Wow! What a windfall!I have View attachment 28869owned this land for 4 years so I would think I would have noticed apples holding this late before. I found 4 trees holding apples today. All are wild apples that needed some chainsaw work around them to clear out competition, I’m pretty stoked!
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Yessir! They all appear to have activity later than the apples surrounding them.Looks like a great find. Is the ground under the trees telling you it has been visited regularly all winter?
Is that not a normal thing? Maybe it was just a weird year and they hung on longer. I’m hoping these are late droppers every year.Here in N. Michigan I believe that this was an exceptional year for apples holding on late. I have no idea why, though.
Here in central MI I had them holding on later than normal too. This pic is Nov 10th last year and usually these trees are bare by now.Here in N. Michigan I believe that this was an exceptional year for apples holding on late. I have no idea why, though.
How do you guys keep squirrels, coons and possums from eating every last apple two days after they are ripe?
Yessir! They all appear to have activity later than the apples surrounding them.
All 4 trees are within 100 yards so I’m assuming they are all from the same parent tree. Or maybe we just had a weird winter and they just hung in there late this year? I’ll certainly be more cognizant of these 4 in seasons to come. If the same thing happens next winter I will top graft more with those scions.
Coons, possum and squirrels are not an issue with apples here. The fur price boom of the eighties cut the coon population way down and since then distemper and maybe some rabies have kept the population in check. Never had a lot of possum and squirrels seem to be satisfied with hickory nuts. Have never had a trail cam pic of squirrels in the apple trees. Like stated it is just not an issue.How do you guys keep squirrels, coons and possums from eating every last apple two days after they are ripe?
Troubles Trees, that is super. I have seen years here on this NY property where Apple trees held their fruit later than normal by a couple of weeks but in thirty years here have not seen any more variation than that. There is an excellent chance you have some true later holders there. I don’t doubt what the Michigan landowners are seeing as every property can be different. It will be interesting come Dec. 2020 to see what those trees are doing.
That would be great Troubles Trees; I’d love to see your place in person With all of the various plantings you have done.I will surely keep an eye on them in the future and monitor how late they drop. If they do end up being consistantly late droppers like this, you are welcome to come get some scions if you'd like, or I could also mail them. I don't mind sharing this kind of stuff.