Neighbor gave me a tree catalog

[Boomerang]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I have rather assumed that anyone / everyone raising livestock, has also butchered animals from their herd.

No, indeed. Depends what you raise them for. I kept fiber producing animals and never butchered any of them. That's not to say other people keeping the same type of animals don't cull, but I wouldn't. I raise them for the satisfaction of living and working with them, not as a source of income, and I do get attached to all the critters.
However, I would rather euthanize an animal than let it suffer, if nothing can be done to relieve their suffering and restore a reasonable quality of life.

And p.s. - yes, vets are dreadfully expensive nowadays. It's $100 just to have them come out to the farm, never mind the tests, medications, or any emergency procedures. I'm thinking long and hard before getting myself into keeping large animals again, or even small ones, for that matter. I'm thinking that I'd be doing both the animals and myself a bigger favor by volunteering as a foster home for animals being re-homed through shelters instead.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by bringselpup

... At any rate I had to pull the trigger on the tree's due to a business trip. I bought:

Mcintosh, Cortland, Cox's Orange Pippin, Honeycrisp, Black Oxford, and a Madison Peach. My neighbor who supplied the catalog has peaches so I figure I have a shot. Couldn't get Northern Spy or Baldwin as they were out.

We are planting our apple trees in raised beds due to the high moisture in our forest.

We selected our apple trees first by harvest season; One group of trees that ripens mid-fall, and a second group that ripens in late fall to early winter.

Secondly we selected one variety in each group that produces an apple known for a high sugar content, and two varieties noted for tart or acid content.

Our hope being to spread out the harvest a bit, so as not to over-load us with apples all at once. And also to provide two different blends of apple juices for fermenting.

Following is the list of what apple trees we are planting. The number of trees, and then a description of their fruit.

2 Prima Apple - Medium-large roundish fruit has rich yellow skin with a striking orange-red blush. Resembles Jonathan which is buried somewhere in its convoluted parentage. Mildly subacid juicy white flesh provides excellent eating and makes good cider. Keeps a couple of months.

2 Golden Russet Apple - The champagne of cider apples, when the root cellar has finally cooled off and the best cider is ready to be made: sweet, balanced, thick and smooth. Also recommended as a “sharp” acid source for fermented cider. Excellent eating; keeps all winter and well into spring. Round medium-sized hard fruit; uniform in size and shape, softens as winter progresses but maintains its superior sweet flavor. Solid deep yellow golden russeted skin!

4 Sweet 16 Apple - Whenever anyone eats a Sweet 16 for the first time, you know they will be surprised. Fine-textured crisp flesh contains an astounding unusually complex combination of sweet nutty and spicy flavors with slight anise essence, sometimes described as cherry, vanilla or even bourbon. I always love Sweet 16 season. Truly excellent fresh eating, although it is too sweet for some pallets. Round-conic bronze-red medium-sized fruit, striped and washed with rose-red.

2 Cortland Apple - A cross between two commercial giants at the time, one (Ben Davis) on the way out and the other (McIntosh #0522) on the way in. Although never as important as McIntosh, Cortland remains a very popular apple throughout northern New England even in this era of many new introductions. Medium to medium-large slightly ribbed dull red fruit with a purple blush. Excellent eating and cooking. Slow-oxidizing white flesh is very good in salads; fine-grained, crisp, tender, juicy. enough acid to produce a surprisingly delightful cider, fresh or fermented, in a mix or even on its own.

2 Esopus Spitzenburg Apple - Without peer in flavor and quality. A choice dessert and culinary apple, mentioned in nearly every list of best-flavored varieties. subacid, crisp and juicy. Famous for being Thomas Jefferson’s favorite apple. For years I figured that meant it was a warm-weather tree and shouldn’t be in the catalog until I learned that Tom was forever frustrated by his inability to grow Spitz down south. Medium-large bright-red round to mostly conic fruit, covered with russet dots, not unlike a slightly more conical Starkey. Excellent acid source for sweet or fermented cider.

4 Minnesota 447 Apple - Seed planted at the University of Minnesota before 1936, but never introduced. This massively flavored dessert apple—not for the faint of heart—provides a whole new level of culinary experience. Likely the most distinctive and unusual apple I’ve ever tried. Astonished friends have described its flavor as strange, molasses, olives, fabulous, sweet, complex and sugar cane. The roundish fruit is medium-sized and entirely covered with dark bluish-purple stripes. The aromatic crisp crystalline flesh is an apricot-orange color with occasional red staining, so juicy it’ll run down your hand. Years ago David Bedford of the University of Minnesota said they would never release it because it didn’t taste like an apple. Joyfully they changed their minds. My young tree has cropped for 5 years without fail. Grow it where it’s cold as it may have no flavor farther south. Will receive a name in the next year or two. Any ideas? We’re voting for ‘Sugarcane’.

