I'm going to plant a few Apple trees next spring. Preferably I would like one or two that ripen early and one that does later in the fall. I guess I'm just wondering what are some steps to take when caring for some young apple trees. Thanks for any help.
Plant 2 of each kind as far as germination times every year, they have to bloom at the same time to allow for cross pollination so plant 2 of the same breed every time
^very important. Plus, you will need to fence them in otherwise they will be destroyed by deer. It will take probably 10 years until they will produce the amount of fruit you want, but the long term pay off will be huge.
burn down the competing weeds with glysophate, plant tree's, fence them and then mulch them well. like a three foot circle of mulch. get five foot fencing and fence them. you will want to water them year one if you can at least weekly in July and august. I have golden delicious, Jona Gold, gala, spy, and honey crisp. The Jona gold I planted had apples on it the second year! the Spy and Gala have been in the ground for 7 or 8 years??? they are beginning to bear pretty heavily. The others are still young, two and three years from planting. it is a fun project though, I think everyone should plant a tree, it will give you good perspective as to what 5 years of time looks like!
Here are my two threads from the trees I planted this spring. http://forums.bowhunting.com/food-plots-habitat-improvement/61377-apple-trees.html http://forums.bowhunting.com/food-plots-habitat-improvement/61878-apple-trees-off-good-start.html Since you are from Wisconsin, I would strongly suggest working with Wolfrath's in Hortonville or Wallace Woodstock in Neishville. Both have deer in mind when they help you with picking out apple trees. They can help you with great customer service with what to plant, when and where. Fruit Trees- Deer Candy Trees (Talk to Bob) Fruit Trees for sale
Good thread, I needed this info. Can you plant apple trees this time of the year or would I be better off waiting until the spring?
Here's my question: I too am in wisconsin (sawyer county) and will not be able to water the trees weekly. Will young apple trees still survive if i can't water them weekly? I'll only get up to the cabin 3 or 4 times between June and the end of August...
All depends on how quickly your soils drain and how much rain we get during that time when you can't water. Keep in mind that putting them where they get a lot of sun is critical so the soil will dry out faster there.
I'm thinking of planting a bit of a fruit tree grove on my property. One thing I have considered is planting a combination of dwarf trees and regular trees. The dwarfs will usually start producing fruit in just a couple years, where the normal trees take several years longer to start producing. This will let you get the grove established and give you the fruit for the short term, but also have the longer living trees to fill in as the dwarf trees die out.
How about crab apple trees? Anyone have any experience with planting them as far as how long til they bear fruit and are they as palatable to deer as apples as well as maintenance of crab apple trees.
Wolfrath makes a cross pollinated crab apple/apple tree hybrid just for that purpose. Here is the text from the Wolfrath website: After years of searching for varieties of apple and crabapple trees and the hardiest rootstock, we now offer this special Deer Candy Tree TM along with several crab apple crosses. The rootstocks used are vital and intended to do the following: Produce fruit that deer crave Produce hardy trees that can survive our Wisconsin winters Produce fruit quickly so that hunters do not have to wait 10 or more years for first fruit Produce trees larger than dwarf so deer cannot destroy them Produce fruit up to 50 years without a lot of extra care.
I have two apricot trees in my back yard that I would love to somehow bring to my hunting land. Not sure if deer would eat them but I assume they would.
I just planted 8 next to my house and am in the process of creating a small orchard on my farm (probably around 30-40 Apple, pear, peach and cherry trees). Clear the area really well, dig them wider than deep and fence them off. Hopefully in 10 years or so I'll be sitting on a gold mine orchard. Lol “In a civilized and cultivated country, wild animals only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen.” -Theodore Roosevelt
I planted a few 2 years ago, last year was a hell of a year for apples- least here in Illinois. Spray em, make sure to get a fence for them and maintain the fence though, they eat the hell out of the saplings so do rabbits Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
