For a friend

[WTNUT]

I have a friend who just purchased a farm in south eastern Ohio for retirement. He is 59 and in very good health. I have suggested he plant a few apple trees. You can assume he has the perfect site and perfect soil because he does. What would you recommend in terms of rootstock and type to bear early?

 

[Lot2Learn]

Are the trees primarily for deer, family consumption, or for sale?

 

[MA VT Flatlander]

Liberty on B118 for deer

 

[CrazyEd]

Pristine, Galarina, Florina Querina, Chestnut Crab, Dolgo Crab, Williams Pride, Wolf River, Goldrush. Since he has good soil MM.111 would be a decent choice for rootstock as well as b118.

 

[deepsleep]

All of the above, and throw in a few Yates crabs as well. Very quick to bear and hold fruit well. Also, Shinko and Olympic Asian Pears, and the old standby, Kieffer. All have put on lots of early fruit and been disease free for me.

 

[MA VT Flatlander]

All of the above, and throw in a few Yates crabs as well. Very quick to bear and hold fruit well. Also, Shinko and Olympic Asian Pears, and the old standby, Kieffer. All have put on lots of early fruit and been disease free for me.

How early did the Kieffer Pear fruit for you?

 

[WTNUT]

Sorry guys and gals, I have been off line planting food plots (corns and beans for five days). He wants the trees purely for deer. He is deer crazy and I am a nut, so he is really of the scale. I forget, will the M111 produce sooner or the 118. My wife gave me some "new" allergy medicine at lunch today and I can barely function! I surely do not need to be operating heavy equipment.

 

[paleopoint]

RE: 118 vs 111 .........I'm in 5b in Michigan, and so far, 111 has been producing quicker than 118. That surprised me as I've read a lot of internet stuff saying the opposite. And 7's have produced quicker than the 111's.

With that said, henceforth, I'm gonna be planting in pairs.....a 9 with an 111 or 118, with the hope that within 2 or 3 years the 9 drops fruit while the big engines of the 111/118 warm up for the long term run.

Funny you mention SE Ohio and a retiring guy buying a piece of it. That is not new. My first real job....40yrs ago was building buildings for one of the large national pole-building companies. My 'honey-hole', the geography that made me some real money --was SE OH...Sciota, Vinton, Lawarence, Jackson, Gallia, etc. My ever-reliable market demographic was guys retiring out of Cleveland/Akron/Columbus....who would buy their 40 or 60 or 80......and become country-gentleman. They all wanted a 30x40 or 40x60 'utility' building. And that made my dime.

Some things never change.

 

[Maya]

Funny you mentioned allergies wtnut, I never had them my whole life until about 5 years ago. Not sure what it is that sets me off, but its in the spring. This spring....nothing!! yahoo!! Anyways, I've been getting apples maybe a year or two sooner w/B118 and a lot more growth. I do like 111's too though for here. Liberties definitely fruit sooner and I also seem to get above average growth on Enterprise. I just grow and sell only disease resistant trees for deer apples. Makes it a lot easier for most imo, also don't forget to consider CAR resistant trees if he has red ceder nearby. Liberty, Enterprise, Empire, Sansa are a few w/ good resistance to CAR and at least some to very good resistance to scab and fire-blight.

 

[WTNUT]

Thanks for the reminder about cedar. We do not have any so I never think of it.