Who here has planted small orchards or fruit trees for deer? How many acres did you plant? Did you plant the same type of fruit or different kinds?
I'm also looking into planting some fruit trees. So far the only info I found was to plant atleast 2 at a time so they can germinate
have planted somewhere around 75 apple and pear tree's, a dozen so saw tooth oaks. and 6 persimmon's A few things to consider 1. long term investment- an orchard isn't like a food plot it will take five years to begin producing for you. However in my case i said for ten years, I want to plant an orchard and didn't till spring 2009. lost ten years just to procrastination, if you want to do it, put together a plan and go for it, you will be amazed at what happens in five years. 2. the expense- it is considerably more than just purchasing tree's. (have learned this the hard way!) you can basically take the cost of the tree up front and double it. because you will need to protect the tree's with tree tubes or fencing, I recommend 5 or even six foot tree tubes and steel stakes! 3. the plus side- if this is your own family ground you, your children, there children and the generations to come will reap the benefits of your time! There is nothing like that! When my kids start hunting in a few years it will be right in the orchard, they will kill deer right in the orchard they helped to plant and tend as young children! you will be creating a family history of sorts. now for a few tips, 1.buy bear root seedlings- have everything there and readdy to go when they arive so you can get them in the ground quickly! 2. don't buy the biggest and most expensive seedlings. look for the 2 foot range. here is why, when you first plant them there will be shock, the less buds they have to support the more root growth, the more root growth early, the bigger the top will get in the long run! 3. buy tree tubes- they are a huge upside, they drastically increase your growing season, and protect the seedling from deer browse. I used and highly recommend these in five or six footers http://www.plantra.com/TreeTubes/JumpStart®TreeTubesFullSun.aspx 4. use a metal stake to hold the tube in place- if you don't the bucks will come in and rub the tubes and break off the stakes. I kid you not! I have 2 in oak stakes and every fall some stinkin mature buck decides to tangle with one and breaks them off. as they do I have to replace them with steel stakes. 5. get some composted manure to put around each seedling when you plant it. this will give the new roots a perfect growing environment for year 1. (don't fertilize in year one, it will do more damage than good) 6. get a variety of tree's, look for some apples that drop in mid sept. some that drop in mid october and some that drop in early nov. this will have fruit on the ground for a majority of hunting season. I would consider some of the goldrush , jonagold, granny smith and enterprise apple tree seedlings. here is a link to a great price on tree's http://www.summerstonenursery.com/C...oo&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=bing_yahoo&p=1 7. get some mulch to put around tree tubes to keep weed competition out. give the majority of rain water that comes to seedling, critical for year one! So here is how I would do it. step by step. (assuming I have all the supplies ready to go and tree's are at my house. 1. drive in fence post, i do this first so it won't distrube tree roots once tree is planted. 2. dig the hole- dig it twice as big as the roots 3. place tree in the hole gently fill in around roots with the composted manure 4. water it in- this will set dirt up to the roots and removes any air pockets around the roots. 5. Install tube over the tree and zip tie to the post 6. mulch the tree in with a few inches of wood chips, 3 ft total diameter of tube. 7. spray weed killer on any competitive weeds that are in a 6 ft diameter around the tree tube. 8. water periodically and watch for any un foreseen problems. Hope this is helpful, good luck and enjoy yourself.
Thanks for the advise. I probably only plant like 10-15 but if it works well i might plant more so I don't believe everything will be that expensive. I am hoping that i can get some from the apple orchards i hunt close too. The property I hunt now has two horse farms and they offered to give me as much manure as I need. I know this will take a long time to produce but in the end I know its going to be worth it.
Look into grafting also fellas. Grafting various types of apples onto one apple tree not only is very easy to do they say but gives you multiple apples (cross pollinating) with fewer trees. We are attempting this on a few of our old apple trees.
