Acorn Goat
Well-Known Member
I just watched Bill Winke chop apples in half and plant the half pieces in the ground! What's the chances that will work?
Apple planting
- Thread starter Acorn Goat
- Start date
Chapman
Well-Known Member
I doubt it will be very successful. Is he using apples from a store?
Acorn Goat
Well-Known Member
No wild apples growing on his farm
I've never had good luck with apples from seed. Heck I have enough trouble growing them starting with the potted plant. If that works then I will for sure be doing it!
If that works, i am going to have much more than 45 fruit trees!
MickThompson
Well-Known Member
Domestic apples are tops grafted onto rootstock. They generally don't breed true and even if they did you'd only get too genetics and not root genetics. I can't imagine this working very well.
I'll become a regular ole Johnny Appleseed! There'll be apples growing everywhere lol
I have 10 more apple and pear trees to plant right now. I have them everywhere! I started planting them 15 years ago.I'll become a regular ole Johnny Appleseed! There'll be apples growing everywhere lol
I'm seriously considering turning all my plots into orchards of various fruit. I'm growing tired of the seesaw hassle of plots. Orchards would be less equipment, less intrusion, less maintenance. I don't hunt plots anyway.
I'm looking hard at crabapples and plums. Already have several pears and really like the keiffers. They grow great and produce fruit into November. Only thing with orchards is the years it takes to begin getting fruit.
Believe it or not, most varieties of apples only take a couple of years and Pears arent far behind.
Late bearing Apple trees are an awesome addition to plums and persimmons....
I paid $3 for this one (TSC clearance) several years ago. Not sure of the variety, but believe it is within the Arkansas Black apple group.
I took the picture yesterday (9/27/2023)
I paid $3 for this one (TSC clearance) several years ago. Not sure of the variety, but believe it is within the Arkansas Black apple group.
I took the picture yesterday (9/27/2023)
Yall reckon a perennial clover plot could be maintained inside an orchard with mowing a couple times per year?
I love the Arkansas Black apple. They are delicious. I would beat the deer back from the tree and keep the apples for myself!
absolutely
wildlifefarmer
Well-Known Member
I'm not JOHNNY. I've got 8 blacks that are 12 years old. They bloom every year and not one apple to eat to date. Thinking about putting the George Washington on them!! However the wife loves the blooms.
The blacks are triploid which apparently means they require two other apple varieties for pollination. You'd have to look up Google to see which varieties you'd need but seems like any of the red ones like gala, red delicious, honey crisp, etc. will do it.
We also have Granny Smith, McIntosh, and Winesap apple trees along with two crab apple trees (were supposed to be Dolgo, but they are not!). Not sure how the cross pollination works, but every tree produces fruit. The Granny Smith trees fight cedar rust each year. The leaves die early and fruit never reaches maturity before falling off. I am going to cut them down if they are not helping the cross pollination.
Uggg. My honey crisp do the same and eventually died, but then something odd happened. They root sprouted new growth that has red leaves like a crabapple. I'm not sure what it'll be but they're hardy and growing very fast, impervious to cedar rust. I'm hoping the fruit will be fair. Should be big enough next summer to have fruit.
I don't understand the whole apple pollination stuff either. It's pretty complex. There are so many varieties it's hard to keep up with. I only knew about the black apples because I had been considering buying a few but I've learned with apples that the devil is in the details. You have to educate yourself on cross pollinators. That's when I read about them requiring two other varieties n order to produce fruit. No thanks. I'm sure they're awesome and I love the idea of having apples dropping in Oct/Nov but I'm having such a hard time keeping apple trees alive already I'm afraid I'd be wasting money.
backyardtndeer
Well-Known Member
It could. I have had clover between my pears, and have also had clover between my apples. I have Kiefer and Bartlett pears. Plots did pretty well, but need redone now. I have also considered planting more trees to create an orchard, and kind of letting it go.
That's really what I'm interested in. I'm growing weary of the food plot seesaw. It's a constant expense and labor with a coin toss result year to year. An orchard of varying fruit and drop times could be a layer of insurance for drought years like this. It would provide continuity that deer and other wildlife could depend on to a degree higher than plots. Clover coverage underneath seems a better and lower maintenance option than trying to control early successional growth from overtaking the orchard. Maples, gums, poplars, locusts, etc. would overpower the fruit trees fairly quickly if allowed, so mowing a couple times per year would be required I think. And if mowing anyway, may as well have clover???
