Apples, If you were to pick just 3

[Bowsnbucks]

Dolgo's ARE an early fruiting crab - but a good appetizer for the deer to start coming to your place, and then looking for other goodies. By planning our apple & crab ripening times, any of us can keep the deer coming back throughout the season.

My camp has a couple Dolgo's - and we're glad we have 'em! Tasty too.

 

[BuckSutherland]

The more I read about apple varieties, the more I get overwhelmed. I'm looking for just a couple varieties with drop times to cover October through December. This would be in a no spray, little to no prune situation. Northwest PA, zone 5.
I have a few planted from Bluehill, but they are young. I also have some dolgo rootstock planted that I plan to graft this coming season. If you were to concentrate on a couple varieties, what would they be?

I planted 5 common wild apple trees late April of 2021. I bought them from the University of Idaho Pitkin Nursery. They were about 12-16" tall at the time of planting. In 2021, we had extreme drought. I probably gave those seedlings 25 gallons of water each all summer. Last year (2022) was below average rainfall as well. This year we are back into severe drought and getting close to going back into extreme. I haven't watered those trees since 2021.


One of them is the biggest over achiever in the woods. Its diameter is very impressive for a tree that has only been in the ground for about 28 months. The central leader is about 9 feet and its pushing out really nice lateral branches. Has all the makings of a great tree. No idea if it will produce fruit or not, but I wanted to try something cheap with all the bears we have. I paid $2.70+ shipping for the trees, about $4 for the tube, $4 for a weed mat, staples, and mulch. My buddy gave me the T post for taking down his barbed wire fence.


I threw a 5 foot cage around it this weekend and added some rock around the base of the tube. Also spread a little gypsum around the perimeter of the weed mat and added another bag of mulch. I have a few other apple trees and SWO that I planted there this spring and hopefully the little patch of clover I sprayed and seeded here will give all of them a little boost. Plan to cut the tube down and prune that tree after hunting season.

 

[SwampCat]

Another concern in the south where it is hot and dry is water. The sooner the fruit matures - the less the watering. Late fruiting varieties can be killers - or end up with poor crops because of lack of water

 

[paleopoint]

For apples....not crabs....and depending upon your climate/growing zone.....well, for me, it would be Goldrush, Liberty, Fuji. I have many others...some I grafted some I bought. Some are really really good.

But for down and dirty simplicity ....those three work on my deer-dirt.

 

[Foggy47]

I planted about 15 apple, crab apple and plum trees of several varieties about 15 years ago. I suppose 1/2 of them have survived. I did plant them correctly and screened the trunks and put 2x4 by 5 foot high cages around the trees. For a year or so....we made sure the weeds were not too thick around the bases.....and then let them go. Forgot the varieties long ago. The ones that survived are putting out pretty good fruit now. Some are pretty tasty.

The trees no longer need the cages. I suppose I have 10 or 12 heavy duty wire cages around those trees still. All were about 9 feet diameter.....IIRC. I want to keep (or sell) the T-posts.....but would give the wire to someone willing to come after it. 10 miles north of Brainerd MN.

 

[BuckSutherland]

^^^^

You think there would be a decent way to haul that wire in the back of a truck?? I probably wouldnt have time to come and get it until after rifle season and I dont know if its worth the trouble or not. I would put it to good use if I could get it to my land in Cass county easy enough.

 

[Foggy47]

^^^^

You think there would be a decent way to haul that wire in the back of a truck?? I probably wouldnt have time to come and get it until after rifle season and I dont know if its worth the trouble or not. I would put it to good use if I could get it to my land in Cass county easy enough.

Not real sure if you could stack relatively flat and try to then ball all the wire together to place it in the truck. Be better on a trailer I think. Are you near Walker? I wont be around after rifle season. September or in Spring?

 

[BuckSutherland]

I live west of the metro. My land is up north of Remer. I come through your area often, but RARELY in Sept or Oct. Next spring would work for me.

 

[bigboreblr]

Teeder,

You get any trees in for 2023. Order any for 2024?

Learned a few things since this post was started . Disease resistance is only part of the picture. Insect resistance is as important if not more. I do spray my trees monthly, if mother nature doesnt want to rain all month...... Whitetail crabs crossbow didn't get a bit of a nibble. It seemd the more disease resistance a tree was touted at my home, the more the beetles ate it. Ants can be a problem too. My crossbow is in a corenr of the orchard by my camp wood pile. Ants don't seem to bother it much, but they might be more into the woodpile. Pristine and redfield weren't bother much either. Don't want to recommend redfield yet, I grafted the tree myself and caged it in a small 8 inch diameter cage. The bird perched on it alot and pooped on the leaves alot. I ditched the small cage in august and the tree started to take off much better. Not a nibble on it from insects or ants. However, that tree I didn't rototill and open up a 6-8ft wide down to 3ft deep cone and ammend it. Lack of tilling could be an ant detterance. The better I prepped the spot, the better the tree did. I added 2.5 gal buckets in late august. I drilled a 1/4" hole. The trees I watered with the slow 10-15 minute rleease did better. Saw more new young shoots on them.

Also, no mntion of pears on here. I have keiffer bartlet, and a late season pear call gin pear. They all grew well, and were not othered by insects and ants like the apples did. There's a few good deer hunting pears out there. Mine were planted for 2 legged eating. The gin pear the deer will likely enjoy in november, but planted them for hard cider addition. Pears have a non-dermentable sugar called sorbitol. It keeps the hard cider sweet after fermenting, not a fan of dry ciders.

 

[sandbur]

I live west of the metro. My land is up north of Remer. I come through your area often, but RARELY in Sept or Oct. Next spring would work for me.

