hunts_with_stick
5 year old buck +
i've noticed that on several trees including a couple of pears.
Turning Point- Blue Hill
- Thread starter BrushyPines
- Start date
Derek Reese 29
5 year old buck +
My Turning Point was the last tree to get leaves in my little mini-orchard of 31 trees of 20 different varieties. Agree that it is a great protection against late frosts, although we are supposed to possibly get one more late frost this week.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Yes, I think pushing leaves/blooms late is a good thing in terms of avoiding late frosts. My young Turning Point did not bloom this year, but it did push leaves very late. The only tree that pushed later was Big Lou.
What are your thoughts/observations on Big Lou? Any fruit yet?
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Mine was just planted last spring so too early to see fruit. The tree is growing very clean and looks great so far.
I'm in 4b so right on it's zone edge. Was considering trying that one next year along with a few others. I planted my first BHWN trees in 2021. A few have their first flowers this spring. Trees aren't really big enough to want to set fruit on so I'll likely pinch them off if they set any. They've been slow growers compared to Northern Whitetail Crabs trees but that's to be expected on the different rootstocks.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
One thing I really like about the BHWN trees is the solid anchoring of his rootstocks. I’m sick and tired of the problems I’ve had with B118.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I too, fell prey to the cheerleading for B-118 rootstocks. The claims of earlier fruiting, good anchoring, and bigger tree size had me buying some B-118-rooted trees. Thank God I didn't buy all that many on B-118. Some have rooted well (so far) and are growing straight - others are leaning, and appear to NOT be rooted so well. All of our MM-111, Antonovka, and P-18 rooted trees are doing great. We just planted several BHWN Dolgo-rooted trees this spring - but I don't expect any problems with those.
Any B-118 trees that get bear-damaged beyond help, or any that succumb to other things will be replaced with trees on MM-111, Antonovka, P-18, or Dolgo roots. Other guys with different soil types seem to be fine with B-118 roots ........ and what works for those gents is perfect for their locations. We're all spread out on this forum - so go with what works for you. Good luck to all with your trees!!
Diesel5610
5 year old buck +
I probably had 15-20 B-118's I planted during the same time everyone else was 6-7 years ago. One is a solid great tree and every other one is leaning severly and appear to be poorly rooted. I have staked several and they still just don't want to grow straight. I am contemplating ripping several out next year and replacing them with dolgo or MM-111 rootstock trees. Those rootstocks do extremely well here.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I think you have hit on the key term here with "poorly rooted." It's not unusual for apple trees on other rootstocks to sometimes lean a little, but if they are solidly anchored in the ground, some leaning is not a problem. I have some MM111 trees that are leaning, but it would take a bulldozer to push one over. What we have seen is B118 trees actually going down in strong winds when all the trees on other rootstocks have held firm. Once again, "poorly rooted" is a good description of what we have seen here.
