Planting orchards

[Doc]

I have been fighting to establish an orchard for years. It's not for the deer, but I'm sure they are welcome to any drops or extra fruit beyond what we can eat. I have 4 apple trees, and five peach trees. I had a couple of cherry trees and a couple of apricot. The tent caterpillars and Japanese beetles did them in. Yes, I have a regular program of spraying, and they still get to them. Last year there was no problem so maybe I have survived the cycle. There has also been some kind of unknown disease that kills off the leaves of some of the peaches about July and has caused me to replace 3 of them. The apples have been fairly healthy and have grown pretty huge. It seems like it is an annual struggle trying to keep everything alive.

 

Also, I live in a very narrow, deep, valley, that is an annual collector of frost at some of the critical times of blossom season.

[Five Seasons]

orchards even small are never easy. I'm not sure I'm quite into doing a vegetable garden, and everytime my wife starts, she quits on it. So i view my orchard as a man's garden haha. I also don't mind the time because I view it as a healthy hobby that gets me outside and feeds the critters I hunt and snacks for the ones I love.

 

Although, I will agree that it can be very frustrating.

[WesternNY]

One of the key parts is to pick an apple tree that offers some disease resistance. 

 

• Pristine (apple) - July 10
• Redfree (apple) - August 5
• Sunrise (pear) - August 10
• Initial (apple) - August 20
• Seckel (pear) - August 28
• Blake's Pride (pear) - September 2
• Magness (pear) - September 5
• Potomac (pear) - September 9
• Liberty (apple) - September 15
• Crimson Gold (apple) - September 15
• Crimson Topaz (apple) - September 18
• Galarina (apple) - September 25
• Freedom (apple) - October 1
• Nova Spy (apple) - October 10
• Querina (apple) - October 12
• Enterprise (apple) - October 24
• GoldRush (apple) - November 10

Liberty and enterprise IMO are the easiest to grow/train.

 

The dates represent maturitu time, generally speaking drop will occur 2 weeks after maturity but depends on a ton of factors, wind, rain, disease, size of the apples, strength/health of the tree.

 

Another key component is rootstalk, I prefer 118, 111, then emla 7.   For deer you do not want a dwarf tree.  You want the first level of scaffolds (branches) to be eventually around 5 feet high.

 

You need a full sun spot, in drainable soils, they tend not to like wet feet.

 

You must cage, must spray, and shouldn't let the tree produce fruit until year 3, the first few years it should concentrate on developing roots and wood.

 

You want to train and prune for a strong central leader.

 

You should stake your tree

 

You should protect the tree from soil level up to about 2.5 3 feet.  Window screen is best imo.  I staple (paper stapler) the screen on itseld, as it grows it pops the staple but another staple holds it closed.

 

Keep weed/sod competition to a min.   Gly (round up) will kill or greatly stunt a apple tree if it reaches the bark or leaves.

I used stone 3 to 4 inches thick for weed protection.  Plastic trunk protectors are not a good idea, nor are weed mats, bark mulch.. voles, mice, and disease.

 

PH in the 6 to 6.5 is good in general terms

 

Here are a few pics of some of my trees.  I hope this helped some of you.. good luck.

Here is a tree that is 4

another

This is what I started with 4 years ago... this is a whip.  If you can get feathered trees all the better.

I should be able to remove my cages/fence this spring or next.

 

Edited March 19, 2013 by WesternNY

[WesternNY]

I should have mention the first pic is a goldrush, in our area we have a hard time getting them mature for us, deer dont mind, these will hang into Jan

 

2nd is enterprise, great tasting apple.   Liberty is another great tasting apple

[WesternNY]

The Gr. Rochester S. Tier Branch is in the midst of planning field days, one of the topics we are discussing is apple trees and there care 101.   We are in the early stages, but we will announce on the forums details as they are developed.

 

The Branch is about alot more than antlers, we truly want to make everyones deer hunting better, and antlers are only a portion of a true QDM program.

[Five Seasons]

that's some great info. I've been reading a ton from places like the Cornell cooperative extension. The wet soil makes me wonder a little. Where I'm trying to revive some older trees it's really wet right now, but not too bad in the summer.

 

I will be looking to plant 4-5 various trees this fall and your advice is appreciated. Right now i have some overgrown non-fruit producers that I've cut down quite a bit and cleared surrounding cover to let in more light. Not sure if they will come back, but I got to play with my chainsaw. I also have some 5 year old trees bearing good fruit. I've been pruning but worried about pruning too much. For the later, I'm interested in spraying habbits for bugs and disease. I keep hearing different things and I'd like to keep these for human consumption and the other trees for the deer. Of the 8 or so mature trees, 2 still bear fruit, but a good 10' in the air so the deer it the drops and I dont have interest in spraying.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Belo

[WesternNY]

I wouldnt spray an older tree for deer, unless it's vegetation is getting hammered say by jap bettles, tent catipllars

 

With older trees, clearing trees on the South, West, East side helps a ton, sun is your friend.  Removing dead wood helps, but pruning of green wood should be done in stages, most do a 3rd at a time to prevent or limit suckering.

