What Bud Stage are your Apples at?

[Turkey Creek]

Pristine has some of the largest blossoms of any variety I have growing.



Maslin in my tall spindle.

 

[aerospacefarmer]

Love those JNC turkey. Mine are loaded this year so am hoping for great harvest. They are awesome apples

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I just got back from planting trees. I checked out some of the previously planted apple trees, they were in varying stages from barely breaking silver bud to tight clusters. With forecasts this coming week with snow, and lows of 26 degrees.


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[Maya]

I just got back from planting trees. I checked out some of the previously planted apple trees, they were in varying stages from barely breaking silver bud to tight clusters. With forecasts this coming week with snow, and lows of 26 degrees.


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That sucks!

 

[Maya]

TC, great pics, thanks for sharing.

Got out in the tall spindle for an hour and a half to bend branches yesterday. Pretty sore when I got in, but feel good today! Enlisted some cheap labor and we got through 800 or so trees. Looks like I'm going to have a snowball bloom out there in a couple weeks!!!

 

[Maya]

Bows, this one's for you...........

 

[buckvelvet]

Paula Red or any of the older early apples have had their pink slips handed to them by Zestar!. I've got a line of people waiting to get them at the farmers market in late August. Two other venders that sell Paula Red's have the little old ladies that always bought them, by them, but that's it.

Taste is of course subjective, but I think if I grew PR's, 99% of my customers would buy Zestar!'s over PR's.

I'd like to try Opalescent. I thought it was an old UK variety?

Looks like a gorgeous day ahead of us here today. I'll definately get out and get some pics. Going to try and train a few branches before the leaves start popping. Hopefully a friend is coming over and we can get it done today. I'll try not to over do it! Dr. said it would be ok, just go slow and for short durations. Also my barn is going up starting Wednesday!!!

Let's see some pics!

Nope Opalescent is the only 1 besides PR we can claim as our own here in MI. I haven't tried either but I will probably graft them both next year because they are from here. I'm not a commercial guy so I don't care what 'customers' think. :)

I bet the deer will still eat 'em if I don't.

I've never had a Zestar! either, I purposely avoid the store apples as I want to wait to taste them off my own trees. Just a few more years, can't wait!

 

[landlubber]

I'm itching to check my fruit trees this coming weekend. Been 3 weeks since I've seen them. I've got 4 apples (gala, macintosh) and two pears total. The macintosh and pears have been in the ground for 4 years now. I planted 2 gala apples 3 weeks ago. Dad said one of the galas was in full bloom now and the other was still just in bud stage. I'm a little perplexed as to why two galas planted at the same time are in such different stages but it doesn't sound as if the one lagging is dead. Home Depot has a 1 year guarantee though. I couldn't pass them up for $19.96/ea.

 

[greyphase]

A couple of southern heirloom apples trees on B9 on my trellis.
Aunt Rachel

Swiss Limbertwig.

#5 Crab. Just a deer crab but the prettiest blooms on the homestead.

Not apple pics but a few bird pics from the Back40 orchard.
Tree Swallows.

Bluebird.

And a salamander in the vernal pond.

 

[landlubber]

Very cool greyphase. I built a "bluebird house" for my backyard 2 hears ago. No bluebirds have used it but other birds seem to enjoy it. Oddly enough I had a robin build a nest inside the blue spruce within 3' of the "bluebird house."

 

[Maya]

Right outside my kitchen window greyphase....

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Maya - Thanks for the pic of the Idared row !!! I still have some in my cold garage from last fall and they're still firm. They keep like " a bag of rocks ", as the one orchard owner I get 'em from says !! Great apples.

We have bluebird boxes at camp too. The bluebirds and tree swallows have used them readily. Those birds eat the insects in our orchard. It's cool to see up-close pix of them that you guys posted.

 

[Maya]

Landlubber, in general in my orchards Gala will bloom 5 days to a week behind Macs. But you mentioned one of the two Galas you just planted is blooming? Blooming in the first year is a little odd, unless HD had them hanging around for a couple years or the nursery that sold them to HD sold them something they didn't sell the year before. They may have been taken out of cold storage at different times too.

Now it's not uncommon for them to blossom a few days apart, especially in young trees. Bud stage is actually several different stages. Where are you located? My Gala's are at tight cluster, right before you see some pink. Here's a chart showing critical temps at fruit development stages. It shows the different bud stages.

http://msue.anr.msu.edu/uploads/files/PictureTableofFruitFreezeDamageThresholds.pdf

 

[landlubber]

Thanks for the input Maya. The trees are in Central/NE Ohio. I'll be sure and take pictures of them this weekend when I'm at the farm so I can share. I'm relaying what my dad passed on to me as I didn't see them firsthand.

Also, before I looked at your link I was completely ignorant to the actual stages of fruit development.

 

[Barndog56]

No blooms on apples yet, but pears have started.

Ayers


Either a Kieffer or Bartlett, can't remember which one is which.

 

[Maya]

I know this is major overkill for most of you, but I have never seen such full beautiful buds on my trees. It's all because I started a nutrition program w/ Crop Production Services. I have a rep that I work with and we go through everything together from doing soil samples, to analysis, to amendments on a long term basis. I'm spending way more time on nutrition than ever before but it appears to be paying off in spades! I'm expecting a huge jump in production this year. I would really suggest guys like TC and Appleman look into it.

My take home message for everyone else, don't overlook orchard nutrition. We definitely don't talk about it enough. Trees use up a lot of nutrients while producing apples and most soils do not provide all or even near what trees need for good production. I'm certainly not suggesting you call CPS, but I am saying we should be discussing it more so we all get the most out of our habitat trees.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I started working with a crop rep from Agro-K last year and I was happy with my results thus far. I am by no means producing fruit at a level that you are. Currently just experimenting for the long term goals of mine so that in a couple of years I will be prepared to step up to the next level of production if I continue down the same road.

 

[buckvelvet]

Is all the stuff you feed the trees in pellet form or is some liquidized? I don't know if I can afford to do more than just my pellet application of fert or not as I'm just doing it for fun.

 

[Maya]

Is all the stuff you feed the trees in pellet form or is some liquidized? I don't know if I can afford to do more than just my pellet application of fert or not as I'm just doing it for fun.

Liquid drench to orchard floor and foliar spray. Again, as I said, "I know this is major overkill for most of you", but my point is, don't overlook it. Most everyone here is spending quite a bit of money on trees, and we talk ad nauseum about purchasing, grafting, planting, cages, etc., but not much bout nutrition. I'm just suggesting we should talk more about it, because it will pay dividends. What is best for you, that's for you to decide.

I started working with a crop rep from Agro-K last year and I was happy with my results thus far. I am by no means producing fruit at a level that you are. Currently just experimenting for the long term goals of mine so that in a couple of years I will be prepared to step up to the next level of production if I continue down the same road.

That's great. I was just mentioning you because good nutrition certainly helps trees in early years too, and a good service like Agro-K or CPS would be of help to your business imo. Man I hope you get a great business going! Fun to hear others doing well.

 

[Maya]

Yeeaaaahh, barn kit is here! 16 X 30" w/ an 8' overhang in the front and a loft inside. This will be a ciderhouse and for apple equipment storage.