done tapping. Thanks

Spud

[barnbc76]

The refridgerator, I have heard it is good to take a damp paper towel put it in a gallon ziplock then set the scions on top of it. Monitor it to make sure the bag has moisture condensation in it over the coming months. Also the scions should not be stored in the fruit drawer because of chemical gases the fruit give off can induce early buding. For the cut ends i dipped them in candle wax so they dont dry out. I rinsed my scions to clean them a little.

The scions are theoretically supposed to be the size of a standard pencil, both in length and thickness, from last years new healthy growth. On the trees i cut mine from i used the "water shoots/suckers" as they grow faster and therefore thicker and you get rid of them anyway.

I would love to have any of these varieties, liberty, freedom, northern spy, red rome, fortune or cortland, I believe the rest are trademarked or copyrighted and therefore you are supposed to send some company $ everytime you try and graft another tree or something. Does Mac's on your list refer to Mcnitosh? If not I would be happy to send you scions of mine and my other tree which I am very certain is a Grimes golden. Can't wait to see my first succesful graft and enjoy the much better taste of an apple fresh off your own tree.

[spud]

Thanks for the great information. I have both standard Mac trees and also Snappy Mac trees that came from Stark Bro's. I can cut scions from the verities you mentioned and send them to you if interested. I will cut them about 8 inches long and about the same size as a pencil. Please PM me with your address. We are getting a big snow storm now so give me a week or so.

Spud

[barnbc76]

Pm sent spud, thanks

[Run Forest Run!]

Very cool, are you experienced in grafting? I have some crab apple trees, dont know what kind they are, they have large thorns. I am curious can I graft with them? There was an old crab apple tree cut down that send out new shoots, i have considered using them as rootstocks if they would work but it is annoying with the thorns.

This will be my first year trying grafting. A friend of mine, who's also into sugaring, is going to show me what to do. He's planning on harvesting some of those Golden Hornet crabapple scions for himself! The tree is an incredible producer.

[barnbc76]

This will be my first year trying grafting. A friend of mine, who's also into sugaring, is going to show me what to do. He's planning on harvesting some of those Golden Hornet crabapple scions for himself! The tree is an incredible producer.
Very cool, I am going to be placing an order for rootstocks this week. Anyone have experience with G935? I have a soil that is pretty wet in the spring (clay) I would prefer a 40-50% dwarf but I might be stuck with mm111 oh well.

[Trapper2]

I just finished cutting scions last week. About 20 per variety, 15 varieties. Its amazing how fast they become viable branches I think I start with smaller scions than most for top grafting. The wood I use is usually 1/2 the thickness of a pencil.. I predominately use cleft grafts instead of rind grafting as my timing isn't so critical then. Never use sucker or water sprout scions and try to get your scions from trees that are less than 10 years old.1571015711

In 4 years with decent parent wood your scions should be pushing wrist thickness. these trees were grafted 4 years ago.

[barnbc76]

Those trees look nice trapper2 are you growing an orchard? I just purchased 25 rootstocks mostly mm111, I hope to continue adding each year. What varieties do you grow? Is there a reason for not using water shoots for grafting?

[Run Forest Run!]

Trapper2, those two pictures are very inspiring! I had no idea that scions could grow to be that fruitful in just four years. Now I can't wait to get cutting and grafting!

[Run Forest Run!]

Trapper2, can I ask how you care for your trees with regard to dormant oils etc? All but one of the apple trees on my property are trees are the remnants of an orchard from the late 1800s. I'd like to help them along so that the fruit is less prone to insect damage without having to stock up on too many noxious chemicals. Any guidance for me?

[Trapper2]

Karen,
in my opinion, the dormant oil spray is the most important of the year. But with that said I still spray every 10-14 days with Captan and Imidan up until mid July. Then I switch over to Captan and Sevin to control Asian beetles that really attack the softer apples, namely Paula Red, Honeygold, Honeycrisp and Zestar. Sorry I cant give you a chemical free recipe.

Trapper

[RollinsOrchards]

Very cool, I am going to be placing an order for rootstocks this week. Anyone have experience with G935? I have a soil that is pretty wet in the spring (clay) I would prefer a 40-50% dwarf but I might be stuck with mm111 oh well.

M106 is a fairly versatile for a lot of soils here. Keep it pruned using a tall spindle type system and it will be small enough for your yard.

[Trapper2]

Barnbc,
I have a 30 tree orchard at my house and another 100+ on my hunting property. All are sprayed and cared for equally as I will harvest from my hunting property also. I have Harelson, Honeycrisp, Paula Red, Cortland, Spartan, Jonathon, Honeygold, McIntosh, Wolf River, Liberty and 3 or 4 varieties I'm not positive of. Waterspouts are not as healthy as the main tree as they grow so fast that long term they are not as hardy. That's what I was taught by an oldtimer, While some grafters like to use watersprouts, Michigan State University Extension recommends avoiding excessively vegetative shoots. If it is the only healthy, straight wood available, discard the terminal ends where there are less carbohydrates stored and where buds lack maturity.

Avoid suckers that arise from the rootstock, below the union. One of the problems with using watersprouts is that the tissue often lacks in stored carbohydrates, which is important in the wound healing and callusing process.

[barnbc76]

Hey trapper, don't suppose you have any extra wolf River you would be willing to part with? I'd cover shipping for it.

[Trapper2]

Sorry barnbc. Of all trees,that's the one I have the least of.

[barnbc76]

Today I started grafting, I did 2 Mcintosh, this is my first time, I am hoping they do well I have another 25 or so left to go. I recieved some scion wood from the NASE, cox's orange pippin, cripps pink (pink lady). 16304

[buckeye gold]

So how are you set up to callus those grafts? I used a mixture of sawdust and sand(mostly sawdust).

[barnbc76]

I guess I dont know what that is. Are you talking about letting them join together before being planted? If so I dug up a rotted log and used that to set the trees in a 5gal bucket till I can plant them. How long does the calus proccess take?

