Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Apple/Pear Trees

I'd mulch em too. Don't get it to trunk- leave little space. I haven't mulched many yet cause of time. Will be though. Friend of mine uses lime stone which is a good idea. 3 T posts around tree with regular cattle fence that's wired on really well- works great. Or some fencing with the smaller holes so no rabbits can get past is better yet even though screen covers trunk.

The residuals I'm spraying around mine- I do have a pretty darn good cocktail that covers the spectrum. I've got all these on hand from crops and native grass plantings, etc. But I do so much with trees i simply order these every year from coop & online. Plateau or Panoramic (used for native grass plantings). Atrazine. Dual or Warrant. Add one more like prowl or surflan. That's just me though. It's several things of course but every Herbicide misses some things and this seems to cover it all for me.
 
Having never done fruit trees before I was in over my head. Bought some 2 year old trees at half price in July. Didn't want to plant them then for fear of losing them. I bought some 3 gal. rootmakerII pots and had 1- 3 gal. rootmaker fabric pot. When they arrived I thought that the 3 gal ones where going to be to small. Made them some shade and they look happy. They get watered every day on top and once a week they get to take a dunk in that black sled to soak up from the bottom. Hope they like being moved this fall to the ground.

picture.php
 
It was alot easier than i thought. Not much thinking but cattle panels saved the day. And shade cloth. Middle of the summer worries me about the roots getting to hot.i get deer in the yard at night so the sides were already there. I kept 1 gal seedlings in there before.
 
Make sure you protect them once you plant them in the ground from deer, rabbits and even mice. All three can cause a lot of damage to young fruit trees. Since they are potted once the daily temps start to consistently stay in the 70s for highs I would plant them. When you plant them keep the root ball intact and water them regularly until they go dormant for the winter. You want the roots to establish themselves before soil temps drop into the 40s.

Nice job on the shelter.
 
Last edited:
Turkey Creek said:
Since they are potted once the daily temps start to consistently stay in the 70s for highs I would plant them. When you plant them keep the root ball intact and water them regularly until they go dormant for the winter. You want the roots to establish themselves before soil temps drop into the 40s.
Click to expand...

Yep I got them covered for deer,rabbits,and mice but I have more voles now and last winter than mice. The ones I got last year the nursery waited to they were dormant in Nov. before they sent them. So you have had better luck at 70 degree highs? I would like to plant before Nov. Last winter was so dry but the fruit trees made it.
 
Potted trees can hypothetically be planted at anytime if you can maintain the rootball with the soil intact. High temperatures do create alot of water stress on a disturbed tree, but once we get into fall weather trees start to shut down and prepare for winter. The longer the roots have to establish themselves before the next growing season the higher the chance of tree survival.
 
I was mis-sent an Apple tree once in MI one fall. I placed my order for Spring.I planted it anyway,,Did it right,,had sufficient moisture,,but the next spring it was dead. I never planted in the fall again. Sufficient moisture is a must. If you are in an area that is getting rain,,go ahead. Around me,,,a two week dry spell. Don't worry about mice and rodents and mulch. I use mulch. Just wrap young trees screen mess for protection. Quite a ways up the trunk too. I saw rabbits standing on their hind legs on snow to get above some of my protection! By the way,,company sent me another tree in the Spring,,it lived. Was their mistake.
 
loneranger said:
Just wrap young trees screen mess for protection. Quite a ways up the trunk too. I saw rabbits standing on their hind legs on snow to get above some of my protection!
Exactly, sometimes we overlook common sense. If there's a foot of snow, well, the area you needed to protect just rose by a foot. Get as high up as you can. SCREEN!!!!

Also, guys in Iowa, remember to always keep ROOTSTOCK in mind if these are going on your rural farms. Different rootstocks change characteristics of a tree to an EXTREME DEGREE!!! some rootstocks for trees for example, you are going to need to majorly support them, root suckering an issue, won't grow as big (obviously), do not tolerate poor soils as well, etc, etc. But- they grow faster & better for a backyard tree. "Rule of thumb" (kinda more like a guideline or preference possibly) for Iowa farms.... MLA-111 rootstock or B-118. MLA-111 is the biggest, deals with drought, too much water & poor soils the best (still, avoid poor drained soils, that will eventually kill the tree if too wet or planted in a waterway, etc) MLA-111 needs the least maintenance for stability & eventually will produce the most fruit because it's almost a full size tree. Live the longest, etc. Downside, really the only ones.... Takes longer to produce fruit (depending on how it's grown, stress, soil, etc) around 5-8 years in decent #. Not good for a home or backyard cause it's big. HMMMM, about all I can think of?? B-118 is gonna produce slightly faster, almost as big, a few other splitting of the hairs attributes. I'd make life simple & buy: MLA-111 disease resistant varieties. Say like a Goldrush MLA-111 would be my favorite tree if I listed my top 10.

Just my side tidbits I was thinking about with Iowa, weather, soil, different uses for trees, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I have some 2-4 year old apple and pear trees was wondering if now would be good time for pruning or any other maintence needs to be done as we go into spring spraying fert ect thanks
 
By all means,,Prune them now. Early Springthis year. I have mine pruned and sprayed with dormant oil spray. Worst thing about trying to grow fruit trees in S Iowa, is a Spring like this. Too warm,,,too early. Forces flowers out,,then,,,BANG,,a hard freeze...No Fruit. Crossing fingers it either gets cold again soon,,or just stays warm with no freezes,,but this early, I KNOW it will get cold again. Problem with pear trees is fire blight. I lost 2 producing pear trees last year to fire blight. It is actually a bacteria not a fungal thing. Don't know why has not bothered trees until last year? But my hunch is my tree limbs were opened up during that 14 yr Cycaida plague and this made a pathway for the bacteria. There are no pear trees immune to this bacteria from what I am told. Only Moon Glow is resistant. I have two and they are still OK,,a Korean and some kind of semi wild type that are OK, Crossing my fingers on them. In Dryer less humid environments,,Fire Blight is not that common. Up North where I came from, in 25 yrs never saw it.
 
And, Hey,,I have a Gold Rush apple tree,,full size in process of growing. Last season it got touched by Fireblight. Did not hurt it much,,at least hope not.Think again was due to Cycaida damage prior. I know I am not spelling that bug right,,but we all know what those devils were!
 
thanks my pears are kiefer and ayers, so nothing will prevent fireblight in those my apples all have good desease ratings. i will prune and spray this week warm weather has me behind on several things at once at what age did your pears and apples start producing my pears are 4 yrs old really have grown to 10 ft tall at least thanks
 
My pears and apples usually began producing something after about 5 yrs. I had one tree. Was supposed to be a winesap apple. Turned out to be a red delicious. It would not produce a flower until about 7 yrs old,,then,,BANG! It is loaded with apples every season. Seems every tree is a little different.
 
There are a number of fire blight resistant pears. None are totally immune to it, they are just better at fighting it off. Kieffer is typically pretty fire blight resistant. You can spray for fire blight control, but most guys planting for wildlife dont want to bother. Fire blight enters through blossoms and the terminal end of fresh growth. Fire blight strikes should be pruned out and cankers removed in the dormant season to reduce the incidence of return strikes. Damp, warm weather like last spring is perfect conditions for fire blight. Do not prune trees later in spring when conditions are good for fire blight as bacteria can enter through the fresh cuts.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom