1st year apple orchard

[Smokey Hills Bandit]

Planted a 24 tree apple orchard on our hunting property this spring. Went with 14 bare root trees from starkbros and another 10 from fleet farm (BNI). Have 8 different varieties cold hardy to zone 3
Caged with 10 gauge concrete wire mesh and 2, 7' T posts. 2 bags of mulch, tree matt, and tube.
Cost average was around $80 a tree all said in done.

Fingers crossed for our first winter..

Fist bud Honeycrisp


Wide angle


Summer Honeycrisp


One of two 3 gallon pots from FF @ %40 off - after thoughts, but i couldn't resist.
Looks pretty good for a 3 1/2 hour ride in the pickup!


Varieties from starkbros.


JL

[HD]

They'll prolly be okay. 

I planted a couple late season from Menards (they were stuffed way back in a corner) ....and they made it so far!

[mike89]

nice!!!

[deadeye]

Nice job, looks like you did it right for their survival.  Good luck.

[Outdoors Junkie]

They look great! Nicely done. Keep us posted and please provide an update in the spring.

[delcecchi]

They'll prolly be okay. 

I planted a couple late season from Menards (they were stuffed way back in a corner) ....and they made it so far!

Second the motion about them being ok.  Fall is considered a good time to plant apples.   The first apple tree I planted in our yard was a honeygold in the fall of 1973.    It is still there and still producing apples.   

Unless you are really isolated you might well have to do some spraying to get apples that are pest free enough to eat.   And HoneyCrisp seems especially vulnerable to bugs, for some reason.   

[roony]

  And HoneyCrisp seems especially vulnerable to bugs, for some reason.

Maybe cuz they taste good. 

[dakids]

I had a few honeycrisp trees.  They have to be sprayed with calcium.  The trees can't provide enough calcium to the apple and the will get what's called bitter pit.  https://fruitgrowersnews.com/article/reducing-risk-bitter-pit-honeycrisp-apples/
They still taste great but will look like crap. For our deer land we planted dolgo crab apples.

[delcecchi]

Interesting.  Thanks.

[roony]

I had a few honeycrisp trees.  They have to be sprayed with calcium.  The trees can't provide enough calcium to the apple and the will get what's called bitter pit.  https://fruitgrowersnews.com/article/reducing-risk-bitter-pit-honeycrisp-apples/
They still taste great but will look like crap. For our deer land we planted dolgo crab apples.

This year about a third of the fruit an our Honeycrisp trees were affected with bitter-pit and maybe a tenth of the fruit on the Sweet 16s. Since I don't sell them, it isn't a huge deal because they still taste GREAT. I am going to do some more research about preventing it though

[Dotch]

Very nice orchard you've got started there jlynch! 

Not going to poo-poo the notion that Honeycrisp trees may need calcium. Reading the U's own info on Honeycrisp, they're aware of it, under storage life. With one Honeycrisp tree to deal with and huge amounts of calcium in the soils locally, I'm not going to spray every 5 - 7 days especially when it rains with the frequency that it does. Betting that if there is a problem, there's a good chance it'll outgrow it. I'm much more impressed by the SnowSweet tree anyway for ease of care and for its overall diversity. It's been an easy keeper.

https://mnhardy.umn.edu/varieties/fruit/apples/honeycrisp 

[Smokey Hills Bandit]

.

[dakids]

Honeycrisp is an every other year tree.  Every other year will be bumper crop followed by a year with fewer apples.

[beeker]

I read somewhere maybe here that the first few years if you nip the buds off the tree will grow bigger since it doesn’t have the fruit to grow also. Or some crap along those lines I’m not a forester

[delcecchi]

I read somewhere maybe here that the first few years if you nip the buds off the tree will grow bigger since it doesn’t have the fruit to grow also. Or some crap along those lines I’m not a forester

I've never heard that about apple trees.   But I'm not a pro either.   There is a lot of stuff about how to prune young trees for them to have the proper structure for the future.   

[Smokey Hills Bandit]

.

[deadeye]

Wow, that's a tough on for sure.  How far north are your trees.  I planted lots over the past 5 years and never had this kind of loss.  Mine are in central MN.

[delcecchi]

Honeycrisp are good in zone 4 for sure.   But maybe this year the northern parts of zone 4 got a little cold for them.   And if you were up in zone 3, for sure they were toast.  Not many apples are good for zone 3.   A few from the U of M, and some from ND, or Canada. 

[Smokey Hills Bandit]

.

[Smokey Hills Bandit]

.

[Dotch]

Bummer that the trees didn't make it. A lot of time & $ down the tubes. Feel bad for you.

Even here in the southern part of the state strange things have happened after the winter from hell. No flowers on one of the two pear trees here hence no pears. After bearing like mad ever since I established them, the aronia berries have essentially no fruit. Could not find enough on 100' of row to exhibit at the fair so went with nannyberries that are bearing like crazy. The sides of the apple trees exposed to the NW wind have very little fruit on them. The apples in this photo from the Freeborn Co. Fair came from parts of our Haralson tree that were sheltered.     

