Apple Trees

[Abby]

I'm thinking about putting apple trees on my new property. Does anyone have experience with apple trees and have advice or info to impart? Perhaps good distributors or sources of info?

Thanks!

 

[kwillia]

My mom planted 3 apple trees in her yard at her previous house years back. Fruit trees are a lot of work. You have to keep them pruned. You have to keep them de-bugged. You will have lots and lots of bees. You will have lots and lots of rotting fruit on the ground which usually means you will be visited by skunks and coons and such as well.

 

[Abby]

The work doesn't scare me. I lived with cherry and peach trees before, and they were miserable, but mostly because I don't use or eat either fruit. I intend to use the apples, and bees are okay. I'm more interested in how much space they need, fertilizing, and the kinds that do well locally. Also local sources of saplings and how much a bushel goes for if they don't yield enough for my purposes.
Common diseases and remedies are also helpful, problems, etc.

Thanks for your response!

 

[Pandora]

My mom planted 3 apple trees in her yard at her previous house years back. Fruit trees are a lot of work. You have to keep them pruned. You have to keep them de-bugged. You will have lots and lots of bees. You will have lots and lots of rotting fruit on the ground which usually means you will be visited by skunks and coons and such as well.

Unless you have a dog that will sit under the tree and eat the dropping fruit, but I found out if they eat too much, they get diarrhea. It usually doesn’t kick in until several hours later.

 

[Lilypad]

Hey Abby-

I've got 2 mature Granny Smith apple trees-come n get em!
I have invested more $$ in sprays then their worth. I babied those trees; even talked to em..I'm DUN.
Lots of apples but w/brown bottoms and speckled skin-now Japanese beetles having a field day.
No mo fussin wid em-I'm just gonna let nature do her thang and leave em for the bee's, bugs and deer!

 

[Abby]

Here's a page with some ideas for getting rid of Japanese Beetles.
http://www.ghorganics.com/JapaneseBeetle.html

Notice the last recipe on the page, "Bug Juice Spray".

I got a kick out of it.




__________________

 

[Lilypad]

Here's a page with some ideas for getting rid of Japanese Beetles.

Thanx Abby-been there dun it-gonna let nature have its way with the trees, between the woodpecker holes and now the beetles-in a couple of yrs. the wood will be good for the grill!

 

[jazz lady]

The best apple trees IMO are from Stark Brothers. Most nurseries around here carry their trees but I like to mail order them for the greater variety. My favorite apple is Gala and their Royal Gala (which has been improved and replaced by the variety GrandGala) is a great producer. Their Golden Delicious, which they recommend you also plant for pollination for the Gala, is also a winner.

I don't find fruit trees that much work. Prune them once a year, spray with dormant oil spray in late winter/early spring, thin the flowers so you get bigger fruit, and spray with a general purpose spray like Rotenone/Pyrethrin every couple of weeks and a fungicide if needed every once in awhile.

 

[Lilypad]

I don't find fruit trees that much work. Prune them once a year, spray with dormant oil spray in late winter/early spring, thin the flowers so you get bigger fruit, and spray with a general purpose spray like Rotenone/Pyrethrin every couple of weeks and a fungicide if needed every once in awhile.

My fruit trees came w/the house. They were neglected for 25+ yrs., I put 4 yrs. into them-to no avail. Pruning, non-poisonous spraying, tending, even had 4 hives on the property to help w/the pollination-lots of apples but very few edibles.
I just enjoy my magnolias and hollies instead, and forget about the fruit bearing trees.

 

[jazz lady]

My fruit trees came w/the house. They were neglected for 25+ yrs., I put 4 yrs. into them-to no avail. Pruning, non-poisonous spraying, tending, even had 4 hives on the property to help w/the pollination-lots of apples but very few edibles.
I just enjoy my magnolias and hollies instead, and forget about the fruit bearing trees.

Trees that have been neglected for that long are almost impossible to get back into shape. They have to be pruned and tended to every year else the fruit-bearing wood gets unmanageable.

 

[tikipirate]

These folks are great:

http://www.raintreenursery.com/

Your trees will arrive in a bulletproof box with a metric assload of USDA stickers on it. A great company to deal with.

This website is a wealth of knowledge wrt fruit trees in general, and offers great information about planting a backyard orchard:

http://www.davewilson.com/
http://www.davewilson.com/homegrown/homeindex.html

The bottom line is to prune the tree relentlessly, so you can pick the fruit without a ladder or scaffolding. Keep an open center for peaches, plums, pluots, but a central leader for apples and pears.

