The Forbidden Apple Tree Knowledge Thread

buckvelvet said:
*Update* Michigan blow sand + Gala on M7 (from Grandpas Nursery before i started grafting) + time (panted I think 2013) = hard leaner, I had to stake that tree quite heavily, I have another tree, Cortland on M7 that has had no upright issues, same ground 30 feet apart. Within the same orchard I have Ashmeads Kernel, Granny Smith (grafted 2015), Pink Pearl, & Cripps Pink grafted 2016 that haven't had issues on M7 with the 'lean' I do have all these trees staked to 10 foot metal conduit.

The Cortland was planted the same time the Gala was, the Cortland is a bit shorter as I haven't found it to be as vigorous, the Gala I have to trim back this year probably a bit hard because the caliper at the bottom (about 4 inch circumference now) can't sustain the growth it's put on up top.

Remember this is light Michigan blow sand that is pretty hard to avoid around here.
Click to expand...

Good update. We appreciate the info!
 
I wish I could have found this thread and this site sooner. After writing to you about my fruit tree list, I may have gotten some "Hippy-Dippy apples that are from the bowels of DR hell".
 
Hillfarm said:
I wish I could have found this thread and this site sooner. After writing to you about my fruit tree list, I may have gotten some "Hippy-Dippy apples that are from the bowels of DR hell".
Click to expand...

Many a poor wayfaring apple sojourners have found themselves engulfed in the bowels of DR hell. It is like a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man - as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of the apple grower's fears, and the summit of his knowledge.

The Hippy-Dippy crowd will forever be immersed in their endless chemical sprays, but seekers of truth (like us) shall adjust our paths and overcome lest we perish.
 
I won't use synthetic medicine, chemicals, fertilizers, or cleaners. I was thinking of spraying a few problem trees with an aerated compost tea mixture. I have seen it turn around some pretty sick specimens. Oh well, this subject is for another thread.
Do you have a thread on drop times of the fruit trees you have bearing? I think that would be interesting, and useful, to us novice types. I'm trying to plan a October (and later) dropping section, a Sept, Aug, July, June dropping times sectons in my planting area. I also will try to sprinkle in very late drop fruits, in every section to keep them moving through the area, in late ML season.
 
Native Hunter said:
Same here: A quote from me in Post #1, "...I really have no personal interest in becoming a commercial grower."

And I'm having more fun than a barrel of monkeys...........


I did consider m7 once until I saw where a horticulturist with the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commissionan described it as a "...noxious weed...." and said that 30% of them would fall over if they weren't trellised.
Click to expand...

The trees (very limited amount) at my house orchard, not a lot of room there, It was my first year planting (didn't graft yet) and I bought some varieties I thought i'd like, they just happen to come on M7.

The excitement to begin a new journey is sometimes to quick to become a reward, similar to any such sayings of this microwave mentality society.
 
Hillfarm said:
I won't use synthetic medicine, chemicals, fertilizers, or cleaners. I was thinking of spraying a few problem trees with an aerated compost tea mixture. I have seen it turn around some pretty sick specimens. Oh well, this subject is for another thread.
Do you have a thread on drop times of the fruit trees you have bearing? I think that would be interesting, and useful, to us novice types. I'm trying to plan a October (and later) dropping section, a Sept, Aug, July, June dropping times sectons in my planting area. I also will try to sprinkle in very late drop fruits, in every section to keep them moving through the area, in late ML season.
Click to expand...

I don't have a thread on the drop times, and I don't have it written down. I do have it in my head (which is dangerous). I intend someday to take my list that you have seen and add all this extra info + any insight into any of those varieties.
 
Last edited:
before this thread, I didn't know rootstock from woodstock

just got my 30 tree fruit package from Wildlife Group

first time ever planting grafted rootstock

here we go............

bill
 
TreeDaddy said:
before this thread, I didn't know rootstock from woodstock

just got my 30 tree fruit package from Wildlife Group

first time ever planting grafted rootstock

here we go............

bill
Click to expand...

Bill came out of Woodstock - landed in Rootstock - and is headed for the Comstock Lode of fruit.....
 
Yeah we might plant trees idk....in May? It's -30 windchill this morning......whiteouts, the works. Yee haw!
 
After years of hearing on the Internet of how great B118 rootstock is for apples, it seems that - Houston We Have a Problem!! A guy started a thread on another forum about how many of his trees have started to lean. I saw the same exact thing this spring with a B118 tree that I gave to my FIL. It was growing really well and a moderate wind storm this spring laid it over, He currently has ropes on it. Also just communicated with a friend, and he has B118 trees starting to lean. I started researching it, and it seems that this is a common problem with B118 is some places. We already knew that this was a problem with M7 and now we know it can also be a problem with B118.

I am so glad that the majority of my semi dwarf apples are on MM111. I've never seen the first sign of any problems with any of them. I only got some B118 trees in the last couple of years. I set some of those deep so that they would root above the graft, so hopefully those will be okay.

I'm not going to say any more about this. I'm "Teed Off" right now and might say too much...... But, if it's on the Internet and someone says something is good, it must be true....right????
 
Last edited:
I’m new to grafting apple trees has anyone had issues with grafting Arkansas black onto m111? They have took but this far have only grew 3-6inches where other variety’s have grown anywhere from 9 inches to 2 feet.
 
Matt Casto said:
I’m new to grafting apple trees has anyone had issues with grafting Arkansas black onto m111? They have took but this far have only grew 3-6inches where other variety’s have grown anywhere from 9 inches to 2 feet.
Click to expand...

I've not heard on this issue with AB, but I've never grafted any of them either. Hopefully someone who has will chime in.
 
I recommend that everyone interested in apples read the following article which quotes Kerik D. Cox, a plant pathologist who has studied the disease of fireblight for a decade at Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Some other experts, such as George Sundin at Michigan State are quoted as well.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/...ads-northward-threatening-apple-orchards.html

However, if you don't want to read the whole thing, I have summarized what I feel are the most important parts:
  • Fireblight is spreading to places where it had not been seen before. Examples are New York’s Champlain Valley and parts of Maine. Many places in the north are now experiencing what they thought was only a southern problem.
  • At places where the disease was hardly ever thought about in times past, entire orchards have been destroyed in recent years.
  • What I have said earlier in this thread about dwarfing and semi-dwarfing trees being more of an issues is being echoed by others. Example: In this artice George Sundin was quoted as saying, “...The old-style trees that we used to grow were big and had tons of branches and the bacteria couldn’t move through the tree very well...In these new trees, “the branches are smaller and it’s a short distance from the branch to the tree and down to the roots.”
So there you have it. Basically, when choosing apple varieties, resistance to FB should be a major concern, and rootstock should be a concern as well. I think this article certainly backs up a lot of what I have posted earlier in this thread concerning my theories
 
dogghr said:
I didn't need opinions from University icons to know you were right all along Native. Glad they finally caught up with your knowledge. Good read anyway, thanks.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dogghr, and I’m just glad those university icons are reading our forum .....;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

letemgrow
The Lost Apple Project Scion Sale.
Replies
0
Views
379
letemgrow
letemgrow
Jman
Thoughts on grafted thornless honey locust cultivars?
Replies
11
Views
777
catscratch
catscratch
Shufigo
Interesting persimmon grafting result, Asians and Native
Replies
1
Views
706
yoderjac
yoderjac
Native Hunter
Native Hunter 2023 Apples
5 6 7
Replies
123
Views
9K
DouglasCorrell
D
KSQ2
Yellow Grasshoppers
Replies
8
Views
396
yoderjac
yoderjac
Back
Top