[buckeye gold]

As an old saying goes; "well, this is a deep subject". When I worked in the nursery we whip grafted apples mostly. Some say apples don't need callusing as much as some other fruits,but we felt it helped.especially since we had subbed out grafting work to a senior citizens center. we trained them and furnished the graft cutting machines, but still we found scion and root stock were on average not matched optimally. So our defense for this was a callusing bin. By promoting callusing we could allow those poorer grafts to built unions between root stock and scion. We done this by building what I would call coffins for our grated trees. Basically we bundled the trees into bundles of 10 and filled a layer of moist sawdust with a little sand, then a layer of tree bundles and covered with the sawdust mixture. We kept this in a heated room with a humidifier for about two weeks. After grafts had developed calluses to our satisfaction we removed the sawdust and stood the bundles up with the roots covered by a compost and maintained some humidity. That would season or harden the grafts (this step may not have been necessary) and allow us to store them until planting time. Since we grafted in winter we had to hold the trees for warmer weather to plant. I think we could have just heeled them into a trough in the greenhouse. I think callusing helps although some say it is not necessary in apples. Below are a couple links to sites with information. You can callus in a plastic bag if you want. Just put your tree in a plastic bag of moist potting mix and close it with as good as possible around the stem above the graft. Rub off any sprouts that start below the graft. whew, now I have confused you even more, I imagine.

http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/nafex/attachments/20131101/6b629f40/attachment.pdf

http://growingfruit.org/t/anyone-using-hot-callusing/5339/9

http://growingfruit.org/t/anyone-using-hot-callusing/5339/9

[barnbc76]

Hey thanks for that info buckeye, I find all this stuff facinating. I just remembered i saw what you are talking about, i think a documentary. I might try something like that if i can.

I finished 20 grafts, Mcintosh, Grimes Golden, Mcoun, Crispin, Cox Orange Pippin, Kripps Pink, Ida Red, and whitney crab apple. I will say it is as easy as they say to graft but getting the right cutting technique took me about 10 grafts, then I was able to get solid contact on the cuts. I am not too worried if they dont all take as I prepared for a 50% failure/success rate. I used 1/2" grafting tape which worked well, I heae 1" is better though.
If anyone wants any scionwood of these varieties let me know. I still have some of most.

[spud]

I was able to Whip Graft about 10 apple trees a few weeks ago. I am no pro at this for sure but I hope a few take. I was going to spray my apple trees with dormant oil a few weeks ago but did not have time. The other day when I did have time to spray my 4-wheeler died. It's in the shop and going to take a few weeks. I know that as soon as the buds swell I cannot spray dormant oil on them. I hope I get the 4- wheeler back in time. I will be planting 100 Cortland trees next weekend. I may also plant 125 Honey Crisp in early May if I can get the size and root stock I want.

Spud

[wiam]

I was able to Whip Graft about 10 apple trees a few weeks ago. I am no pro at this for sure but I hope a few take. I was going to spray my apple trees with dormant oil a few weeks ago but did not have time. The other day when I did have time to spray my 4-wheeler died. It's in the shop and going to take a few weeks. I know that as soon as the buds swell I cannot spray dormant oil on them. I hope I get the 4- wheeler back in time. I will be planting 100 Cortland trees next weekend. I may also plant 125 Honey Crisp in early May if I can get the size and root stock I want.

Spud

Please forgive my ignorance. What does dormant oil do?

[spud]

Dormant Oil is an insecticide. It works by coating insects hiding in the tree trunk and limb bark. It will suffocate them. Some say it is the most important spray of the year. It's cheap to buy.

Spud

[barnbc76]

How do you go about planting so many trees at once? I just planted hald my trees between today and yesterday (12) since my soil has heavy clay I had to add some stuff to it... managed to bang up my face pretty good taking the 120lb roll of fence out of my truck, 5 stitches in my lip and 2 chipped teeth, that set my planting back by a half a day. Not quite how I envisioned spending a perfect day but my brother stopped by today and gave me a hand. Also I had a honeycrisp tree given to me by my pastor, I saved some of it's scion wood to see if I can graft some more. I hear it is a weak growing tree, I have standard rootstock I could graft it too.

What rootstock are you using spud? Anyone else find it difficult to find accurate information on blooming/harvest times for various apple trees? It seems the major websites are no where near our zone and therefore their times are of by ar least a month.

[spud]

My trees are spaced 16 feet apart and 20 foot between rows. I measure out tree location and spray orange marker paint on the ground. We use a mini excavator and can dig four holes before moving to the next location. I try to spread the roots out and I add a mix of Gypsum and some 10-10-10 in the hole. We have done 150 trees in a day but it is a lot of work. When the trees arrive they are in a big box wrapped in a bag that is very moist. Those trees can stay in that box for two weeks as long as you dump water on their roots everyday. Just keep them in the dark. The only Root Stock I use is the B-118 and it is a self standing tree.

Spud

[calvertbrothers]

If your looking for good root development then use Gypsum on your apple trees. I fertilize my 1 year old trees with 10-10-10 and they double in size every year. I measure my calipers every year just above the screen ( 26 inches ). My trees grow 2 inches every year. The books say to stop fertilizing in early July but I continue until September 1st in most cases. If your getting more then 16 inches of new growth on your branches then stop fertilizing for the rest of the year.

Spud
How many times a year do you normally fertilize your apple trees?

[spud]

I fertilize once a month starting May 1st. New trees in the ground get about 1 pound of fertilizer over the corse of the summer ( Not 1 LB each month ).

Spud

[calvertbrothers]

What do you guys do for frost protection for your apples? In my neck of the woods apple are hard to grow around here do to frost. I have been thinking of a sprinkler system with a garden hose timer so I would only have to watch the hours it's going to freeze and program it for that day. But I read that they don't work so go. And using water has to be constant for it to work. Anyone else have a idea? I'm new at the hole apple and pair seen.

[barnbc76]

I am assuming you are talking about spring fost killing blossoms? I don't know what people do for established trees but I would probably choose apple varieties that bloom later and are in less danger of frost. This year could be a potentially bad because our trees are 2 weeks or so ahead of normal.

[spud]

I was able to get 100 more Cortland apple trees planted two weeks ago. They are very nice one inch caliper trees. I would not be surprised to see 1-2 apples on those trees this year. All my apple trees are about half leafed out now. I applied 10-10-10 two weeks ago. I was also able to get my peas planted two weeks ago. Right now I am feeding my bees but I hope that only will last for 1-2 more weeks. My Pear,Plum,Cherry and Apricot trees are all looking good and wintered well. I hope to see some pears and maybe some plums this year. I plan to spray the apple trees as soon as all this rain goes away. My 10 day forecast says rain everyday for the next ten days. I wish everyone well this summer with their fruit trees. Please keep us posted.

Spud

[Run Forest Run!]

I tried grafting for the first time this year. It would be great if some of those Golden Hornet crab apple scions thrive. The fruit is wonderful.

The veggie garden is looking good and now that the dandelions and fruit blossoms are starting, I hope that this year I have some luck with the honey bee swarm catcher in one of my maple trees.

[barnbc76]

I dont know as if I have seen a rainer, wetter spring as this. A record setting april for rain and it seems we will already have met or exeeded or average for may just in the first week alone here. I'm glad I decided to go the extra mile and plant my apple trees in mounds 6"-1' higher than the ground around it because in some places its under water. I have a pond more than an 1-1/2 acre pond in my front yard 6ft deep, my field to the left of us is a 4 acre pond with a 7ft depth. Something like 12 out of 13 days with rain.

