The Adventures of CrazyED the beach sand guy

[CrazyEd]

Greyphase, yeah we have a few duck ponds in the back 40 but water is pretty scarce around our place. Even after a monsoon, there is no such thing as a puddle on our place. We have a small pole bar to the right of this picture you can't see, but we collect all the runoff from that and send it to this old piece of rubber roof. I have hundreds of deer pictures from this spot too.

Yeah, we put the limb there hanging over the water. There are a few others branches like that as well. My dad uses these as props to setup photographs he takes. Example at the link below.

http://www.windowtowildlife.com/birdwatching-in-marquette-county/_01rimg_9420_cr/

 

[scott44]

Grat pics and even better they are using it. Nice set-up

 

[sandbur]

I'm a sweet apple kind of guy. I like eating chestnut crabs. They've got a sweeter flavor that is really more of a lack of sour or bitter than a burst of sugar. They are a very crisp apple with a russet-like skin. Very good. I just wish they'd hang on the tree a little longer.

My chestnut crabs started dropping just after labor day. There are just a few apples left hanging on the north side of the tree at this point. About 30 day drop time for this year.

 

[SD51555]

That's pretty good. I didn't see any left on my dad's in southern MN.

 

[steelhead]

Hi there crazyed.
If you're the same person as taper crazyed then I think i've met you either at TLG or something else (RRE/WSP)
Anyway, small world. I've got a place one county to the west of you and am going to start planting this spring I hope, my first apple trees ever.

I've read your posts here and at qdma (you are quite prolific) because you are in the same climate and soil conditions as I am looking to plant in.

A few questions if I may:
1. b118 - you are very staunch supporter of this rootstock. What leads you to this?
2. One local place I'm interested in is Paint Creek: http://www.paintcreeknursery.com/pc_pricelist_new.pdf All of their apples look to be on m-7. Anybody have any experience with either m-7 in cold climate, or paint creek in particular?
3. On your window screen protection - it looks like you staple the top (horizontal) of your mini-bags too? Do you sneak the top of the central leader through a hole in the top, and bury the bottom beneath the pea gravel?
4. From your QDMA 2012 tree order thread - any regrets/changes? You initially planned a 75'x75' block fence enclosure 8' high and add 25 fruit trees - but went to cages, I'm assuming because of $$? Have your cages been effective at keeping the deer out?

Anyway, I'm going to be following some of your planning for my own plots. Put another way, lets say I have $1500 I'm willing to spend this year on putting in 2-3 spatially separated apple plots that I will be using for both hunting and personal apple consumption. I would like variety not within only apple varieties but also crabs, and maybe plums/pears. Realizing that $500 will be for protection (fencing/window screen etc.), that leaves $1k for trees.

cummins has these for order on b-118
Black Oxford Detail B.118 1
Bramleys Seedling Detail B.118 5
Enterprise Detail B.118 1
Golden Russet Detail B.118 20
Honeycrisp Detail B.118 42
Liberty Detail B.118 2
Puget Spice (WSU AxP Crab) Detail B.118 10
Redfield Detail B.118 19
Roxbury Russet Detail B.118 21
Spitzenburg Esopus Detail B.118 15


wallace woodstock has these in BIGGER, XL and XXL, thinking of a few of these as well.
VARIETIES AVAILABLE ARE:
Beacon, Connell Red, Duchess, Fireside, Gravenstein, Honeygold, McIntosh, Norland,
N.W. Greening, Red Baron, Red Regent, Snowsweet, Wealthy & Zestar
BIGGER TREES are Priced @ $ 32.00 Each, X-LARGE TREES @ $ 38.00, XX-LARGE TREES @ $ 44.00 each

Anyway, cheers.

 

[CrazyEd]

Hi there crazyed.
If you're the same person as taper crazyed then I think i've met you either at TLG or something else (RRE/WSP)
Anyway, small world. I've got a place one county to the west of you and am going to start planting this spring I hope, my first apple trees ever.

