Honeycrisp Health

J B

5 year old buck +
I made the mistake of planting some honeycrisp apples awhile back. I prune them every year, but I have never sprayed them besides a rare tent caterpillar nest. I really don’t want to do a full spray program on any of my trees. We have enough trees that there are plenty for us and the deer already. The honeycrisp are by far the unhealthiest apple trees that we have. Are they calcium deficient? I read somewhere that someone was adding copper or something to help with honeycrisp health. What are you guys doing to help your honeycrisp? Thanks!
 
My Honeycrisp are not as vigorous as my other varieties. That's just the way it is at my place, but I really like their drop time.

The main thing for the little ones at my place is to spray them with insecticide when the gypsy moth caterpillars start showing up. For whatever reason, those caterpillars prefer Honeycrisp over anything else I am growing.

Regarding calcium, I don't know what your soil type or pH are. My soil is naturally acidic and it is coarse sand. I spread three tons of lime per acre under my trees and the pH in the root zone neutralizes over time. That also provides the tree with plenty of calcium. On heavier soil, the effects of lime don't percolate down nearly as fast and it takes a heavier dose of lime to neutralize the soil acidity.
 
I made the mistake of planting some honeycrisp apples awhile back. I prune them every year, but I have never sprayed them besides a rare tent caterpillar nest. I really don’t want to do a full spray program on any of my trees. We have enough trees that there are plenty for us and the deer already. The honeycrisp are by far the unhealthiest apple trees that we have. Are they calcium deficient? I read somewhere that someone was adding copper or something to help with honeycrisp health. What are you guys doing to help your honeycrisp? Thanks!

I cut my Honeycrisp down and gave up on them. I would have a few beautiful apples and they seemed like a bug magnet.

I have less problems with kinderkrisp and they taste as good to me.


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Yeah, my one HC on Dolgo started out fast. But has stunted the last 2 years. Dont fertilize any wildlife trees, but this one will get a double shot this year to try and kickstart. Plan to use a liquid micro fert and humid acid.

Still growing limbs and waterspouts. Just no leader movement.
 
Yep, buy a liquid calcium for foliar application. Also contains other helpful micro nutrients in it as well. I started doing that last year.
 
Yep, buy a liquid calcium for foliar application. Also contains other helpful micro nutrients in it as well. I started doing that last year.
Silver- did you see good results right away the first year? Thanks!
 
I planted a few from seed a few years ago in containers in my backyard

They grew to 8-10 inches very rapidly and looked great!!

Then one day i walked out and they looked like they had been struck with blood ,frogs,gnats,flies,boils, hail, locusts ,and every imaginable plague from apple tree hell

......lessons learned

bill
 
What would I do to help my Honeycrisp?

Well I don't have one, but if I did I would topwork it to help it out........
 
It seems as though everyone but me hates Honeycrisp. I have over a hundred of them and love them. Their drop times by me are really good. I guess it may all depend on growing conditions and expectations. I have another sixty in my cooler right now, waiting for the frost to go out.
 
I don’t hate the honeycrisp Apple itself nor the tree - just more work than every other tree I have to satisfy. You can’t beat a honeycrisp Apple grown in a MN or WI climate. The Washington state grown HCs are garbage and have no taste.
 
I've got two and they are doing as well as the other apples. I don't spray just lightly prune and fertilize with triple 12 or similar once or twice in spring.
 
I have not experienced a any issues with Honeycrisp. I use dormant oil, but nothing else. I had my first apples last year. Hopefully more apples to come.
 
I have not experienced a any issues with Honeycrisp. I use dormant oil, but nothing else. I had my first apples last year. Hopefully more apples to come.

What rootstock are you using for them?


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This is what I started to apply with my regular spray program if anyone was wondering or wanted to look into it.


Calcium uptake via plant leaves is very poor. It is an immobile nutrient and will not move through the plant if it is taken up via the leaves. Your money would be better spent on a soil applied treatment to ensure root uptake.

Source if you don't believe me: https://ipm.missouri.edu/MPG/2019/4...irly tightly held,much upon entering the leaf.
 
Calcium uptake via plant leaves is very poor. It is an immobile nutrient and will not move through the plant if it is taken up via the leaves. Your money would be better spent on a soil applied treatment to ensure root uptake.

Source if you don't believe me: https://ipm.missouri.edu/MPG/2019/4/foliarFeeding/#:~:text=Examples of fairly tightly held,much upon entering the leaf.

I don't know, but I read through the entire article and it doesn't say not to do what I am doing. My 2.5 gallon jug is already bought and paid for and it goes into the same tank I am already spraying with. I figure for $40, I have a lifetime supply of this stuff and takes me no extra time except for adding it into my tank. I can guarantee it's doing more good than doing nothing at all.
 
Silver- did you see good results right away the first year? Thanks!
I missed you're question earlier, sorry. I will be able tell results more this year I think. I sprayed an older (12 years old or so) HC tree all of last year that would produce 8 apples on a good year - most years it had 0 apples. If it puts out apples like it should based on it's size this year finally then I will conclude that this liquid calcium helped out.
 
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I don't know, but I read through the entire article and it doesn't say not to do what I am doing. My 2.5 gallon jug is already bought and paid for and it goes into the same tank I am already spraying with. I figure for $40, I have a lifetime supply of this stuff and takes me no extra time except for adding it into my tank. I can guarantee it's doing more good than doing nothing at all.


Here is the relevant part of the article:
On the other hand, larger molecules and ions with greater positive charges tend to stay fairly close to their point-of-entry as they adhere to the negatively-charged cell walls. Examples of fairly tightly held (immobile) nutrients include calcium (Ca++), iron (Fe++), manganese (Mn++), zinc (Zn++), and copper (Cu++).

Therefore, when applied as foliar fertilizers, elements with strong positive charges such as calcium do not move much upon entering the leaf. Accordingly, elements such as phosphorous which are negatively charged are slow to enter the leaf. Both are relatively immobile after gaining entry.


Nearly any article you can find on foliar feeding with calcium will/should have similar language. The point shouldn't be for you to find a clear sign saying "don't do this". Your cost for that product may already be sunk but I'm speaking up because I don't want anyone else to be wasting their money, or applying a fertilizer product incorrectly.

To be fair, there are several liquid calcium products out there, and unfortunately many do not clearly state that foliar uptake of calcium is almost useless.
 
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