Patience required for Apple & Crab Apple trees

Bowsnbucks

5 year old buck +
I see a number of guys on here wonder how long they have to wait for fruit on their apple & crab apple trees. That can vary from one variety to another, the rootstock your trees are grafted to, and your local climate & growing conditions. (Our camp pulls the first few apples to put more energy into growing bigger trees. Done for a few years to maximize growth. Those of us with bears need BIG, WOODY trees to avoid total destruction.)

I can only speak of a couple rootstocks our camp trees are on. All our trees are spread between 4 rootstocks. Our B-118 trees produced first, after about 4 years. MM-111 is next at about 6 years. Antonovka and P-18 (both full-sized apple trees) take 9 or 10 years - or longer - for first fruit. From what I've read, these time frames are pretty "normal." Fruit CAN appear sooner than the average waiting periods. Some our SLN, Antonovka-rooted crabs put on fruit in year 3!!!

These time frames are for our camp location (zone 5 & 6 border) - YMMV. Rain, fertility, local climates can vary your outcomes.

Guys with other rootstocks can add their findings to this thread, if they choose. We all help each other here!!!
 
For nursery bought trees-
Chestnut Crab-P18-Fruit year 4
Droptine Crab-unknown-Fruit year 1
10 Point Crab-unknown-Fruit year 2
30-06 Crab-unknown-Fruit year 2
Nova Scotia Crab-B118-Fruit year 2
Transcendent Crab-B118-Fruit year 3
Liberty -m111-Fruit year 4
Goldrush- B118-Fruit year 2
Arkansas Black-B118-Fruit year 4
Jonafree-B118-Fruit year 4
Florina-M7-surprisingly no fruit after 5 years
Wickson Crab-B118-Fruit year 1

Self Grafted Varieties-include year of graft
Goldrush- M111-Fruit year 3
Pristine-M111-Fruit year 3
Droptine-M111-Fruit year 3
 
I have about 30 trees, most were planted in 2014, and right now about half are putting on fruit.
 
Thanks for the encouragement Bows and others! I am one of the many "new" fruit tree growers on this forum and even when you read that it will take a minimum of 3 years in the ground I am sure that we all think that our place will produce them faster. This past spring, after planting some Whitetail Crab varieties in November 2021, I had to pinch off 100-150 buds on a Winter Gold and some on a Wickson. I want to perform an experiment this year, as I have several each of the Winter Golds, Wicksons and Crossbows. I am going to pick the flowering buds off of some and leave them on others to see what impact it has on the trees moving forward. I think I have 3 Crossbows so I will pick all off of one, some off of another and none off of the 3rd. I don't have too many bears around my place (seen 2 in 3 years), but I would like the trees to get large enough so that the fruit will be out of reach of the deer at some point and have good enough limb strength to hold the prodigious amount of fruit that I hope is coming. I will probably start a post once I see how the trees are looking in the later spring.
This pic was a Wickson from last spring that was planted in 2021.
IMG_6200[1].JPG
 
I havent plucked all the buds off any of my trees. I have thinned them the first couple years, but never taken them all off. I am sure the tree wastes some growing potential making fruit, but I am not a good babysitter for trees. If they want to put on fruit, they can. That is except for a few Dolgos that in its first summer put on about 50 blooms, and I plucked off all but a few.

All of my apple trees are planted in an old food plot, and if I am in there in the spring, I am chasing out does with young fawns. I would rather they just make themselves comfortable.
 
Might have to modify my replies to first bloom vs. first fruit. Late frost last 2 yrs in a row has been impacting both fruit and acorns off young trees. Have to go back and review some pics first though.
 
Focusing on fast development early can negatively impact the trees growth and structure as fruit takes energy away from tree and limb development. I try to pinch back flowers on trees to limit fruit production.

If you want to get limbs strong enough to hold fruit, and high enough above the deer's reach, you need to consider pinching flower buds first 3-4 years, and proper pruning.
 
Late frost last 2 yrs in a row has been impacting both fruit and acorns off young trees.
Yep - late frosts can leave you wondering what's going on. Can't control Ma Nature. Late frosts and lack of pollinators (bees, etc.) can make you want to gag sometimes. Keep the faith on our trees!!
 
Nova Scotia Crab-B118-Fruit year 2
Did you get your Nove Scotia crab from Morse Nursery?? Our N. S. crab came from Morse on B-118 like you. It's been a pretty good tree for us!! Nice shape, good fruiting - no probs. !! Planted Spring 2014. Good luck with yours!!
 
Did you get your Nove Scotia crab from Morse Nursery?? Our N. S. crab came from Morse on B-118 like you. It's been a pretty good tree for us!! Nice shape, good fruiting - no probs. !! Planted Spring 2014. Good luck with yours!!

I did, it fruits but I've never had a good crop. It grows like crazy.

This year it had tons of blossoms but I had a pretty bad beetle infestation early summer. I sprayed with Sevin, which took care of the beetles but my crop was pretty well destroyed. I only had a handful of fruit in fall, not sure if the beetles or the Sevin was the cause.
 
