Walmart arkansas black apple tree

[White Oak]

I think I read somewhere that Arkansas black apple trees are late droppers , can anyone confirm that ?. Would it be worth trying a walmart brand Arkansas black apple tree for $24.94 ?. They just got a shipment of trees in and have them shrink wrapped up against the building. They had a few Arkansas blacks that might be at 7-8 feet tall and bigger around than my thumb...and looked really healthy. I'm in zone 7 so cold is probably not that much of a issue...just wondering if anyone has good luck with Walmart trees or if they are junk . My Tree plot right now consists of 2 kieffer pears and 1 Moonglow from Lowes, 3 NativNurseries "wild Deer pears" and 2 DR Deer Pear Trees from Walmart. I also have 2 30-06 and 2 Droptines and 1 Crossbow from Northern whitetail crabs planted , and 5 Crabs coming from Blue Hill this spring. Thanks for any info

 

[H20fwler]

Arkansas Black is a good wildlife DR apple that is a late dropper. Does it have the rootstock on tag or say dwarf/semi dwarf/semi standard or anything?

 

[White Oak]

Arkansas Black is a good wildlife DR apple that is a late dropper. Does it have the rootstock on tag or say dwarf/semi dwarf/semi standard or anything?

Thanks for the info. They had all the trees shrink wrapped up against the building on pallets . They must of just came in , I couldn't really get a good look at the tags.... Looking through the shrink wrap , I just saw the names of the trees....doesn't look like much more info on them....But I'll check again

 

[g squared 23]

I’d buy another one. Plus an Enterprise if you could find it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[buckdeer1]

Make sure and check all tags on the tree,last year I found several trees that had 2 different varieties on same tree.That being said I have planted several Walmart trees and they usually do just fine.Don't forget to cage them

 

[j-bird]

My concern about big box store trees is that they seldom list what root stock they are on. As such you may not like the final result based on how big the tree gets or the length of time it takes to bear fruit. I figure if I'm gonna spend my money I want to know what I'm getting. In my search for late apples, Ark Black was one I got due to it being suggested to me. I also planted Liberty, Ark Black, Yates and Enterprise - looking for "hunting season" apples back in 2020 that I got from Turkey Creek Nursery.

 

[The Fishman]

The Expert Gardener tag should say the nursery that grew the tree. The tag should have a sticker on it with a bar code. Underneath the bar code should be the nursery along with the city and state where the nursery is located. Find out the nursery and call ask about root stock or you might even be able to find the information on the nursery's web site.

 

[Apple Junkie]

Arkansas Black is a good wildlife tree for me since it ripens late and holds on the tree for quite a long time. However, I am not a fan of big-box apple trees. They look great, but just don't do as well as the bare root trees you can get from a local nursery.

 

[Oaknut]

Personally, I would look for one with a very low graft and plant it with the graft buried, so you have a reasonable chance of getting a self-rooted Arkansas Black. But I like standard-sized trees for wildlife, you may have a preference for something else.

And I believe that there is a chance for root collar rot with some types of buried rootstock, but I have not experienced it, at least not yet.

 

[BrushyPines]

I think I read somewhere that Arkansas black apple trees are late droppers , can anyone confirm that ?. Would it be worth trying a walmart brand Arkansas black apple tree for $24.94 ?. They just got a shipment of trees in and have them shrink wrapped up against the building. They had a few Arkansas blacks that might be at 7-8 feet tall and bigger around than my thumb...and looked really healthy. I'm in zone 7 so cold is probably not that much of a issue...just wondering if anyone has good luck with Walmart trees or if they are junk . My Tree plot right now consists of 2 kieffer pears and 1 Moonglow from Lowes, 3 NativNurseries "wild Deer pears" and 2 DR Deer Pear Trees from Walmart. I also have 2 30-06 and 2 Droptines and 1 Crossbow from Northern whitetail crabs planted , and 5 Crabs coming from Blue Hill this spring. Thanks for any info

How are your pears from Nativ Nursery doing? I ordered a few pears from them as well. This will be their 5th growing season, none bearing fruit yet.

 

[White Oak]

How are your pears from Nativ Nursery doing? I ordered a few pears from them as well. This will be their 5th growing season, none bearing fruit yet.

I normally write down the dates when I plant my trees....however the only trees I didn't do it for are my Nativ Nursery deer pears. So I'd estimate that this is the 4 th year that they have been planted. I originally planted 6 trees and I'm down to 4 good ones....No real fault of the trees, I planted one in a small woods clearing hoping for a secret spot, but it didn't grow much , probably not enough sun., and somebody ran another tree over with a tractor. The other trees are doing great !. Last year they really exploded putting on some growth , they have to be at least 9 feet tall , maybe taller , but like you none bearing fruit yet. I gave them some Walmart brand "miracle grow" type fertilizer and it really seemed to help. I'll take a picture of my pear trees , one day this week

How are your pears from Nativ Nursery doing? I ordered a few pears from them as well. This will be their 5th growing season, none bearing fruit yet.

