OT: Stark apple trees

I now have room to plant about 20 apple trees. I would like your insight on dwarf vs. semi dwarf. I am on river bottom light soil with plenty of water in the well. This is my first post and I know you guys will not steer me wrong.

remember somone has to mow around them. I'd get them that start at least 5ft off the ground, 6+ if possible. If you have storage space, mix them so you have apples thru most of the winter. Most of my pasture is orchards that the old folks don't wanna mow any more. Each piece consists usually of a eat it when you pick variety and one that you store for winter use or make juice, wine, or schnaps from of apple, plum, pear, and maybe cherry now and then. And most all have at least one nut tree (english walnut in this area). Have fun.


Dave

Plant a few Pink Lady's. Hal

If you are going to have a little u-pick operation get the dwarfs.

Well, this wasn't an option in your question, but personally, I'd plant full-size and keep them pruned. Used to be in the 'business'................

(quoted from post at 05:32:18 09/29/11) Well, this wasn't an option in your question, but personally, I'd plant full-size and keep them pruned. Used to be in the 'business'................

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shorter versions that were planted 40+ years ago are being cut and replaced now (mostly hollow and falling apart under the apple weight) There are some normal ones that are close to 100 years old and still producing nice apples........

i planted all full size fruit trees along my creek. depends on the room you have, either the dwarf or semi dwarf"s will be fine. the semis will bear more fruit, but be a larger tree. if you have deer or beaver in your area, fence the trees off with 2x4 welded wire fence, i use the 4 foot high fencing. the deer love to "sharpen " their antlers on young fruit trees, and the beaver find them mighty tasty. (learned from experience) anything shorter than 4 foot and the beaver will tear the fence down and carry off the tree. i mulch the base of the trees, and use roundup to keep the weeds down inside the fence, just dont spray the tree. here is a picture of a fenced tree and my waterin rig.

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I have a couple, they yield real well. I have the semi dwarfs. Horses, deer, cows will eat the trees. My horses killed several cherry trees, the ate all the bark off, as high as the could reach. Goats will chew on trees also.

What do you plan on doing with all those apples? I have 2 trees & get more than I need. Around here you can"t give them away cause everybody else has too many too.

(quoted from post at 07:18:53 09/29/11) I have a couple, they yield real well. I have the semi dwarfs. Horses, deer, cows will eat the trees. My horses killed several cherry trees, the ate all the bark off, as high as the could reach. Goats will chew on trees also.

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Goats are just stupid, other animals must be missing something to eat the trees...... not sure what it is they're missing, but the 4 mares we brought over from Missouri skinned the bark off an apple tree the first few months we had them. They don't touch them anymore and all they gets from us is hay, pasture, and one of them brown/red mineral blocks.

(quoted from post at 10:17:54 09/29/11) What do you plan on doing with all those apples? I have 2 trees &amp; get more than I need. Around here you can"t give them away cause everybody else has too many too.

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You folks don't do apple juice and cider??? You can use up a bunch on applesauce and applebutter also....
We have it nice in our area, big juicer about 3 miles away. They pay (this year) 10 euro for 100kg of apples, juice your own apples for a charge, or trade you bottled juice based on how many apples you dropped off. We have about 4 gallons of cider working right now.

Depends on what you want to do with all those apples. The semi dwarf will produce more but you may need a ladder to collect them all. The dwarf trees will yeild slightly less but your feet will never have to leave the ground when pruning and harvesting.

The deer appreciate the dwarf trees the most, followed by semi-dwarf and then regular trees. I think their motto is "cant eat what we cant reach". If you plant dwarf trees its not a big deal during a heavy apple year because they eat mostly what falls to the ground. During a light apple year though, you may not get many apples for you and the family because the deer go up on hind legs and pick the tree almost clean.

Another thing to think about before commiting to an orchard is how your going to maintain it. I dont worry about mowing but you need to think about spraying the trees. If you plant semi-dwarf you should plan on a larger pull behind sprayer that has some power behind it. If you do dwarfs, you can spray with a hand held pump up sprayer. If you dont plan on spraying at all plan on massive losses and be happy if you only have heavy losses. Im not talking about just apple losses either, Im talking about the whole tree. Just last year I lost one of my big semi-dwarf trees to those tent caterpillars, I dont have a big sprayer so couldnt get the tops and the caterpillars took over and killed it.

As I replace trees and expand, Im putting in dwarf trees. I have enough trees that the deer can have whatever they want, I will eat whats left.

I canned enough applesauce from those 2 trees to last for years besides what I give away to the kids. I don't do cidar or juice. We still have juice from years ago. No market around here that I know of.

Several things to consider in my opinion. Dwarf will generally yield a year or two before semi-dwarf. They also have a shorter longevity which should be considered.

While attending the California Farm Equipment Show about 15 years ago I learned that fruit trees grown with a tree trunk wrap, preferably the plastic expanding kind, will often yield a year or two before non wrapped trees. Cheap investment that may pay as well as keeping rabbits, etc. from barking the trees during snows.