Direct Seed Apple Trees for Deer

[LodgeWI]

Has anyone direct seeded apple seeds in the fall with the intent to build a small orchard for deer? I have a bunch of dolgo crab seeds and this could be a way to get a bunch of free trees. Please let me know your thoughts.

Pros:
Free
Works if you don't care what type of apple the trees produce, as long as they produce

Cons:
Time - many years until production
Uncertainty of germination

 

[Native Hunter]

A member on this forum from Indiana planted 100 crabapple seedlings and ended up cutting down 95 of them because they were either poor producers and/or disease magnets. You are much farther north than him, so that should somewhat lessen (but not completely eliminate) your chances of diseases being a problem. Northern climates are much more forgiving when it comes to apple diseases.

One thing you could do is grow the seedlings and later topwork them to a desirable variety. That's probably what I would do. It's not a foolproof plan, but likely one that would work pretty well. Good luck.

 

[KSQ2]

I ordered some pear seedlings from a well-known nursery a couple years ago. After ordering and planting the trees they sounded eerily like a noxious type of pear. If that ends up being the case, I plan to top work them like Native mentioned.

 

[Chainsaw]

Here apple trees are not free. Fencing @ $8 per tree, screening @ $1.24 and weed mats @ ?$1 makes free not such a big deal. Seeds from Dolgo trees in the average landowner orchard are only 50% Dolgo. The other half is unknown. I would prefer to purchase Dolgo Root stock over harvesting seeds as the rootstock is at least Dolgo crossed to Dolgo in the best quality scenario. Further grafting with quality scions to Dolgo rootstock only costs time and fencing, screening and weed mats and the likely outcome is much more predictable.

Though you may have lots of years to experiment it might be better to play the odds and make great grafts to quality seedling rootstock to get "free" trees with better chances of getting outstanding trees. One only has so many years and so much land. There is neither room nor time for good enough.

 

[LodgeWI]

Thanks everyone. I think I can still get my hands on some Antonovka rootstock yet this year. I have plenty of tubes and weed mats already from prior plantings, so it would just be the rootstock cost.

I'm going up Turkey hunting this weekend and will map out where I want trees.

 

[BoneCrusher20]

I agree....cost of apple trees is definitely not in the tree itself, always seems be the protection after the fact that is where real cost is. If want to start an "orchard" of larger size worth making small investment in battery run electric fence and can enclose a large area and expand each year without having to put up a fence around each tree w/ poles for each.

 

[THE LLC]

We've grown a lot from seed just for the fun of it. I usually graft know varieties to them later, but some I'm just letting grow. Those are not old enough to produce but the ones I've top-worked have and are. Got one at home that I grafted three different varieties to. That's pretty neat. From my experience the seedlings make pretty good and reliable rootstocks.

 

[mattpatt]

Has anyone direct seeded apple seeds in the fall with the intent to build a small orchard for deer? I have a bunch of dolgo crab seeds and this could be a way to get a bunch of free trees. Please let me know your thoughts.

Pros:
Free
Works if you don't care what type of apple the trees produce, as long as they produce

Cons:
Time - many years until production
Uncertainty of germination

FYI…. I’m not a Apple man but my brother and I planted some Dolgo seedlings SEEDLING trees about 8-9 years ago. It’s been so long I forgot. I check them every year waiting for that first crabapple. Again, these were seedlings so they had one or two years head start before I planted them so the tree itself is probably ten years old or so. Nothing to show for it. Yet. But I keep hoping and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting….. that was my foray into “apples.”

Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[George]

FYI…. I’m not a Apple man but my brother and I planted some Dolgo seedlings SEEDLING trees about 8-9 years ago. It’s been so long I forgot. I check them every year waiting for that first crabapple. Again, these were seedlings so they had one or two years head start before I planted them so the tree itself is probably ten years old or so. Nothing to show for it. Yet. But I keep hoping and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting….. that was my foray into “apples.”

Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is not good news for someone who bought Dolgo seedlings from Oikos this year. They said fruit in 3-4 years,

G

 

[mattpatt]

That is not good news for someone who bought Dolgo seedlings from Oikos this year. They said fruit in 3-4 years,

G

I’m pretty sure Okios is where I bought mine. They were little whips. If I ever get any fruit, I had intended on growing my own from seed as these are the only crabapple trees we have.

Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Chainsaw]

That is not good news for someone who bought Dolgo seedlings from Oikos this year. They said fruit in 3-4 years,

G

That is depressing George. Of course there are variations in Dolgo seedlings. To start with is the simple size of the seedling; ie did it start out as a 7/16 inch seedling or a 1/8 inch seedling? That alone could make a huge difference. Were they true Dolgo seedlings that is grafted Dolgo crossed to grafted Dolgo? Were they weed matted at planting? And on and on-lots of variables can and do play into the outcome. I planted a couple of hundred Dolgo seedlings this spring in full sun, good soil and weed matted them immediately. When they might bloom is unknown but at 3/8 to 7/16 size they are off to a great start keeping in mind that the larger sizes could mean the individual seedlings have a mix of genes that grows faster than the smaller versions and of course or they just had a better place in the field to grow.

 

[THE LLC]

Standard apple trees on their own roots take 10-12 years to bear but then watch out! I'm amazed every autumn at the numbers and amount of wild apples in the median of the Throughway in western New York. They're everywhere. Best I can tell, it is worth the wait.