2019 apple crops

[Bowsnbucks]

I was just mowing around all our apples and crabs at camp Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and I sprayed for bugs while there. We have good crops on some of our Liberty, Enterprise, Goldrush, Kerr, Ark. Black, Crimson Topaz, Winter Wildlife crab, Centurion crab, Dolgo crabs, Centennial crab, and the one wild apple seedling from SLN. The SLN seedling has a batch of green apples (green so far) on it the size of golf balls. Tree has good shape and good crotch angles. One Kieffer pear was loaded to the point of limbs bending down low, so I pulled a bunch of them off to avoid breakage or an easy lure for bears to rip the tree apart. It's more upright now. I pulled many apples to give more energy to the trees for growth. Our older trees are loaded this year too. The late-hanging green apple tree is polluted with apples. This is the one that some of you guys got scions from. A couple of our 20 yr. old crabs are hanging full too. Fruit is about 1 1/2" in dia. and greenish with red blush.

Our 2 Franklins are doing well - no fruit yet. The one is going crazy for 3rd leaf. It's about 7 ft. tall from a small whip of about 20" at planting !! The other is not far behind at 5 ft. No disease on either.

The Japs are out in force and have chomped the leaves on parts of trees. Some sort of caterpillars are laying siege to some of the trees. They're in large groups so they were easy to spray with Sevin and many started dropping dead right away. I even got the high ones - my pump sprayer will shoot a stream 15ft. up from the ground, so being higher gave the caterpillars no refuge !!

That's what's going on at our camp in the mountains.

 

[Native Hunter]

Great report Bows. Sounds like you will have plenty of fruit this year.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Nice write up Bowsnbucks.

I've got those same caterpillars that you do. Not sure what they are? Every year I get Red Headed Caterpillars that do some serious damage to my apples if I don't catch them in time. Those are usually a mid to late August pest though.

 

[PoorSand]

A storm last weekend thinned my crop quite a bit. And some of my trees got tipped. I'm working on pulling those back upright and hoping maybe they survive.

 

[sandbur]

A storm last weekend thinned my crop quite a bit. And some of my trees got tipped. I'm working on pulling those back upright and hoping maybe they survive.

Were the trees just bent or the footballs tipped also?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sandbur]

I was just mowing around all our apples and crabs at camp Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and I sprayed for bugs while there. We have good crops on some of our Liberty, Enterprise, Goldrush, Kerr, Ark. Black, Crimson Topaz, Winter Wildlife crab, Centurion crab, Dolgo crabs, Centennial crab, and the one wild apple seedling from SLN. The SLN seedling has a batch of green apples (green so far) on it the size of golf balls. Tree has good shape and good crotch angles. One Kieffer pear was loaded to the point of limbs bending down low, so I pulled a bunch of them off to avoid breakage or an easy lure for bears to rip the tree apart. It's more upright now. I pulled many apples to give more energy to the trees for growth. Our older trees are loaded this year too. The late-hanging green apple tree is polluted with apples. This is the one that some of you guys got scions from. A couple of our 20 yr. old crabs are hanging full too. Fruit is about 1 1/2" in dia. and greenish with red blush.

Our 2 Franklins are doing well - no fruit yet. The one is going crazy for 3rd leaf. It's about 7 ft. tall from a small whip of about 20" at planting !! The other is not far behind at 5 ft. No disease on either.

The Japs are out in force and have chomped the leaves on parts of trees. Some sort of caterpillars are laying siege to some of the trees. They're in large groups so they were easy to spray with Sevin and many started dropping dead right away. I even got the high ones - my pump sprayer will shoot a stream 15ft. up from the ground, so being higher gave the caterpillars no refuge !!

That's what's going on at our camp in the mountains.

I will bet that area looks great during bloom time.

My apple crop is about 60% of last year due to the cold winter.
Chestnuts, Red Baron, dolgo, centennial, Trailman,Zestar, Hazen, Almata, and Firecracker have fruit. Also winter red flesh, Kinderkrisp, Golden Hornet, ABC, Buckman crab, Big Dog have fruit, and a first apple or two on Norland.

One Of two Kerr took this summer off after two years of heavy production. Liberty is not producing much either.

I know I missed a few more. I have a single first apple on a Khazak tacked on a flowering crab and also one of the Nevis(ioensis) crosses has a few apples. It is tacked on a dolgo seedling.

I am wondering which I should save seed from this year? All are open pollinated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sandbur]

A storm last weekend thinned my crop quite a bit. And some of my trees got tipped. I'm working on pulling those back upright and hoping maybe they survive.

Were the trees just bent or the footballs tipped also?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Spell check converted rootballs to footballs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PoorSand]

The worst of them is leaning about 45 degrees. Another one planted in '98 is still upright, but has only a single limb left. Dolgo seedling trees were the best survivors overall, and held their fruit well. Red pines planted before the Great Depression were the clear losers. White pines older than those red pines took a pretty bad hit. So did the hundred year old Norway Spruce. Any pines planted less than sixty years ago look fine, though I suppose their roots got torn up a bit.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Thanks guys. I have to share a bit of info on our oldest Winter Wildlife crab. It's a 5th leaf tree and it's 17 to 18 ft. tall and well fruited. Crazy how fast those things grow. We have another WW crab that's 3rd leaf and it's right at 11 ft. tall from a 3 ft. whip. Our Violi's crab has a few apples on it this year and it's a great looking tree. Very little attention from Japs or other insects it seems. A few tiny brown spots on the leaves, but overall - it looks amazingly good.

