Iowa 25

[williams111]

This spring I had some leftover Scion so I grafted over a bunch of branches on a Honeycrisp and Red Delicious that I have growing in my yard. I think these trees are around 6 years old and have yet to produce more then a few apples. I purchased them prior to knowing anything about apple trees. I usually get CAR bad on the honeycrisp, but it doesn't seem to bad this year. I dont know what rootstock they are on. I have been pruning/shaping them for the last 3 years. I plan to be able to get some scion to share from these trees and potentially even a few fruit. After grafting I realized maybe I should of grafted closer to the main trunk. I guess we will see how it plays out. I think I have; Wickson, Enterprise, Arkansas Black, Liberty, Chestnut, Williams Pride, Black Oxford, 30-06, Droptine, Frostbite and Golden Russet grafted to them.

 

[H20fwler]

We have a red delicious that I keep adding varieties too also. It is a five in one tree so far.

 

[williams111]

We have a red delicious that I keep adding varieties too also. It is a five in one tree so far.

H2O,
Does your red delicious make any fruit?

 

[H20fwler]

H2O,
Does your red delicious make any fruit?

It is a six or seven year old tree, has made an apple or two the last couple of years this year it looks like it may have around a dozen.
I put it in specifically to graft to, kind of a Frankentree just for fun. I am not really a fan of Red Delicious by itself.
I guess it is really a six in one now, Honey Crisp/Airport crab/Cherry Bomb/Liberty/Golden Hornet besides the Red Delicious...and I'm still planning on adding more to it.

I have a Yellow Delicious over at our other farm I think I have grafted two other varieties too.

 

[williams111]

It is a six or seven year old tree, has made an apple or two the last couple of years this year it looks like it may have around a dozen.
I put it in specifically to graft to, kind of a Frankentree just for fun. I am not really a fan of Red Delicious by itself.
I guess it is really a six in one now, Honey Crisp/Airport crab/Cherry Bomb/Liberty/Golden Hornet besides the Red Delicious...and I'm still planning on adding more to it.

I have a Yellow Delicious over at our other farm I think I have grafted two other varieties too.

Nice! When did you graft the other varieties to it? It will be interesting to see how they look in 5 years. Did you graft to branches I assume? If so how far are the grafts from the main leader?

 

[H20fwler]

Nice! When did you graft the other varieties to it? It will be interesting to see how they look in 5 years. Did you graft to branches I assume? If so how far are the grafts from the main leader?

I grafted most of them to it a few years ago, yes to branches that matched up with scion size. They are a couple feet out from main leader, wish I would have started doing it when tree was younger so I could have grafted closer to trunk.
Biggest thing to watch out for is in early spring while pruning is to pay attention and not cut off a grafted branch, I did that like a dumbass with one a couple years ago.

 

[williams111]

I grafted most of them to it a few years ago, yes to branches that matched up with scion size. They are a couple feet out from main leader, wish I would have started doing it when tree was younger so I could have grafted closer to trunk.
Biggest thing to watch out for is in early spring while pruning is to pay attention and not cut off a grafted branch, I did that like a dumbass with one a couple years ago.

Note taken, ill be extra careful this spring pruning.

 

[williams111]

Finally got one of my plots in on 7/30. This is only 3/4 of an acre. I spread 50 lbs/acre soybeans, 50 lbs/acre field peas, 25 lbs/acre goliath oats, 4 lbs/acre Persist Red Clover on one half of plot and 10 lbs/acre of Welter Seed and Honey Big buck brassica blend (Purple Top Turnips, Pasja Hybrid Brassica, GroundHog Radish and Dwarf Essex Rape) on the other half. Then rolled with cultipacker and ended spraying heavy gly on it. There was rain in the forecast for Friday night/Saturday, but they both missed us. Hopefully there will be enough moisture to get things going and the mat of laid down buckwheat will retain any rain/dew we get.

 

[tedbrian45]

Looks like a very nice property bud, you are well on your way! It feels like people either love or hate tubes, I love bamboo trellis. The only problem I have with them is wasps building nests inside them so I walk around once per month and knock them down with a stick of bamboo trellis. The growth I get with tubes I leave on for another year compared to the ones next to them where I pulled the bamboo trellis are incredible! Night and Day really. They tend to be tall and lanky though so I usually need a support stake after pulling the tubes.
Looks great though Williams!

Good luck.....

 

[williams111]

Both plots have germinated and we are getting some good rains now. I am getting a few weeds in one of the plots, I'm thinking I should've sprayed a couple weeks prior to planting with 2 4d and Gly then sprayed again at the time of planting with just gly. Marestail is the weed giving me problems. I plan on mowing it now to keep it down until the plot gets high enough that I cant mow anymore.

This is a new portion of the Apple/Pear planting that I seeded last year with oats/clover. The clover came back this year and was doing awesome until the drought set in. I believe it went to seed prior to dying back because now I see tons of young growing clover. This plot has gotten weedy now, but I think a spraying with Imox and or mowing will bring it back to a nice plot.

This is one of the better Enterprise trees I have grafted to M111. This tree was planted on Sept. 8th 2019 and is starting to take off now.

