What did you do in your orchard today?

[CrealCritter]

Yesterday I went to my local Menard's and they had fruit trees on sale. After rebates they were less than $25. I picked up a Honeycrisp, Fuji, and Gala apple. A Bartlett and Kiefer pear trees. They are all standard size, and will pollinate each other. That was my mistake when I planted my last orchard. I didn't have the correct pollinators and I got little or no fruit. The were also dwarf varieties and I must have planted them too deep because I was always digging up suckers from the root stock. So I pulled them up last year and put in raised beds for Strawberries and Blueberries. I am hoping these trees do good for us in a couple years, and they are so much cheaper that buying much younger bare root trees online. I believe I paid about $50 each from Stark Bros for the ones I dug up. Multiply that by 12 and it gets real expensive to throw that in the burn pile.

Just a FYI... if memory serves me correctly... Honey Crips is a group 4 bloomer (late) all my group 2 and 3 bloomers are in full bloom and honey crisp doesn't look like it's even thinking about blooming yet. Honey crisp on standard rootstock will require many seasons of growth before you'll see its first blooms.

Have a look here for honey crisp details

Honeycrisp apple trees for sale

Honeycrisp is a cold-hardy disease-resistant apple - it shows just how good modern apples have become.

www.orangepippintrees.com

And here for pollinators, you want to select a group 4 pollinator to ensure pollination. There may not be a good overlap with group 3 to ensure good pollination. Resulting in poor fruit set.

List of pollination partners for Honeycrisp apple

Find compatible pollenizers for Honeycrisp apple trees, based on flowering group, parentage, self-fertility and other attributes.

www.orangepippintrees.com

Personally I would stick a pristine apple in for cross pollination. it's group 4, early harvest and disease-resistant. So way less spraying required.

Pristine apple trees for sale

A very early disease-resistant golden-green apple with a tart flavor.

www.orangepippintrees.com

Thanks for posting

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[InterlochenVictoryGarden]

I used Stark Bros website to look for which pollinators to use. Menard's didn't offer a list. I was lucky to find that they had what Stark Bros said was the pollinators to use. Menard's didn't have the Pristine variety either.

The trees I got are also a few seasons older than the bare root trees I would have gotten from Stark Bros and it appears as they are focusing on the dwarf or semi dwarf varieties these days. Their prices have more than doubled as well.

Thank you for the info.

 

[CrealCritter]

I used Stark Bros website to look for which pollinators to use. Menard's didn't offer a list. I was lucky to find that they had what Stark Bros said was the pollinators to use. Menard's didn't have the Pristine variety either.

The trees I got are also a few seasons older than the bare root trees I would have gotten from Stark Bros and it appears as they are focusing on the dwarf or semi dwarf varieties these days. Their prices have more than doubled as well.

Thank you for the info.

The price of fruit trees has skyrocketed, you got a good deal for retail no doubt about it. Here is a pic I took a I think.last week at the farm store. $29.99 plus tax for a one year old bagged whip. Feel good you got a good deal

You can always add another group 4 pollinator for honey crisp or graft another group 4 pollinator onto a honey crisp branch.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[InterlochenVictoryGarden]

I am going in to town tomorrow and I think I will go to Menards again. I think I remember seeing Jonathan apple trees there and those are another of the pollinators on the list you posted. If they still have some I will get one.

Thanks!

 

[CrealCritter]

Apples there are so many varieties...

Day 10 since grafting peaches, the first one decided to break bud today this one is redhaven on lovell root stock. Seems my idea of using zip ties to compress the grafts are working well so far. They are easy enough to cut off after a few weeks.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

No other pears close that I know of, of the surrounding properties

Does it look like? https://www.orangepippintrees.com/trees/asian-pears/shinseiki

Rooting fig cuttings video for you

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[The Porch]

Yesterday I got all the dead stuff clipped, ya know after you prune in Jan. you dont really get all that is not alive until you can see it in spring. So the plum got a trim, the apple and pear looked good.

 

[The Porch]

All trimmed, deer tape put back up, fertilized all the trees and blueberries.
Happy plot

 

[CrealCritter]

All trimmed, deer tape put back up, fertilized all the trees and blueberries.
Happy plot
View attachment 29667

Wait... Deer tape? What is it?

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

On day 5 the first of the maple valley MM111 (semi dwarf) apple rootstocks and apple scions broke bud.

It's a pristine apple and a cleft graft. 5 days for an apple graft to break bud, I think is a new record time for me. I'm liking the zip tie idea to compress and stablize the grafts. Zip ties seem to work well, especially noticable with hardwood like cherry.

English pear scions from a freind in Alabama are supposed to be here tomorrow. But we all know how that works withs USPS.

Jesus is Lord and Christ