Help with layout for different sized trees

[Derek Reese 29]

Hello everyone,
I have 7 trees of various kinds and sizes coming from Blue Hill in the spring. I already have some trees planted spaced out 20' with 15-20' between rows and will be slotting these 7 in and around them (with the proper spacing). The plot where I am putting the trees faces due South, but has large, heavy tree cover to the East and South (so there is some shading during the midday hours, but it goes away once the sun moves farther towards the West).
Does it matter where I put the trees based on height? I ordered one 2-3 foot tree and the rest are in the 3-5 and 4-6 foot range. My thinking is to put the smaller tree farther to the south and west and the larger trees to the East, so that their shadows (when larger/more mature) will not shade out the smaller trees. I know in a few years this will not be an issue, but the smaller tree is a Big Dog that I really would like to do well (it is also one of the closer ones to a stand location too).
If I am thinking about this way too hard feel free to say so as I know in a couple years I won't be able to tell how big the trees were when they were planted but still wanted to give them the best start if possible.
Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[bigboreblr]

At home, I am quite open. however up at camp, there is limited open areas I can use.

What I have read so far is the morning sun is more important than afternoon sun. So, atleast for me I will try to put a tree more on the west side of an opening. and of course on the north side to get more southern exposure.

The morning sun is more important because it gives the tree more hours of warmth. Your zone 6 I believe, so you should have little issue with enough warmth.

Far as placement goes, I would focus on bloom times. Find out which ones are blooming when and place them near similar bloom time trees.

At home, I started with full size tree spacing 25' apart with two rows one 8 and the other 7 going N/S.

If possible, put your smaller trees to the west. But, I'd still be inclined to goup by polination dates. The difference in mature height is going to matter when the sun is low.

Alot of the tree sizes are based on rootstock. Whitetail crabs uses B118 on everything so far. About 85% tree size. When they're young, you got all the room over there. Some trees are known to be smaller than their regular rootstock, like whitetail crabs corssbow. but, most are about the same height on the same stock.

Far as a better head start, I think the ground that gets more sun would be warmer. Waiting to mulch heavy until summer and keeping grass around it low in the spring will warm that soil up quicker for a better 1st season.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

At home, I am quite open. however up at camp, there is limited open areas I can use.

What I have read so far is the morning sun is more important than afternoon sun. So, atleast for me I will try to put a tree more on the west side of an opening. and of course on the north side to get more southern exposure.

The morning sun is more important because it gives the tree more hours of warmth. Your zone 6 I believe, so you should have little issue with enough warmth.

Far as placement goes, I would focus on bloom times. Find out which ones are blooming when and place them near similar bloom time trees.

At home, I started with full size tree spacing 25' apart with two rows one 8 and the other 7 going N/S.

If possible, put your smaller trees to the west. But, I'd still be inclined to goup by polination dates. The difference in mature height is going to matter when the sun is low.

Alot of the tree sizes are based on rootstock. Whitetail crabs uses B118 on everything so far. About 85% tree size. When they're young, you got all the room over there. Some trees are known to be smaller than their regular rootstock, like whitetail crabs corssbow. but, most are about the same height on the same stock.

Far as a better head start, I think the ground that gets more sun would be warmer. Waiting to mulch heavy until summer and keeping grass around it low in the spring will warm that soil up quicker for a better 1st season.

Thanks for the reply! I was leaning towards putting the smaller Big Dog the farthest to the west (not putting it the farthest to the North as this spot already has a tree).
To note: my trees run from about NW-SE in their rows and so far I have 3 rows planted and expect 1-2 more.
All of the trees are in about an acre and a half, so not too worried about spacing them out too far for similar bloom times. My one neighbor is also thinking about getting some bee hives started, so this will certainly benefit me, my plots and my trees. I have been very encouraging about that endeavor. I have alot of B118 and M111 trees, so they will all be pretty large.
thanks again!

 

[chickenlittle]

I’d put the taller when mature to the north and east and shortest to the southeast. But you need to know the relative vigor of the variety and rootstock size to do that. I’m assuming you don’t know that for every tree but plant what you do know accordingly.

I wouldn’t give any thought to how tall they are at planting.

 

[Tree Spud]

For spacing, you really need to identify the tree size class. There dwarf, semi-dwarf, and full size. As you increase in size clas the canopy spread and tree height get bigger. The tree supplier should have this info available.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

The new trees going in are all from Blue Hill (for the crabs anyway, they use Malus Dolgo rootstock) and the existing trees are all from Whitetail crabs (I saw it mentioned on the forum once what rootstock someone thought they were) with 2 at the top (North-most side) from Willis (Eliza's choice).
2 of the WC trees are antonovkas, which I put near the top as I had heard they are slower growing and slower to produce, along with a wolf river, grey ghost and sheepnose (of which I had heard the same thing).
None of the trees are dwarf, as I knew they would not be able to grow much fruit due to the deer/other critters eating it before it was ready.