In order to be hanging around here this year, the flowers had to survive the cold snap we had this spring. We had a low of 23 degrees during the blossom period.
My observations this year:
1. The flowering group ratings typically given to varieties are more like guidelines than rules once environmental effects like soil fertility, soil moisture, sun exposure, etc. get thrown in. Some of my group 4 trees blossomed earlier than some of my group 3 trees. One side of one of my group 5 trees blossomed earlier than both the group 3 and group 4 trees, and the other side of that group 5 tree blossomed later than them.
2. A minority of my group 3 and 4 trees have apples on them. A Haralson, a Braeburn, and a Fuji had a few apples and they were all severely deform. The other trees of those varieties had no apples. The Fuji dropped its last apple yesterday. The Braeburn is dropping in a trickle, with most of its apples still on the tree. The Haralson grew one apple. It is still hanging. I got no apples on any of my Honeycrisps.
3. One of my Honeygolds is growing directly underneath the canopy of very large tree. It wakes up from winter later than the rest of my Honeygolds. It grew apples and is still holding onto them. My other Honeygolds are bare.
4. My Romes (group 5) had apples, but dropped them all already, a month earlier than normal. Maybe that's because of the tough drought we had this summer.
5. The one Liberty I have grew one apple. That apple is no longer on it.
6. One of our Malus Domesticas always blossoms the last of any of our trees. It is loaded this year. Its apples taste pretty good to me.
7. The Dolgo seedling crabapples with blossoms that spanned multiple blossom group times have fewer apples than usual, but they are noticeably bigger than in other years. Each tree has a different drop pattern, such as virtually all at once, slow trickle during rut, or holds tight into winter.
My conclusion for what’s right for my situation:
Graft some rootstock with varieties that guys on here list as late-hanging people apples and also some others using scions from a crabapple tree that has a long or late blossom time, bears every year, and either drops during the time period I want deer to be at the tree, or holds onto its crabapples so the deer are attracted to smell of the apples still hanging on the tree. For what it’s worth, that’s what I did this March and just got my potted trees all in the ground this past week. Next year, I am planning to graft more of that late blooming Malus Domestica.