[Submariner]

Here is a webstie of a company tha thas sent me literature.

They market pesticides for trees. Injections of chemicals that allow the tree's sap system to kill boring pests.

ArborSystems - Tree Injection Solutions (http://www.arborsystems.com/index.lasso - broken link)

[elston]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Here is a webstie of a company tha thas sent me literature.

They market pesticides for trees. Injections of chemicals that allow the tree's sap system to kill boring pests.

ArborSystems - Tree Injection Solutions (http://www.arborsystems.com/index.lasso - broken link)

I didnt go to the site and my concern may have been answered there.....BUT I always worry that systemic pesticides may harm beneficial insects like honey bees and might harm birds. It must be safe for the edible fruit, since that is the whole point of an orchard. Like I say I didnt do the research.

[bringselpup]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Minnesota 447 Apple - Seed planted at the University of Minnesota before 1936, but never introduced. This massively flavored dessert apple—not for the faint of heart—provides a whole new level of culinary experience. Likely the most distinctive and unusual apple I’ve ever tried. Astonished friends have described its flavor as strange, molasses, olives, fabulous, sweet, complex and sugar cane. The roundish fruit is medium-sized and entirely covered with dark bluish-purple stripes. The aromatic crisp crystalline flesh is an apricot-orange color with occasional red staining, so juicy it’ll run down your hand. Years ago David Bedford of the University of Minnesota said they would never release it because it didn’t taste like an apple. Joyfully they changed their minds. My young tree has cropped for 5 years without fail. Grow it where it’s cold as it may have no flavor farther south. Will receive a name in the next year or two. Any ideas? We’re voting for ‘Sugarcane’.

Yeah that ones definately going to be on next years list.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by bringselpup

At any rate I had to pull the trigger on the tree's due to a business trip. I bought: Mcintosh, Cortland, Cox's Orange Pippin, Honeycrisp, Black Oxford, and a Madison Peach.

Mcintosh is a delicious aromatic apple.

Cortland is excellent eating and cooking. Very good in salads; fine-grained, crisp, tender, juicy. Produces a surprisingly delightful cider, fresh or fermented, in a mix or even on its own.

Cox's Orange Pippin is an all-purpose aromatic fruit. Slightly subacid flavor and crisp juicy tender flesh improve with storage.

Honeycrisp carries a mild aroma and subacid flavor that is best in September.

Black Oxford makes excellent pies, or a superb late cider. Best eating late December to March. They seem to get sweeter and sweeter as the months go by. Good cooking until early summer.

Madison Peach makes firm fine-textured juicy flesh with excellent very sweet rich peach flavor. Very good quality. Skin peels easily. Freestone, excellent canner. Very productive tree. Exceptional tolerance to blossom-season frost.

Looks like a very nice rounded selection of fruits

When choosing our trees we were focusing more on production of cider.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by elston

I didnt go to the site and my concern may have been answered there.....BUT I always worry that systemic pesticides may harm beneficial insects like honey bees and might harm birds. It must be safe for the edible fruit, since that is the whole point of an orchard. Like I say I didnt do the research.

I agree.

I see trees that look like they are near death, and it may take them a long slow decade to finally die. I figure that if they need meds and a couple years to get them to a state of health and production; then they should be able to produce for years without any thing in them.

Of course we do need to pay attention to harmful effects on birds and bees as well.

[bringselpup]

I guess I can't say today was a culmination of what started this post but maybe I should call it phase one.

I went and picked up my order today at Fedco and got to experience that. What a fabulous place.

I bought a 3 lb bag of fruit tree mix for each tree also and some daylilys and seed potatoes.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by bringselpup

I guess I can't say today was a culmination of what started this post but maybe I should call it phase one.

I went and picked up my order today at Fedco and got to experience that. What a fabulous place.

I bought a 3 lb bag of fruit tree mix for each tree also and some daylilys and seed potatoes.

They are pretty neat

[bringselpup]

I put the trees in the ground Saturday after we got back from Market Day in Unity. Perfect planting weather with a light drizzle. My dog watched me put a couple in and then said you're nuts pal, see you back in the house.