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Looking for trees SE Iowa.

GOARMY

GOARMY

New Member
Help if you can. This spring I want to plant a stand/grove of Apple trees and maybe some persimmon trees.

I have planted Apple trees with not the best results and want to do it right the first time.

Thanks, GOARMY.
 
I don't want to discourage you, but if you are new to planting apple trees in southern Iowa I would strongly suggest that you have a supplemental watering method in mind. I have struggled over the years to keep young apple trees alive in SE Iowa due to drought mainly.

If I haven't discouraged you then I would suggest looking at the Apple Tree thread in Dbltree's Corner, there is a list of sources to be found and also all kinds of good ideas about apple trees, etc.
 
Get sources of Apple trees in Dbltree's section. With a "prediction" of a dry summer again (MAN'S BEST GUESS!??!) - I would possibly do a smaller amount of trees- say 10-20 Apple & pear.... BABY THEM!!!! You likely will need to water them. But- if you did some bulk Persimmons- those do have a naturally high death rate on planting SO I'd do a lot of those, seriously like 100. You can get those from MO DNR- cheap.
 
Thanks guys for the help. I have a nice valley with a pond in the bottom and want tp plant the trees in the valley. The pond is deep and always has water. I cant wait for spring.
 
I planted 25 last spring in se iowa and never watered them once. All of them made it just fine. Cage them, put screen around trunk, and i like tree mats.

2012-06-08_17-20-58_386-1.jpg
 
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I got mine at Adams County Nursery, you can google it, they still have trees left. Its just regular window screen stapled around it to keep mice and rabbits from chewing. I hit the area around the mat with roundup.
 
Am I seeing that right there is no case around the lower part of the tree????

Good pic that explains a lot. How long before you expect fruit?
 
I just caged top half cause i am cheap and didnt want to buy tall stuff. It keeps deer from eating branches. I had a few blossoms the first year but i pinched them off. I bet in 3 years i start getting some good apples.
 
I should add that my soil is generally poor, a fairly heavy southern Iowa clay. That certainly plays a part in why I have struggled to maintain apple trees. I have sweetened up the soil prior to planting too, but apparently not enough. If your soil is better then of course you stand a better chance of trees making it.

Drought is a funny thing, I know people a couple miles away one direction that got even less rain than I did this summer and other people a couple miles the other direction that got way more. So the need for supplemental watering can vary greatly even over what to me seems like a small region.
 
GOARMY said:
Thanks guys for the help. I have a nice valley with a pond in the bottom and want tp plant the trees in the valley. The pond is deep and always has water. I cant wait for spring.
Click to expand...

One thing to keep in mind when planting any fruit tree in a valley/low area; they will likely be more susceptible to frost damage in springs with a late frost during bloom/pollination because frost tends to accumulate and settle in low lying areas. Plant them as high as possible where you can get sun on them as early as possible in the mornings.
 
GOARMY said:
Am I seeing that right there is no case around the lower part of the tree????

Good pic that explains a lot. How long before you expect fruit?
Click to expand...

I planted 10 semi-dwarf apple trees (5 different varieties) that were about 6' tall from Greenthumbers in davenport in the fall of 2010.. the next spring I had so many apples on them i pinched most of them off to keep from breaking branches. The ones i left got about 2" or so in diameter. One thing i did which I would recommend to you is pick vareties that pollinate eachother at different times, that way you have ripening apples from July all the way into October. As far as watering, its a pain in the butt, but I give each of them a half bucket of water per week during the summer during the dry periods.. i think 2 of them succumbed to the intense heat last yr though even with watering.. i may replace them with a couple pear trees but ill wait and find out for sure if they died. Also, I see you are in SE iowa.. im in Muscatine so if you are close and you ever need help let me know!
 
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