I've read your posts here and at qdma (you are quite prolific) because you are in the same climate and soil conditions as I am looking to plant in.

A few questions if I may:
1. b118 - you are very staunch supporter of this rootstock. What leads you to this?
2. One local place I'm interested in is Paint Creek: http://www.paintcreeknursery.com/pc_pricelist_new.pdf All of their apples look to be on m-7. Anybody have any experience with either m-7 in cold climate, or paint creek in particular?
3. On your window screen protection - it looks like you staple the top (horizontal) of your mini-bags too? Do you sneak the top of the central leader through a hole in the top, and bury the bottom beneath the pea gravel?
4. From your QDMA 2012 tree order thread - any regrets/changes? You initially planned a 75'x75' block fence enclosure 8' high and add 25 fruit trees - but went to cages, I'm assuming because of $$? Have your cages been effective at keeping the deer out?

Anyway, I'm going to be following some of your planning for my own plots. Put another way, lets say I have $1500 I'm willing to spend this year on putting in 2-3 spatially separated apple plots that I will be using for both hunting and personal apple consumption. I would like variety not within only apple varieties but also crabs, and maybe plums/pears. Realizing that $500 will be for protection (fencing/window screen etc.), that leaves $1k for trees.

cummins has these for order on b-118
Black Oxford Detail B.118 1
Bramleys Seedling Detail B.118 5
Enterprise Detail B.118 1
Golden Russet Detail B.118 20
Honeycrisp Detail B.118 42
Liberty Detail B.118 2
Puget Spice (WSU AxP Crab) Detail B.118 10
Redfield Detail B.118 19
Roxbury Russet Detail B.118 21
Spitzenburg Esopus Detail B.118 15


wallace woodstock has these in BIGGER, XL and XXL, thinking of a few of these as well.
VARIETIES AVAILABLE ARE:
Beacon, Connell Red, Duchess, Fireside, Gravenstein, Honeygold, McIntosh, Norland,
N.W. Greening, Red Baron, Red Regent, Snowsweet, Wealthy & Zestar
BIGGER TREES are Priced @ $ 32.00 Each, X-LARGE TREES @ $ 38.00, XX-LARGE TREES @ $ 44.00 each

Anyway, cheers.

Yup, That's me. I am the IT Nerd Deer Hunting Green Thumb'd Hippy, a rare breed. :)

I am a big fan of B118 trees. In my 5-6 years of growing apples in the sandy soils of central Wisconsin, B.118 seems to grow pretty well. Of course if you've read my posts you know I go to pretty good length to try and amend the planting hole with some composted manure, i also use black plastic or lumite, and pea gravel mulch. I also put some watersorb in my planting hole. With this combination I've had good results. B.118 has a very fibrous root system, and it's real hardy. I've experimented with MM111 rootstock which is the same family as M7, and the results were not as good. That root did not grow as well in the light sandy soils, it seems way slower. The other reason I like B.118 (over say M7) is it produces a LARGE tree, I want large trees that will grow well above the browse line out of the reach of deer. B.118 also seems to produce fruit at a pretty young age, some of my trees started fruiting in year 3, other roots might be slower, variety of apple also plays a role in this.

For the window screen, yes basically staple on all 3 sides (the 4th side is folded). So staple the top, side, and bottom, all the way up to the trunk. As your trunk adds girth the staples should pop open. If your tree isn't reaching out of the top of the screen you will need to open it up when the time comes.

I have no regrets of my 2012 order. Roxburry Russet is the only tree that i lost in that big order. Lost it this past winter, and it was a harsh harsh winter so sadly some of that is to be expected. but overall those trees have done very well, especially those wolf rivers.

Block Enclosure was just too pricey for us, it didnt make sense. The individual cages of concrete mesh ($75/150') at menards is tough to beat, we get at least 10 cages per roll now and dont even use t-posts anymore. Block Enclosure would probably be more practical for a smaller number of large trees or a larger number of trees on smaller roots.

