Turkey Creek
Nebraska
Hard to go wrong with some of the crabapples such as Dolgo, Chestnut, and Kerr. What growing zone are you in? Make sure they are hardy for your zone, disease resisant and growing on a cold hardy root stock.
bwese
Active Member
Liberty and Hewes crabapple are my favorite so far. They have been good producers since their fourth year and are cedar apple rust free. I have others but they are not as good of producers as these two flavors. I planted some dolgo and Arkansas black this spring so we will see in about 4 years what they can do hopefully. The hewes are sept ripeners and liberty all through oct with some still hanging in NOV.
Boonervilleusa
Well-Known Member
I just started 48 crabapples myself. I have a few mature ones in a farm I hunt so I collected some fruit last fall and started the seeds inside. I hope to move them outside soon and maybe plant them next year
Turkey Creek
Nebraska
Here are some disease resistant apples that cover from late summer to early winter. Pristine, Williams Pride, State Fair, Redfree, Galarina, Liberty, Enterprise and Arkansas Black.
Pears are a little more challenging as many are not cold hardy in zone 4. However their are the following; David, Stacey, Gourmet, Manning Miller, Luscious, Kieffer, Southworth, Orel #15 and Nova. Shoot me a PM if you would like more info..
loneranger
Well-Known Member
My favorite tree so far is a Gala. Last. Year this 10 ft tree gave me 8 bushels!
Fuji and enterprise
Apples & pears are KINDA like food plot choices... You really need to diversify for lots of different reasons. It's not quite as drastic as say "greens VS grains" for foodplots but still, for sure not ONE or TWO go-to's. The other thing that's kinda a reality too....
A few off the top of my head, mentioned above. I for sure stagger towards: disease resistant and also later ripening. But, I do diversify with some that are earlier ripening and also not as disease resistant, lower quantities. Also, root stock is important and I'm sure most are going with: MLA-111 and Bud-118. That's what I'd do. Remember, stuff you buy from a garden center is going to be a small tree that is meant for your yard, not your farm. The problem with those: they need lots of support, more prone to root sucker, other problems & do not do as well on clay soils, etc, etc.
For apples, I think I probably have 15-20 varieties but ya, I like above.... Goldrush, Arkansas Black, Querina, Galarina, Liberty, Enterprise, Nova Spy, Hardy Cumberland, fuji, granny smith, etc, etc. Pears: Kieffer, Olympic, Magness, etc. (then, don't get me going but of course I'm adding persimmons & chestnuts which grow well in my zone). I ain't gonna straight up say it but I might have a SLIGHT leaning towards preferring pear VS apple. I still do more apple but I do as many pears as possible.... I personally think they are more hardy, deer preference MIGHT be more towards pear (?), etc. They do not drop as late though & less selection. No doubt, I'll do both.
OH - couple other things, no doubt, load up on crabapples & possibly a pollinator like Winter Banana apple tree. More pollinators the better and those 2 are excellent and are also great food. Oh, and if I just spoke "reality" - if you really want to make a difference with trees... You really are going to need, 10, 20, 50, 100, whatever. I'm not saying "don't plant 4 trees" but it's not going to be a huge difference or impact to a farm. Plus, you need to keep in mind, some trees may die, it takes a lot of trees to produce major tonnage, ripening variety, etc. Not saying everyone is able BUT - if I owned say, 80 acres, ideally I'd have 50-60 apple & pear trees.
A few off the top of my head, mentioned above. I for sure stagger towards: disease resistant and also later ripening. But, I do diversify with some that are earlier ripening and also not as disease resistant, lower quantities. Also, root stock is important and I'm sure most are going with: MLA-111 and Bud-118. That's what I'd do. Remember, stuff you buy from a garden center is going to be a small tree that is meant for your yard, not your farm. The problem with those: they need lots of support, more prone to root sucker, other problems & do not do as well on clay soils, etc, etc.
For apples, I think I probably have 15-20 varieties but ya, I like above.... Goldrush, Arkansas Black, Querina, Galarina, Liberty, Enterprise, Nova Spy, Hardy Cumberland, fuji, granny smith, etc, etc. Pears: Kieffer, Olympic, Magness, etc. (then, don't get me going but of course I'm adding persimmons & chestnuts which grow well in my zone). I ain't gonna straight up say it but I might have a SLIGHT leaning towards preferring pear VS apple. I still do more apple but I do as many pears as possible.... I personally think they are more hardy, deer preference MIGHT be more towards pear (?), etc. They do not drop as late though & less selection. No doubt, I'll do both.
OH - couple other things, no doubt, load up on crabapples & possibly a pollinator like Winter Banana apple tree. More pollinators the better and those 2 are excellent and are also great food. Oh, and if I just spoke "reality" - if you really want to make a difference with trees... You really are going to need, 10, 20, 50, 100, whatever. I'm not saying "don't plant 4 trees" but it's not going to be a huge difference or impact to a farm. Plus, you need to keep in mind, some trees may die, it takes a lot of trees to produce major tonnage, ripening variety, etc. Not saying everyone is able BUT - if I owned say, 80 acres, ideally I'd have 50-60 apple & pear trees.
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