apple tree question

[tim]

i know apple trees have been discussed from time to time but my question is this. is it better to plant them in the spring or fall? and does it depend on size of tree that is getting planted to answer that question properly? thanks in advance for answers.

[tim]

oh same question for pear trees?

[Indianahunter]

Best to plant in the spring after you are certain the last frost has taken place. Also keep in mind that many apple tree require a cross pollinator. Like if you wanted to grow Fuji (my favorite for eating) you will need a crabapple tree or Golden Delicious in close vicinity. If you are planting I highly recommend the Arkansas Black apple tree. They are late bloomers and will last in to October.

[DEERSLAYER]

Best to plant in the spring after you are certain the last frost has taken place. Also keep in mind that many apple tree require a cross pollinator. Like if you wanted to grow Fuji (my favorite for eating) you will need a crabapple tree or Golden Delicious in close vicinity. If you are planting I highly recommend the Arkansas Black apple tree. They are late bloomers and will last into October.

X2 on the Arkansas Black, but just to be clear I should mention that to pollinate a Fuji you would not only need a crabapple or golden delicious. There are many trees that would pollinate a Fuji. The same goes for other varieties. If you google "apple pollination chart" and then click on the image tab you will see plenty of charts like this one. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/22374476/AP ... -PDF---PDF

Spring is the best time to plant and I like to do it once the temperatures start getting into the 50's but you can do it as soon as the ground thaws if the nursery sends them real early. As long as your trees are still fully dormant you don't have to worry about frost, but if you plant them after the buds start to swell (which means they are breaking dormancy) and before the last frost then you could be in trouble. I like to get them planted early because you will get some root growth when the soil temp gets over 45 degrees even though the tree has a while before it breaks dormancy.

While I would wait for spring you can plant in fall, but if your going to plant bare root trees in the fall do it after all the trees in the area are dormant and be sure the apple tree is fully dormant too. However, if you have a potted tree then I would plant as soon as the late summer rains start coming and the summer temps cool enough that you don't have to worry about the tree dying of thirst. This way the tree will have a little time to get some roots established before winter and it will have a good start in the spring.

The only time the size of the tree would affect when I would plant would be if I was planting a tiny seedling. In that case I would only plant in the spring because with a fall planting it may not survive the winter.

[Indianahunter]

Deerslayer.....Thanks for the chart....that is great!

[tim]

thanks so much for the responses. i like improving my land as much as possible and this just seems like the next thing i want to try. ive succesfully planted walnut trees and was surpised to see that some of my 7 year old walnut trees are already bearing nuts . i absolutely couldnt believe it, i thought for sure they would need much longer than that. i planted from nuts. . anywho back to apple trees,,,, i want to plant some trees that have some age to the already but i lso want to plant seeds just for fun. when would i plant seeds and do they need any special preperation or simply bury some apples. also if i start some seeds in some small pots would i leave them outside over winter ? thanks for the responses again. the whole cross polinization thing intrigues me and i want to get trees that are ready in all the months . aug/sept/oct/nov.

[Edcyclopedia]

Best to plant in the spring after you are certain the last frost has taken place. Also keep in mind that many apple tree require a cross pollinator. Like if you wanted to grow Fuji (my favorite for eating) you will need a crabapple tree or Golden Delicious in close vicinity. If you are planting I highly recommend the Arkansas Black apple tree. They are late bloomers and will last in to October.

Can you plant these in other States?

[Indianahunter]

Best to plant in the spring after you are certain the last frost has taken place. Also keep in mind that many apple tree require a cross pollinator. Like if you wanted to grow Fuji (my favorite for eating) you will need a crabapple tree or Golden Delicious in close vicinity. If you are planting I highly recommend the Arkansas Black apple tree. They are late bloomers and will last in to October.

Can you plant these in other States?

You can plant in Zones 5-9 so they are very good trees for the majority portion of the Midwest. Also.....they are delicious for people too! Love em.

[DEERSLAYER]

thanks so much for the responses. i like improving my land as much as possible and this just seems like the next thing i want to try. ive succesfully planted walnut trees and was surpised to see that some of my 7 year old walnut trees are already bearing nuts . i absolutely couldnt believe it, i thought for sure they would need much longer than that. i planted from nuts. . anywho back to apple trees,,,, i want to plant some trees that have some age to the already but i lso want to plant seeds just for fun. when would i plant seeds and do they need any special preperation or simply bury some apples. also if i start some seeds in some small pots would i leave them outside over winter ? thanks for the responses again. the whole cross polinization thing intrigues me and i want to get trees that are ready in all the months . aug/sept/oct/nov.

I'm not sure if you realize this or not but if you plant a seed you have no idea of when that tree will produce (probably 6-8 years, possibly 10+), what time of year it will ripen (could be mid summer or not at all) or if deer will like the fruit. However, having said that, deer will usually clean up on what the tree produces and trees grown from seed will live a very long time. Plus you can always graft other varieties onto the tree (called top working) if you don't like what it produces. However it will likely become a very large tree (eventually) that will take up a fair amount of space. I think it would be fun to see what happens though and you never know, you might discover the next great variety and become a rich man, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Best to plant in the spring after you are certain the last frost has taken place. Also keep in mind that many apple tree require a cross pollinator. Like if you wanted to grow Fuji (my favorite for eating) you will need a crabapple tree or Golden Delicious in close vicinity. If you are planting I highly recommend the Arkansas Black apple tree. They are late bloomers and will last in to October.

Can you plant these in other States?

You can plant in Zones 5-9 so they are very good trees for the majority portion of the Midwest. Also.....they are delicious for people too! Love em.

