QDM Failure

[Littlefeather]

This story pretty much sums up my life. I hunt in NE Iowa. My uncle grazes the land during the summer and there is a ton of forage on surrounding farms. I think the deer live in the corn fields most of the summer into the fall. My uncle takes the cattle off the land about now each year and I have been considering some late summer/early fall food sources to attract deer onto the property. I experimented this fall with some Bio-Logic and am seeing a little success.

I decided we needed some fruit trees on the property. If we plant one or two each year, in 10 years there will be a pretty good food source availalbe to attract deer.

I purchased a pear tree from Wal-Mart and planted it on Sunday after it rained for 24 hours. I planted it on the top of a hill. I nearly wrecked my truck several times getting on and off the hill. It was worse than snow. At one point I was sliding sideways down the hill toward the tree line. Fortunately, no damage.

After getting home, I had a friend tell me that some pear trees need another plant to pollinate or they won't make fruit. I got on-line and discovered the pear tree I planted does not bear fruit. It has beautiful blooms in the spring and pretty red leaves in the fall....just no pears.

OOPS!!!!

I am available on a consulting basis for QDM projects if anyone is interested.

 

[Ghost]

Oh...cheer up man! At least your out there and giving it a shot.

You will probably look at that pretty pear tree in the future and laugh!

 

[BIGBUCKDOWN!!]

Littlefeather,

You can contact this guy....Don is a friend of mine that lives in Illinois. Don owns a tree business and specializes in CRP plantings and advantageous tree plantings for deer and other wildlife. There is no one else in the business that compares to this guy. Don is currently formulating a plan for my farm in Illinois.

ps. Don is also a reknowned outdoor writer for various magazines(freelance). You can catch his latest article in Petersons Bowhunting.

http://www.higginstrees.com/

 

[TimberPig]

Ouch! It's small consolation but you got a pretty good chuckle out of me with that one. Sounds like you planted an ornamental pear tree. On the bright side, just think how much worse it would have been if you had wrecked your truck in the process!

I planted a few apple trees this spring. I would recommend going to some place like Earl May or an actual nursery where people know what they are talking about. Earl May has a nice brochure that lists a bunch of fruit trees, when they bear fruit, how long that takes, and what if any other trees are needed for cross-polination. I went with Liberty variety trees because the fruit matures in mid-late Oct and it is supposed to be the most resistant to Cedar-Apple rust, which I have on my place. They will polinate with any other variety also. There were other good varietys listed too and I may pick up a couple more next year. $30 a piece but they are good looking trees. I put fencing around them to keep the deer off them for a couple years also.

My farmer neighbor has several fruit trees in his yard and the other day I was over there talking to him. He had a Red Delicious that was around 8 years old, I was surprised how large it was, maybe 13' high and at least as wide. I would have guessed it was 20 years old and it must have had several hundred apples on it. A lot of the branches were nearly touching the ground with the weight of all the fruit. I think fruit trees are a pretty good pay-off if you are going to have a property for a few years. Just make sure you are getting one that bears fruit when it will actually do you some good, some are mid to late summer trees and would be wiped out by hunting season.
Good luck!

 

[Littlefeather]

You buy a rose bush, you expect roses. Chocolate chip ice cream should have chocolate chips in it. Double Whopper with cheese, you expect cheese. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect pears on a pear tree.

I figure you need to laugh at yourself first. With that said, I will continue to plant "fruit bearing" trees on this site. I plan on placing a stand in my "fruitless tree" when it gets big enough and killing deer out of it.

Just wanted to share.

 

[MNHunter]

Think of it this way you just planted a tree for Arbor Day

Failure is just your success in disguise

 

[Littlefeather]

In case anyone is interested, the fruitless pear trees are now half price. I could have had two of them if I had only waited.

 

[bjkpharmd]

Just call it a strategic place for a rub and you go from failure to success!