Nevertheless my 28 newly planted/grafted trees apear to be growing. Of the 28 grafts there are leafs budding out on 24 scions, I had no clue what I should expect for survival rates my first year but if they continue this well I will be thrilled. Mcintosh seems to be the only one that has not budded yet ( which if it fails I'm ok with since I already have a fully mature if declining mcintosh) However since it has already blossomed I am hoping it gets a chance to be pollinated since we have had cold wet days every day since and forcasted for the next 4 days otherwise this years crop could be as bad or worse then last years.

Spud, I was only able to graft the N. Spy, Red Rome, Cortland, and Liberty but they all apear to have signs of life!
Karen, I planted a Whitney crab apple I dont know anything about it but I hope it will have some uses besided being a good pollinator.

Good luck everyone and thanks to all who have helped, this is fun.

1645616457

[spud]

Looks like Blossoms will be out this week on some verities. I just sprayed yesterday and now we are going to get rain for two days. I may be able to spray again in a few days and beat the blossoms. I stopped feeding the bees this week. My cherry trees have a bunch of open blossoms along with my plum trees. I hope to get the rest of my garden in next week. I have not been in the sugar woods for a month.

Spud

[spud]

I was just walking the orchard this morning and i see some of my grafts are taking. I'm no pro at this so it was nice to see I had some success. It appears that some of my trees are taking a year of from production. I may have overcropped a bit last year. All the trees are growing great.

Spud

[Run Forest Run!]

I'm so pleased to see some buds opening on a few of my grafts. Since this was my very first attempt at grafting I am thrilled to see that some have taken!

[Bruce L]

Spud,have you ever heard of an apple tree called St. Lawrence? It was my Fatherss favourite. I checked my pear tree I grafted this morning,looks like the buds may be drying out,thought it had taken

[MapleCamp]

This tread is fun. I have about 50 apple tress in the ground about 20 this year grafts in pots about 20 last year, and some fails waiting for a redo. Put 20, 3 year old grafts in last week. About half of mine are in production. My main problem is moose in late winter and bear that climb and break branches to get at the apples. Also the million or so pests that try to invade covertly. The wild apples in my area do better than my trees that get much love.

[spud]

Spud,have you ever heard of an apple tree called St. Lawrence? It was my Fatherss favourite. I checked my pear tree I grafted this morning,looks like the buds may be drying out,thought it had taken

Bruce< I have never heard of that verity apple. I have heard of the Saint Lawrence Nursery in NY. My friend in Alaska buys a lot of trees from them. They specialize in Zone 3-4 fruit trees.

Spud

[spud]

This tread is fun. I have about 50 apple tress in the ground about 20 this year grafts in pots about 20 last year, and some fails waiting for a redo. Put 20, 3 year old grafts in last week. About half of mine are in production. My main problem is moose in late winter and bear that climb and break branches to get at the apples. Also the million or so pests that try to invade covertly. The wild apples in my area do better than my trees that get much love.

I also enjoy this Thread. I'm very thankful to Maple Trader for allowing us to talk Apple trees, Bee's and and other farm related hobbies. I plan to buy 25 B-118 RootStock next year and try my luck on 5 wild apple trees I have on my property that taste great. If I try 5 of each kind maybe one will take.

Spud

[barnbc76]

I too have not heard of saint Lawrence apple tree.

Spud, I think you can expect good results grafting, I grafted 31 trees and so far all but 2 are either clearly growing well or have some growth. Oddly the McIntosh I thought didnt make it a couple weeks ago seem to be doing well. The only ones I have concern for are the ones I had to do cleft grafts on. I may only get a 1 or 2 to take. If that is the case then I will have 26/31, not bad. Possibly 25/27 on splice graft and whip and tounge.

Maplecamp, are there any real ways to keep out moose and bear or are you at their mercy? Deer here are bad enough problem wouldn't want those.

[Bruce L]

Spud, the St.Lawrence nursery does have that variety in their listings,only problem is would be a big no no to bring it across the border.

[spud]

Spud, the St.Lawrence nursery does have that variety in their listings,only problem is would be a big no no to bring it across the border.

Is it not legal to bring a tree across the border? I have never heard of that. Seems like fruit trees would be harmless.

Spud

[barnbc76]

Spud I have a friend who works for the border control, he is a an entomologist who's job is to inspect stuff coming in the country (US)for bugs. He used to find all kinds of invasive species. I believe it is possible but there must be some special certification verifying that everything is all good expensive I would guess. That said I don't know if Canada has the same restrictions.

[johnpma]

My apple trees have gone bonkers this wet rainy season.......now if I can keep the **** bittersweet off of them it will be a bonus :)

We put in a couple dozen Xmas trees too......keeping our fingers crossed

[Bruce L]

Turns out that both grafts on the pear tree worked. It is a tree that had gone wild,so I cut it off about 3' tall,stump is about 3" across,and I grafted 2 Bosc scions into it using a cleft graft. Now as I remember, I should eliminate one of those grafts later so I don't have a forked tree?

[spud]

I do not have a ton of apples on the trees this year. I also noticed that my bees are dead. I guess during all the rain we had I did not feed them enough. I stopped feeding them once all the flowers and apple blossoms came out but I guess they needed more. My trees are looking great though and they should grow a bunch more this summer now that they are lacking fruit.

Spud

[johnpma]

A bear got into my neighbors bees. Tore the boxes to shreds.........what would they be after in the bee hives this early?

[spud]

A bear got into my neighbors bees. Tore the boxes to shreds.........what would they be after in the bee hives this early?

If your neighbor wintered the bees then there would be some honey in the hive. If the foundation was already built out it is possible the bees also made some early season honey.

Spud

[MapleCamp]

I lost all my hives, 7 of them last fall to bears. E fence failure. It got to the point where I was not comfortable working them unless I was armed, they would come in while I was working them. I have some swarm traps up but I think I'm giving it up.

[barnbc76]

Sorry to hear that guys, I never have kept bees, it sounds a lot more difficult than making maple syrup and growing apple trees. My neighbor has tried for 3 years now, each year they all died.

[spud]

Theres a guy in Eden Vermont that will bring his hives to my orchard right at bloom time. The price is $70 per hive. I may go that route in the future.

Spud

[amaranth farm]

Radio Silence.

[barnbc76]

Note to self and anyone else, rabbits are very bad for new trees. I didnt think they would be such a problem given the number of barn cats we have but they have eaten the leaves off 4 trees and started eating the bark on an 2 yr old tree. I thought they only did that in winter, lesson learned.

