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Apple/Pear Trees

IowaBowHunter1983 said:
HELP.... need 750' of fence for this years apple tree plantings. Any less expensive options people have found work other than 5' welded-wire fence?
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Few things I've done...
Rip out old woven wire fencing I seem to find at any farm while digging around. I pull out sections and use that.
Are you caging them or building a complete fence?
If you're caging them, there's really no other way, I mean, you could find cheaper methods like plastic, or maybe somehow someway do barbed wire but doubtful and I sure wouldn't wanna mess with it. I got woven wire all over the place if you wanna go rip some out! :)

here's what I'd do but it's just me. TIME & EASE OF PUTTING UP AND QUALITY MEAN A LOT TO ME. I spend more time when I'm trying to half-A** something together SO I just think - just do it right to begin with....
http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/catalog/farm-ranch/fencing/welded-wire-fencing

*For sure I pull t-posts around farm with my t-post puller.

If it were ME.... I'd get like 48" welded wire. for example, on above link, it's on sale for $62 for 100 feet. So, about $500 for what you need. I'd do that or steal woven wire from around the farms. I like this welded wire though cause it pretty much keeps rabbits out if you do it right. I still protect trunks with screen but just in case - them rascals ain't getting in anyways. So easy to roll em out and cut em and make a cage, time is worth it to me.
 
^ I cage individual trees with the screen at the bottom of the trunk. (got rid of the 4" corregated tubes per your suggestion) Thankfully, 100% survival from last years 25 or so trees.

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Going with 50 more this year. That probably give me more than my farm needs, but rather have too many than not enough. So, I use 15' of fence per tree x 50 so that's where the 750' comes from. I will just bite the bullet and get the welded wire fence as I agree, rather only do it once..... I priced it this weekend at about $550 for the 5' stuff at Menards. If you think I can get away with 4' that's all the better. Been collecting T-posts with a chain and tractor bucket. Maybe should get a puller??
 
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Puller is so handy!!! I'm guessing mine was maybe $75?!?!?! I can't remember. bought it years ago and I've pulled out pry thousands of posts. No effort. So easy. I personally like 4' fence better.... I make the cage slightly wider that way & deer can't get to it that way. The big thing with 4' on little wider fence... It allows the apple trees to grow correctly - I had too tall of fence before and the branches were constantly growing all mangled into the fence and getting all messed up. It was a pain to prune as well. It may be a little overboard but I use 4 t posts (cause they are free from pulling), make it wide so tree can grow freely but also made in common sense size/shape that deer can't damage tree. LATER - I'll probably tighten in the size of the fence so the higher branches can hang over & dump out apples for the critters. I want a wide fence though until my years of pruning & Shaping are done and while the tree is young and not producing much anyways.
 
Here's the apples & pears I'm planting this year.
Lots of Arkansas Black & Enterprise
Freedom
Liberty
pink lady
Sundance
Limbertwig
Empire

Crabapple: chestnut, firecracker, dolgo

Pear: Ambrosia
Delicious
Seckel
Maxine
Moonglow
Kieffer
 
Sligh1 said:
Here's the apples & pears I'm planting this year.
Lots of Arkansas Black & Enterprise
Freedom
Liberty
pink lady
Sundance
Limbertwig
Empire

Crabapple: chestnut, firecracker, dolgo

Pear: Ambrosia
Delicious
Seckel
Maxine
Moonglow
Kieffer
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Firecracker Crab, that is one I have not heard much about. Good survival and when does it drop?
 
Hardwood11 said:
Firecracker Crab, that is one I have not heard much about. Good survival and when does it drop?
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1st time planting those, not planting a ton. More for pollination but an early fruit I recall, Sept/October. On a larger scale, I like having solid crabapple varieties because they do help with pollination and also have wildlife value.
 
For you guys that want something simple and inexpensive, U of Idaho Nursery has common wild apple plugs for sale for around $2.50/$3 range.

I have planted 75 or more in MN and I would guess 75% survival. The plugs are easy to plant and can be tubed for the first couple years. They shoot up fast.

The nursery says fruit in 8-10 years, meant for wildlife, mid-size fruit but a full spread out tree. A little unpredictable, however, I would say it's a nice option for farms with plenty of room to plant and they do not have to by babied on a regular basis.

*The plugs are nice too, you can wait awhile to get them in the ground. We planted 25 with tubes and some caging in less than 2 hours. I would guess they would take off in Iowa/Missouri/Illinois climate!
 