My best advice for someone starting an orchard. Don't get too nuts at first, or maybe fruity is a better word. My first year i planted 2 trees, one died. I didn't really know what the hell i was doing but i think my tree that died was more a fluke not something i did. The next year i went crazy and did 25 trees. That was a HELL of a lot of work and it still is, these trees all need some attention especially during the establishment years. The following years I did smaller orders but still kept planting. Each planting year I learned something from the previous planting year(s) and I've really fine tuned my process over time, which overall I think has helped me be pretty successful. It is VERY easy to get hung up in all the different varieties, stu warned me about this early on, but i didn't listen well. So many apples out there with catchy names and many of them really do taste great, it's easy to get sucked in. My advice and the advice you will hear from many other seasoned professionals on this forum. Stick to disease resistant varieties first and foremost, it will make your life easier. There are a lot of good tasty apples out there with really good disease resistance. Start with those, and then work your way into the higher maintenance varieties later if you really get into it. We all know the sooner you get that tree in the ground, the sooner you are to getting fruit, but it's important to not over commit and do it right the first time. Try to avoid broken bundle fees and also consider buying in volume (stark commerical division) and selling extra trees or splitting an order with a friend if you want to save money.

I know Wallace is known for having some excellent stock. I have never ordered from them mainly due to the fact that they dont use B.118. I am a stickler for B.118 and in my experience, it's the only thing I will plant anymore, i've come to the conclusion that planting anything else is not worth my time or effort. thats the main reason i started grafting my own trees, because some just aren't available on B.118.

Hope this helps!
Cheers
-Ed

 

[leexrayshady]

The Student has become the teacher, I love it, very well said MR. ED

 

[CrazyEd]

The Student has become the teacher, I love it, very well said MR. ED

Thanks Lee I appreciate that compliment. I have learned a lot from the veterans on this board who were kind enough to point me in the right direction by offering good honest advice so I could experiment and draw my own conclusion. I try to pay it forward when I can. Cheers and happy new year!

 

[sandbur]

Ed-does the wild prairie crab exist as a native in your area? I think Iowensis is the proper name.

 

[CrazyEd]

Ed-does the wild prairie crab exist as a native in your area? I think Iowensis is the proper name.

art, not that I am aware of. Might be a better question for Stu.

 

[CrazyEd]

Then benefit of hinging black cherry trees = increased stem count and plenty of browse.

 

[CrazyEd]

Found one casualty today while shed hunting and pruning apple trees.

 

[CrazyEd]

NWSG still standing upright a bit.

 

[Tree Spud]

Ed ... thanks ... I have 2 small bucks & 1 doe down so far ... hope you had a good time on your land.

.

 

[wiscwhip]

NWSG still standing upright a bit.

Ed, it is uncanny how much your place resembles my old man's property. I could have walked you to a spot on his place with this photo in your hand and you would swear that it was taken from that very spot, minus the apple cages of course!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Ed - The pix you posted of hinged cherry - do they get browsed much at your place? Oak & maple are the preferred browse species here, and we don't have any cherry that I've ever seen on our camp property. Just curious, as deer seem to have regional preferences. From your pix, it looks like they make a good hinge tree.

 

[CrazyEd]

Ed - The pix you posted of hinged cherry - do they get browsed much at your place? Oak & maple are the preferred browse species here, and we don't have any cherry that I've ever seen on our camp property. Just curious, as deer seem to have regional preferences. From your pix, it looks like they make a good hinge tree.

They do get browsed and the bucks like to rub up the shoots too. We don't really have maples in our area, they are very sparse. this is the best tree for hinging on our property. It does hinge very well.

 

[CrazyEd]

Beautiful Day at the farm today. Installed a beautiful duck house Badgerfowl was kind enough to give me.

 

[CrazyEd]

Lots of deer sign, but not sheds to be found anywhere.

Dustan's look good.

NWSG standing up decent

 

[CrazyEd]

Some people say Norway spruce don't get browsed. That has never been my experience, on our farm they get browsed heavily. These trees were planted 2 or 3 years ago.