[buckeye gold]

They will wreck your new tress for sure barnbc76. In the past I have either put sleeves on the trees or a chicken wire fence around them. It's more work keeping the varmits at bay than caring for the trees. Deer, rabbits and coons are hated creatures. As soon as my peaches get close to ripe I have to start trapping coons or I get zero peaches, not to mention what they do to the sweet corn.....I hate raccoons, I hate em, hate em hate em. At least 20 years ago I could get good money out of the pelts, now the "cry baby Hollywood I never spent a day in the country and have no clue how the real world works" idiots have ruined the markets and we are over run with vermin.

Ok I done ranting

[MapleCamp]

Moose, I hate moose, out of the 25 new trees I put in this year they topped off 22, the 3 they left alone had fire blight. I used plantskid on them but it rained heavy for two days after. I don't know if it is effective for moose anyway. My other 50 or so trees all got hit too but are bigger and can absorb the hit . Some times I wonder. Also just a bit up the hill is all brown from the forest tent caterpillars at least their not on my bush yet. Any body got any good moose deterrents?

[spud]

Sorry to hear the bad news. I don't think Plantskidd works well for moose. It works very well for deer and rabbit. You might want to talk to your local Game Warden and see if you could get a permit to shoot the moose. My guess is they will say no because the moose population is small in our areas.

Spud

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Good luck with wardens. Buddy made the mistake about calling them about a bear that was in their backyard on and off for 2 weeks. Wardens said no way, they couldn't give permission even though he had chickens and a 2 year old he was worried about. Long story short, Spud is partly right.......just don't call the wardens!

[amaranth farm]

Radio Silence.

[MapleCamp]

I have thought about the fence and may get to it. I have some porcupine around that have caused damage to my trees and dogs. I had a efence around my bees that worked but its a much smaller area. The blight thing is tough we have hundreds of wild apple trees around the hill and half of them show signs of blight. some get over it and produce a lot of apples, but when it finds a young transplant tree its bad. I have never sprayed for it before but will now start a spring time spraying. I also burn any old blighted wood I find, and sadly this years transplants that got it. On my hundred or so fruit trees, moose are the biggest problem. Its a two or more year set back when they hit. Once the trees hit 10-12 feet in height or better they are pretty safe but then tough to maintain. I have 20 blight resistant trees, liberty, and freedom in pots by the house that are fenced. They will go out back when about 8 feet high. Thanks for the tips, good luck

[johnpma]

went away on vacation for a week and a half and came back to trees that look horrible.......leaves have specks and some are completely brown......."fire blight" I'll try to get a picture

I have been spraying them all season and they looked so good up until now.....

[MapleCamp]

I have some like that to I was told that there is a fungus that is abundant this summer

[barnbc76]

Been an up down year, everything started out good then the rabbits came. The rain here has been relentless, the longest stretch without rain or precipitation is 5 days, anything longer and you would have to go back to january to find longer stretches. Its not just a little rain either it seems to always be downpours. This has caused some ugly fungal/scab diseases on our mature mcintosh which has caused it to loose all of its fruit. The rest of my newly grafted trees did not get these diseases fortunately, however many were totally killed by rabbits, or severly stunted. I also neglected to weed around all my trees, suprisingly i think this may have saved many of them because the rabbits could not easily find them i think. The weeds grow profusely where i planted the trees, next time i need to be more vigilient as spraying weed killer once is more or less pointless. My orchard is surrounded by 7ft tall grass weeds, good dirt but unbelivably vigourus weeds.

Anyone tried growing tomatoes with a young apple tree? It was accidental as a volunteer tomato grew out of the compost i placed around the 2nd year tree, both tree and tomatoes are growing vigourously, not bad considering the tomato was not started indoors 6 weeks like my other tomatos. It has had the added benefit of growing just inside the fence around the apple tree.

[buckeye gold]

I only have one fruiting apple left as a storm took out all my old trees last year. The one left did not get good pollination, but what apples are on it are ok, just small for some reason. My peaches were smaller this year as well, but we had a bumper crop and they were really sweet and clean of defects

[johnpma]

I have some like that to I was told that there is a fungus that is abundant this summer Did it look like this??? Frustrating as heck.......

[barnbc76]

Update: this year has gone in the record books for rain, not that good for fruit trees. To make matters worse one of the rows of trees I planted was under about 6" of water for a couple of days when we had yet another flood. I believe when all is said and done I will have about 6 trees die but mostly due to either rabbits, or poor grafts that did not take. As far as graft success rate goes it was very high for whip & tounge, maybe 85% and not so good for cleft graft, like 50%. The trees in buckets seemed to fair better, this is probably because they did not have the weed competition and did not get eaten by rabbits. Overall I could have done a better job weeding and keeping rabbits off but the orchard is still doing fine. The growth on my trees is anywhere from 1ft to 3 1/2ft with noticeably more growth on certain varieties typically ones said to be more vigorus growers. My second year tree has finally taken off now and has about 4' of growth on it. Looking for my first crispin apples on it next year.

I will probably do some more grafting this year but not likely as much since my wife is expecting with an april delivery date. I now also have a honey bee hive so this will make things much more interesting and fun.

[spud]

I never gave an update on my orchard this year and I'm sorry for that. In the spring I planted 100 more Cortland trees and they have been growing very well. I cut all the branches 21 inch and lower to put screen on them. The center of my orchard is a bit wet and we got a lot of rain this year. Two years ago I gambled and planted 150 trees there in hopes they would survive. They are all doing good except for one tree that died. I think they are adapting to the wetter soil but they are not growing anywhere near as fast as other trees I have in better soil. I plucked about 4-5 apples off each one of those trees this spring just to let the trees grow. I plan to do that for the next three years. The upper part of my orchard has 250 trees that are 4 and 5 years old. All these trees grew very well and I too have 1-3 feet of new growth on them. I think had I done a better job of pruning in the March I may of seen more fruit. Much of the energy went to growing new branches that should not be there. I plan to prune a lot better this March in hopes of getting a good amount of fruit on what will be my 5-6 year old trees. Jon Clements who runs the U-Mass orchard said he plan to stop by in the spring to look at what I have. It will be fun to pick his brain. He has some great you tube videos if anyone is interested. I tried my luck at whip grafting and I had about 50% success. Some of the grafts grew 3 feet this summer. It will be fun to watch them grow. My pear trees are really growing well. I have about 4 feet of new growth and they really need to be pruned better. I hope to see pears on my 5 year old next summer. My plum trees grew very well but no plums yet. They will be 4 years old next summer so maybe I will see some fruit. My 10 cherry trees are growing very well and I enjoy fresh cherry jam and pies. I bought 3 Peach trees from Starks mid season but the all died. They are sending me three new ones in the spring. They are Reliance Peach trees that are Dwaft. I plan to whip graft some of my Freedom apples to other trees just for fun next spring. Can I cut above the graft on a two year old tree and graft a Freedom branch into it? What kind of grafting is that called? Two of the biggest things I have learned so far is not to overcrop a young tree and also to do a better job of pruning. It's just a hobby and when I become a pro at it I will probably die.

