little weekend planting for the future

[wtnhunt]

Got 9 apple trees planted, rained on me while planting some today. Ground looked pretty good in the clover plot, nice dark top soil.

To the right of the 4 wheeler can see our old two man stand at the top of the hill on the north side of the field. Went with 3 braeburn, 3 red delicious and 3 johnathon.

Box blind on the west side of the plot.

Field fence with chicken wire inside hopefully will keep the trees from being rubbed or hit by other pests. Will tie them down to rebar or t posts.

Looking from in front of the box blind. Nice little scrape line year after year along the oaks straight back in the narrow finger. Time to fertilize and lime and need to spot spray some grass with clethodim as soon as it warms up a little more.

Still have 6 pear trees to plant. Will go on opposite end of the field, holes are dug hopefully will finish up tomorrow.

Hope 8 or so years down the road to start to see this payoff.

[fly]

Hopefully the fruit trees will bring in some sweet meat as well. Going to spread some lime this coming weekend as well.

[dogdoc]

looks good! Those 3 apples will pollinate each other just fine Keiffer pears are self fertile but do better with more than one tree.

I'd put some old hay around as mulch to help keep that soil moist.

todd

[Ravin R10 man]

remember to fertilize them from time to time, I like to split it up, spring summer and fall appl.

William, getting rained on in Tenn., does that qualify as a shower?? j/k....lol

Edited March 23, 2015 by Mathews XT Man

[wtnhunt]

Never seen so many big earthworms as what was in the plot i planted the apple trees.

Will try keep hay around them. Considered leaving the cages where i could take them off to weedeat. Mulching with clippings or hay would sure be easier. Still need to sink posts to tie to, want to keep them far enough away from the roots.

Finished up planting this morning. Of 18 trees had one damaged root on one of these pears. Babied the tree but i doubt it makes it was one of the main roots.

I fertilize the plots usually twice a year with the lowest nitrogen fertilizer i can get 6-12-12. Should feed the trees too.

[Ultradog]

Nice.

You might consider a bigger fence tho.

I planted half a dozen apple trees a few years ago and the deer reached right over the top and ate them off.

If I were to do it again I would put about a 6' dianeter fence around them.

Just a thought.

[wtnhunt]

Thanks Jerry. Might have to look at different caging. I planted pears in the same field several years ago and they were rubbed so i knew i would have to cage them. Had not given thought to the deer eating the trees.

[Ravin R10 man]

I put 6' tall , and 3 foot diameter, cages around the ones I planted, got one tree to take down this spring yet, replace with a new tree, old one will make good jerky smoking wood.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Mathews XT Man

[wtnhunt]

Kieffer pears. Woods in the background are the woods that may be gone. Don't know how far back the neighbor is going to timber, but we do own a little ways in so there will remain a good line of mature trees.

[dbHunterNY]

looks good William!

[wtnhunt]

These were bare root trees from tyty nursery, and was not too sure what to expect from them, but was hopeful to have a pretty decent survival rate after talking with a rep from the nursery. Guess a lesson I learned with the bare root planting is that a 2-3 ft tree requires as big or bigger holes than container trees typically require.

Will try to get some updated pics soon when more green comes in. Got green buds or leaves on 17 of 18 trees so far, knock on wood. The pear I did not expect to make it has leaves starting to come out, one of the other pears that had a great looking root system has not yet started budding.

[Ravin R10 man]

you must have a green thumb Will, that or you rubbed elbows with Dogdoc

all the rain cant hurt either

Edited April 7, 2015 by Mathews XT Man

[dogdoc]

good deal. Glad you are getting such a great survival rate. The bare roots can have some good size root systems. I try to dig a deeper wider hole so none of the roots are bent. I've planted a lot of potted trees also and they almost always have circled roots so I have to cut the roots to help prevent root circling. I've had just as much luck with bare roots as I have the potted trees.

[wtnhunt]

Yeah Todd, some of those holes I had to dig were approaching 4 ft diameter. Instructions with the trees called for holes to be dug twice the size of the root system. We are getting a lot of rain this spring, hopefully that does not mean we are in for a drought this summer. If worst case, I can carry water back in garbage cans and buckets in the loader bucket or my truck.

