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Apple/Pear Trees

I'm not sure how serious of an issue fertilizer is on new trees so it may very well be fine? Might leave as is and let us know if you notice and positive or negative results?
 
streitl said:
The property I bought this past year had an established orchard with about 20 fruit trees of different species/varieties. With the help of my brother in law, we pruned them and removed a few of the dead ones. I plan to plant 10 more apples trees there this spring in the gaps left by the dead trees we removed. I dug holes and added 10-10-10 fertilizer to the bottom of the holes, but the trees are not yet planted. Last night, I re-read this thread, and you wrote to NOT add fertilizer before you plant. Would it be a good idea to remove that fertilizer from those holes? Or will it not hurt anything? I have not done any soil tests.
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I personally don't think you'll have any problems. I've planted trees on areas that had been fertilized to heck before planting & nothing I could do about it. I'd likely be very active on keeping weeds killed and all grasses killed around trees. Stay on the weeds, make sure the trees have enough water & you watch them close for a couple years.
 
streitl said:
The property I bought this past year had an established orchard with about 20 fruit trees of different species/varieties. With the help of my brother in law, we pruned them and removed a few of the dead ones. I plan to plant 10 more apples trees there this spring in the gaps left by the dead trees we removed. I dug holes and added 10-10-10 fertilizer to the bottom of the holes, but the trees are not yet planted. Last night, I re-read this thread, and you wrote to NOT add fertilizer before you plant. Would it be a good idea to remove that fertilizer from those holes? Or will it not hurt anything? I have not done any soil tests.
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This video from Management Advantage talks about fertilizer use in the hole. Pretty interesting. :way:

http://themanagementadvantage.com/home/planting-trees-for-wildlife-getem-in-the-ground/
 
April 10th, 2013

We planted some trees from Wildlife Growers on a farm in Missouri recently...not your average trees!!

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Grown in Roottrapper bags they have tremendous root systems but fair warning the bags are a pain to get off! Be prepared with some sharp utility knives and plenty of blades!

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Dbltree Jr and friend Garry had their work cut out for them!

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but got some beautiful apple trees planted

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in the middle of food plot

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Pears along the edge

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Chestnuts

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and crabapples...all fenced and hopefully well watered by now!

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Bare root fruit trees can be purchased for $15 a tree but for those willing to spend the extra money to speed up the process, these trees are for you!
 
What's the difference in cost for a tree like that vs. a tree like the ones that I just bought from Stark's? The trees I received are basically "sticks" and I'm REALLY anxious to see how they do.... but those trees look like they're 2 or more years ahead of the trees that I purchased...

Steve
 
stevep said:
What's the difference in cost for a tree like that vs. a tree like the ones that I just bought from Stark's? The trees I received are basically "sticks" and I'm REALLY anxious to see how they do.... but those trees look like they're 2 or more years ahead of the trees that I purchased...

Steve
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I can't give you $ numbers, but I lean towards younger trees like you bought from Stark's.

Why? Transplant shock can set older trees back 2-3 years in growth. So the premium you paid for an older tree might not be that great of an advantage.

Buying MORE cheaper trees increases your odds of planting one in a place that it will flourish.

Key to any tree planting is choosing the site, preparing the site, and protecting your investment (water, herbicide, fertilizer, FENCING!!!!!).
 
Those trees in bags like that are by far the best way to go!!!!!!!! If you have not seen them, those roots are awsome.
 
I bought a dozen of these this year. They are great!!! I know pricing, you can PM me but maybe I'll let the guys with the trees throw that out. I'd rather plant 10 of these than 40 of the small ones. Huge cost difference but worth it. I personally did 12 of these this year and added about 100 regular year old trees last year. So, a combo may be worth a shot as well.
 
Whether small or big trees, looks like most important aspect is caging them! I'll have to start doing that in an area of my place because all the deer from people's fields are coming to spend the winters destroying my little trees. It has been real discouraging, everyone destroying fencerows and little groves the deer use. So now I see more and more deer congregating here in the winter, the other day was close to 25.
 
Fencing is huge, can't let a deer touch them, they will be destroyed super fast. Protect trunks from rabbits as well, you will have dead trees if not!

DT- you at all concerned with putting the trees in plots with spraying round-up? I started giving mine at least a 50 foot buffer or more. just in case of any drift from spraying. what you think, generally ok?
 
Orchard.

Got ours planted about 3 weeks ago. 10 Apple, 2 cherry, 2 apricot. All from Stark's. They're literally "twigs" right now, with barely a bud on them. They came pruned back to the trunk. What kind of growth should I expect to see this season? Will new buds push out from the pruned branches?

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Sligh1 said:
Fencing is huge, can't let a deer touch them, they will be destroyed super fast. Protect trunks from rabbits as well, you will have dead trees if not!

DT- you at all concerned with putting the trees in plots with spraying round-up? I started giving mine at least a 50 foot buffer or more. just in case of any drift from spraying. what you think, generally ok?
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Use clethodim for grasses...no worries! Nice work Steve!:way:
 
Spraying.

Dbltree....

What is the first "spraying" that I need to do, and when...? As I've read through this thread there seems to be a lot of options. Do I need to spray them now, or wait?

Checked out the trees yesterday, buds are just starting to appear and sprout on the trees.

Steve
 
Trees are starting to come to life! I'm going to try and do my first spray later this week or over the weekend (if it would ever stop raining here). Rain gauge had over 4" of rain in it from just the last week.

Looks like there's even a blossom on one of them. (Am I correct that I should pinch those off this first year...?).

Steve

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Red Ants on Fruit Trees

I have a lot of red ants (the ones that make the big mounds). They are on the fruit trees. I don't know if they are damaging the tree's and fruit. It appears they are eating both.

Does anybody know about this and how to get them off the trees?

thanks
 
mswaldo said:
I have a lot of red ants (the ones that make the big mounds). They are on the fruit trees. I don't know if they are damaging the tree's and fruit. It appears they are eating both.

Does anybody know about this and how to get them off the trees?

thanks
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They may be farming aphids on the apple trees??
 
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