Well the 251 apple trees planted Aprill 22 are doing very well. Today I saw a couple had reached the 9' wire. Some of trees that were 3/8ths whips are almost all over the 7' wire. Not knowing what Mother Nature will bring I installed drip irrigation a couple weeks ago and now added a fertilizer injector. A very highly soluble fertilizer in a 20-20-20 formulation is available and it is designed for drip irrigation. The stuff is like very similar to Miracle Grow except a ton cheaper. The concentrate is diluted by the injector at 100:1 so the mix going into the system is 400 parts per million and is dispensed at 1.1 gallon per hour. The fertilizer has a dye in it so you can see it. Here at 400ppm. These started as branchless 3/8ths whips. The top wire is 9', these were larger 5/8ths feathered stock These are 4 year olds, frost wiped out the crop this year.
The drain tile is for 3 purposes, Keeps mulch away from the trunks Keeps any herbicide off the bark Keeps voles away from the trees in the winter time
Wow, those are some happy trees! And as nice as the trees look, my favorite is the sunflower (Kansas native here who misses seeing fields of those)
Firewood Bandit, what is going to be your spray schedule. I have lots of fruit trees, but have never sprayed correctly. What type of sprays will you apply? Blight, oil, fungus, bugs?
Hi Mitch, During a normal year they are on a 14 day IPM, (Integrated Pest Management system). Unfortunately this is not a normal year since there is no crop due to early frost wiping out the bloom. Right now they are only getting sprayed to keep scab and bugs at bay. I have an applicator's license for fruit crops and am fairly knowledgeable however this is a very complicated subject. If you really want to know and learn things that will bore most folks, PM me and I will give you my phone #.
Well it looks like Summer is about shot and the apple trees won't be growing a whole lot more. I took a few pics and counted 72 of 251 are now over the 9' wire and almost all are over the 7' wire and there were no casualties other than one that broke at the graft union when planting and it was discarded. I am quite happy with the growth as most were 3/8ths inch whips were a branchless tree that looks like a stick. A few were feathered and those were 1/2 - 5/8". I am starting to build trellis for next year so there isn't so much to do as 260 are coming next April. For perspective, that Stokes orchard ladder is 6'. Kade doing what he does.
Firewood, Great to get the update, as I enjoy my dessert of some caramel with a honeycrisp from my old neighbors at Afton Apples. Frank and his family do a nice job. There are 3 other orchards down the road that I will go and purchase a bag from each too. thanks for posting the photos and the explanation.
They and who knows what else raises hell with young sampling fruit trees around this area. That pipe is way better than trying to wrap wire cloth around each trunk. I have seen a lot of damage done.
I used hardware cloth once and it is a real pain, plus grass grows through it. I've never had much issue with rabbit and vole trunk damage in the winter time but I also mow the grass short as the season gets colder. Long grass = more voles. FWIW, about a month ago I picked up 500' of used drain tile for $60 and that will cover the next two years of around 450 more trees. The drain tile this year on these costs me $100.
Honey crisp dwarf and Red Rome beauty in dwarf as well, I'm unsure of the rootstock. I also purchased a a few reliance peach.