Spud

[amaranth farm]

Radio Silence.

[spud]

All apple trees are on B-118 Rootstock. Trees are 16 feet apart with 20 foot rows. In all I have 550 fruit trees. If I keep telling the wife it's a hobby she will never expect any income made. I wish I had told her my 9000 taps was a hobby. :)

Spud

[barnbc76]

Spud, you can graft over those enterprise trees if you want. If you do it at say 3ft (or however tall you want your first set of branches then you will be a little further ahead.

Doing it this way will still keep the enterprise tree though, you would want to trim any off shoots from it. I believe the technical term would be top working a tree, and i guess technically the enterprise would be an interstem (sometimes used in grafting to achive certain desired growth/or disease resistance.
Example, you graft a dwarf interstem like bud9 onto a mm111 rootstock to gain the ability to have a tree that does not need to be staked, and can grow in less than ideal conditions but it will also have the precociousness and the smaller size of the bud9. If your enterprise trees are less than ideal it will cause whatever you graft to it to possibly be as bad. If you wanted the b-118 then you would have to cut the trees at ground level this offseason, then wait for the new b-118 shoots to grow up, then graft onto those, as you can see that would take alot longer to do, taking another year and a half before you could graft them.

[spud]

Thank you for the information. I see on some U-Tube videos that they cut a tree at 3-4 feet and graft into it but they allow 1-2 branches to stay so the energy has someplace to go. So if I did that to some of my Red Rome trees the bottom 1-2 branches would be Red Rome and then the rest of my tree would be whatever I graft on. I plan to graft some Freedom apples to the Red Rome. Does this sound like the right way to do it? Thanks

Spud

[barnbc76]

Yeah, sounds right.

[barnbc76]

I have cut some scions of mustu (crispin), honey crisp, McIntosh with more varieties to come later. If anyone is interested in swaping scions let me know.

[spud]

I hope to spray my apple trees with deer repellent this week. I need a warm day with sun to do it. Looks like Wednesday could be that day. The deer have started nibbling at the ends of the branches. I think all the rain we got a few months ago has worn some of my repellent off. If we get anymore snow then it will be over my screen trunk guards that are 26 inches. I may have to run around pushing snow away.

Spud

[saphead]

Spud,
What do you use for deer repellant? (brand and from where) Lost about 15 of last year's grafts in the nursey,nibbled right down to the top of the spiral guards! Have a 4' fence for summertime rabbits but forgot to add another 4' feet before winter...live and learn!

Craig

[spud]

I use PlantSkidd. You can look up their site and place an order. It works very good.

Spud

[MapleCamp]

Deer and moose have done their annual damage but not to bad on the trees I hung soap bars. I hinge cut a bunch of 4-6 inch saplings around the orchard and feed a bit as well, hoping they concentrate on that, Im near a yarding area so theirs no stopping them. I don't mind sharing if they don't. Putting in about 75 more this spring, 50 form stark bros and 25 of my last year grafts.

[saphead]

Spud,
Thanks for the info....local farm supply is listed on their website as a supplier! Yes Wens. does look like a good day for application.
Craig

[spud]

Deer and moose have done their annual damage but not to bad on the trees I hung soap bars. I hinge cut a bunch of 4-6 inch saplings around the orchard and feed a bit as well, hoping they concentrate on that, Im near a yarding area so theirs no stopping them. I don't mind sharing if they don't. Putting in about 75 more this spring, 50 form stark bros and 25 of my last year grafts.

What verity are you getting from Starks? What rootstock did you choose? Good luck.

Spud

[spud]

Spud,
Thanks for the info....local farm supply is listed on their website as a supplier! Yes Wens. does look like a good day for application.
Craig

Your welcome. I buy mine right from the factory. He calls me every spring wondering if I need more. Last year he gave me a quart of defoamer to add to the mix. It works like magic. Buying by the case saves a bunch but you would have to have a lot of trees to make it worth while.

Spud

[barnbc76]

I ordered 20 mm111 rootstock, I'm getting wolf river, honey gold and Empire scion wood through the north American scion exchange group on Facebook. Maplecamp, what kind are you grating?

[spud]

I have cut some scions of mustu (crispin), honey crisp, McIntosh with more varieties to come later. If anyone is interested in swaping scions let me know.

I would be more than happy mailing you and Scions I have. I plan to start pruning in a few weeks if the snow goes down. I have Honey Crisp, Liberty, Freedom, Frostbite, Wine Crisp,Northern Spy, Cortland, Ultra Gold, Zestar, Mac, Snappy Mac, Red Rome, Snow Sweet and Fortune. This year I will wax the ends and keep them damper. I don't need anything in return. I plan to graft some of my Freedom to some Red Rome this year.

Spud

[spud]

During the warm spell we just had I was able to start pruning my apple trees. I had 32 deer in my orchard the other night but they never touched a tree. I had just put another coat of deer repellient on the trees the other day. The trees are looking good and I hope to see good production from my 5 and 6 year old trees this year. I ordered 10 other fruit trees that will be delivered in early May. I am also trying a couple of Walnut trees this year. I ordered them from Starks. One is a English Walnut and the other is a Northern Prize Walnut. Has anyone ever tried growing walnuts this far North? They say these two verities do very well in Zone 4.

Spud

[MapleCamp]

I am getting all spur types this year. Wine crisp, yellow, ultra mac, and red rome, most are m26 root stock.

[Sinzibuckwud]

My gram has a couple English walnuts, they are doing very well, we are also zone 4.

[bowtie]

I have purchased many trees from starks including a few of their English walnuts, honestly I had one die, which they replaced, the others are not really doing that well. their apple trees have gotten crazy expensive , when you purchase between 50-100 year I can't see paying $25-35 each. I found a local Amish nursery that grafts their own trees that are much more reasonable and still have guarantee. I can purchase 50 apples trees that wind up costing $11.80 each and pick them up for free. The only reason I have not starting grafting my own is because these guys are so inexpensive and the quality of the trees appears outstanding. I actually have to send out my order this week. May still try grafting my own but not having tons of time or experience doing it, it's a no brained to order from them.

[MapleCamp]

Stark has a wholesale division I just bought 50 for 5.99 each you have to request their catolog.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Spud, what is the name of the repellent that you use? I just ordered my first 4 trees from Starks.

[spud]

Spud, what is the name of the repellent that you use? I just ordered my first 4 trees from Starks.

The product is called Plantskydd. It works very well.