The pears once established should be good, fairly resistant to drought so I have them on the higher ground. I know kieffers are supposed to be blight resistant, but I did lose some trees in the past in our yard, possible the blight was spread from the nearby bartletts, dunno.

Noticed tractor supply has some "deer netting" that is 6 ft x 100. May pick up a roll of it to go around these cages. Still need to get back with some old hay. Used some cut grass around a few trees.

I did have a stink bug on one of the pear trees, not sure about spraying these trees this soon? Could hit them with the bonide fruit tree spray, will have to do some checking.

This is the only pear without green yet. Does look like it is trying to bud though.

The other 5 are about like this.

Apple trees.

Clover has not been fertilized or limed yet this spring, but it is growing fast. Mowed last weekend with my little kubota, clipped it back to about 4 inches. Got a lot of spot spraying to do too.

[wtnhunt]

At this point, all the trees ended up taking. Some are growing faster than I expected. Will get some more pics up soon.

Nice.

You might consider a bigger fence tho.

I planted half a dozen apple trees a few years ago and the deer reached right over the top and ate them off.

If I were to do it again I would put about a 6' dianeter fence around them.

Just a thought.

Yep, you were right Jerry. Had to go back with "deer fabric" around my cages and loosely draped over some trees that had grown taller than the t posts. Deer were eating the leaves through the wire and had a few trees that the tops got eaten off of. Hopefully not enough damage to hurt the trees. Probably will come back with 7 ft tall cages next spring.

[dogdoc]

Knock on wood, but I have been very fortunate that my deer don't forage on my apples or pear trees. Not saying that they won't in the future. I use 4ft cages and 2 posts. I will use about 10ft of water (circumference) and then raise it about a foot off the ground. Any limbs that grow through the cage I am not worried about bc I will eventually have my lowers limbs at about 5 feet.

The "deer pruning" won't hurt your trees at all but you want to do your best to keep them off the main leader. This will eventually turn your trees into a bush so you might want to make those cages a little wider.

good luck and post some pics of the trees

todd

[wtnhunt]

good luck and post some pics of the trees

Could use some moisture. Took these recently when i went back to weedeat around them.

Pears

Apples

[Turkeygirl]

Nice planning for the future. We are so dry here this past week or more...really need some rain, don't want to lose my brassica plot.

[wtnhunt]

Added more height to the cages with some new wire earlier this year.  Pears doing pretty well.  

Thought we lost one of the apple trees that the deer chewed on heavily but it has sprouts off the main trunk a few inches off the ground.  May end up being a bush, we will see. 

[MUDRUNNER]

Man, looks like they are coming along nicely! Looks like pretty solid growth in two years time. When do they start producing fruit?

[wtnhunt]

On 5/9/2017 at 8:08 AM, MUDRUNNER said:

Man, looks like they are coming along nicely! Looks like pretty solid growth in two years time. When do they start producing fruit?

Really wasn't too sure what to expect out of the bare root trees.  The pears have really come on.  I would expect that they will start to flower and produce in the next few years, however I will probably pluck the fruit off before they get any size to them if they do start to bear in the next year or two.  Need the limbs to be strong enough to support them as these pears do get quite large and heavy.  My container pear trees I planted in the yard a loooong time back started producing the year after I planted them and ended up with some broken limbs.  Same with the apples, they have not grown quite as quick but are doing well.  

[wtnhunt]

On 5/9/2017 at 8:08 AM, MUDRUNNER said:

When do they start producing fruit?

Pear trees are doing pretty well and most have some fruit, but I cannot reach the pears and every time I go back there I don't think of taking anything with me to pull them off.  I need to get some pics next time I get back there.  I may be ready to remove the cages from a couple of the pear tree's next spring and use some corrugated drain pipe around them.  

Apples had blooms, then a frost got them, trees not really ready yet anyway.  Expect a couple of them to have fruit next year.  Did lose one of the apple trees late last summer.  Even though I got off the 4 wheeler and was careful, think some overspray (gly and 24d) may have floated on some lower leaves, no clue what else might have happened.  The tree was looking good and doing well then leaves just turned brown and dropped.  The one that got chewed on is still alive, but the new leader on it is way behind the others.