Looking at the possibility of planting a few fruit trees on our farm. I have looked into it a little bit, and am pretty sure if I plant any apple trees they need to be in pairs for germination; Pear, or peach are self germinating, I think, right? When would be the best time to plant these, assuming spring? How long do they usually take to produce? All of which I would like to harvest some fruit off as well. Any other info would be great, so lets hear it fruit tree people!
Apple take ~5yr, Peach about 3, I can't speak for pears. I've got 4 peach and 2 apple. For best germination/fruiting, plant more than 1, even for self pollinating varieties. For apple golden delicious I think, is one of the better polinators. My peaches have been productive for about 15 years and may have a few years left. The apples I think will be productive longer, especially if well maintained/pruned. Spring is best for planting.
Ive dabbled with the idea, but im no expert. I will be planting some this year though... Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2
From what I have heard it is very important to protect the trees early in their life otherwise the deer will destroy them.
I'm actually buying a 3-apple grafted tree this year for my house. As for the woods we will be multi-grafting different kinds onto the same trees. If kept alive the same tree will be able to pollinate eachother as you'll have 2-3 different kinds on one tree. Worth attempting my hand at grafting and hopefully re-juvenating some non-producing apples throughout our woods.
Ya definitely make sure you put something around the tree because i planted two last year and didn´t put anything around them and some buck came by and thought oh let me rub on these little trees and change their size from 3 ft to 1 foot!!
Yes, it is best to plant apple trees in at least pairs but it is not based on species. It is based on "season". You can classify tress as summer, fall or winter. When I started my backyard orchard, I was told that I needed to have at least one tree from 2 of the seasons. Personally, if I were planting for deer, I would have at least on of each. You can consider summer as fruit being ripe in Aug-Sept, fall Sept-Oct and winter as late Oct into Nov when the temps are usually down in the 40's. This timing is based on the upper midwest. Tree maturity will depend on the type of tree-dwarf, semi-dwarf or standard. Dwarfs mature the fastest as they grow the least in height. But the problem with a dwarf is that they probably would not withstand overwinter browsing by deer and the pulling on the branches the deer always seem to do to get the fruit off. I've seen trees striped of branches by raiding deer in many backyard orchards. Standard trees take the longest to start to produce but will better stand up to the deer. You will still need to keep them caged for a time but you will make the most out of your investment of time and money. Talk to a tree grower in YOUR area to determine what is best for YOU. They can give you a ton of information.
