Southern Apples?
- Thread starter SwampCat
- Start date
bigboreblr
5 year old buck +
Not sure if Pristine goes that warm. Redfree might be an option too. Far as little rain goes, rootstock will likely have an influence on that too. M111 might be a good choice. Water requirements can be handled a bit by good pruning. Even summer pruning might be a good idea. There's a tree store in meridian kansas that has some left.
Grasses also steal moisture from trees. Spending a few more bucks well mulching a big circle around the tree can help. Fedco trees suggest taking a rod and poking holes for the roots to grow. A member on here like to plant trees with a pst hole digger. I think getting good soil that loosened up some, but not too much down deep helps the tree find moisture quicker in life. IF I had a post hole digger or backhoe, I use it to dig down. Too loose or signfiicantly lighter soil mixed in may end up mading a flooding situation. I mix a little peat moss and potting soil, but not too much. I also tamp down the soil a decent amount. P ut a few inches of soil in, then tamp it down with the shovel handle end.
Grasses also steal moisture from trees. Spending a few more bucks well mulching a big circle around the tree can help. Fedco trees suggest taking a rod and poking holes for the roots to grow. A member on here like to plant trees with a pst hole digger. I think getting good soil that loosened up some, but not too much down deep helps the tree find moisture quicker in life. IF I had a post hole digger or backhoe, I use it to dig down. Too loose or signfiicantly lighter soil mixed in may end up mading a flooding situation. I mix a little peat moss and potting soil, but not too much. I also tamp down the soil a decent amount. P ut a few inches of soil in, then tamp it down with the shovel handle end.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Priscilla is the best no spray eating apple that no one but me ever mentions. It beats Liberty hands down in taste and is equal or better in disease resistance.
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MonArk - out of the U.ofArk breeding program. Ripe here on the KY/TN line in early to mid-July. Big red-over-green apple with firm, crisp white flesh. Good for eating out-of-hand, drying, cooking. Will keep for 6-8 weeks under refrigeration before going mealy. Good disease resistance. Only drawback - if you consider it one - is a long ripening period, requiring repeated pickings or stop-drop application(commercial production).
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I'm not sold on Williams Pride yet either. My initial impression has not been good. Small knotty apples unfit for human consumption so far to date.
That is exactly what I have had also, it is on m111. The last two years have been very dry, I will give it at least another year. It will become a Priscilla if it doesn't shape up.
bigboreblr
5 year old buck +
Swampcat, what kind of soil do you have? And what zone are you in?
For those who have a backhoe, amending an entire mature tree rootbase is not alot of work. While I was doing some window hunting here, I was reading up on how to improve moisture retention in soils. Farmalnd and home are just fine, but my zone 3 sandy soil camp is very sandy. Some spots are organic runoff basins from the hills, some are 6 inches down from the topoil and it looks like you can make a sand castle.
I got rotting piles of fine wood chipper material used to make paper pulp, some are coarse chipper runs for stefanik's plywood mill. They use the material like driveway stone at times to get 18 wheelers in and out of spots.
I was reading you can use manure, compost, woodchips, and peat moss to improve water retention. Also, could spend a few bucks to find larger amount of pearlite or vermiculite. Maybe you can find someone who gets truclokads of that stuff to cut you a deal on a few 55 gallon drums of that stuff.
Dig out a hole, put the top, middle, and deeper middle layer in different piles. Mix in what you have to ammend. I'd fertilize and lime a bit too. Use a portable rortiller to mix it up as you go. Then put it back in the way you found it, deep, mid, then top. Tamp it down some with the bucket, atlest the deep stuff. Probably could do 3 or 4 tree site in an afternoon. Get em ready in the summer, let that fertilizer calm in. Then transplant that fall or next spring.
I told my cousin-in-law he can keep dropping off wood chips. The pile is starting to look like 2 triaxle loads now. Once the ground get frozen here in NY, I will take the kubota and spread most of it on my food plot. Will expand it to a 1/2 acre this spring.
For you rainfall challenged folks down south, I would plant 1 or 2 M111's, Dolgos, Antonovka, Domestic Apple, and Transcendent rootstocks. I wouldn't even graft them, or graft them all the same variety or two. See how they handle drought conditions in your soil.
Swampcat, I got younger trees, but I am pruning them well. Got some pristine, rkansas black, and granny smith if you want to try or give a 2nd take on them.
For those who have a backhoe, amending an entire mature tree rootbase is not alot of work. While I was doing some window hunting here, I was reading up on how to improve moisture retention in soils. Farmalnd and home are just fine, but my zone 3 sandy soil camp is very sandy. Some spots are organic runoff basins from the hills, some are 6 inches down from the topoil and it looks like you can make a sand castle.
I got rotting piles of fine wood chipper material used to make paper pulp, some are coarse chipper runs for stefanik's plywood mill. They use the material like driveway stone at times to get 18 wheelers in and out of spots.
I was reading you can use manure, compost, woodchips, and peat moss to improve water retention. Also, could spend a few bucks to find larger amount of pearlite or vermiculite. Maybe you can find someone who gets truclokads of that stuff to cut you a deal on a few 55 gallon drums of that stuff.
Dig out a hole, put the top, middle, and deeper middle layer in different piles. Mix in what you have to ammend. I'd fertilize and lime a bit too. Use a portable rortiller to mix it up as you go. Then put it back in the way you found it, deep, mid, then top. Tamp it down some with the bucket, atlest the deep stuff. Probably could do 3 or 4 tree site in an afternoon. Get em ready in the summer, let that fertilizer calm in. Then transplant that fall or next spring.
I told my cousin-in-law he can keep dropping off wood chips. The pile is starting to look like 2 triaxle loads now. Once the ground get frozen here in NY, I will take the kubota and spread most of it on my food plot. Will expand it to a 1/2 acre this spring.
For you rainfall challenged folks down south, I would plant 1 or 2 M111's, Dolgos, Antonovka, Domestic Apple, and Transcendent rootstocks. I wouldn't even graft them, or graft them all the same variety or two. See how they handle drought conditions in your soil.
Swampcat, I got younger trees, but I am pruning them well. Got some pristine, rkansas black, and granny smith if you want to try or give a 2nd take on them.
b116757
5 year old buck +
Generally I like Williams Pride apples their only drawback to me is they are a very early ripening apple well before any hunting season. Not a horrible yard tree you start getting a apples very early to munch on as long as your not cramped for room or looking for many apples ripe at the same time for processing into something else.
