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honeycrisp apple

hillrunner

hillrunner

PMA Member
I picked out some apple trees today for a spot I have wanted to put a couple for a while. I picked out 3 honeycrisp apple semi-dwf. I really don't know anything about them except that they are supposed to mature in late Sept, which I liked. Can anyone tell me if I screwed up or did I make a decent choice??
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I don't think you can go "wrong" with about any apple variety. From what I've heard of honeycrisp, though, you might have to keep their location secret from people so the deer get a chance at them.
 
Honeycrisp are as tasty an apple as I have ever tried!! I plant them at my house instead of for the deer they are that good :D

You will need a pollinator for them if you just picked up 3 honeycrisp and nothing else. Hewes applecrab is a great choice.


Get those trunks guarded with something before the mice/rabbits can chew on them and get some type of fencing put up to keep the deer from eating all the leaves off....trust me, I have seen it all first hand.
 
Get those trunks guarded with something before the mice/rabbits can chew on them and get some type of fencing put up to keep the deer from eating all the leaves off....trust me, I have seen it all first hand. <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
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Its hard to see in the pic but I did wrap some old wire fence around each tree. The fence is wrapped around in about a 12 inch diameter circle. The deer could easily eat the leaves though, guess I didn't realize that was an issue. Do you suggest wrapping a wider diameter of fence around them so the deer cant access the leaves?
 
Oh yeah, You need something that is about 5 feet around and staked well. The leaves may be gone by the time you get back out there. :D


For the trunks, you will want something like a tree tube or aluminum window screening to keep rodents off the trunks cause they will eat the bark and girdle the tree. If the wire you put around the trees is that small then you should be good. Keep the vegetation down around the trees so rodents will not even come close to them. Here is what my system looks like.
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Good advice on the 5' diameter. We put about 3' diameter around ours and though it worked this year, we'll have to work on them next spring. So much for going cheap.
 
I grabbed some old 16' cattle panels from the farm today. I rolled em into circles and wired them together. Makes a really sturdy fence. Staked em down on the bottom, should hopefully take care of the deer.
I was surprised to see some browning on the leaves already. Is this normal? The trees came potted and I didn't expect them to show much stress since the roots were not disturbed. I watered them when I put them in on Saturday and again today, anything else I should be doing?
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Hillrunner,

I would flip the fence so the smallest squares are at the top so they do not poke their heads in, and get something around those bases that is about 1-2 feet tall. I cannot tell in your pics if they are protected from rodents. Aluminum screening will work great and it pretty cheap for your trees. I am not suprised that they were browsed...I left one overnight a couple years ago and could not find it 3 days later. The deer know me and follow me around to see what goodies I have put out for them I swear :D


That is the best fencing you can get tho...it will stand the test of time and give your apple trees a chance to grow!! Great work!!
 
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I'd put really heavy-duty stakes with your fence. Those bucks will use their racks and strong necks to rip that fence right out of the ground if you don't secure it really really well.
I think honey crisp is a tough tree to get it to bare apples- I can't remember what I read on them- some sort of unique pruning method OR maybe it was something with the pollinators Letemgrow mentioned. Looks good though
 
I used six foot tall 2" X 4" welded wire for cages this year on a couple of new apple trees. I was bummed to see that the wind blew the leader over to the fence where a deer nipped it off! No way they pushed the fence in, even had what I consider a huge cage. Deer can be pretty persistent, what else do they have but time?
 
One thing to think about,,if you have any Cedar trees near,, is disease. Some apple trees get Fire blight real bad. I have gotten so I only plant disease resistant varieties. Much easier to care for.
 
Yes the honeycrisp is a great apple. Mine got hammered by cedar apple rust this year. Apparently you must spray them with a fungicide just after the leaves open in spring to prevent it. They may live but they look horrible right now. Good luck. "D"
 
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