The Grafting Binge Continues

[Corey Peterson]

You guys are making want to order some rootstock for next year but, I'm going to stick to my plan and get back on track for taking care of what I've planted so far and clearing my older trees next year. If I get half of that work done I'll be happy. I'll be jealous of you guys.

You sure you don't want to split an order :)

 

[James P. Bipps]

Couldn't help myself, I just ordered 100 B.118 rootstocks from Williamette Nursery for this spring.

Seriously CrazyEd, what are you doing with all these trees? Is there a "hunt ability " plan to the plantings or a commercial plan? Just wondering.

 

[James P. Bipps]

Any aerial plans or drawings you could show? How many trees do you have planted?

 

[CrazyEd]

Seriously CrazyEd, what are you doing with all these trees? Is there a "hunt ability " plan to the plantings or a commercial plan? Just wondering.

Well, the goal is to plant many of them at our farm. Some are for another friend and a few maybe to forum members. We have the land, so we might as well plant it up I guess is my strategy. Open land on our farm is being converted to fruit trees and NWSG/forb plantings. No real hunt ability plan or commercial plan specifically. The trees will be somewhat condensed into general areas but overall I guess my hope is that it just makes the whole property more attractive to wildlife in general. We also have some roads through the property and i'll be planting strings of trees along the roads that connect larger orchards/plantings. I dont really have any overhead photos at this time, I think maybe right now i have somewhere between 30-50 trees on our property?

 

[aerospacefarmer]

Just try to plan what you will be doing with the fruit from these somewhat expensive option to a lot of other deer forage. If you aren't going to sell some apples then it might be a waste of time and effort when they are just laying on the ground rotting. I don't want to be a killjoy bu pt I have about 70% of my trees fruiting this year and I know many will go to waste as the wild trees are booming also. I wi,l make a lot of cider and give many many apples away but will still have a lot left over. I need to come up with a plan. To sell apples or juice in order to make this effort worthwhile vs just having it rot on the ground. Just my 2 cents. I want to sell some haha

 

[CrazyEd]

Maybe thousands of pounds of rotting fruit on the ground will add some organic material to my sand pile?

For me it's a hobby, for now i plan to keep it that way. Maybe If/When i have thousands of apples things will change. If I get some nice crops I do plan to buy a cider press. I'm not really worried about it. I've gotta get the trees in the ground and get them producing before I really have to think about it.

Well and I do have a wife and 2 little kids and a bunch of nieces and nephews. If they can go to the farm someday and pick tons of apples, i'm sure it will be a fun time.

 

[chummer]

Probably a pipe dream but I will be around 60 trees next year, I would love to have a pick your own orchard someday. Won't make much but I have great memories of picking our own apples when I was a kid. I would love to see kids having fun doing that when I am an old timer. I also want to make some hard cider some day. For right now the quest is just getting these trees to survive crazy winters and produce. I love the challenge.

 

[CrazyEd]

If you like yellow jackets and paper wasps...you'll love having lots of fruit on the ground :p I hated mowing our orchard in the fall when I was a kid...pretty much like running the gauntlet.

Good thing i dont have a mower at the farm.

 

[aerospacefarmer]

Cider press is good idea as that rotting fruit can be turned into juice and then some hard cider. I bought one 2 years ago and pressed about 20 gallons my first year and made about 8 gallons of hard cider. This year I will have about 300 trees producing fruit so it will be a bigger challenge to figure out what to do. I do know that whatever I can't use and give away will be turned into juice. Much easier to store the liquid from the apples vs the apples themselves and the Yellowjackets and deer love the must from the apple pressings

 

[aerospacefarmer]

Yes can freeze, get it fermenting and even store some apples for months before pressing in cold storage. I will be looking at all these options this year

 

[Rally1148]

Yes can freeze, get it fermenting and even store some apples for months before pressing in cold storage. I will be looking at all these options this year

That's my plan once I get my trees producing!

 

[sandbur]

250 (estimate) trees on b118 producing an average of 6 (more once fully mature) bushels of fruit each, at around 45 lbs./bushel = 67,500 lbs. (33.75 TONS) of fruit :eek: Even if half of those trees only produce every other year...you're looking at one heck of a lot of "dessert" on the ground.

