Fruit questions

[Chef]

So as some of you may know my wife, myself and our cousins bought a property this year. It's 25 acres and was recently selectively logged. Now I am the only one in the family that hunts. I want to put in food plots but also don't want to take up

A lot of the land for myself so I have come up

With a solution that so far everyone is on board with. I'm going to plant fruit!!! I've been looking around online and I'm going to buy 6 4 year old apple trees of different varietys. I was also thinking about buying 25 blackberry bushes 2 year olds... and also 4 or 5 elder berry bushes.... does anyone have any thoughts or advice on this idea?

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[Deerstalker]

46 minutes ago, chefhunter86 said:

 

So as some of you may know my wife, myself and our cousins bought a property this year. It's 25 acres and was recently selectively logged. Now I am the only one in the family that hunts. I want to put in food plots but also don't want to take up

A lot of the land for myself so I have come up

With a solution that so far everyone is on board with. I'm going to plant fruit!!! I've been looking around online and I'm going to buy 6 4 year old apple trees of different varietys. I was also thinking about buying 25 blackberry bushes 2 year olds... and also 4 or 5 elder berry bushes.... does anyone have any thoughts or advice on this idea?

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well im guessing you have alot of deer around this place so the first thing your going to have to do is put up a deer fence or they will destroy your plants probably .  

[jmp5008]

You might need to kill any deer that tries to eat them.

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[Rockspek]

I have a ton of blackberry and blueberry plants where I'm at in 8p.  We also get lots of pictures of bears on our cameras.  I planted 12 apple trees about 3 years ago in 8n.  They were 5' at the time.  We started getting some fruit this year but even being in my backyard we lost 3 to buck rubs and the fruit was eaten before we could get to it.  Good for the raccoons too.  They ate the fruit.  I will plant more apple trees for sure and I'm also going to look into planting hazel nut trees.  They can start producing in 2-3 years depending on how big when you plant them and conditions.

[Deerstalker]

11 minutes ago, Rockspek said:

I have a ton of blackberry and blueberry plants where I'm at in 8p.  We also get lots of pictures of bears on our cameras.  I planted 12 apple trees about 3 years ago in 8n.  They were 5' at the time.  We started getting some fruit this year but even being in my backyard we lost 3 to buck rubs and the fruit was eaten before we could get to it.  Good for the raccoons too.  They ate the fruit.  I will plant more apple trees for sure and I'm also going to look into planting hazel nut trees.  They can start producing in 2-3 years depending on how big when you plant them and conditions.

Thats the problem I know he wants deer  to come there but they may destory his plants before he ever gets a chance to kill them  he may have to plant more then that so they dont kill them all .or  fence some until they get big i hunt on a apple  farm  sometimes and they fence off all the young plants for that reason or the  deer will kill  them . And that is with hundreds of trees . With just  few what chance do they have if you have lots of deer around .

[Rockspek]

12 minutes ago, Deerstalker said:

Thats the problem I know he wants deer  to come there but they may destory his plants before he ever gets a chance to kill them  he may have to plant more then that so they dont kill them all .or  fence some until they get big i hunt on a apple  farm  sometimes and they fence off all the young plants for that reason or the  deer will kill  them . And that is with hundreds of trees . With just  few what chance do they have if you have lots of deer around .

Yeah for some reason the deer just love wrecking new apple plantings.  Maybe chicken wire around the trunk.  Just remember to loosen it as the tree grows.  And like I said we lost 3 out of twelve.  we planted some pear and peach too but they didn't seem to do anything to them although something ate the pears.

[BuckThornBooners]

10 minutes ago, Rockspek said:

Yeah for some reason the deer just love wrecking new apple plantings.  Maybe chicken wire around the trunk.  Just remember to loosen it as the tree grows.  And like I said we lost 3 out of twelve.  we planted some pear and peach too but they didn't seem to do anything to them although something ate the pears.

X2 here right by my house and I have two dogs that chase them off. they don't stand a chance unprotected 

[E J]

Make sure you fence them! Otherwise the bucks will rub them and all the deer will browse the heck out of them. Also don't just buy some trees at lowes or tractor supply. Order some from a nursery with the proper rootstock for your conditions and goals. I would recommend you get some disease resistant varieties as well, such as liberty, enterprise or gold rush. These varieties are late season and are pretty good for low maintenance conditions which most trees planted for deer end up getting.

[Chef]

Thanks for all the great responses. So the apple trees I am looking at are 6-7 feet tall and 4 years old... they will for sure be protected with chicken wire fences for at least the first year I have them.... the berry plants I will also probably protect at least half of them with chicken wire for the first year... i hope this idea works as i think these could be some fun food plots.


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[thphtm]

If you are going to fence the whole area with chicken wire it might help a little. Buy something as the tube type trunk protectors , not just for the deer but also the little fury creatures the like to chew on the bark.