 

New wood generally makes apples on older trees.   Growing apples is an art and a science, but it is fun and a great way to improve your habitat and hunting.

[ATbuckhunter]

thanks for the good info. I might have to plant a few. I'm assuming they prefer as much sun as possible like most fruit trees?

Fig trees love the sun! They usually put out some pretty big leaves which shows that they are healthy and get everything they need. Figs have very superficial roots so be careful with that.

Edited March 19, 2013 by ATbuckhunter

[ATbuckhunter]

Thanks for all of the info westernNY! I cant wait to get mine started. 

[Five Seasons]

I wouldnt spray an older tree for deer, unless it's vegetation is getting hammered say by jap bettles, tent catipllars

 

With older trees, clearing trees on the South, West, East side helps a ton, sun is your friend.  Removing dead wood helps, but pruning of green wood should be done in stages, most do a 3rd at a time to prevent or limit suckering.

 

New wood generally makes apples on older trees.   Growing apples is an art and a science, but it is fun and a great way to improve your habitat and hunting.

 

yeah all i have done so far is remove the suckers around the base and trim the dead wood and sealed the wounds. As far as spraying, I would only spray my younger trees that I plan to eat myself.

 

It's funny to want to attract the deer to some and not to others.

 

[Gthphtm]

I prune and spray my apple trees near the house every year as I use them for eating and baking,there are others that I just let grow as they wish and prune every 3 -4 years.The deer hit them trees every year for the apples.But by us last year with the early warm spell the trees budded early, then it got cold and we had very few or no apples at all.Also very few wild blackberries.

[Five Seasons]

Gthphtm, what do you use for spray?

[Geno C]

nice pics!

 

i am still waiting on my persimmons and native crab apples to ship. i did put another order in on Sat. it shipped on monday. 

 

1. 6-7 foot Dolgo Crab apple

1. 6-7 foot Transcendent Crab Apple

2. 3 foot elberta peaches 

[landtracdeerhunter]

I have been fighting to establish an orchard for years. It's not for the deer, but I'm sure they are welcome to any drops or extra fruit beyond what we can eat. I have 4 apple trees, and five peach trees. I had a couple of cherry trees and a couple of apricot. The tent caterpillars and Japanese beetles did them in. Yes, I have a regular program of spraying, and they still get to them. Last year there was no problem so maybe I have survived the cycle. There has also been some kind of unknown disease that kills off the leaves of some of the peaches about July and has caused me to replace 3 of them. The apples have been fairly healthy and have grown pretty huge. It seems like it is an annual struggle trying to keep everything alive.

 

Also, I live in a very narrow, deep, valley, that is an annual collector of frost at some of the critical times of blossom season.

Doc,  You're  Peach tree description sounds similar to what is on my trees: My Redhaven tree doesn't have it- yet. Been treating infected trees for 2 years now with slow improvement.

 

 

Peach Leaf Curl Management Guidelines--UC IPM.htm

[Pav2704]

The chestnut trees I ordered from gurneys came today. Not bad for $6 a piece. Probably should pick up some miracle grow! Lol. I plan on leaving them on my deck for the year so they can grow and planting them next spring. Anybody know the growth rate for these trees?

Edited March 21, 2013 by Pav2704

[landtracdeerhunter]

You're defying gravity, LOL. Hope they grow good for u.

[Five Seasons]

The chestnut trees I ordered from gurneys came today. Not bad for $6 a piece. Probably should pick up some miracle grow! Lol. I plan on leaving them on my deck for the year so they can grow and planting them next spring. Anybody know the growth rate for these trees?

 

you might have issues with those trees. they appear to be growing from the ceiling

 

So I did quite a bit of heavy pruning the last 2 weekends. I was sure to cover the wounds with sealant, but do you guys think this snow/cold/ice is going to be detrimental?

 

[ATbuckhunter]

you might have issues with those trees. they appear to be growing from the ceiling

 

So I did quite a bit of heavy pruning the last 2 weekends. I was sure to cover the wounds with sealant, but do you guys think this snow/cold/ice is going to be detrimental?

 

It should be fine since we are in spring and the weather should be getting better soon. I usually don't prune unpil early-mid april. I don't like having freezing temps after i prune but some people prune in feb and those trees do just fine. 

[SplitG2]

i usually prune in February. 

[G-Man]

chestnuts grow extremely fast and if you leave them in pots you could suffer root bind. plant them in 4' tall tree tubes and they will be out of the top in a year.... make sure you put mesh over the top to keep out birds. most produce nuts in 3-5 years.