Between wild, grafted, and ornamental trees I've got about 50 fruit trees here. I'll add another dozen or so next year...then that's about it. Even with that number of trees, I'm going to have tons (literally) of fruit rotting on the ground in a decade or so. Granted, central WI has a LOT more deer than central MN...but I'm not sure there's that many more ;)

Put a plan of some sort together CE

I suspect you have a neighbor about 30 miles to the east that will keep pushing you for more trees! I look at my GRIN list and all ready need more rootstock for next year.

I like the idea of the cider press, but am struggling with finding the time or tracking down a friend with a press.

My rough plans are a few larger apples for my family and a variety of edible crabs for cider in a somewhat neglected state as a test for disease resistance and hardiness. Scion in the future for interested people.

 

[sandbur]

If I turn the rest of my foodplots into smaller orchards...I could keep planting fruit trees :)

So who is the pusher, you or me? Just kidding!
My foodplots are converting to crab apple trees and I still have plenty of foodplots for the present deer numbers.

 

[dipper]

Just try to plan what you will be doing with the fruit from these somewhat expensive option to a lot of other deer forage. If you aren't going to sell some apples then it might be a waste of time and effort when they are just laying on the ground rotting. I don't want to be a killjoy bu pt I have about 70% of my trees fruiting this year and I know many will go to waste as the wild trees are booming also. I wi,l make a lot of cider and give many many apples away but will still have a lot left over. I need to come up with a plan. To sell apples or juice in order to make this effort worthwhile vs just having it rot on the ground. Just my 2 cents. I want to sell some haha

I don't think eds gonna have a problem with apples rotting. He's gonna be pulling deer from a mile away and bears from 20 miles away. Coyotes love apples too.
Really Ed, there might not be an apple buffet like yours in the entire state! I'm serious anyone with that many apples is picking them. Your wildlife is gonna be crazy!

 

[CrazyEd]

Your wildlife is gonna be crazy!

That is really what I am going for. I'm doing a lot of smaller crabs just for the birds since my dad loves to take pics of birds and other wildlife.

 

[CrazyEd]

You have no intention of mowing around your orchards/fruit trees at least once a year or every other year Ed? Plant them, let them get some size, remove the cages and allow them to grow "au naturale"?

No, not really. I dont have a mower up there and would like to avoid doing that sort of work up at the farm, I just dont have time. Most of my "orchards" are being planted in NWSG and forbs. I've got 8x8 black plastic with 2 bags of gravel as mulch that has held up over 6 years now so trees have a decent amount of breathing room and the competition isnt taking over. John at big rock is looking into getting 8x8 lumite which i'll hopefully use for future plantings, otherwise i'll probably go 6x6 lumite. But yeah i'm going no / low maintenance. Hopefully just some training and pruning.

 

[chickenlittle]

If my larger orchard was in NY, I would get a Farm Cidery license to make and sell hard cider. I think the state license fee is $75/year. You have to make at least 50gal but less than 150000 gal from NY state grown apples. Most of my apples will be grown in PA. I do not know the costs for doing small scale cider production there.

 

[CrazyEd]

Brush/pines/saplings don't start creeping into your NWSG and forbs?

Jackpines do and we transplant them when they are young to places we need screens, or we just yank them. It's usually a once a year process and not that much work. The only "brush" we have is the occasional honeysuckle and those typically only survive under large jack pines. They dont just grow in the open in our prairie plantings.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Chicken - You can just send me $25 and I'll send you a license !!! No problem.

NH Mtns. - I was thinking the same as you - post #49. The more apples and crabs, the more will be left for the deer, turkeys, grouse. Thankfully we have MILES of oaks here that put down acorns and take the pressure off the fruit somewhat. High fat content in the acorns - just what the bears need for winter fat / hibernation. I don't know if it'll work or not with lots of fruit trees, but we're giving it hell !!! ( other camps have apple trees too, so we're not the only game in town. )

 

[Rally1148]

I emailed with Steve recently, he said B118 is on hand, He didn't answer about Antonovka when I questioned the availability but did mention the other hybrid P18.

So I emailed them, and I didn't get an answer. I just emailed the general email though, should I send it to Steve instead?