I am considering removing some of my fencing next summer. I will let you know if I get it done.

 

[homerj]

Pears have a non-dermentable sugar called sorbitol. It keeps the hard cider sweet after fermenting, not a fan of dry ciders.

You must not have had the pleasure of drinking any perry yet. Perry makes dry cider seem sweet.

 

[Teeder]

Teeder,

You get any trees in for 2023. Order any for 2024?

Learned a few things since this post was started . Disease resistance is only part of the picture. Insect resistance is as important if not more. I do spray my trees monthly, if mother nature doesnt want to rain all month...... Whitetail crabs crossbow didn't get a bit of a nibble. It seemd the more disease resistance a tree was touted at my home, the more the beetles ate it. Ants can be a problem too. My crossbow is in a corenr of the orchard by my camp wood pile. Ants don't seem to bother it much, but they might be more into the woodpile. Pristine and redfield weren't bother much either. Don't want to recommend redfield yet, I grafted the tree myself and caged it in a small 8 inch diameter cage. The bird perched on it alot and pooped on the leaves alot. I ditched the small cage in august and the tree started to take off much better. Not a nibble on it from insects or ants. However, that tree I didn't rototill and open up a 6-8ft wide down to 3ft deep cone and ammend it. Lack of tilling could be an ant detterance. The better I prepped the spot, the better the tree did. I added 2.5 gal buckets in late august. I drilled a 1/4" hole. The trees I watered with the slow 10-15 minute rleease did better. Saw more new young shoots on them.

Also, no mntion of pears on here. I have keiffer bartlet, and a late season pear call gin pear. They all grew well, and were not othered by insects and ants like the apples did. There's a few good deer hunting pears out there. Mine were planted for 2 legged eating. The gin pear the deer will likely enjoy in november, but planted them for hard cider addition. Pears have a non-dermentable sugar called sorbitol. It keeps the hard cider sweet after fermenting, not a fan of dry ciders.

Between last year and this coming order, I'll end up with 2-4 each of:
Chestnut
Kerr
October crab
Yates
Empire
Enterprise
Arkansas Black
Gold rush
Candy Crab
Buckman
Turning point
Golden russett

So much for going for "3"!

I'm not sure what's going on with my Kerr's, but they aren't doing well, with the exception of one that I grafted myself, that's doing well. Everything else look great, especially Yates.

 

[Teeder]

Bumping this up to see if anything is new.
Our deer season ended Saturday, so I went out to move some cameras around yesterday and walked through my apple plot. I can't get over how well some of my grafts did! These were on dolgo rootstock that were planted the year before. I grafted about 6-8" off the ground. The Yates and Candy crab are over 6' tall now! Those 2 are by far the best growers for me, whether the planted trees or grafts. Next best would be Turning point, Empire and Golden Russet, Arkansas Blacks. The Kerr continue to disappoint. I probably won't do anything more with them, especially since the Yates are over-achieving.

 

[bigboreblr]

How many times did you give Kerr a try? I did most of my young trrees in Kerr. They were mostly gratfed on anontovka that rabbits girdled. 7 out of 12 grafted. 2 died all together. Ones that took put on atleast 3ft of growth. Part of my grafting issue was putting 3 or 4 grafts on. Most of these rootstocks were in for a year and about an index finger big around. I think I have enough trees for what I need. Atleast 1 or 2 in every spot where I want some trees.

I know nurseries sometimes graft crab and applecrabs on certain rootstock v their normal one. St LAwrence does that with a few varieties, they use siberian crab. Sandbur loves his kerr. I thought he like dolgo over at his location.

 

[TenPoint]

Kerr crabs are tasty little buggers.

 

[Mortenson]

It's said Kerr are naturally dwarfing. What will become of a Kerr on dolgo or anty roots?

 

[TenPoint]

I have Kerr on P18. It's a smaller tree for sure.

 

[Teeder]

How many times did you give Kerr a try? I did most of my young trrees in Kerr. They were mostly gratfed on anontovka that rabbits girdled. 7 out of 12 grafted. 2 died all together. Ones that took put on atleast 3ft of growth. Part of my grafting issue was putting 3 or 4 grafts on. Most of these rootstocks were in for a year and about an index finger big around. I think I have enough trees for what I need. Atleast 1 or 2 in every spot where I want some trees.

I know nurseries sometimes graft crab and applecrabs on certain rootstock v their normal one. St LAwrence does that with a few varieties, they use siberian crab. Sandbur loves his kerr. I thought he like dolgo over at his location.

I have about 6 Kerr, all on dolgo. Some I bought that way, some I grafted.

 

[bigboreblr]

Only 3........... Impossible.......

I have been tempted to put a thread for 2 trees a month. Good apples for each month of the late summer / fall

August. Pristine / Redfree
September Chestnut / Kerr
October Liberty / Freedom
November Enterprise / Redfield
December Sundance / Galarina

Something like this can be quite realistic. Some of us keep getting more and more trees. But, some backyard hunters / gomesteader types typically have somewhere around 6-10 trees. This also keeps deer interested in the spot throughout hunting season, for us venison farmers.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Only 3........... Impossible.......

I have been tempted to put a thread for 2 trees a month. Good apples for each month of the late summer / fall

August. Pristine / Redfree
September Chestnut / Kerr
October Liberty / Freedom
November Enterprise / Redfield
December Sundance / Galarina

Something like this can be quite realistic. Some of us keep getting more and more trees. But, some backyard hunters / gomesteader types typically have somewhere around 6-10 trees. This also keeps deer interested in the spot throughout hunting season, for us venison farmers.

Now I have to look into Pristine, Redfree and Sundance…(the only ones I don’t have on your list ;)