Spud

[bowtie]

just got pricing from starks, much better than retail, but not interested in 1/4-1/2" whips. usually I get 5/8" or 3/4",with shipping at 20% the price between starks and the local nursery I deal with is very close. not saying I wont buy from starks but comparing a 1/4" whip and a 5-7ft ,3/4" caliper tree are not the same. 100 trees at 11.20 vs 100 at 9.59 plus 20%
" "

[MapleCamp]

I hear ya. I buy 50 whips a year put them in my nursery and baby them for 2-3 seasons then move to the orchard. It would be nice to plant 5-7 footer right away but this is what works for me. The shipping for the 50 whips always seems to be much less then the quoted 20 %.

[bowtie]

I was not trying to offend anyone and I that makes sense to me, but I have to fence all my trees so planting the smaller ones is just too much work right now. I would rather let the nurseries get them a little bigger for me than baby them for a year or two only to have deer destroy them if the fence gets knocked over. I have had times where the fence will be off for a day/night and have trees basically set back few years from the deer nipping them. If the deer only knew that if they left them alone for awhile they would have all the apples they need. Lol, same with the food plots.

[Bruce L]

I was going to order a Red D'Anjou pear tree from Grandpas Orchard,have ordered from them before,but shipping is now insane!!!! A $27.00 tree costs $50.00 to ship to New York State? Thinking no,$77.00 for one tree is waaaaay too heavy

[spud]

Yea that's a bit much unless there is a bushel of pears on it. Do you have any local green houses in your area that sell trees? Sometimes they offer deals. We have one right down the road and I have bought about 20 trees from them over the last six years. I have had very good luck with all of them. They come in large pots about 8 foot tall and bear fruit 1-2 years later.

Spud

[saphead]

Finished my grafting the other day; on the new rootstocks and the ones I pulled out of the nursury that the deer nibbled on.Looking @ last year's notes...about 2 weeks behind this year... not even any sign of green tip yet. I guess I'll have to add on to my little nursery,put grafts in the nursery 4/25 last year...not this year,everything is still way to cold.

[barnbc76]

I still haven't received my root stock yet. It is late indeed.

[highlandcattle]

Found this thread. Rons 4 apple trees arrived yesterday from Stark. That was alot of money for these bare root trees. All the orchards around here use them. Hoping they make it. Holes are ready. Going in today. Weather looks pretty good after this. Have tree wrap and wire cages ready. The deer stay across in the fields but rabbits are brutal. Wish me luck. Oh yeah,thought they would include a catalog,nope. Now that sap season is over time to get outdoor things done before real hot weather begins. Good luck everybody

[spud]

I have about 12 trees coming from Starks on May 4th. I did get my hops the other day. Hoping to get them in today. I plan on fertilizing all 550 apple trees this week. We are going to punch four holes around the drip line of each tree with a crowbar and pour the fertilizer in. Hoping for a good crop of apples this year.

Spud

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Got the tractor stuck prepping an area for the 3 trees that are due here next week. This mornings project is getting it out. Have all other supplies ready and will plant them next weekend. They should be here Thursday.

[barnbc76]

I bought a reliance peach tree today, first time planting peaches can't wait to try em.

[spud]

I bought a reliance peach tree today, first time planting peaches can't wait to try em.

I bought 3 of them last fall during a sale. I waited too long to plant them and they did not make it. I am getting three more shipped to me on Friday. I noticed the other day that Tractor supply in Saint Albans had some very nice Reliance Peach trees for sale. They were all leafed out and about 6 feet tall. I was tempted but I will wait for mine to come in. I was able to fertilize all my fruit trees this week with the help of the kids. We have been getting a ton of rain so it was a great time to do it. Using crowbars we popped four holes in the ground around the drip line. I hope this really helps them a bunch. Blossoms should be out by May 22nd on most of my apple trees. Im also hoping my pear and plum trees start producing this year. Its nice to see the lawn turning green now. I plan to put my peas in next week.

Spud

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Got my 3 apple trees planted yesterday. Going to put up some fence around them this morning to protect them. We'll see how they do. Ground super wet up here with all the rain.

[Bruce L]

Spud,saw large 6-7’ Apple trees at Home Depot on way back from open houses,only $15.00 ,but it’s a BIG no-no at the border unless you have a phytosanitary certificate,which HD would not have

[spud]

That stinks that you cannot bring some back. Where do you buy your fruit trees?

Spud

[highlandcattle]

The 4 stark apple trees(sticks) we put in survived. Lots of fussing and pampering. Ron made great cages for them. I used landscape staples to hold them down. Mulched them with nstural cedar. Leaves are out. Think of how the trees feel. You went to sleep where you were born and wake up in a strange place. Pretty scary. I tell them every day how beautiful they are. Yes,talking to them nicely helps.

[spud]

I'm about a week away from having blossoms out on all my apple trees. My Pears, Cherry, Apricot and Plum all are in bloom now. Just got my mower back from the shop. Trying to mow all the orchard before the rain starts. Looks like where in for a bunch of rain next week also. I have countless people in my area that want to come pick apples this Fall. I hope this will be the first year we can open to the public.

Spud

[buckeye gold]

I hope your fruit sets good Spud. My peaches are about marble size and my apples a tad smaller, but they look good. I sprayed them the first time this week. I do three sprays and then let go until harvest.

[barnbc76]

Spud glad to hear you'll be able to open this year. I wonder how good the fruit set will be, I don't think the Apple trees usually have any competition when they are in bloom. Mine are blooming now as are millions of dandelion and other flowers. On top of that I think it was a particularly bad year for the honeybees with our extended winter. Hopefully won't be a problem for me next year as I will have a hive of my own.

[highlandcattle]

To my great relief the apple trees I got for Ron are doing great. The leaves are out and a few blossoms. Put in 9 tiny Norway pine. Having 6 8' arborvitea I stalled next week. Closing in the yard and making it a small orchard and wildlife habitat.

[spud]

Thank you. I too hope my fruit set is good. I do plan to spray and hand thin a lot of my apples this year if there is a good fruit set. My Liberty trees usually have so many apples that I have to thin. I have 100 Cortland trees that i planted last year and they are loaded with blossoms. I plan to let 1-2 apples grow on each tree but thats it. My Snow Sweets and Zestars are loaded with blossoms right now. Looks like I could be busy this summer.

Spud

[johnpma]

My apple trees look the best they ever have. I have plenty of new growth, they are 12" taller and nice green leaves. Only problem is that they did not blossom this year. I fertilized, sprayed for bugs, and keep around the trees weeded nicely......these are 2 years old. Why might I ask is this happening?