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Rebel SS]

                  

[Outdoors Junkie]

We planted five apple trees on our 40 acres last spring and only two of the five made it. This spring was terrible wet too. We planted six more this year and those are looking good so far.

[delcecchi]

Honeycrisp are good in zone 4 for sure.   But maybe this year the northern parts of zone 4 got a little cold for them.   And if you were up in zone 3, for sure they were toast.  Not many apples are good for zone 3.   A few from the U of M, and some from ND, or Canada.

I knew going in that planting zone 3b was going to be tough, but it hit me hard. Lot of $$ down the drain.

I did buy all zone 3 from Starkbros, but I will be trying to stick with hardier varieties next spring.

JL

Looks like honeycrisp is a zone 4 thing.   
Honeycrisp Is Cold Hardy

A long-standing objective of the University of Minnesota's apple breeding program is to develop winter-hardy cultivars with high fruit quality. 'Honeycrisp,' hardy in USDA Zone 4 (-25 to -30 degrees Fahrenheit), is a stellar example of achieving this objective.

[Rebel SS]

Honeycrisp are good in zone 4 for sure.   But maybe this year the northern parts of zone 4 got a little cold for them.   And if you were up in zone 3, for sure they were toast.  Not many apples are good for zone 3.   A few from the U of M, and some from ND, or Canada.

I knew going in that planting zone 3b was going to be tough, but it hit me hard. Lot of $$ down the drain.

I did buy all zone 3 from Starkbros, but I will be trying to stick with hardier varieties next spring.

JL

Boy, that sucks. I was PO'd becuz I thought my one Potentilla bush was toast. Was buried under 5 ft of roof snow when it was -30 here. I can guess how you feel..........    
(My bush survived and bloomed out last month...way late, but it looks great.)

[roony]

I would not describe myself as an orchardist but I do have several apple trees and three pear trees. Yesterday the warden and I picked 250 apples off one of my six year old honeycrisps. I might still take more fruit off of it. Last year I didn't get around to thinning the apples and a couple of my trees suffered some major, and I mean major limb damage from the weight of the apples. All of my trees need some help in the pruning department.
I have a fair number of pears again this year, mainly on my luscious pear but also a few on my gourmet pear. My patton pear is younger and, as yet, hasn't had any fruit set.
I need someone to help me take care of my trees. I have gin!

[glenn57]

I would not describe myself as an orchardist but I do have several apple trees and three pear trees. Yesterday the warden and I picked 250 apples off one of my six year old honeycrisps. I might still take more fruit off of it. Last year I didn't get around to thinning the apples and a couple of my trees suffered some major, and I mean major limb damage from the weight of the apples. All of my trees need some help in the pruning department.
I have a fair number of pears again this year, mainly on my luscious pear but also a few on my gourmet pear. My patton pear is younger and, as yet, hasn't had any fruit set.
I need someone to help me take care of my trees. I have gin!

he's not there yet?

[Rebel SS]

I would not describe myself as an orchardist but I do have several apple trees and three pear trees. Yesterday the warden and I picked 250 apples off one of my six year old honeycrisps. I might still take more fruit off of it. Last year I didn't get around to thinning the apples and a couple of my trees suffered some major, and I mean major limb damage from the weight of the apples. All of my trees need some help in the pruning department.
I have a fair number of pears again this year, mainly on my luscious pear but also a few on my gourmet pear. My patton pear is younger and, as yet, hasn't had any fruit set.
I need someone to help me take care of my trees. I have gin!

he's not there yet?

Heck, the apples are already picked!!!  Get out the ice! 

I think Delmar was sittin' under the tree when the apple fell and bounced off his noggin'......

[delcecchi]

I would not describe myself as an orchardist but I do have several apple trees and three pear trees. Yesterday the warden and I picked 250 apples off one of my six year old honeycrisps. I might still take more fruit off of it. Last year I didn't get around to thinning the apples and a couple of my trees suffered some major, and I mean major limb damage from the weight of the apples. All of my trees need some help in the pruning department.
I have a fair number of pears again this year, mainly on my luscious pear but also a few on my gourmet pear. My patton pear is younger and, as yet, hasn't had any fruit set.
I need someone to help me take care of my trees. I have gin!

he's not there yet?

Heck, the apples are already picked!!!  Get out the ice! 

I think Delmar was sittin' under the tree when the apple fell and bounced off his noggin'......

No apple trees in this yard.

[Outdoors Junkie]

We planted five apple trees on our 40 acres last spring and only two of the five made it. This spring was terrible wet too. We planted six more this year and those are looking good so far.

We removed the protective plastic around the trunks on the three trees from last year that we thought were dead and found some new growth under the plastic on two of the three. So, maybe those bugger aren't wrote off quite yet?

[attachment deleted by admin]