We got our apple trees planted! (Jefferson, Unity: college, organic, shops)

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Boomerang

I love apple trees too! The smell of the blossoms in spring is heavenly.

Did you get any heirloom varieties, Forest?
I had some ancient types at my last house. Can't remember all the varieties anymore (one was winter banana, I think) but they tasted wonderful and one was an amazing winter keeper.

Two of our varieties are among the very popular varieties; we have two 'Golden Russet's, and two 'Cortlands'. Though neither of those are really heirlooms.

We do have two 'Esopus Spitzenburg' trees which could be considered an heirloom. A choice dessert and culinary apple, mentioned in nearly every list of best-flavored varieties. The 'Esopus Spitzenburg' is famous for being Thomas Jefferson’s favorite apple. However is simply will not grow down South, so even though he tried his entirely lifetime to grow it, he was never sucessful. One of the best acid sources for fermented cider [which was why Jefferson wanted them].

[Bydand]

Spitz' are great apples! Good choice Forest.


Maineah, the problem is that you planted them in a moist section of yard. Fruit trees need well drained soil or they develop root rot and die after a bit. Some trees are more "wet" tolerant than others, with apple trees generally being more forgiving than other fruit trees. Peach trees are VERY picky when it comes to drainage and wet root issues.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Bydand

Spitz' are great apples! Good choice Forest.


Maineah, the problem is that you planted them in a moist section of yard. Fruit trees need well drained soil or they develop root rot and die after a bit. Some trees are more "wet" tolerant than others, with apple trees generally being more forgiving than other fruit trees. Peach trees are VERY picky when it comes to drainage and wet root issues.

We figured that must have been the problem. The ones that survived were in the driest part of that particular area. They're still not real big for 18 year old trees and they put out few fruit. Unfortunately the high and dry spots around here are ledge.

[Nor'Eastah]

Forest, you make me "green" with envy! Here I am a few years older than you, not quite retired yet, and feel that time's a-wastin' when it comes to setting up a farm with so many of the wonderful things you have already done! I hope someday when we move up there, I can pay you a visit and see all that you have accomplished! Meanwhile, thanks for all these delightful posts! I can live vicariously through you just by reading what you are up to next! P.S. Especially loved the pictures of you setting up the new bees in their hives! Fascinating!

[forest beekeeper]

We do have problems with drainage.

Standing water everywhere, old ruts from crawlers as they were harvesting timber.

I have a plan, but we need an excavator or backhoe.

I know that I can rent them, I did rent a dozer and an excavator before we decided where to build the house. The amount of time that we will need to be using the equipment will be far too long to justify even starting to rent anything.

We need some French-drains to move water that is coming from across the road, on to the river. But since our land is so nearly level the water does move but slowly. Trenches will help. We are trying to save our money, and we have been shopping, but it gets frustrating.

So many things that need to get done. How long do we wait on each thing, like these trees they need to get started if we are going to see harvests before we are elderly. But the land still needs to become well drained.

I have done some surveying and if I can do it correctly we should see enough flow in the french-drains with enough head to justify micro-hydro-power generators on-site. Maybe four units of 500watt each. Measuring the flow and head, the numbers come out to about double that wattage, but after subtracting for losses, I would expect at best to see 50% loss.

[FLAMING STAR]

Hi, I'm new here and not sure how this works. I stopped by in December 07 registered, but never wrote. If there is anyone that can help me, I would appreciate it.
I planted apple trees 11 years ago and they haven't grown much at all. Maybe it's a bad spot. I've never fed them. Are you suppose to? I also planted a crab apple tree 11 years ago, and last spring it grew apples the size of golf balls.

Flaming Star

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by FLAMING STAR

Hi, I'm new here and not sure how this works. I stopped by in December 07 registered, but never wrote. If there is anyone that can help me, I would appreciate it.
I planted apple trees 11 years ago and they haven't grown much at all. Maybe it's a bad spot. I've never fed them. Are you suppose to? I also planted a crab apple tree 11 years ago, and last spring it grew apples the size of golf balls.

Flaming Star

Welcome -

Commercial farming would say that you should be fertilizer those trees each year. A spring application of fertilizer and a fall application. Right on the drip line, which is the normal extent of the roots.

Organic farming would say that you should have made various amendments to the soil before you planted, and then each year add a layer of wood chips [and maybe some mushroom spore] on the ground out to twice the drip line.

Crab apples in this area are maybe the size of golf-balls, up to maybe tennis balls.

Apples easily cross-pollinate each other, and they are a fruit that is easily spread by wild life eating it. So much of Maine has wild apple trees growing everywhere.

Like many plants, when you cross-pollinate the genes mix and there is no guessing what may come out. You could have two apple trees that both produce very sweet apples, but when they cross the resulting tree might give a fruit that is bitter.

This is why, people travel to find all of these wild growing crab apples and to taste each one. If they can find a wild crab tree that produces a unique and palatable apple, then they cut off a scion. Run home and graft that scion onto their own apple tree. This is how apple varieties are propagated. Name it after yourself and enter it into competitions.

Each of my apple trees was grafted from a rootstock [which likely would produce nasty apples], and a scion from a healthy, productive apple tree of the appropriate variety.

Also with fruit trees, a great deal has to do with their pruning and training. In a single orchard, with two side-by-side trees, if you allow one to simply go 'wild'; while you pruned and trained the second. The wild tree may produce an hundredth or a tenth of the harvest that the cared for tree produces.

Also an old abused fruit tree, could sit for decades producing only a dozen fruits each year. But when an orchardist begins to care for it, that same tree can often be brought into heavy production.

[RANGER.101ST]

we planted 4 macs 6 years ago it took a cpl of years to get fruit.
ive been experamenting with grafting macs and cortland.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

But when an orchardist begins to care for it, that same tree can often be brought into heavy production.

I need an orchardist

[Bydand]

Forest has it 100% correct when it comes to pruning. To have an apple tree produce good sized and a good number of fruit, they need to be pruned. I don't know if there are many orchardmen around who could either do it for you or could show you how to do it yourself (they have to be tended every year to keep producing good apples, in good numbers.) If not, go online and research pruning from some known sources, I wold be a bit careful with some of them out there, but University sites, Ag sites, Even sites from places like FFA or 4H can give good solid advice about pruning fruit trees of any type.