Apple tree selection help

Nova

5 year old buck +
This fall the MDHA(Minnesota deer hunter association) will be having an apple tree sale. Here are the varieties they are offering. I am going to buy 3 of them, thinking 3 different kinds. Which should I get for west central MN on sandy loam high ground with decent PH throughout. Right now I am thinking one Dolgo, one Haralred and one more, but you guys are the experts.

Frostbite, Haralred, Gravenstein, Norland, Statefair, Zestar, Malus Dolgo Crabapples
 
Buy chestnut crab if they have it.
Are you interested in ripening times for the deer? Grafted dolgo is about Labor Day for me. Chestnut crab follows over about the next three weeks. Haralred or haralson would follow that. From what I hear, Norland will be before dolgo.

Dolgo seedlings can be all over the board.

At the state winter meeting there was confusion over availability of apples.


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Buy chestnut crab if they have it.
Are you interested in ripening times for the deer? Grafted dolgo is about Labor Day for me. Chestnut crab follows over about the next three weeks. Haralred or haralson would follow that. From what I hear, Norland will be before dolgo.

Dolgo seedlings can be all over the board.

At the state winter meeting there was confusion over availability of apples.


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I hope they do get chestnut crab, but that isn't on the preliminary list. There is still some discussion on availability.
 
A nursery in Otter Tail County near Parkers Prairie was high on Fireside. He bragged about it for 10 minutes, many reasons he liked it...survival, toughness, cold tolerance apples/amount and size, etc...

We planted (2) this past spring
 
Statefair and Zestar are earlier apples. Farmers market by me had some before Labor day. Found out the guy was only 3-4 miles from where I live, zone 5a. Can change a bit from year to year though He felt things were early this year at that time. Course another orchard bout 10 miles other way the Cortlands were right about normal with first ones just past mid Sept.

Another early apple I tried was Deacon or Beacon?? before the Zestar. Didnt like it at all. Soft and not much flavor.
 
Take a look at Frostbite, I have two of them on my place in OTC and they are hardy and a heavy producer of slightly smaller apples. The trees are disease free, juicy and tasty. The apples don't have a complex flavor like a HC but are juicy and sweet.
 
Take a look at Frostbite, I have two of them on my place in OTC and they are hardy and a heavy producer of slightly smaller apples. The trees are disease free, juicy and tasty. The apples don't have a complex flavor like a HC but are juicy and sweet.

Cedar Apple rust seems to hit Frostbite for me, unless I spray.


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Cedar Apple rust seems to hit Frostbite for me, unless I spray.


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Does the tree still produce good crops of apples?

I believe you have allot of red cedar near you? I don't have allot of problems with CAR but I don't have many cedar near me.

It's been a great tree for me and is very cold tolerant.
 
Cedar Apple rust seems to hit Frostbite for me, unless I spray.


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What do you spray for CAR and when?
 
Does the tree still produce good crops of apples?

I believe you have allot of red cedar near you? I don't have allot of problems with CAR but I don't have many cedar near me.

It's been a great tree for me and is very cold tolerant.

I am going to have to t
Take a look at Frostbite, I have two of them on my place in OTC and they are hardy and a heavy producer of slightly smaller apples. The trees are disease free, juicy and tasty. The apples don't have a complex flavor like a HC but are juicy and sweet.

I will have to try a couple Frostbite
 
I just got a picture of the trees they got last year. They are bare root, but the things are huge!IMG_1107.JPG
 
That's crazy to let bareroot trees sit out like that. I would request a refund if that's how my trees were handled. Those roots look bone dry.
 
Wow relax guys, this was taken as they were sorting the trees. They were promptly covered with burlap and watered once the sorting was done. The survival rate on the trees was over 90% last year.
 
I just got a picture of the trees they got last year. They are bare root, but the things are huge!View attachment 20754

I don’t think the roots should be laying out in the air like that.


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Cedar Apple rust seems to hit Frostbite for me, unless I spray.


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Does the tree still produce good crops of apples?

I believe you have allot of red cedar near you? I don't have allot of problems with CAR but I don't have many cedar near me.

It's been a great tree for me and is very cold tolerant.

I had apples last year, even with CAR.


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Cedar Apple rust seems to hit Frostbite for me, unless I spray.


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What do you spray for CAR and when?

I am not an expert by a long ways. This is the first year I sprayed.
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I just got a picture of the trees they got last year. They are bare root, but the things are huge!View attachment 20754


I saw the dont worry guys they were promptly covered statement,,,, but this is just plain bad news, an off the charts horrible way to treat roots - they start to dry out in seconds especially in sun light and if there was any breeze :-( let alone laying them out on blacktop exposed like that, you simple could not mist enough water on them to keep them out of root shock. Keeping the roots moist is the one thing you can control - Im sorry but I would be pissed to see that the trees I got had been handled that way. There is enough stress on them from cutting and lifting them out of the beds and the whole cold storage process add more handling and shipping stress by the time the trees are getting to you their always in need of TLC. They all look like they have great root systems for bare root trees and those finer roots are really susceptible to induced root shock. I hate to harp but the pic of those trees laid out like that stopped me cold in my tracks.
 
I've never seen trees / roots exposed like that.

I would arrest those guys.......That is criminal .......

bill
 
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