 

[BrushyPines]

I normally write down the dates when I plant my trees....however the only trees I didn't do it for are my Nativ Nursery deer pears. So I'd estimate that this is the 4 th year that they have been planted. I originally planted 6 trees and I'm down to 4 good ones....No real fault of the trees, I planted one in a small woods clearing hoping for a secret spot, but it didn't grow much , probably not enough sun., and somebody ran another tree over with a tractor. The other trees are doing great !. Last year they really exploded putting on some growth , they have to be at least 9 feet tall , maybe taller , but like you none bearing fruit yet. I gave them some Walmart brand "miracle grow" type fertilizer and it really seemed to help. I'll take a picture of my pear trees , one day this week

Mine have been in pots for the past 4 years due to waiting for a pine thinning for enough space to plant them, so yours are probably way ahead of mine. I'd say they are around 7-8 feet tall. Probably a dumb question, but you've got to learn by asking. Why does growing a tree in a pot set them back further than one planted in the ground?

 

[Apple Junkie]

Mine have been in pots for the past 4 years due to waiting for a pine thinning for enough space to plant them, so yours are probably way ahead of mine. I'd say they are around 7-8 feet tall. Probably a dumb question, but you've got to learn by asking. Why does growing a tree in a pot set them back further than one planted in the ground?

I am not sure growing a tree in a pot does set them back. I plant most of my bare root trees in a pot for the first summer, then transplant them to my wildlife orchard in late fall. My thinking is that I can take better care of them for the first summer at home, where I can provide water regularly and keep an eye on the pest situation. When I transplant to the camp orchard, I am careful not to disturb the root ball anymore than necessary and “mud” them in good to make sure there are a few air pockets as possible. I have also planted bare root trees directly to the camp orchard, and they have survived fine, but they have to compete with weeds and only get watered when the weather cooperates. My first choice is to start them in good size pots at home for the first summer. I think both ways work fine if you start with heathy trees.

 

[White Oak]

Mine have been in pots for the past 4 years due to waiting for a pine thinning for enough space to plant them, so yours are probably way ahead of mine. I'd say they are around 7-8 feet tall. Probably a dumb question, but you've got to learn by asking. Why does growing a tree in a pot set them back further than one planted in the ground?

Actually I was in the same situation. I had a guy that was supposed to come in with a bulldozer and remove a few trees and stumps where I was going to plant my trees . However we had a lot of rain and snow that winter so he got way behind, So I had my Nativ Nursery deer pears in pots for 1 year before planting. Like Apple Junkie says it probably doesn't set them back and the Nativ Nursery seedlings are small to begin with so starting them in pots is probably a good idea !. I still haven't had time to measure and take a picture of my Deer Pears.

 

[Apple Junkie]

I may have given you misleading information Bushy. A year or two in a pot is one thing, 4 years is pushing it in my opinion. Sorry, I missed that part when I first read your post. I am not sure how big your trees are, or how big the pots are, but 4 years is a long time to leave a tree in a pot. At some point, trees will become root bound and grow in a circle. Once transplanted, the roots may continue to grow in a circle, impacting the health of the tree and how well the tree is anchored. After 4 years, you probably should get them in the ground if you can.

 

[BrushyPines]

I may have given you misleading information Bushy. A year or two in a pot is one thing, 4 years is pushing it in my opinion. Sorry, I missed that part when I first read your post. I am not sure how big your trees are, or how big the pots are, but 4 years is a long time to leave a tree in a pot. At some point, trees will become root bound and grow in a circle. Once transplanted, the roots may continue to grow in a circle, impacting the health of the tree and how well the tree is anchored. After 4 years, you probably should get them in the ground if you can.

Yea, I was thinking that long in a pot would set them back. I started the seedlings out in 1 # pots then transferred them over to 3 # pots a year or 2 later. I have planted all but 1 this year and plan to get that one planted this weekend. Of the 9 I have planted, thankfully only 1 maybe 2 have been root bound like you were saying. Hopefully those roots will expand in the ground and not cause any issues. They have grown like weeds in the pots, I have been happy with their growth thus far.

 

[R.E. Gould]

I'm frequently tempted by big box fruit trees, but rarely go for it because they never list the rootstock and I'm constrained with space, but also need them to be well above the browse line.

 

[Native Hunter]

Not for me when the rootstock is unknown. It could be on B118, which would be bad. Around 25% of the B118 trees I planted have fallen over after they got about 4 years old. I'm expecting the rest of them to eventually fall over too, so I'm just going ahead in my spare time and applying my fix to all of them. That will be around 20 trees. I'm lucky that most of my trees are on MM111, which has never given any problems.