One thing to keep in mind with mast producing trees, especially fruit trees, is that when they ripen and when they drop will vary from area to area depending on your zone and micro climate. A tree that ripens in one zone in early September may not ripen in a colder zone until mid October. This can make it hard to determine what to get and if it will even ripen. For example, a granny smith is rated down to zone 5, but over here in zone 5 it may only ripen once every ten years or so when you have an early spring and a late summer because it requires a long growing season. Fortunately, the deer love granny smith even if they are not fully ripened and the tree will also drop it's apples eventually despite not being ripe. You may have deer digging in the snow in December for them depending on where you live.

Some trees will not drop their apples if they are not ripe and some will hold the majority of their apples even if they are ripe. This can make it hard you pick the right variety, because there is not much information on drop times, let alone reliable sources for this kind of info.

Just some things to think about.

[exojam]

Dang, now this thread has me wanting to plant some apple trees next year in strategic places.

[UntouchableNess]

The reason that most don't plant seeds is that the native root system of apple trees tend to be weak. Most of the apple trees you buy will be grafted onto root systems that are hardy. http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsh ... eroot.html

I have a Winsap that holds apples into January. They freeze dry on the tree, increasing the sugar content. The deer pound them when they drop late winter. Granny Smith barely ripens in my area. Lodi will be ready about now, thus worthless for hunting around. So pick your variety for when you want to hunt. http://www.davewilson.com/sites/default ... apples.pdf

Spring or fall transplant? I'd plant in the late fall after the apple tree has gone dormant. Nothing happens over winter, the soil settles around the roots and the tree is ready to "wake up" come spring when the weather tells it to.

Deer LOVE apple leaves and will heavily browse low branches. Bucks will rub young trees. You will need to cage them, IMO.

[DEERSLAYER]

...The reason that most don't plant seeds is that the native root system of apple trees tend to be weak. Most of the apple trees you buy will be grafted onto root systems that are hardy. http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsh ... eroot.html ...

I have heard the term "weak" used before, but I think that is a little misleading because the weakness usually comes from the genetic variability of each individual tree. So you won't know if that tree is suited to the particular soil or climatic conditions you plant it in. It could very well be like planting a root stock that is very susceptible to collar rot in wet soil. It would languish or die, but in a well drained soil it would excel. Seedling trees can have very strong root systems, but since you won't know the genetics of the tree it's a bit of a crap shoot. It's usually best to plant them in a good loam soil. Although they often show a tendency to do well in wet soil where most rootstocks would not (with the exception of using swamp crabapple as a rootstock). So if your going to try some seedlings I would plant a lot in a small area (like 12'-15' apart). The ones that don't do well you can cut down and use to smoke a rabbit, turkey or whatever with. The ones that take off you can let grow until they produce and then keep the ones that have apples you like and cut down the rest or change them over to another variety. Possibly one of the other trees you planted. If they take a long time to produce and start crowding each other you can control the size through pruning.

However, I would ALWAYS use a known root stock like BUD 118, etc. Doing the seedling thing would be just for fun, experimenting or if you are super broke IMO.

...I have a Winsap that holds apples into January. They freeze dry on the tree, increasing the sugar content. The deer pound them when they drop late winter. Granny Smith barely ripens in my area. Lodi will be ready about now, thus worthless for hunting around. So pick your variety for when you want to hunt. http://www.davewilson.com/sites/default ... apples.pdf ...

Just realize that if you live quite a bit further north in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, etc that the chart from Dave Wilson will not be accurate and also that ripening time can be quite different than drop time as UntouchableNess can attest to.

...Deer LOVE apple leaves and will heavily browse low branches. Bucks will rub young trees. You will need to cage them, IMO.

X2! I also use 1/8" hardware cloth around the bottom as protection against mice girdling the tree. I would also be generous with the size of the fenced area you use because when the limbs grow through the fence they usually get chewed off by the deer. Make sure you secure the fence well to avoid damage from deer (& especially bear) pushing them down or running into them and breaking some of your branches. Four T-posts work great for this.

[UntouchableNess]

Haralson apple, a product of the University of Minnesota, should ripen in most of Wisconsin. I've heard it has such a high rate of fruit set it breaks branches. Always wanted to plant one, just haven't gotten around to it yet. I don't see it at local nurseries, most likely would have to order it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haralson_%28apple%29

[Edcyclopedia]

Best to plant in the spring after you are certain the last frost has taken place. Also keep in mind that many apple tree require a cross pollinator. Like if you wanted to grow Fuji (my favorite for eating) you will need a crabapple tree or Golden Delicious in close vicinity. If you are planting I highly recommend the Arkansas Black apple tree. They are late bloomers and will last in to October.

Can you plant these in other States?

You can plant in Zones 5-9 so they are very good trees for the majority portion of the Midwest. Also.....they are delicious for people too! Love em.

I should have put a smiley face at the end, as the other State(s) would be any one that wasn't in ArKansas.
And if so would they be called "New Hampshire Black Apple trees"
"Wisconsin Black Apple trees"
Etc
Etc...
Just funnin around

[tim]

this is good stuff guys, thanks so much. i will be planting my trees in vernon county wisconsin. in the bluffs. i have an 8 acre crop field on top of the properrty which drops into 3 acres of overgrown pasture where i put a pond(waterhole) which then drops into the woods. so im planning on planting the trees in the pasture. this pasture is now just overgrown and has been since 04. there is 1 huge old apple tree im not even sure what type it is but the apples are always donw by the end of august. what size tree thrives best after planting and what spacing? im not sure if i should plant semi-dwarf , im afraid dwarf tree would get pounded really hard. i do realize they will need to be fenced though while first growing, it just sucks as im an absanteee land owner and cant get up there as often as i would like due to taking all my time off in the fall for hunting.