Fruit trees

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Edcyclopedia
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Re: Fruit trees

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Mon Feb 13, 2017 1:04 am

In case anyone wants to know Deer slayer is a descendant of Johnny Apple seed. ..


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Re: Fruit trees

Unread postby DEERSLAYER » Mon Feb 13, 2017 4:28 pm

BTW, this grafting tape works great.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085 ... UTF8&psc=1
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Re: Fruit trees

Unread postby Jonny » Tue Feb 14, 2017 1:13 am

brkissl82 wrote:I also want to plant 8-10 apple/pear trees but not sure how to keep the deer off them without spending thousands on fencing


I'd shoot them. That should do the trick :lol:

Now you have venison and apples to eat :L:
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Re: Fruit trees

Unread postby Wlfpckhuntr27 » Fri Mar 17, 2017 1:40 pm

I am going to add onto Slayer's post about collection scion wood. Make sure you are collecting last years growth. This can be tricky on older trees that have not been pruned in a while. Check the upper portion of the tree if possible on an unkempt tree.

I will also add, there are varieties that start dropping in June, such as the Yellow Transparent. With a little planning you can plant several varieties and give the deer a food source from the end of June through late December
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Re: Fruit trees

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Sat Mar 18, 2017 1:30 am

Its also very interesting...certain deer prefer certain apples. AND certain trees, deer will only tough if its the very last thing on earth to eat. AND out of all the 100s of apple trees I scout, there are only a select few areas where I am going to kill a good buck. Only a select few will hold a 3.5yr+ with any regularity.
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Re: Fruit trees

Unread postby Twenty Up » Thu Apr 06, 2017 2:32 pm

it's all about the Chestnut trees ;)
No grafting, most are blight resistant now, no annual pruning necessary...
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Re: Fruit trees

Unread postby Bowhuntermnsd » Sat Apr 08, 2017 7:19 am

DEERSLAYER wrote:I would strongly recommend you do not buy your apple trees haphazardly. Do it correctly and you will have healthy, fast growing, loaded trees that drop all season long. Do it wrong and you could have problems like all your apples dropping at about the same time, only having apples every other year, slow growing trees, not getting apples for several years (up to ten), etc.

Wing it and you could get lucky, but it's unlikely you would do as good as if you did it right. Plus I don't like relying on luck. Another thing about doing it right is getting a soil test and doing it for clover recommendations. I have got tests done for apple trees and they suck. Allowed for too acid of soil and low fertilizer amounts.

Also be careful of who you buy from. Including some of the ones already mentioned in this thread. They will try to talk you into buying what they have and sometimes tell you it doesn't matter what you get for deer. Rootstocks and specific varieties ARE important. I strongly prefer having apple trees on BUD118 rootstock unless there are unusual soil or climate circumstances. There are others like MM111, EMLA111, M7, Manchurian Crab apple, etc that can be good, but BUD118 is almost always the best and many times by a substantial margin. It's hardy, truly handles a wide range of soil conditions, grows fast, produces apples quickly and produces large crops. Sometimes there are OK deals at the big box stores if you know what you are looking for. M7 is a common one to find at big box stores that is good to OK, but it often suckers a lot and I would still take BUD118 over it any day.

Also, expect to put some money into fencing and some T-posts. Circles 8' across or more are best. Deer will likely run into your fence at some point. Especially if your trees are along your food plots. So having some T-posts is preferable to help insure you don't get any broken branches and to make sure the deer can't browse them down.

There are plenty of varieties to choose from. Depending on your circumstances here are some good ones for your area. These drop times may vary by about a week in your area.
Liberty Drops apples in early to mid October, deer like them a lot and good disease resistance.
Freedom drops apples in October mostly, but still has apples in November and very disease resistant.
Goldrush drops apples after a hard freeze & good disease resistance
Enterprise drops heavily during November. Fairly disease resistance
Golden Delicious Not disease resistant, but deer love them and holds apples until mid/late November.
Manchurian Crab apple tend to drop all season, good disease resistance and are great pollinators.
Honeycrisp tend to drop through most of the season.
There are plenty of good varieties out there like Galarina, Arkansas Black, Fameuse, Idared, Granny Smith, Honeygold, Florina, etc and 100's of other varieties out there.

Also, ripening time is not a very good indicator of when the apples end up on the ground. Apples usually drop from 1 week to a month after ripening, but some varieties will drop before they ripen and some will not drop at all barring a late winter wind storm. Something else to keep in mind is that ripening times (& drop times) vary depending on where you are in the country. So if your researching varieties keep this in mind.


Great post. Thanks for the information!
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Re: Fruit trees

Unread postby DEERSLAYER » Mon Apr 10, 2017 7:15 pm

Wlfpckhuntr27 wrote:I am going to add onto Slayer's post about collection scion wood. Make sure you are collecting last years growth. This can be tricky on older trees that have not been pruned in a while. Check the upper portion of the tree if possible on an unkempt tree.

I will also add, there are varieties that start dropping in June, such as the Yellow Transparent. With a little planning you can plant several varieties and give the deer a food source from the end of June through late December

If you are looking to collect you own scion wood (needs to be dormant) here is a pic (6th one down) http://mail.thehuntingbeast.com/viewtopic.php?t=6365 that may help illustrate what Wlfpckhuntr27 is talking about. It is the end of the branch after the "terminal bud scar" that you want for grafting. You want mature buds so usually the last 4"-5" of the tip area is not used. On a tree that hasn't been pruned in recent times you may have trouble finding decent size bud sticks (scions) so you may have to search around the tree a bit or if possible trim off part of a branch using a heading cut early in the year (preferably before spring green up) so that the tree will be encouraged to send out a new shoot for next years grafting. I have never used "water sprouts" and some people say they they don't make the best wood for grafting, but they have the same genetic material in them and there are highly sought after grafting guys that have been top working trees using water sprouts in commercial apple orchards for decades and been highly successful using them. So if that is your only source of scion wood I wouldn't shy away from it.

Also, when looking for varieties to plant or graft, I like to look for varieties listed as good "keepers" so you are less likely to end up a bunch of rotten bee, hornet & wasp covered apples on the ground if the deer don't clean them up right away. To me this is always important. Especially in warmer weather because deer don't like getting stung either.
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Re: Fruit trees

Unread postby gsquared23 » Sun Apr 10, 2022 2:24 pm

In addition to traditional apple trees, known varieties of crabapples can help to pollinate apples, and many tend to have fewer disease problems compared to apple trees. When most people hear “crabapple”, they think tiny bird or ornamental crabapple trees you’re used to seeing in neighborhoods. Some really good known varieties crabs will have a diameter >1”. Dolgo, chestnut, hewes and Kerr are traditional varieties that cover a long drop time. Winter wildlife crab, all winter hangover crab are unique trees to St. Lawrence nursery in New York. Blue Hill nursery also carries some unique crabs that will tolerate northern climates. Several others out there.

I’m also a big fan of pear trees, Gallaway and Gilmer Christmas are late droppers that have grown like crazy for me. Kieffer is a mid season pear that is a no-brainer. This year I ordered some OHF97 rootstock and I’m cloning the above varieties for much cheaper than I can buy new trees. I planted 5 apple trees that I had bench grafted last spring. Obviously they will take longer to produce, but I would opine it’s better to save money on trees and spend it on protection than planting an expensive tree and letting it go. I always use a T post with 12.5’ circumference of a cage, along with a 6’x6’ weed mat and aluminum screen. That way your tree is protected from deer, weed competition, and rodents respectively and has a better than good chance of making it to maturity
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