[buckeye gold]

johnpma,

Don't get discouraged in 2 year old tree not blooming, a lot of factors go into that. Actually one cause is over fertilizing. A soil test will tell you what you need. I have had some go 5 years or more. Usually after 5 years I will score them. You may laugh, but I got good results from beating them with a chain. I am down to just a couple apple trees and two peach now as all my old trees are gone and I just didn't have the desire to replant.

[spud]

My apple trees look the best they ever have. I have plenty of new growth, they are 12" taller and nice green leaves. Only problem is that they did not blossom this year. I fertilized, sprayed for bugs, and keep around the trees weeded nicely......these are 2 years old. Why might I ask is this happening?

I would not get discouraged at all. It is very commen to go 3-5 years before seeing any blossoms. It really depends on the root stick and the verity. I'm on my 5th year with my Northern Spy and I only got one apple from one tree this year. I have two year old Cortland that have 8-10 apples on them. I plan to only let 1-2 per tree grow so the tree will grow better. The first five years of an apple tree should be all about tree growth and not so much fruit production. As long as your trees are putting on new growth then everything is just fine.

Spud

[johnpma]

Thanks folks!!!! I will test the soil for sure, and continue to be patient.

[spud]

My apple trees seem to be doing good this summer. All trees have a lot of new growth. My Honey Crisp trees have between 20-150 apples on each tree. My Zestar and Mac trees were not sprayed early enough this spring and have some blemish on some apples. I waited for all trees to loose their peddles before I sprayed for the first time. It appears the early Zestars need spray 2 weeks earlier then the rest of my apples trees. I'm looking to buy a air blast sprayer for next season. I'm looking for one that tows behind my 4-wheeler and has a 50-75 gallon tank. I sprayed my younger trees with deer repellent two weeks ago. The deer seem to be in the orchard every night. I do not want my new growth to be eating. The deer almost never touch my six year old trees and when they do it's just a nibble. I have been getting photos of black bear on my game cameras. I hope they don't break my young trees. All an all it's been a good summer so far for all fruit trees.

Spud

[barnbc76]

Good to hear Spud, I've neglected mine so they're not doing great, needed to water them but didnt. But my more established mutsu is doing well. I have 1 Apple on it.

[miboss]

My apple trees seem to be doing good this summer. All trees have a lot of new growth. My Honey Crisp trees have between 20-150 apples on each tree. My Zestar and Mac trees were not sprayed early enough this spring and have some blemish on some apples. I waited for all trees to loose their peddles before I sprayed for the first time. It appears the early Zestars need spray 2 weeks earlier then the rest of my apples trees. I'm looking to buy a air blast sprayer for next season. I'm looking for one that tows behind my 4-wheeler and has a 50-75 gallon tank. I sprayed my younger trees with deer repellent two weeks ago. The deer seem to be in the orchard every night. I do not want my new growth to be eating. The deer almost never touch my six year old trees and when they do it's just a nibble. I have been getting photos of black bear on my game cameras. I hope they don't break my young trees. All an all it's been a good summer so far for all fruit trees.

Spud

Just curious, wWhat kind of spray are you using, I've been trying a variety and have some success on some trees but issues on others.

Thanks!

[spud]

I use Imidan 70-W, Captan and a Foliar spray most of the summer. These can be mixed. The last 4-6 weeks of the growing season you can back off on Imidam. Both Imidan and Captan will leave a residue on the apples. Late season you can stop using Captan and replace it with Pristine. Around July 1-10th the Japanese beetles arrive so I add Sevin into my mix. Usually only have to spray Sevin once but maybe twice to get rid of them. I also use Sevin early season as a fruit thinner.

Spud

[johnpma]

Lots of new growth on my trees with the month of rain we have had. They looked great until this month. With the lack of sunshine I seemed to have contracted some sort of blight. The leaves are slowly turning a burnt reddish color. Which is kind of frustrating.

The vegetable garden is a complete loss. The heavy downpours ruined the majority of my squash plants, cukes, 2nd bean crop, and did a number on my tomatoes.

Told the wife "I can't wait for sugaring season!!!

[Sinzibuckwud]

Lots of new growth on my trees with the month of rain we have had. They looked great until this month. With the lack of sunshine I seemed to have contracted some sort of blight. The leaves are slowly turning a burnt reddish color. Which is kind of frustrating.

The vegetable garden is a complete loss. The heavy downpours ruined the majority of my squash plants, cukes, 2nd bean crop, and did a number on my tomatoes.

Told the wife "I can't wait for sugaring season!!!

Probably a fungus and not blight, were seeing it just about everywhere trees,shrubs, vegetables ext. Of course there are plenty of exceptions mostly where there is good drainage in the subsoil.

[spud]

While the sap is crashing in I have to start pruning my apple trees. I have another 150 trees being delivered at the end of April. I sure hope my snow melt soon. I do plan to do some top grafting this year. I'm turning some Red Romes to Snow Sweets and Freedom apple trees. I whip grafted some Candy Crisp to Cortland trees a few years ago. I hope to see some fruit this year from them.

Spud

[saphead]

Looked at the few trees I have this AM...deer nibbles some time during the last week, they seem to like Honeycrisp more than Winesap. I thought I just sprayed Plantskydd not to long ago...looked it up...12/15/18,how time flies.Yesterday morning would have been a good time to spray but ran errands then helped out a freind, boiled off 115 gallons of very good tasting AR. Hopefully get some sprayed on this week. Deer and turkeys are everywhere grazing together with the toms all puffed out strutting their stuff!

[bowtie]

I have to fertilze and prune some of my trees. I have a conundrum regarding pruning, I need to prune but even inside of 4ft fence cages I need the trees to grow out of the reach of deer and pruning,the central leader, when young prevents, the deer nip anything they can even with the fencing around them.I have 85 more apple trees and 250 conifers and oak seedlings coming soon. I will have around 250 fruit trees planted behind house, I have room for more but will probably get around 50-75 next year and slow way down, the boss is kind of putting her foot down, at least for now:lol:.

[maple flats]

barnbc, my wife just attended a grafting class last week given by Sam Van Aiken, a professor at Syracuse University (look up "the tree of 40 fruits") At Colgate University. He is a master at grafting. My wife has successfully grafted lots of apples but she says she learned a lot from Sam. Colgate will be repeating this again next year, about this time of year, it might be worth going, even taking a vacation day. The class was attended by people from all over the state and beyond. Many brought scions to trade too.

[Sugarmaker]

Was able to get my 5 apple trees pruned (as I call it) during syrup season this year. Missed last year and there were a lot of heavy vertical suckers that needed to be removed. I really dont know much about trimming them, but they got a hair cut. Now if we avoid a killing frost maybe we will have some McIntosh, Red and Golden Delicious for apple sauce this fall.
Regards,
Chris

[barnbc76]

I'm excited to start seeing these trees grow some more and finally produce fruit. I dont think I'm going to be doing much more grafting, maybe just some refracting. A few years ago I would have probably been able to take a vacation for a grafting class but I'm just too busy with our kids and house these days. I'm planning on adding another peach tree this year and I'm going to try growing some from peach pits.

