Dolgo Hang Time

[4wanderingeyes]

I planted 3 last year, 2 of them had a bunch of apples last year, so I picked a bunch off. This year only 1 of the trees had apples, and it was like 8. I bought the trees when they were about 3/4 inch and about 6 feet tall.

 

[Diesel5610]

Some Dolgo pictures from today.

Those trees look identical to my trees. Same size and amount of apples I have on mine. Hoping they drop for the deer soon.

 

[rocksnstumps]

My one dolgo did not produce this year. Previously was done soon after Labor Day. Grafted tree from a nursery on unknown root stock planted on poor area of sandy loam so growth has been slow

 

[Diesel5610]

Checked my trees yesterday. Had 2-3 frosts and the Dolgos were about half dropped when I checked them yesterday. What a difference a week makes. They were last checked a week ago and were still hanging 100%. Bear ripped one more branch off , but past damage to these trees has resulted in the trees coming back strong so I am hoping this tree keeps on growing well. If these trees drop late october/early november that would be ideal for what I planted them for, which is for the deer and our deer season.

 

[PoorSand]

For one of my orchards, I ordered 150 apple rootstock of unspecified parentage 15 years ago and planted them just to see what would happen. To me, they look like variations of dolgo crab. This past fall, some dropped their fruit before the rut, some during the rut, some after, and some still haven’t dropped. None are as fruitful as my grafted trees though. Here’s a photo. (Pruning is outside the scope of my experiment in this particular orchard.)

 

[PoorSand]

My low investment of money was matched only by my low investment of time on this experiment, as I had other orchards already. To plant each one, I did nothing more than take a gravel shovel, make a slit in my coarse sand soil, stuff in the roots, and stomp the hole shut. I didn’t come back to fence them and put out mouse poison stations until the rut in November. The following spring, I mulched them for the first time. About 80% had survived their first year.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Crab apples that are in the 1/2" dia. size and up will def. attract deer. Don't let smaller fruit size disappoint you. We have crabs that size at camp and the deer have circular paths worn around them all during the fall. They eat the drops and nibble the ones they can reach, and browse the twigs within reach. Those trees are about 23 years old now and are a great addition to our property.

 

[Diesel5610]

Just an update on my Dolgos. They continued to hang and drop throughout November and were finally all off after the first week of December. I did not expect them to hang like that and it was a pleasant surprise. If they continue to do this every year, the crabapples are dropping the entire deer season here and should have deer checking these trees during season.

 

[sandbur]

My dolgo seedlings are still holding apples and attracting deer.

I don’t think a guy can go wrong to plant 25 of the dolgo seedlings or rootstock. Cold hardy and quite disease resistant. A few are bird crabs , but most are big enough for deer. Top work the bird crabs later on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Catscratch]

My Dolgo held until mid December... turned to mush on the tree. One day they were simply gone, I figure it was birds.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

^^^^ Cat - are your Dolgo's seedlings or grafted ??

 

[Catscratch]

^^^^ Cat - are your Dolgo's seedlings or grafted ??

Grafted... from The Wildlife Group.