What apple trees do you want, but don't have yet?

[Appleman]

Frostbite, Dolgo, Kerr, are my best no issue trees. I have 5 SNL trees (various crabs) that are all doing great. Everything else is hit or miss. It is hard to figure. I planted two goldrush, same year, 30 yards apart. Both grew great first summer, one died that winter, other is still going good. I have lots of these stories where one tree makes it and the other doesn't. It is always the winter that gets them.

This one is for you Chummer: You are not very far from where I live in Northwestern Vermont and we are both in cold USDA zones 3b/4a. If you have time in the fall stop by and I will give you a tour of my property and introduce you to the trees that have done well here.

 

[Jhoss]

Want (somtimes feels like NEED), Yarlington Mill - I have some cider apple already, dabinette, KingstonBlack, Ashmeads....this Franklin sounds hella good too...and I justfeel the need for more to round off the "juicers".
Want Cox Orange Pipping...why? 'cuz its like the classic of the classics.
Had Dolgo growing as a graft..but it gave up the ghost as something chewed the growth off...guess I will circle back on that.

 

[H20fwler]

For apples I would like to ad a couple Franklin and Dolgo.

 

[chummer]

This one is for you Chummer: You are not very far from where I live in Northwestern Vermont and we are both in cold USDA zones 3b/4a. If you have time in the fall stop by and I will give you a tour of my property and introduce you to the trees that have done well here.

Thanks for the offer. I am slowly learning what doesn't work so I should have less failures going forward. I will look you up if I am in the neighborhood.

 

[Appleman]

Want (somtimes feels like NEED), Yarlington Mill - I have some cider apple already, dabinette, KingstonBlack, Ashmeads....this Franklin sounds hella good too...and I justfeel the need for more to round off the "juicers".
Want Cox Orange Pipping...why? 'cuz its like the classic of the classics.
Had Dolgo growing as a graft..but it gave up the ghost as something chewed the growth off...guess I will circle back on that.

You will enjoy the Franklin when used as a blend for making fine hard ciders. I entered the 2017 International Cider and Perry Competition and landed a bronze in the Heritage Dry Cider Division. Best of all its disease resistant, winter hardy, and excellent annual producer unlike other bittersharps and bittersweets in its class.

 

[CrazyEd]

You will enjoy the Franklin when used as a blend for making fine hard ciders. I entered the 2017 International Cider and Perry Competition and landed a bronze in the Heritage Dry Cider Division. Best of all its disease resistant, winter hardy, and excellent annual producer unlike other bittersharps and bittersweets in its class.

I'll try to give a report of my (2) Franklin's growing in the beach sand of central wisconsin on Wednesday. They are on unknown rootstock from Cummins but I gave them each 3 bags of glorious composted dairy cow manure and some black plastic, and are fenced with concrete mesh and window screen.

Appleman do you prefer to make Franklin cider straight up, or when you blend it do you have any favorite varieties you like to mix it with? I don't need to know the secret sauce but i'm curious. I have some of the better known / more common cider varieties in my 250 something trees. I'm probably 2 years away from buying a shredder and a press.

 

[sandbur]

I'll try to give a report of my (2) Franklin's growing in the beach sand of central wisconsin on Wednesday. They are on unknown rootstock from Cummins but I gave them each 3 bags of glorious composted dairy cow manure and some black plastic, and are fenced with concrete mesh and window screen.

Appleman do you prefer to make Franklin cider straight up, or when you blend it do you have any favorite varieties you like to mix it with? I don't need to know the secret sauce but i'm curious. I have some of the better known / more common cider varieties in my 250 something trees. I'm probably 2 years away from buying a shredder and a press.

My press arrived yesterday. We just got 2.5 plus inches of rain and I hope to make my first cider this fall, barring any severe August drought. I had nearly no apples last year due to a late frost. Lots of apples this year (probably few next year).
I will have Hazen, Red Baron, Haralred, Haralson, dolgo, lots of chestnut crabs, some Firecracker, some wild crabs and some seedlings. Younger trees have a few Kerr and maybe a whitney, liberty, or two, and one Golden Hornet-I pulled all of the other blossoms off.

 

[sandbur]

NW Greening also has apples, but is across the ditch near deer cover.

