Got some apple trees planted

[Bowsnbucks]

Friday and Saturday at camp were perfect weather for planting. Soil was just right for digging - no strain at all. 3 of us guys put 2 Galarina, 2 Liberty, 1 Crimson Topaz, 1 Sundance, 1 Wickson, 1 Kerr, and 1 Winecrisp in the ground. Completely done - watered, screened, caged in 2 hours. Still waiting on 2 Dayton trees and our St. Lawrence order of 4 trees. The trees we planted were from Cummins and ACN.

Our crabs from the last 3 years' plantings are popping out the most. Regular apples are coming along, but slower to open than the crabs. I added some limb spreaders on several trees at the 5ft. - and higher levels. Most trees that had branches lower than 5 ft. were pruned off in March.

While planting the apple trees, 2 toms were gobbling their brains out. One was about 125 yds. away in the woods, the other about 400 yds. up on a ridge. Nice music to plant by !!!

 

[woodduck]

Sounds like you guys know how to get the job done. I think my favorite thing about messing with fruit trees is the time of year... gobbling, fresh spring air, starting to see the your hard work from the years before come back to life.....

 

[Native Hunter]

You are an apple planting machine. Sounds like you need a shovel in one hand and a shotgun in the other!!!

 

[chummer]

Sounds like a great weekend. I leave a ground blind up all turkey season. Many times I will be working and I hear a gobble. I hop in the blind and start calling. I have come close a couple times but no cigar yet.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Our spring turkey season starts April 30th weekend. Some of our guys have seen toms strutting out in the fields with groups of hens. Dusting areas evident in our dirt roads around the property.

The usual couple guys ( 3 of the usual 4 ) who always help plant the apple trees were there and we have a system for planting. One guy has the mushroom compost on his truck ( me ), and another guy has the limestone gravel on his truck. Cages pre-made, landscape cloth & screen pre-cut. It kind-of goes click - click - click, the exception being if we find a rock or 2 !! All watered in at planting. Great way to spend the day in the sun. We DID work up a little thirst ........ so we went back to the cabin and made some hot chocolate.:rolleyes: :D

Like Woodduck said - it's nice to see the trees planted the last couple years come back to life and open up. Good feeling. Pear trees loaded with buds - gonna be more eaters this year !! One of the clover fields I over-seeded in the thin spots a few weeks ago has hatched. The thin spots are full of tiny clover leaves ready to join the rest of the plot's finest white clover. It's a mix of Alice, Ladino, and Kopu II. Deer hitting it regularly.

Hardest part of the whole trip ......... having to leave and head home !!!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

The last of our apple trees came this past week and they were planted this weekend. 2 Dayton apples, 1 Priscilla, 1 All-Winter-Hangover, 1 Winter Wildlife crab. That feels good to have those in the ground !! Next weekend, spruce and balsam firs get planted. There'll be a good amount of help from camp members on those.

The crabs are leafing out and they have a good amount of blossoms on them ( those from 2013, 2014, and 2015 ), plus some older crabs that are about 15 years old. Kerr trees are leafing out as well. Regular apples are still lagging somewhat, but looking very good.

While at camp, I checked on last year's serviceberries. They are woodier and taller, and have lots of buds opening up into leaves. They are planted on a S.E. facing slope on the edge of a strip of trees along a gas pipeline. Lots of sun there. They'll get fertilizer next weekend, and have 5 other new serviceberries move in for company !!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Another trip to camp this weekend. I did a walk-thru of apple & crab trees, and we have a good sequence of apple progression bloom-wise. Some crabs and earlier apples are blooming, the mid-season bloomers are just starting to turn pink, and the later ones are forming buds. Our oldest chestnut crab is FULL of blossoms ( 4 years in ground, 12 ft. tall ). The Dolgo, Hyslop, Trailman, All-Winter-Hangover, and Centennial crabs are all blooming. I attached permanent aluminum tags to the cages of the newly planted trees.

2 of us got about 75 spruce trees ( Norway and white ) planted on Saturday to fill out the day. A total rain-out on Sunday prevented further planting of serviceberry and silky dogwoods. Good reason to head back to camp next weekend !!! :) Go ahead ....... somebody twist my arm !!! :D

 

[Maya]

Common Bows, where are the pics!

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Great job. Planting apples to the sound of gobblers in the woods....awesome!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Maya - I've got lots of pictures, and will take more newer ones, but I know nothing about getting them off the digital camera and getting them into the computer to send to you guys. I had a guy living 2 houses away that is a computer geek ( and photography expert ) and knew all that stuff, but he moved away. He worked all kinds of strange hours when he still lived there and I could never catch him. I found another neighbor who should be able to help - he works with computer systems. Believe me - I've wanted to share my camp pix with all you guys for a while now. I'll ask this other neighbor if he'll help me / show me how to get the pix out. He just asked me for a hand doing something for him, so it should be a good time to ask !! :D

I'm lucky to be able to communicate on here. It was only about 8 or 9 years ago that I ever used this kind of computer - for ANY reason. I lurked on a few forums for a while before attempting to post anything. I can install electrical systems in everything from houses to factories to nuclear power plants, but I've never had the time to take any courses to become savvy with pc's. Too many hours worked over the years. Now that I'm getting close to retirement and can pick & choose my jobs, maybe I can have more time to gain new skill sets and lay some others aside !! A good % of my down time has been spent on here and a couple other forums, as well as chatting with the college profs - - - learning how to propagate apple trees !!! If this guy will show me how to put the pix on here, you'll have plenty to look at !! :)

P.S. - I think Phil at the Side Hill is coming over to my camp to see what we have going. Phil's been a member here for some time, and he's only about an hour away from my camp. I'm anxious to show him what we've planted. Plan is for his visit this month.