Skip, how many years, or more accurately, at what point in tree growth, are you taking the fence down and "turning them loose".
 
I'll never really take the fence down to ZERO protection, IMO - a guy in heavy deer area will likely need some sort of protection unless they had an "ORCHARD" with 50, 500, 5000 trees that were 10+ years old. BUT - I'd say, loosely explaining without pictures, when a tree becomes "well established and producing "ample fruit" - let's just say a 6-10 year old tree (and guys, that's fortunately and unfortunately not a lot of time - it flies by).... I'd tighten the fence simply so the truck can't get damaged. But, when the tree is tall enough that deer can't destroy the buds, leaves and eat every part of the tree (which they love everything apple & pear)... Once it's "Big & tall", I'd do a lower height cage with a tighter diameter and essentially you'll have a "free tree" that's doing it's thing and spitting out a lot of fruit while being protected. Obviously proper fertilizing, pruning and spraying will take place in the years leading to that (and make the trees get produce much better & faster) - I still would keep up on mature trees to keep an eye on stuff like fungus (cedar rust if susceptible), mildew, insect infestation, scab, etc. Most the trees you all are planting are likely resistant to some of those things. 1st 5 years though the battle is going to be deer, rabbits, water, insects and fungus. I'm going to say a properly cared for tree might be anywhere from 4-6" diameter after that time. I still watch em like a hawk. It was a shame to see my laziness and forgetfulness let 5 or 6 bigger 6-7 year old trees get killed by mice this last year with that corrugated tubing. Basically, if trunks are protected and canopy and branches aren't getting trampled, good to go. I'd highly recommend "checking on them" every 30 days for anything from caterpillars to damage of cages to disease. Not as hard as it sounds but yes, they need some attention ongoing, it really is easy though when you have a system and just take a few minutes to keep up with them. Sorry on the long answer with far more details. :)
 
Got it, thanks. The babysitting is the easy the part due to living at the same place the trees are going. I tend to want to check things too much and have to hold myself back from disturbing things.

In other news.... 900' of fence crammed into the truck! That will allow for slightly bigger circles around the trees. yeeeeeha.

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question..... planted 40 or so of the fruit trees into clover plots. Wondering if I should still kill the vegetation (clover) around the trees just like it was grass or weeds or does the clover actually help on the nitrogen side more than it might hurt on the P&K side....?

Still fertilizing regardless
 
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Nitrogen is released from legumes when they are terminated, naturally or otherwise. Biggest consideration is how much moisture the ground cover is removing from the soil, and thus stealing from the trees. Ground cover next to trees can also serve to shelter insects and rodents that are best kept away from your tree trunks.
 
i had a four year old tree that has a split in its bark really fine split but it resulted in the leader and about 2 ft below to die back rest of tree looks great i pruned and fertilized with a balanced fert. any ideas what this was from i have 30 other trees with it and they all are doing good some will produce this year it looks this just happened when we got that big temp increase then it frosted 3 weeks ago se iowa any ideas thanks
 
olafoggy said:
i had a four year old tree that has a split in its bark really fine split but it resulted in the leader and about 2 ft below to die back rest of tree looks great i pruned and fertilized with a balanced fert. any ideas what this was from i have 30 other trees with it and they all are doing good some will produce this year it looks this just happened when we got that big temp increase then it frosted 3 weeks ago se iowa any ideas thanks
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Some people call it southwest injury (usually occurs on the soutwest side of the tree). I just call it frost cracking, happens when the temps are warm enough for sap to flow and the bark absorbs some radiant heat, then cold temps hit and the freezing temps constrict the bark and a crack develops from the pressure. You can paint tree trunks with white latex paint to reduce the chance of it happening. If you dont typically see that kind of damage then it might not be worth the hassle of painting the trunks. Sounds like you handled the damage. Generally those cracks will seal naturally over time.

Chris
 
Turkey Creek said:
Nitrogen is released from legumes when they are terminated, naturally or otherwise. Biggest consideration is how much moisture the ground cover is removing from the soil, and thus stealing from the trees. Ground cover next to trees can also serve to shelter insects and rodents that are best kept away from your tree trunks.
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I suppose the moisture issue is a catch 22. Clover areas seem to always stay more moist because it isn't taking a direct beating from the sun like bare ground. I suppose kill and mulch solves both issues.
 
Is the end of August a good time to plant apple trees , Store bought trees in pots ?
 
Have not done alot of fruit trees but Nov. when they are dormant has worked the best so far. I would think you would have to water a bunch to plant Aug.
 
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