 

[Appleman]

The Franklin is in a class of apples called bittersharp known for its high tannins and acid. The Franklin's is best used as a blend but I have received comments from folks like Steve Cummins who liked it straight up on its own. For the international competition, I used dessert apples like honeycrisp, liberty, and snowsweet to name a few in my blends. I have some concerns with the Franklins Crazy Ed has in the ground. I'm old school taught by commercial growers in Quebec who discourage the use of dry or composted manure as this material tends to be very acidic and my slow down the growth of the tree. Apple trees do best with a PH of 6.2 to 6.7. It will depend on how much is used. Sandy soil works quite well but requires frequent irrigation. I will be interested to hear how well they are doing.

 

[IkemanTx]

"What apple trees do you want, but don't have yet".....

I don't have any yet, so I want them all! Haha. In a few years when we start habitat work, I would just like a good range of drop dates here in our low chill zone 8A (according to the new 2017 maps). A few that are good eating for us, and the rest based specifically on drop times.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CrazyEd]

I have some concerns with the Franklins Crazy Ed has in the ground. I'm old school taught by commercial growers in Quebec who discourage the use of dry or composted manure as this material tends to be very acidic and my slow down the growth of the tree. Apple trees do best with a PH of 6.2 to 6.7. It will depend on how much is used. Sandy soil works quite well but requires frequent irrigation. I will be interested to hear how well they are doing.

I dont want to get this thread too far off base here but that is way easier said than done Appleman. I'm not a commercial grower, I do understand the desired and recommended PH for apple trees to do best. My farm has been in our family over 100 years and it is what it is, and it is in the middle of sandy central wisconsin. I don't plan to move or buy a new farm, and I do plan to keep growing apples on our farm. Some people think i'm crazy for even trying, but the method I use has proven itself pretty effective in the last 8 years and it does work well.

Planting in a non-amended hole like this is doomed for failure. This sand just does not hold moisture, it's similar to what you find at a beach. If you are lucky you have 1-2" of darker sand on the top. A few bags of the anaerobically digested dairy cow manure at least helps the tree get established. Everywhere you read about black plastic being bad for apples, not in this part of the country, it helps retain moisture. Throw some watersorb in the planting hole too. Irrigation would be great but our area is pretty remote, no well. I did supplemental watering on 1 day in 2012 when I planted 25 trees and we had extreme drought.

I do go against what is recommended by the vast majority of growers, but then again, the vast majority has never been in this area of the country nor tried to grow things here.

I am happy with the results. B118 fibrous roots do best, but M111 does ok too. Here is a 6 year old Liberty on M111. I hand thinned this and many of my other trees, or at least tried to.

I have 5-6 year old trees pushing 15-20' tall and have up to 3" girth. I've seen trees stunted because of over fruiting at a young age but not because of the soil i amend the planting hole with.

I am most curious to see how growing in the sandy soil may or may not impact the flavor of these different varieties, compared to apples grown in ideal soil.

 

[greyphase]

Do they grow any types of crops (corn, soybeans, wheat) in that part of the country Matt? Your "beach sand" soil is so different from my rocky Pa ground. It sure looks like you have it all figured out, nice trees.

 

[j-bird]

I'm moving to crab apples. They just seem to be an all round better option for me. I really need something I can plant and walk away from as much as possible. I think Turkey Creek is going to hook me up this fall with a collection of different ones. To truly get the most out of apples it just seems to require far more work than I really want to put into it now and further down the road. Weather, disease, pests and the like just seem to put most apples in a higher risk category than crabs.... I do much better with simple. I think I'm going to learn how to graft/top work as well and use my current apples to experiment with and turn into apple mutts if you will. I have 5 apples now and really only one has any fruit at all and I might have a dozen total. For the time and pruning and jacking with them and the like - I'm hopping the crabs fit into my style better.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I have been planting a decent mix of apples, and crabs. I am pretty close to 50/50. I have Dolgo, Whitney Crab, Chestnut, and a couple others. I even planted a flowering ornamental crab, just for pollination purposes, and the fact I think it looks nice when in bloom. In my area I dont know of any cedars around me, so I am assuming CAR shouldnt be an issue, but I have been focusing on DR trees, and cold hardy varieties. I have about 20 trees now, of those, I believe there is 9 different varieties. At this point I am only planning on adding a couple more, and replacing ones that die off. I am at the beginning stages of fruit production. I have 4 trees this year then I left some fruit on, and next year I will let them grow what they grow. The trees are anywhere from 1-5 years old. With the oldest planted, only 1 out of the 4 I planted survived. These were purchased at a Menards, since then I have purchased from a nursery, and have had close to a 100% survival rate, except the ones I didnt cage, which was my fault.