Buy a roll of 2'x3' or 4" x4" wire fencing and make rings to go 2' at least dia. to go around the trunks and use rebar to hold them in place.

Deer do stand on there hind legs to eat the young branches and the fruit.

[Chef]

If you are going to fence the whole area with chicken wire it might help a little. Buy something as the tube type trunk protectors , not just for the deer but also the little fury creatures the like to chew on the bark.
Buy a roll of 2'x3' or 4" x4" wire fencing and make rings to go 2' at least dia. to go around the trunks and use rebar to hold them in place.
Deer do stand on there hind legs to eat the young branches and the fruit.

Agreed I was thinking about making a fence for each tree about 5 ft high and maybe 3.5 feet away from the tree... at least for the first year


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[growalot]

OMG...PLEASE DO NOT USE CHICKEN WIRE! For one thing you'll have more problems from rodents in the winter than deer...They will..this is a guarantee ,girdle them in the winter when snows get  deep...use tubes or 18 " sections of drain pipe cut on one side. Then buy one roll of goat fencing ...make cages that extend 2' either side of trunk all around and two sturdy stakes to hold that on place. A  buck that sticks tines through that is less likely to get stuck and go crazy...If he does its sturdy enough to USUALLY keep him far enough away until unstuck. Ever run your hand over chicken wire? It's the equivalent of a dull grater...small and flexible enough to get a rack thoroughly tangled...all you'll find in the after math is maybe a wad of fence and shredded broken tree....also treat around the trunk ,especially spring and fall with grub killer borer grubs have taken out more of my trees that deer. Check to make sure those apples are ones that bare every year,not every other.A study was done that found deer tend to favor yellow and green Apple's over red ones. Having varieties that stagger dropping from late summer through archery season will bring  in and perhaps hold deer. Wild elder ,blk.berries and blk.and red raspberries transplant well and are free..if you know someone with land.....also fruit food plots...plant far enough apart to run a tractor or 4 wheeler between(remember to figure mature trunk size at planting....this way you can put in clovers. Good for trees,nitrogen,good for year around deer/ turkey...I'd plant blueberry over elder first...try and find wild.

Tip: there is edible(human) and inedible elder. Inedible flowers early spring and sets red berries. Edible sets in summer with blk. Berries. Now in winter you can tell by breaking off a stem the edible has a white pithy center and the other a dark one. Deer turkey love both.

Edited December 2, 2016 by growalot

[Chef]

OMG...PLEASE DO NOT USE CHICKEN WIRE! For one thing you'll have more problems from rodents in the winter than deer...They will..this is a guarantee ,girdle them in the winter when snows get  deep...use tubes or 18 " sections of drain pipe cut on one side. Then buy one roll of goat fencing ...make cages that extend 2' either side of trunk all around and two sturdy stakes to hold that on place. A  buck that sticks tines through that is less likely to get stuck and go crazy...If he does its sturdy enough to USUALLY keep him far enough away until unstuck. Ever run your hand over chicken wire? It's the equivalent of a dull grater...small and flexible enough to get a rack thoroughly tangled...all you'll find in the after math is maybe a wad of fence and shredded broken tree....also treat around the trunk ,especially spring and fall with grub killer borer grubs have taken out more of my trees that deer. Check to make sure those apples are ones that bare every year,not every other.A study was done that found deer tend to favor yellow and green Apple's over red ones. Having varieties that stagger dropping from late summer through archery season will bring  in and perhaps hold deer. Wild elder ,blk.berries and blk.and red raspberries transplant well and are free..if you know someone with land.....also fruit food plots...plant far enough apart to run a tractor or 4 wheeler between(remember to figure mature trunk size at planting....this way you can put in clovers. Good for trees,nitrogen,good for year around deer/ turkey...I'd plant blueberry over elder first...try and find wild.
Tip: there is edible(human) and inedible elder. Inedible flowers early spring and sets red berries. Edible sets in summer with blk. Berries. Now in winter you can tell by breaking off a stem the edible has a white pithy center and the other a dark one. Deer turkey love both.

Awesome advice! Thank you grow.... are you sure you don't just want to come do this for me?


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[Al Bundy]

You have a bit of work planting a 4 year old apple tree. You very likely will need to trim it down to a fairly small tree. There is debate about planting a mature tree vs planting a whip in regards to how quickly fruit production happens.  If you decide to buy a whip the place to order is called Schlabachs Nursery outside of Buffalo.  Excellent prices and sturdy quality trees.  I find the deer browse to their height and not much taller. Anything above this is usually left alone in my orchard.  You need to keep the grass from growing around the tree. One year my mower went belly up and the orchard grass grew. Next spring half dozen of my trees some mature were girdled. Not cool.. You really need to put the time in.

