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Good Growers evaluation - Apples & crabs

B

Bowsnbucks

5 year old buck +
For information purposes, can you gents list your best growers ?? Maybe what roots they're on and when planted. It may be of help going forward for anyone wanting to plant more trees.
I'll kick it off :
Enterprise - MM-111, 2013
Wolf River - Antonovka, 2013
Chestnut crab - Antonovka, 2014
Trailman - Antonovka, 2014
N.Y. 35 Bonkers - Antonovka, 2013 These are our biggest trees in absolute size, given the time they've been in the ground. Cummins and SLN trees.

A very impressive grower with less time planted is Winter Wildlife crab from SLN on Antonovka. Planted in 2015 and 2016, they are growing rapidly and catching up to other trees planted earlier.
 
Do you mean fastest growers or what reaches the biggest size at the end game?



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Just the best growing response for each guy on here. Maybe Native Hunter in Ky. has a variety that does really well for him there, or one of you Minn. / Wisc. guys have really good results with certain varieties. Apple Junkie in N.Y. may not have good results with a variety that works for you, but has great growth results with a different apple or crab. The growth results may include disease resistance - or not. Some varieties just take off & grow well - others lag, struggle, and don't turn out so well. ( Whitney crab for me - slow, lagging, ought to be bigger given the time it's been planted ).

Maybe if enough guys list their best growers on here, a conclusion of sorts can be had on a list of " winners " from several regions and climates. " All Stars " if you will. Northern guys will have some that do well up here, Southern guys will have their well-adapted varieties.

I just thought reports from guys with " hands-on " experience could verify the trees that grow best for them, given the time they've been in the ground. The 5 varieties I listed in post #1 are the quickest, most vigorous growers for us at camp out of all the 35 varieties and roots we have.
 
Almata and Trailman on Anty from SLN have done well.
Wickson on B118 has done well even though one side got a roundup burn.

Many have done well on dolgo.... chestnut, Whitney, golden Hornet, Norland, kinder crisp.Amaris seemed to do pretty well.

Zestar and frostbite from Baileys have done well and they are usually on dolgo from what I hear.





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My winter wildlife crabs from SLN have also been my most vigorous growers by far.
 
I started out planting standard (unknown) rootstock trees, from Miller Nursery. These were smaller “whips”, but heathy. The problem is, they seem to take forever to produce a crop, with one exception (Ida Red). The last 3 years, I have purchased from Cummins on known, semi-standard, rootstocks which seem to grow faster and produce earlier. My contribution to this conversation will be much more reliable 5 years from now. But, my observations from trees in the ground for a while…

I like
Ida Red / Standard - Vigorous, prolific, produced good crops after 3 years. Reliable holds late.
Jonathan / Standard – Vigorous, 5 years to bear first small crop. Coming along.
Macoun / Standard – healthy, it but took 9 years to bear decent crop. Bearing well now. Holds through November.

Just OK
McIntosh / Standard – growing ok, but not as vigorous as others, 7 years, still no apples.
Cortland / Standard – Steady growth, no blossoms yet – 4 years in ground.

I have 14 varieties less than 3 years old, all on M.111 and B.118 rootstocks, so in 5 years, I'll know more about what works for me.
 
My most vigorous growers of 40 varieties are Golden Russet, Spigold, Wealthy, Dayton. once a variety hits its peak (full maturity when top of tree produces fruit).
The upward growth slows and then you try to spread the tree.
 
Crab varieties, Trailman, Dolgo, Kerr, and frostbite are by far my best growers. All the others that everyone plants seem to be a struggle for me. Slow, slow, and slower.
 
A couple of things I will mention. First, we have some good local apples that I won't include in the list below, because they aren't commercially available. Everything I list below is commercially available. Second, I don't do any spraying, so anything I recommend makes fruit for me without spraying.

Betsy Deaton on MM111 - Extremely reliable producer. Bears big crops every year. Never a hint of FB. Shows some CAR but not enough to affect cropping.

Margret (aka Striped June) on MM111 - Good crop every year. No hint of any disease.

Priscilla on MM111 - I love this apple. Good crops and no disease.

Liberty on MM111 - Was bearing great until I lost tree in a storm. Big crops and no disease.

Horse on its own roots - Beginning to bear great. Lost 12 year old tree to new road. Too big to move. No disease signs.

Bevan's Favorite on MM111 - Outstanding taste for early apple and no signs of any disease.

Yates on MM111 - Was slow to start but doing outstanding now. Big crop last year and nice fruit set this year. Clean leaves and nice form.

Black Limbertwig on MM111 - Best apple I have ever grown. Outstanding apple in all respects. We tried moving my best tree with backhoe due to new road. It is alive but damaged at base and struggling to live.

Black Oxford on unknown roots - We moved this one with a backhoe and it is thriving. Great crop last year and very clean growing tree.

Brushy Mountain Limbertwig on MM111 - True weeping form. Heavy cropper. Can get some FB, so keep that in mind.

Northern Whitetail Crabs set last year on unknown roots - Amazing roots and amazing growth in one year.

I have a few more apples that I feel good about but need more time to evaluate.

Apples to Avoid due to serious disease and/or cropping issues - Winter King, American Summer Pearmain, and Mrs. Bryan.
 
I am a rookie apple grower for sure but of the handful of varieties I am growing our our rocky clay Mo ground Arkansas Black on M111 is growing the best. Liberty on M111 was doing very well also till I set it back during a not so controlled burn :emoji_astonished:
Honey Crisp is my slowest growing tree. May just be site selection. Seems I remember getting into allot of rock when planting that particular tree. I just planted 2 at my home on a ideal apple growing location so will see if that makes a difference.
 
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Bumping this up to gauge what everyone is seeing this spring as far as new plantings go. Trees have been in the ground for a bit now. Any obvious winners or slow growers in the bunch.

Couple of surprises for me so far.
B118 dolgos r growing like gangbusters compared to on anty. But out of 5, 4 r showing some insect damage.

Freedom an prairie spy on anty r pushing better growth than my crabapples on anty.

Best looking would have to be the liberty, enterprise an kerr.

And the least impressive so far are my 3 violis. All r showing insect damage. Paired with some nasty wind/heat burn it looks like.

Know most things r location dependent, but
What's everyone else seeing?
 
For me best and fastest growers;

From Cummins
Cortland on M111
Arkansas Black on M111

and everything I’ve ever planted from NWC but I don’t know what they use for rootstock.
 
This year two of the apples I planted from NWC were their varieties of Spur Type Red Delicious and Yellow Delicious. Note: The YD is not the same YD as we are all familiar with.

The RD is growing very clean and the YD is showing quite a bit of CAR, so it is obvious that their YD will have at least some CAR spotting. Of course, it's too early to tell if it will be enough to matter significantly.
 
Hewes crab and liberty on m111. they started producing at year three and have always produced good crops in relation to their size, each year getting bigger and more apples as well.
 
Honeycrisp and Liberty on B118 forth leaf are starting to produce in 50 tree wildlife orchard. Enterprise on B118 suffered dieback as a result extreme cold temperatures over the winter (minus 32 degrees). Snowsweet doing fine but also had some dieback. Franklin planted showing good vigor and looking great. Franklins planted last season flowered and set fruit. Fruit has been removed so to focus on growth. Commercial orchard looks well balanced after fruit set. Needed only one application of thinner (Sevin 4L only for honeycrisp). Some hand thinning will be necessary but manageable. Mature plantings of wildlife trees have moderate to heavy fruit set. Should be a good year for hunting.
 
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