First trees I planted I was so excited for first fruit. Researched how long it should take and all that and was pleasantly surprised that it happened relatively quickly. Now I'm anxious for "real" fruiting. More than just a few fruit that may only have a couple make to ripeness. It's a long wait!
 
I did, it fruits but I've never had a good crop. It grows like crazy.

This year it had tons of blossoms but I had a pretty bad beetle infestation early summer. I sprayed with Sevin, which took care of the beetles but my crop was pretty well destroyed. I only had a handful of fruit in fall, not sure if the beetles or the Sevin was the cause.
Jap. beetles are our main problem too. We haven't had a "bumper crop" of fruit on our N. S. crab yet, but it's still a fairly young tree. I like how it grows / shape, etc.
 
Planting fruit trees is definitely a long game. Some do fruit way earlier than others, especially crabs.
If you are new to it and want to see fruit fast plant a couple potted pears like keiffer and you will see fast growth and fruiting. That will give a good distraction and almost instant gratification while you are waiting on your apple trees to start producing.

Soil types and amount of daily sun also have big impact on how fast you will see fruit. More sun the better. Getting a good match with rootstock to soil type really helps..for me with loamy clay in zone 6A, M111 seems to do best.
 
Length of growing season also plays a large part in how long it takes for fruit trees to produce. Big difference from the central U.S. to the northern U.S.
 
set jap beetle traps and it will help
 
gunfun,

droptine and 30-06 from whitetail crabs are B118's.

I think you need to mix your trees. Get some faster growing ones like B118 and M7. Then get a few that matches your soil type, in my case M111. Then look at bloom dates and get a few late bloomers, so frost dont bother you.

I picked up hewes on m7 so I get something I can enjoy quicker....
droptine, 30-06, and big dog all on B118 should grow fast for me
I got golden delicious, granny smith, enterprise, and arkansas black which bloom later on incase of freak frosts.

Several fast growing trees also do no live a long life, some around 25 years or so. If your pasing land down to the next generation, consider dolgo or antonovka rootstocks in the mix.

Not sure if they'll survive loggers or no, but I have some antonovka droptine and 30-06 up north. I have antonovka roostock I need to graft this spring, Likely use crossbow scions. Got a few dolgos coming in this spring, not sure hat I am grafting them to though..
 
gunfun,

droptine and 30-06 from whitetail crabs are B118's.

They might be now but I am nearly certain these aren't. Planted in 2017 back when NWC wouldn't disclose rootstock. They all have burknots which leads me to think possibly M111. None of my known B118s have burknots. Any suckers produced also don't have that reddish bark that I see typical of B118.

Regardless of rootstock, they've performed very well for me..though I'm not as high on 30-06 as I once was. Seems biennial and fruit turns to mush relatively early. Droptine is a dynamite wildlife tree in nearly every category IMO.
 
They might be now but I am nearly certain these aren't. Planted in 2017 back when NWC wouldn't disclose rootstock. They all have burknots which leads me to think possibly M111. None of my known B118s have burknots. Any suckers produced also don't have that reddish bark that I see typical of B118.

Regardless of rootstock, they've performed very well for me..though I'm not as high on 30-06 as I once was. Seems biennial and fruit turns to mush relatively early. Droptine is a dynamite wildlife tree in nearly every category IMO.
Although he advertised being out of droptine for this year, he sent me 2 droptine on antonovka. Hearing how highly regarded it was, I planted one at home to have scion material in the future. I put in 1 droptine and 2 30-06 up north n zone 3b. Due to the nature of being a logging lease, these trees have aot of risks an average property owner doesn't have. Survival by numbers....
 
Droptine are my fastest growers / fruiters from Whitetail crabs. I believe they had had a few crabs apples the first year in the ground . Definitely the 2 nd year in the ground, and 3 rd year I had several dozen crabs. With that said several if not most of it's crabs are still hanging along with some 30-06 crabs and Crossbow crabs. My first batch was planted in 2020 . Terry said once the tree gets mature at about 5 years is when you should get a more consistent and regular drop for the fruit....I hope he is right. If anyone is reading this with Droptines,30-06 and Crossbows over 5 years old are you getting a consistent drop and are they a draw for deer or do they just mummify and hand on the tree ?
 
Droptine are my fastest growers / fruiters from Whitetail crabs. I believe they had had a few crabs apples the first year in the ground . Definitely the 2 nd year in the ground, and 3 rd year I had several dozen crabs. With that said several if not most of it's crabs are still hanging along with some 30-06 crabs and Crossbow crabs. My first batch was planted in 2020 . Terry said once the tree gets mature at about 5 years is when you should get a more consistent and regular drop for the fruit....I hope he is right. If anyone is reading this with Droptines,30-06 and Crossbows over 5 years old are you getting a consistent drop and are they a draw for deer or do they just mummify and hand on the tree ?

I thought mine was dropping much earlier this year than previous years (planted in 2017). It was bare by mid December and previously held fruit until leaf out. A couple weeks ago I noticed some broken limb tips way out of deer reach, and suspect now that my earlier drop was actually racoons getting the apples.

I do have a cam on the area, deer under my Droptine don't trigger it but can be seen in background. From the cam it seemed deer were vacuuming up dropped fruit early October through November.
 
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