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Crabapple Variety?

My trees get about 4-6 hours of good sun a day, and they are doing good, I am sure yours will be fine.
 
Thz for the reply's, all trees being planted have B118 or Antonovka.
Will be caged with weed mats, an sprayed an watered for the first 2-3yrs

Tree stand is located in the Cedar to the very south of the open planting sight,
Total length is around 220ft from the northern point were the first tree will be planted.
Spaced 15 ft between trees, Should be able to plant 14 trees running N to SE
Will plant the later dropping trees closest to the stand location.

Figured I get close to 5 solid midday hours of direct sunlight with no interference, then maybe 2-3 of early/midmorning sunlight.
With Very little to no evening sunlight.
 
I've never been a linear fan in general whenever possible. Nature to my knowledge never without human intrusion does anything in lines. I do clusters personally but what you outlined I see nothing wrong with it, they should get enough light.
 
tynimiller said:
I've never been a linear fan in general whenever possible. Nature to my knowledge never without human intrusion does anything in lines. I do clusters personally but what you outlined I see nothing wrong with it, they should get enough light.
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Get ya bud,

But there's not a lot I can do at this point.
Granddad planted the first trees over 40 yrs ago. For them the only reason they were planted was for windbreaks to help control erosion, and stabilize the ground around the only slough on the property, any secondary benefits were just that.
The trees in question, well im kind of limited in options in location an orientation.

Plus, not sure if you have ever been to eastern SD, but everything is linear. Land is broken down into square mile sections, then broken down in qrts.
Road hunting/poaching is terrible around here.
Only way to get around it was to plant a 3 row ceder/plum thicket border around the entire property.
Used to find 2-3 road shot deer a yr. We're down to about 1 every other year now.
Doesn't look natural, but sure does the trick, and leaves the majority of the interior open for grassland.
 
Don't get me wrong, when discussing sight blocking for access or roadway poaching I'd do it and have done it myself without question. What I was meaning interior property plantings I prefer cluster unless a true hard edge is something I want to make the deer feel and realize.
 
My contribution has nothing to do with fruit trees, but a linear layout of spruce.

In the middle of some REALLY thick cover where I hunt, someone planted a line of Norway spruce about 25 years ago. I think they were planted after a logging operation and they were planted along a winding skid road. Bucks travel along this line of spruce every fall during the rut and the signs ( rubs & scrapes ) are incredible !! I don't think your tree lines will be a negative. If they provide some cover and shadows, I think you'll be fine.
 
Again fellas, linear formations are not a negative and like I stated when discussing blocking or wanting to create a hard edge (travel control) they can work wonders...
 
Tyni - ^^^^^ I wasn't taking a swipe at your comments. I was just relating what I've seen at a couple spots in very thick cover. I went back and re-read the last few posts and I see where you talked about lines.

The area I was referring to wasn't planted to be a " steering " route for deer movement - - - it just became one by natural selection by the deer. When I saw how the deer travelled that line of spruce, I set up a few tree stands to make sure the deer didn't stumble and fall. :emoji_smiling_imp:
 
You seem to have a pretty good handle on how to proceed, but I did notice your intention to space your trees 15' apart. In my opinion, that will be a bit close for trees planted on B.118 and Antonovka rootstocks. I know it looks like a lot of room now, but at 15' spacing, it's going to get pretty tight, pretty quick. These trees are going to get big, which is a good thing. My guess is that you, or nature, will be thinning some of these out over time. If you can give them a little more room, even 20' spacing, I think you will not regret it 15 to 20 years from now - and beyond. Just my 2 cents.
 
Apple junkie, what kind of spacing would be good for b118 trees? It's hard to picture what everything will look like in 15 years. I don't want my trees to be on top of each other
 
Personally, I have settled on 25' spacing between trees on B.118 and MM.111 rootstocks. In the past, I planted a few 15' apart and now I look back and wonder what I was thinking! It looked like lots of room at the time, but now I can see the errors of my ways. I am not pulling them out, so it will be a good mini-experiment to see how they co-exist packed so closely together. Frankly, the pros here can probably give a better answer to your question Charman, but that's the spacing I am comfortable with.
 
I have planted them about 20 feet apart.


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I planted our apple trees at camp at 25 ft. spacing just to be safe. All our trees are on MM-111, B-118, or Antonovka roots. I agree with Apple Junkie above.
 
I think you would be fine at 15 ft for a single line of trees. They would have room to grow outward from they line. The crowns could touch and a little pruning while young and later with a pole saw could easily address that if you don't like it. Planting at 20 or 25ft will work too.
 
Thz for the info fellas,

Was just out to the farm last night, and made a couple quick assessments an adjustments in plans.

Have 16 trees on order,
Based on observations I can fit 3 in my West orchard where I thought only 2 would fit.
An have room for 1 more in my north orchard.

Leaving 12 for the new planting compared to 14
Thus my space has opened up a bit, allowing for 18 ft spacing's.
Think I may settle on that.
 
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Any thoughts on a slight zig zag instead of right down a line?
 
Charman03 said:
Any thoughts on a slight zig zag instead of right down a line?
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Thought about that, but with the limited planting width available, 40ft.

I thought it would be best served to run the trees directly down the middle of the available area to capture as much sun as possible.
That, I believe at this point is my limiting factor.

That coupled with the fact that with the trees down the middle I could maintain shooting lanes east an west out to 50 yrds from the tree stand.

But I do like the slight offset idea, cause that would save me a lot of backbreaking digging trying to rip out an old shrub planting.

Although that would make mowing the clover plot that more of a pain in a$$.

Glad I have all winter to ponder this..
 
A note on Wickson Crab. I am in SE Michigan zone 5b. My Wickson's ripened (totally dark seeds) on Sept. 12th this year. I basically pick a couple every day and in the days leading up to the 12th there was always some white left on the seeds. They are hard and tart and will only soften and sweeten from here on out. And the focus on sweeten as the juice can be 25% sugar in a good year.
 
Jhoss said:
A note on Wickson Crab. I am in SE Michigan zone 5b. My Wickson's ripened (totally dark seeds) on Sept. 12th this year. I basically pick a couple every day and in the days leading up to the 12th there was always some white left on the seeds. They are hard and tart and will only soften and sweeten from here on out. And the focus on sweeten as the juice can be 25% sugar in a good year.
Click to expand...


I have two wickson's on the tree. Last night I gently lifted each and they did no separate from the limb so I called them not ripe.
Frostbite seems to ripen and drop over a long period and has some unique flavors as it ripens.
 
FYI - Cummins has 7 chestnut crab on B118 available right now and some Wickson as well on B118.
 
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