the orchard...new additions

[hounddog25]

well i been busy putting out new fruit trees this spring.these are the last 2 i put out last week.the plum looks great.i sure will hate it when the deer come in the front yard to eat a apple...lol.my first crop of fruit was a tree full of peaches and a bear came through and got them.i thought he ruined the tree,but it healed up and i got the peaches before he did last year.....those boogers can tear up some stuff for sure.who else is are setting out fruit trees this spring??? i have more to go...some native plum and native crabapple.my goal is to have about 200 fruit trees in all.

[badger]

Next year I would like to plant some fruit trees like you did.

Do you have grapes planted?

[Admin]

Every year I plan to put get some apple trees started but I never do. This year I'm going through with it. If I had just did it like I had said i would my trees would be four years old now . I just became an authorized dealer for the (Heartland Wildlife Institute). They make some awesome foodplot seed and supplements and I am very impressed with their prouct. For a long time now I had been wanting to turn some of my acreage into an super refuge for wildlife and have been dragging my feet because of the cost. Plus most of the seed companies have seed coming from the souuth and they just don't do well up here. I finally found what I've been looking for and I'm hoping that getting onboard with these guys and selling their products will enable me to set my acreage up they way that I've been dreaming about ;D. Between the fruit trees, the two small ponds I want to dig, the food plots and the kazillion bird house I want to put out, I should have quite the sanctuary going here when I'm finished. How many trees ya got in all Houndog? Sounds like you've got the same ideas as I ;D

[hounddog25]

badger...i don't have grapes i have put out.but i do have 1000's of grape vines that are wild.some are larger than my wrist and a few are as big as my arm.they are not producing as good as they did when i first bought the place.grapes only produce on the new growth they put out every year ....so it is my idea that alot of them have ran out of tree canopy the produce new growth on.i am thinking of pulling some down and putting on arbors so i can do my own pruning and force them to have alot of fruit production.sorta like cultivating wild grapes.also i am going to fertilize them as i do a few select white oaks that i have been pruning up and caring for since seedlings.they are about 15 ft tall now.white oaks in the edge of a field...someday i will shoot turkey and deer at the edge of the small fields while eating my home brew white oaks.....lol....i am a sick man....lol

JC....if i get 200 fruit trees on my 20 acres i should have wildlife coming all the time.i had 20 special apples that bloom late in the spring and dint ripen until late(November) it was for cider and the apples hold till late in the year.those late apples would pull in deer during deer season.but i lost all of them 3 years ago to the locust bug.those bugs are bad news on trees.but wont see them for 17 years or what ever the time frame is for them .i have about 25 trees now....but more are in the works.also i am leaning toward more pear trees.because they seem to be more hardy and produce more fruit consistently and they hold on late in year.if you want more trees from your area.try cummins nursery.he is the professor who ran the new york experimental station.i have bought several trees from him and he has alot of old variety's.also if you see dwarf or semi dwarf trees on sale and would want them for food plot .all you do is plant them below the "collar" where they are grafted and they will grow to full size trees.this summer when wally world put trees on clearance i may get a few to put out for full size trees.so as to hold up for the bears climbing them.my oldest pear trees may die due to a deer horning it a few days before i got a fence up around it.now i put fence round as i plant cause i get distracted by other projects....lol..or maybe Alzheimer's.

[mike692]

THis year I plan to put out some cherries, paw paw, and another apple.
I have peaches, pears, apples, bush cherries, and hazelnuts. The peaches have buds on so big, it looks like they're going to explode! I hope they don't open until this cold spell is over!