Then proceeds to go #2 in the woods, in hopes he can harvest some "brown locust" trees in a few years.
I’ve planted 5 apple trees, 2 pears, 4 Norway spruce, 2 blue spruce and 2 black locust transplanted. Osage orange is so rare I’ve wanted to plant some. I’ve read that there are male and female trees, need both to produce hedge apples. Anyone grown any hedge?
Well I have planted a fair number of trees IMHO. I will split this into two posts. In the yard I have planted aprox 300, mostly blue Spruce that were $1-$2 each or seedlings that people get on Arbor day. Sold em for Christmas trees when they got bigger. The laughable thing though was some hybrid poplars the nursery hyped as grow your own firewood, they were a buck apiece. Of course I didn't believe it but by God they were right. Here are the pics when we cut them down. In 21 years the biggest was 40 x 44".
The 2nd tree planting is my passion of growing apples. I had 28 standard trees from 1991 till 2015 when the quality, size and color started to go down hill so it was time to rejuvenate. They were call cut down, grubbed out with a mini excavator. Then deer proof 8' high tensile fencing installed and 680 trees replanted between 2016 and 2018. They are now doing well.
Nope, they sell out quick. There is a local produce stand that now has a standing order and will everything I grow, they said "just bring them, don't call anymore". I picked Granny Smith last week and they were spoken for the same day. Erik B I can't remember how close you are. If you are interested for next year, PM you e mail address, there is a list I send out to retail customers.
Thanks, that means a lot. Producing apples that compete in quality with the big orchards makes me pretty proud. No matter how long you grow apples, you will never know it all and there isn't always a correct way to do things. One must be able to adapt to changing conditions.
Nothing compared to what some have done/are doing however I planted six dwarf apple trees (3 different types) and two plum trees. I still need to transplant a peach tree here as well. I have a decent strip of road frontage that is under a power line easement. It was somewhat swampy and overgrown with hundreds of small swamp (red) maples. After the power company did their 10-year easement cutting a few years ago, I've been having them drop wood chips off so I can slowly reclaim the land. It's been working (I could hardly walk through there before without sinking and now I can drive the tractor through with no problem) and now I'm trying some dwarf apple trees and other fruit trees in there. I talked to the power company arborist and was told fruit trees are fine to plant under the power lines (especially dwarf trees) since they will be pruned anyway and won't interfere with the lines and have to be cut down (if they get too tall you can't pick the fruit so they have to be pruned to a reasonable height). I've been using a good mix of soil and peat in the holes (surrounded by the hardwood wood chips) and so far the trees are doing well. I'd like to get another half dozen planted eventually. I grew up around apple orchards and love the smell come harvest time. Plus the added benefits of fresh fruit and some more privacy along the road.
How deep did you plant the graft union? You want the graft a good 4-5" above the ground or the scion wood will root and the dwarfing characteristics of the root stock will be lost. I'll try and find a pic.
I'll have to double check. If I recall, I buried them to the same point where they were in soil when I received them from the orchard.
Up next: black locust Sunday night I heated up a cup of water to just under boiling. Tossed the seeds in there and let it cool off and sit for 24 hours. Last night I drained the water and put the seeds in a damp paper towel in a plastic bag. I checked on them tonight not expecting anything and BAM! Plenty have already sprouted I’ll give them a few more days in the bag and then transplant them into pots.