[Bruce L]

Thought it might be a good time to revive this old thread. When is the best time to remove watersprouts and not encourage new growth? My pear trees have hundreds and hundreds of water sprouts after pruning last year,would like to remove without having the trees react by sending out more.

[buckeye gold]

You can take the sprouts off any time. When you see one coming on take it off. when they're new they will just break off. They will always be coming, some trees are worse than others. Typically pruning is winter and upuntil late spring, but suckering can be done anytime.

2/3 of my peaches froze off this spring but my apples set ok.

[maple flats]

We will know how we made out in about a week or so. So far we don't see any black centers on our peach, pear or apple blossoms, but the early flowers in our strawberries were frozen. Our low was 29F, with a breeze (or wind) which often protects them. A frost with no air movement is worse.

[highlandcattle]

Finally getting some good weather. All the fruit trees are doing great. My 2 cheery and 2 pears I put in last Fall look good. Going to squeeze in a couple of peach this year. Waiting on our rototilling guy for the garden. Stupidly sold off so much stuff from the farm. There are no tillers to be found. Took a pandemic to get alot of dummies to put in gardens. Too bad most have more money than brains. Clerks at stores said idiots didn't know what equipment was for or how to plant. I just picked a tomato from my indoor plants. Hope everyone is doing ok and staying healthy. No one laughing at preppers now!

[maple flats]

We don't have any tomatoes yet, but we have lots of plants in our greenhouse. For several years I put up a temporary 7x9 greenhouse, this year I biult a permanent one, attached to the west side of the house, on the south corner. Things are doing well in there. The next week looks good, if we get thru the next 10 days without a frost it will be our earliest last frost date in years. We start putting the gardens in the end of May.

[spud]

All my apple trees are looking good. Should have blossoms in 7-10 days. I have 48 hives coming to my land this week. My pear trees have blossoms now. All my 14 cherry trees should blossom any day. I lost my blossoms on my apricot trees last week when night temp went to 26. My plum trees should blossom in 7-10 days. I planted 100 more Premium Honey Crisp trees. I going to wait till the end of the month to plant my tomatoes and peppers. It’s a great time of year. I hope everyone is staying healthy.

Spud

[Bruce L]

Plum tree completely white with blossoms here now,apples and pears probably a good week yet. Peaches might have gotten blossoms frosted off,close to frost here this morning.Will set plants from greenhouse out for curb side sales next weekend,been telling everyone it’s too early to plant yet.Getting lots done without the buses running,rebuilt the building over the storage tank at sugar house before bugs got bad,put up a new page wire fence,now building a deck and putting a roof over it so can sit outside rain or sun. Syrup sales been brisk,especially butter,just made 36 jars last week,need to make more soon.Syrup reserves getting depleted,long way until next March now. Back to original question,if I cut off waterspouts mid summer will they not come back? Figure it I do it now trees will send out more

[buckeye gold]

Back to original question,if I cut off waterspouts mid summer will they not come back? Figure it I do it now trees will send out more

I always cut mine when I prune or as I see them. Removing them is just maintenance. The way I look at it is, if you let them grow they are only stealing energy from your tree and your going to cut that energy off and throw it away mid-summer. Pruning is done in dormant times so you don't have an open wound when insects and disease are more prevalent. By pruning in the summer your tree will actually grow more water sprouts the next spring as it sees the pruning as an injury and the sprouts are an injury response to replace broken off limbs. Suckers can easily be snapped off when they are small (less than 8-12 inches). With that said, pears are bad at growing suckers and pruning often promotes more. It can get burdensome. That's why it's important to prune pears early as they grow and develop the fruiting frame then, that reduces the need for aggressive pruning on a mature tree. If it was a rehab pruning then your probably going to fight suckers for a while. If it were me I'd get rid of them now.

[highlandcattle]

The apple sticks, ha ha I planted 2 years ago have really exploded. Lots of growth. I'm so afraid to start pruning. Should I just start with the little sprouty growth first?. Never gave it a thought at tge farm. My cherries and pears doing really well too. Compost and water do a great job. I also tell them all how beautiful they're doing. Everyone likes a compliment

[spud]

Do your best to shape the tree. Snip the stubs off the trunk. Give them 10-10-10 once a month. Try to get 10-20 inches of new growth on your branches. Anymore then 20 inches then back off on nitrogen. Keep watering during any dry spell.

Spud

[MapleCamp]

I have about 15 standard apple trees that i only prune in the winter. I have about 75 semi dwarfs and dwarfs that I prune year round. Mostly getting rid of sprouts and suckers and shaping. I wander around them all summer/year and do what needs to be done. I don't let them get over my head for ease of pruning and spraying.

[highlandcattle]

This hot weather, which I hate..has sure made the garden grow. Corn has gotten to my shoulders. My 2 cherry trees just got eaten by rotten June bugs. Hung the trap right there. It's filling up. Pears haven't been touched. Good growth on everything. Storms come through. A bit of rain on occassion. Clouds get over the river and drift across. Misses us. I am trying one of those flexible hoses. Not sure it will hold up too well. Hurt my shoulders(2 torn rotator cuffs) pulling the heavy rubber one around. I start each day with a big to do list. In my mind I'm still able to do all this. Reality is I'm just not able to do all this. Have hired a handyman to get some stuff done. Hope everyone is staying safe and well. We only go out when needed. Being extremely careful not to be around many people. My family and some friends refuse to stop socializing. Don't know when I'll see any of them again. After being very ill from last Nov. Until end of May, I know if I get the virusI'm dead. Have too many things to do yet.Plus my animals to care for and Ron....

[spud]

Our U-Pick for Zestar apples will be open on Sep 12th. We have a pretty good crop of apples this year. The Honey Crisp will be ready on Sep 26th. I plan to put another 50 Honey Crisp trees in next spring and then I’m done. My blueberries did well this year. I was able to get a bunch of cherries from 14 trees. My plums should be ready in a few weeks. I hate the thought of summer coming to an end. It’s been a nice summer.

Spud

[Bruce L]

Thought I’d revive this thread,have done 20 grafts so far this spring. When I was grafting some Wolf apple trees for my sister,she wondered if you could graft dissimilar species together,say peach to pear,etc. I said I didn’t think so but will put the questions out there

[spud]

I don’t think that will work Bruce. There was a video on u tube several years ago about a guy whip grafting apple to pear. It appears it took but I don’t know for how long. My apple crop last season was very poor. I’m hoping for a great season this year. I just gave all my trees Urea last week.

Spud