Why apples? (Yawn.) They do better in a cooler climate anyway, as do pears. Around here, I would go for peaches, or my favorite, pluots.

 

[Abby]

Why apples? (Yawn.) They do better in a cooler climate anyway, as do pears. Around here, I would go for peaches, or my favorite, pluots.

Well, I can't stand peaches, but I appreciate that apples may not do as well here as they could elsewhere. I'm going to give it the ol' home team try.

As for why apples, I'm going to make apple cider vinegar. Not to sell, unless I get a bumper crop (unlikely, I think), but it has many household and health uses and I like to make my own supplies. Laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, home remedies- the whole nine.

It's just my thing, I'm not preaching here. It's satisfying to make something with your own hands that is useful to your family.

Thanks, everyone, for your tips! I'll check them out before I buy and plant.

____________________

 

[Vince]

I've had apple trees around for about 15 years now. When these folks say they are alot of work and a pain in the azz, they aren't kidding. And sometimes you get nothing. I've had 6 trees on the property and two of them have yet to bare fruit of any size or amount. They are not worth the trouble. Planted a few Asian pear apple trees some years ago and that's the best trees I have, but you have to plant the "male" and "female" trees because they have to cross pollinate. Great apples. The one tree has an apple more along the lines of a golden delicious and the other has a brown skinned apple that tastes like a pear.

 

[huntr1]

6 apple trees here. 3 each red delicious and golden delicious. Planted them 3 years ago, and this is the first year I have let them fruit. They are doing OK, especially when you concider the absolute lack of care I have given them this year in the bug departement. The 1 time I sprayed, it rained 2 hours later. Jap beetles are doing a number on them this year. I enjoy having them, and would plant them again if I had to start over.

 

[Abby]

Mine will be mostly red for the proper amount of sugar, although one or two greens would be good because I love them. I have no problem with pruning and caring for trees- I've always had a green thumb. My only real concern is attracting too many bug to my property, but I intend to plant bug repellant plants and spray with homemade/organic pesticides. Will that be enough? Maybe. Don't know until I try, but the thought of ripping out trees I've cared for because of pests just makes my teeth hurt.

 

[jazz lady]

I've had apple trees around for about 15 years now. When these folks say they are alot of work and a pain in the azz, they aren't kidding. And sometimes you get nothing. I've had 6 trees on the property and two of them have yet to bare fruit of any size or amount. They are not worth the trouble.

I've had quite the opposite luck. My apple trees bore huge crops every year. :shrug:

Planted a few Asian pear apple trees some years ago and that's the best trees I have, but you have to plant the "male" and "female" trees because they have to cross pollinate. Great apples. The one tree has an apple more along the lines of a golden delicious and the other has a brown skinned apple that tastes like a pear.

No, they are not "male" and "female" - you need to plant two different varieties for pollination. Asian pears are very disease resistant and very good producers. I had two at my old house (Hosui and New Century from Stark Brothers) and the biggest problem I ever had with them was the squirrels.

 

[Abby]

Can you tell me what you do to take care of them, since you have had luck with them?

Have you had any problems with beetles?

 

[jazz lady]

Can you tell me what you do to take care of them, since you have had luck with them?

I posted this above:

I don't find fruit trees that much work. Prune them once a year, spray with dormant oil spray in late winter/early spring, thin the flowers so you get bigger fruit, and spray with a general purpose spray like Rotenone/Pyrethrin every couple of weeks and a fungicide if needed every once in awhile.

You can get the tree pre-pruned from Stark Brothers. They come with a great guide showing you how to prune them afterwards. My yard was small so I always got dwarf trees. Much smaller and easier to manage than full-sized trees.

Have you had any problems with beetles?

Spraying with Rotenone/Pyrethrin is the best thing I've found for getting rid of beetles. If applied regularly, the beetles never are a problem.

 

[desertrat]

Mine will be mostly red for the proper amount of sugar, although one or two greens would be good because I love them. I have no problem with pruning and caring for trees- I've always had a green thumb. My only real concern is attracting too many bug to my property, but I intend to plant bug repellant plants and spray with homemade/organic pesticides. Will that be enough? Maybe. Don't know until I try, but the thought of ripping out trees I've cared for because of pests just makes my teeth hurt.

I don't think it's a good idea to use your teeth that way.

 

[pixiegirl]

Sorry to thread hijack but I have but a simple question. Is it illegal to cut down dogwood trees? I have a ton of them. I mean several. B says he recalls hearing that it was illegal to cut them down because they're endangered or threatened or something. I like a few of them but a couple of them need to go.