Feeding deer with apples-maya, wooduck, and others

[sandbur]

Two questions-please answer and also indicate your USDA zone.

1. What is you earliest dropping, apple variety that is commercially available?

2. What is your latest hanging apple variety and when does it drop?

The purpose of this thread is to extend the period of feeding deer as early and as late as possible in the various USDA zones.

 

[sandbur]

In my location at the edge of zone 3 and 4, NW Greening has been my latest hanging apple other than an occasional apple on other trees.

A local apple grower with about 200 trees says his earliest apple for harvest is Norland and it was completely hardy after the 2013-2014 winter.

I also have a client well down into zone 4 (Paynesville area of Minnesota) that has a whitney crab that drops in early August. This tree is on a SE slope and did drop ripe apples at the end of July in one year.

 

[Maya]

Early's for me ( zone 4/5, I'm right on the border, but hit 4b temps the last 2 years) are Pristine which drop in mid to late August, especially when over cropped. They are very biannual bearing though if you do not thin them. Nothing else early is very disease resistant and I wouldn't recommend growing for deer. Initial matures in mid August but hangs thru September and into Oct. Late drops are Enterprise, Galarina and Liberty which I've had some hang thru November and into December. Probably Galarina is the latest hanger. All four are nice DR trees too and great for deer trees. Also Indian crabs hold all winter, but I don't get a ton of deer usage. Turkeys hit them good though.

Here's a maturity chart, that can give you a general idea of when they MAY start to drop. (note, it's for southern Penn.) Any long stemmed apples such as Gala will hang much longer than the maturity dates. Apples like Macoun (one of my favorite apples) with there short stems will prop very quickly once mature. I don't know of a drop chart.

http://www.acnursery.com/maturity_chart.pdf

 

[Lot2Learn]

Maya's post got me thinking; I don't have a Pristine (but should get one), but I do have a Williams Pride. My tree is still young, so I can't really offer too much in the way of personal experience, but it's another early DR apple.

This chart lists it as maturing at the same time as Pristine: http://bit.ly/17rUJJb . I see it generally listed as a Zone 4 apple.

I also note on that chart that Centennial Crab matures at the same time. You may already have one, but that's a U of Minnesota product that I see listed as a zone 3 apple. I believe Greyphase has a mature Centennial Crab; maybe he'll comment on whether he'd recommend it.

 

[greyphase]

L2L
Yes I would recommend the Centennial Crab as both a deer crab and a great tasting eating crab. Mine has been a reliable producer and fairly disease free. Here in southcentral Pa it drops late-july to late-august.

 

[CrazyEd]

Pr

Maya's post got me thinking; I don't have a Pristine (but should get one), but I do have a Williams Pride. My tree is still young, so I can't really offer too much in the way of personal experience, but it's another early DR apple.

This chart lists it as maturing at the same time as Pristine: http://bit.ly/17rUJJb . I see it generally listed as a Zone 4 apple.

I also note on that chart that Centennial Crab matures at the same time. You may already have one, but that's a U of Minnesota product that I see listed as a zone 3 apple. I believe Greyphase has a mature Centennial Crab; maybe he'll comment on whether he'd recommend it.

Pristine is one of my favorite early eating apples. Super yummy. I have 2 of them on mm111 and had to graft a bunch to B.118 since mm111 grows like crap at our place.

Centennial is a great Crab as well.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Good to hear about the Centennial crab, guys. I have one at camp that'll be in the ground 3 years this spring. It's on Antonovka, so the first 2 years it didn't do a whole lot, but I expect it to pop this year. I'll be liming & fertilizing around it, as well as some others.

 

[sandbur]

I grafted a centennial last year on B118. It was oen of my first 4 grafts.

 

[Native Hunter]

I'm in Zone 6B.

My earliest apple is Striped June (aka Margret). It ripens and starts falling about Mid June. Highly DR but a little tart for my personal taste. It is commercially available.

I guess that the latest which is actually dropping fruit already would be Yates. I have some varieties planted that might be later, but they are still young. Yates drops late October to early November here.

 

[Dan Wombles]

Yates is a great tasting, as well as cider, apple. I have trouble leaving many for deer!

 

[CrazyEd]

Dan, nice to see you over here. Welcome!

 

[Native Hunter]

Yates is a great tasting, as well as cider, apple. I have trouble leaving many for deer!

I agree with that, and Welcome!