[Chef]

You have a bit of work planting a 4 year old apple tree. You very likely will need to trim it down to a fairly small tree. There is debate about planting a mature tree vs planting a whip in regards to how quickly fruit production happens.  If you decide to buy a whip the place to order is called Schlabachs Nursery outside of Buffalo.  Excellent prices and sturdy quality trees.  I find the deer browse to their height and not much taller. Anything above this is usually left alone in my orchard.  You need to keep the grass from growing around the tree. One year my mower went belly up and the orchard grass grew. Next spring half dozen of my trees some mature were girdled. Not cool.. You really need to put the time in.

Thanks, I bought three trees that are 4 years old heavily trimmed for shipping.... I also bought 3 trees that are 2 years old. 12 blackberry bushes and 2 elder berry bushes.... gunna put the work
In for sure


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[LET EM GROW]

I will be doing the "cages" as well around mine that are planted and growing as well as new ones. Once they start to emerge from the grow tubes to keep anything from nipping all new growth. I learned this from a pear tree i planted this year, somehow the grow tube and stake were got pulled up or blown away, not covering one of the Pear tree i planted this year. The tree was exposed and the top 3 or 4 inches were eaten off. Im hoping the tree will grow back come spring. but the grow tube is back on it now.

[LET EM GROW]

12 minutes ago, chefhunter86 said:

Thanks, I bought three trees that are 4 years old heavily trimmed for shipping.... I also bought 3 trees that are 2 years old. 12 blackberry bushes and 2 elder berry bushes.... gunna put the work
In for sure


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I have several big elder berry bushes on my property and they never get touched. I transplanted them in my grandmothers back yard, they died fairly fast but we cut them back to about 4 ft tall and they are alive and thriving now. she makes pies and jams with them. 

The lady that lived and owned the cabin and land we have now must have been a flower and fruit fanatic. lol There are fruit trees, flowers, blue, red, black elder, all berries all over around the house. Its beautiful setup. 

[chas0218]

13 hours ago, chefhunter86 said:

 

So as some of you may know my wife, myself and our cousins bought a property this year. It's 25 acres and was recently selectively logged. Now I am the only one in the family that hunts. I want to put in food plots but also don't want to take up

A lot of the land for myself so I have come up

With a solution that so far everyone is on board with. I'm going to plant fruit!!! I've been looking around online and I'm going to buy 6 4 year old apple trees of different varietys. I was also thinking about buying 25 blackberry bushes 2 year olds... and also 4 or 5 elder berry bushes.... does anyone have any thoughts or advice on this idea?

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Raspberries, and strawberries spread quickly and deer love them. I would recommend apple trees if possible usually take a little longer to produce fruit but apples are like crack to deer they can't resist them.

[ATbuckhunter]

Dont forget to plant grapes. Not much of a pull for deer, but the turkeys love it and more importantly you'll love them. Grapes are probably the easiest thing to grow in the world. Only downside is you'll have to really protect them from the coons. 

[diplomat019]

9 minutes ago, ATbuckhunter said:

Dont forget to plant grapes. Not much of a pull for deer, but the turkeys love it and more importantly you'll love them. Grapes are probably the easiest thing to grow in the world. Only downside is you'll have to really protect them from the coons. 

wild grapes are the best!   There was this little fishing spot that I used to hit up with my friends that i dont think a lot of people knew about since it wasn't visible from the road.  wild grapes everywhere!   i would put them down!!!

[ATbuckhunter]

10 minutes ago, diplomat019 said:

wild grapes are the best!   There was this little fishing spot that I used to hit up with my friends that i dont think a lot of people knew about since it wasn't visible from the road.  wild grapes everywhere!   i would put them down!!!

I never had the balls to eat wild grapes, but they're all over one of the properties I hunt. 

[Deerstalker]

50 minutes ago, ATbuckhunter said:

I never had the balls to eat wild grapes, but they're all over one of the properties I hunt. 

What about wine grapes do deer like them,  is that a problem for Vineyards as well in  new york state. 

I visted a vineyard only once in upstate .

Sure enough I saw a deer in the brush on the property .

.

 

[ATbuckhunter]

5 minutes ago, Deerstalker said:

What about wine grapes do deer like them,  is that a problem for Vineyards as well in  new york state. 

I visted a vineyard only once in upstate .

Sure enough I saw a deer in the brush on the property .

.

 

I know deer like vineyards, but im not sure if they like to eat the grapes. It wouldn't surprise me if they do. Ive seen fox stop and munch on concord grapes before. Concords are what i grow and seems like birds and raccoons love them. 

[crappyice]

Damn chef...Cooking up some good eats for those deer. All that remains is to add a fireball and salt tree. They should be coming in on strings! Much jealousy!!!!


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[diplomat019]

1 hour ago, ATbuckhunter said:

I never had the balls to eat wild grapes, but they're all over one of the properties I hunt. 

You can smell them in the air during the summer.  Go for it next time.