We have ravens as well as crows around camp. I'm hoping those 2 varieties of thieves don't get ideas about our apples and crabs. Coons and opossums are other threats, too ………. and then there's bears. They'll be our biggest headache as these trees start to bear more in coming seasons. I'm hoping the acorns keep them in the woods !!

 

[chummer]

Thanks guys. I have to share a bit of info on our oldest Winter Wildlife crab. It's a 5th leaf tree and it's 17 to 18 ft. tall and well fruited. Crazy how fast those things grow. We have another WW crab that's 3rd leaf and it's right at 11 ft. tall from a 3 ft. whip. Our Violi's crab has a few apples on it this year and it's a great looking tree. Very little attention from Japs or other insects it seems. A few tiny brown spots on the leaves, but overall - it looks amazingly good.

We have ravens as well as crows around camp. I'm hoping those 2 varieties of thieves don't get ideas about our apples and crabs. Coons and opossums are other threats, too ………. and then there's bears. They'll be our biggest headache as these trees start to bear more in coming seasons. I'm hoping the acorns keep them in the woods !!

I lost my first tree to a bear last week. A 6 year old Trailman crab. It was staked and painted white, the bear snapped it in half at the 5’ mark. Worst thing is it didn’t even have any fruit on it. He did it for fun. Death warrant issued!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Chummer - Yep - the s.o.b.'s are inquisitive and playful in a destructive way. They tore up several poly tarps I had laid just on the tops of wood piles at camp. They grab them with their teeth and run with them. I don't know if the noise from the dragging, flapping tarps makes them run farther - but I've found the tarps quite a ways away from the wood piles. I hope you get your bear, Chummer. I'm hoping to see one in our combined archery season this fall. It'll become bologna rings in short order !!

 

[sandbur]

Thanks guys. I have to share a bit of info on our oldest Winter Wildlife crab. It's a 5th leaf tree and it's 17 to 18 ft. tall and well fruited. Crazy how fast those things grow. We have another WW crab that's 3rd leaf and it's right at 11 ft. tall from a 3 ft. whip. Our Violi's crab has a few apples on it this year and it's a great looking tree. Very little attention from Japs or other insects it seems. A few tiny brown spots on the leaves, but overall - it looks amazingly good.

We have ravens as well as crows around camp. I'm hoping those 2 varieties of thieves don't get ideas about our apples and crabs. Coons and opossums are other threats, too ………. and then there's bears. They'll be our biggest headache as these trees start to bear more in coming seasons. I'm hoping the acorns keep them in the woods !!

Still no fruit on my violi’s.

I know I asked before, but what were the results of the taste test on WWC?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Appleman]

Spent the day bear proofing apple trees at my friends dear camp in the mountains near Jay Peak Vermont

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Bur, post #12 - I sampled a couple WWC before. Tart and astringent, mainly, but a touch of sweetness too. I like a tart apple though. Not a grocery store "sweet" flavor. I tried them in October - maybe they get sweeter with a frost or 2 ?? The 1" size doesn't give you much of a bite to savor !!

You mentioned your Violi's. I hope to get a chance to try a Violi's this early fall before critters get them. We had a few fruits on it before but something got to them & I didn't get to try them. Maybe this will be the year.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Appleman - Our apple trees aren't big enough to hang tires from - yet. I wish they were. Your pix show some pretty good bear deterrent.

 

[Rit]

I lost my first tree to a bear last week. A 6 year old Trailman crab. It was staked and painted white, the bear snapped it in half at the 5’ mark. Worst thing is it didn’t even have any fruit on it. He did it for fun. Death warrant issued!

He did it for fun.... I got a good laugh out of that.

 

[Rit]

Good update BB but if I must complain a little where are the pictures?

 

[chickenlittle]

Didn't get good fruitset this year but my trees are all still quite young, started spring of 2015. Here are my 3 best. A Liberty, a golden hornet, and puget spice crab.

Liberty - 2015 Cummins tree on B118. First time with a decent crop in this tree. Top was tipped over so I knocked off the apples off there after the photo.

Puget Spice Crab - bunches of small crabs. 3rd year tree from Cummins. Wish it would put on more wood but its on G222. Leaves tore up by Jap beetles. They really knocked my Goldrush too


Golden Hornet - a 2016 bench graft on B118. Not much branching but loaded with crabs up and down the central leader.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Rit, post #17 - I need to get some recent pix of our trees …………..... and then get someone to show me how to get the pix off the camera and onto here. My wife even tried to get them on here a few times before and they just didn't transfer. I can wire a factory, shopping mall, hospital, school, or power plant, ……… but this digital camera stuff isn't my forte. I have a whole series of pix from earlier years of the apple trees and food plots too.

 

[Charman03]

Rit, post #17 - I need to get some recent pix of our trees …………..... and then get someone to show me how to get the pix off the camera and onto here. My wife even tried to get them on here a few times before and they just didn't transfer. I can wire a factory, shopping mall, hospital, school, or power plant, ……… but this digital camera stuff isn't my forte. I have a whole series of pix from earlier years of the apple trees and food plots too.

If your camera has a card just put that into the computer slot. Transfer pics to computer then upload here