 

[williams111]

10/5/21 Update;
Yard Crab still holding onto about half of its fruit. It has Nickel to quarter size fruit. I have not paid enough attention to this tree in my yard to remember exactly when it is done dropping although I will graft a few of these this spring. Its only 40 yards from a large cedar and doesn't seem to be affected by CAR. It was here when I bought my house so I am unsure what it is exactly.
I was able to make it out last weekend to replace a couple persimmons that didn't make it through the summer with some seedlings I started this past spring collected from some local trees about 20 miles north of my house as well as replace a couple hazelnuts with some spruce seedlings I found growing in my yard and potted up this spring, the biggest one was about 18" when I planted it. I forgot pics of this part. Then I planted/screened/weedmatted/Caged 7 apple trees and 3 pear trees. Franklin, Kerr, Liberty, Sweet16, Frostbite, Droptine, Black Oxford were the apples and Gate and 2 MsLaneen were the pears. I used smaller diameter 2x4 cages because this is what I had. I know most of you prefer the concrete remesh. I haven't had the same issues with 2x4 cages as a lot of you. Up until this point I can only think of a few cages that have been messed up after planting/caging roughly 100 this way. Time will tell, I wanted to plant them rather then have to heel them in for the winter and plant in the spring.

This is a new plot and it is coming along well. I added about 60 lbs of urea to the turnips and 60 lbs of triple 19 to the other half of the plot. We will see how it responds.

 

[Bassattackr]

Love those tree tags. Where did you get/make them?

 

[williams111]

They are Impress-o-tags

Love those tree tags. Where did you get/make them?

They are Impress-O-Tags

https://www.amazon.com/Impress-Jumbo-Double-Sided-Write/dp/B08PQ2G4T4/ref=asc_df_B08PQ2G4T4?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80195739429827&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583795271749399&psc=1

 

[williams111]

Post season notes/pics. I discovered an apple tree in a pasture on the way to my property. It is a very large tree, I would guess nearly 40 ft tall and it was loaded with apples till November and even carried a few into December. I am hoping to get a few pieces of scion from this tree, there are a few smaller apple trees in the same pasture, but they’re about 1/3 the size of this one. There is also some ERC present so I’m assuming it’s not affected by CAR. Here are some pictures;


I had a good season on the farm although I did not kill the buck I was after. He showed up in September/October a few times and never showed back up in November. I’m guessing he is dead as he was in the area the last 2 years a lot after season coming to my standing corn. There were 2 other bucks that showed up only a couple times cruising through in November. They likely scored better then this one, but I was never able to catch up with them. My wife and I each ended up killing one doe on the farm and that was it. My corn was being destroyed and I believe the coon had a lot to do with it because it was being nocked down. My Dad, Nephew, Son and I caught 18 coon 2 opossum and a coyote off the farm in 2, 3 day trapping runs. Here are a couple pics of the buck I was after, its the same buck thats in my profile Pic;

 

[Mortenson]

Nice farm and thread! Your neighborhood looks great also. Too bad about your nice bucks disappearing. At this point I'm assuming the 3 biggest ones I had on camera this year were all killed as well. The highs and the lows of deer hunting...

Good luck with your projects.

 

[williams111]

Nice farm and thread! Your neighborhood looks great also. Too bad about your nice bucks disappearing. At this point I'm assuming the 3 biggest ones I had on camera this year were all killed as well. The highs and the lows of deer hunting...

Good luck with your projects.

Thanks Mortenson! This year I have came to the conclusion that from here on out I will be happy having at least 1 mature buck to chase every fall. If he is a big buck that's just a bonus. Its all about the chase/challenge of targeting a specific buck for me.
Here are a few more pics. This is the same apple tree as above on 12-19-21 with a few apples hanging yet

The bobcats have really moved into this area the last couple years. We are now able to get one per person per year. I may not be a very good judge of size, but this one looks decent sized to me?

I was able to pickup a shed on 1-12-22 while going in to change some camera batteries. Not many had dropped at that time, but I believe quite a few have since then.

This is my east food plot on 12-22-21, turnips/rye/corn. They have pretty much cleaned up this entire plot now.

 

[williams111]

Norway Spruce from ISU Nursery, planted March/April 2020 Roughly 24" tall.


I pruned my apple/pear trees grafted spring of 19 and planted in September. They're doing well and most put on quite a bit of growth last year. The best grower is a Droptine Crab with Enterprise not far behind. These are mostly on MM111 or P18.



This is a persimmon, either SAA Piper or Prok seedling planted in July of 2018 that was 12" to 18" tall at the time of planting. A few of these have really began to take off. This is the best one, the top is nearly 10'. I was a little skeptical planting these after they died back the first year, but they have really rebounded and began taking off the last 2 years. Hoping for a couple flowers this year.



This is a sawtooth oak, planted in a screen in 2019. These have began taking off as well.



It is getting more enjoyable to walk around now and see the trees that have started taking off. I have had some issues with coon tearing tubes down with wasp nests in them. Have any of you used anything to kill the wasps so this doesn't happen? I have also just recently had issues with mice in tubes, have any of you put poison right in the tube? I have seen others use bait stations to help and may have to do that as well. The first couple years I didn't have a single problem with mice, but now I am only in certain areas.

Again, thank you all for your help/input to this point!

 

[bwoods11]

Looking real nice! Find any sheds this year?

 

[williams111]

Looking real nice! Find any sheds this year?

I have only found a couple, which I am shocked. There were a pile of deer hitting my corn and many of them being bucks. One of them I did find was one that I wanted the most, hopefully be a shooter this year. How about you?

 

[bwoods11]

We won’t be down there until March 11-12. Should be sheds around.

What crabapple has worked the best for you ? I’m going to plant some this year.