I would like to see if this wildlife variety is cold tolerant to zone 3, if it is, I would like to add a couple of them next year.

 

[CrazyEd]

Do they grow any types of crops (corn, soybeans, wheat) in that part of the country Matt? Your "beach sand" soil is so different from my rocky Pa ground. It sure looks like you have it all figured out, nice trees.

Yes. Lots of big dairy farms that grow hay, corn, beans, and the other usual. Lots of produce too, but many of these farms are sucking every last drop of water out of high capacity wells. Irrigation is a common practice. It's a rare sight if you actually see a puddle or mud on our property. Water just runs through the sand.

 

[sandbur]

I'm moving to crab apples. They just seem to be an all round better option for me. I really need something I can plant and walk away from as much as possible. I think Turkey Creek is going to hook me up this fall with a collection of different ones. To truly get the most out of apples it just seems to require far more work than I really want to put into it now and further down the road. Weather, disease, pests and the like just seem to put most apples in a higher risk category than crabs.... I do much better with simple. I think I'm going to learn how to graft/top work as well and use my current apples to experiment with and turn into apple mutts if you will. I have 5 apples now and really only one has any fruit at all and I might have a dozen total. For the time and pruning and jacking with them and the like - I'm hopping the crabs fit into my style better.

As everyone knows, I am a crabapple fan. I like. the flavor of many of them. I even learned to like dolgo as a kid, as that is the only apple we had in northern Mn.

Many of those crabs will produce a crop every other year with very little attention. A few fruit tree spikes do seem to help on lighter soil and some pel lime.

 

[sandbur]

The Franklin is in a class of apples called bittersharp known for its high tannins and acid. The Franklin's is best used as a blend but I have received comments from folks like Steve Cummins who liked it straight up on its own. For the international competition, I used dessert apples like honeycrisp, liberty, and snowsweet to name a few in my blends. I have some concerns with the Franklins Crazy Ed has in the ground. I'm old school taught by commercial growers in Quebec who discourage the use of dry or composted manure as this material tends to be very acidic and my slow down the growth of the tree. Apple trees do best with a PH of 6.2 to 6.7. It will depend on how much is used. Sandy soil works quite well but requires frequent irrigation. I will be interested to hear how well they are doing.

What do fruit tree spikes do for soil pH?
I also occasionally throw a spade full of old chicken manure at some of the trees. chicken manure works well on crop on our light, lower pH soils.

 

[wooduck]

Currently trying to get and plant Ambrosia and Swiss gourmet may be able to do both in a year or so , We grow all our apples on sand here in central Minnesota and really after a tree gets a few years on it seldom is drought big problem but we can and do irrigate when needed,, so we lime alot

 

[buckvelvet]

I 2nd everything @CrazyEd just said about planting, I use his exact same method just maybe a diff brand of cow manure compost. My ground is horrible blow sand, I fill each hole with 2-3 bags of cow manure, watersob (per CE's idea & its a great one!), some pellet lime, and in the hole the tree goes, I give some pellet fert and more lime each year, I guess on the amount. My trees have done ok so far, but none are near as old or big as some of CE's.

 

[j-bird]

As everyone knows, I am a crabapple fan. I like. the flavor of many of them. I even learned to like dolgo as a kid, as that is the only apple we had in northern Mn.

Many of those crabs will produce a crop every other year with very little attention. A few fruit tree spikes do seem to help on lighter soil and some pel lime.

Bur - this may sound dumb, but why would they not produce annually.....or do crabs just not work that way? Good crop every other year would be better than the 6 apples I get a year currently..... I also am not worried about eating the apples.....my apples are for the critters 100%. Only reason they are "people" apples was because I was lazy and too impatient and bought trees from a big box store (red & yellow delicious, McIntosh, Fuji and Gala I think)....dumb, dumb, dumb at least for my intended purpose.