Apple Orchard

[hazmat]

Hey since it was mentioned in the forum description, I thought I'd ask a question about our "orchard"

We have 2-3 dozen mature apple trees in our back yard. I've been contemplating trying to bring them back from the wild to get some edible fruit out of them.

Do I have to spray all the trees, or can I pick a couple to take care of. Also, any good resources to ID the variety (several different)

[AndyF]

If you decide to go the spray route, you will need to spray all of the trees. If you only spray a few, the unsprayed trees will serve as hosts for viruses and pests which will continually harass your sprayed trees. Unless you want a lot of apples, you may want to take out most of the trees and only keep a few, otherwise you will be inundated with apples when the trees come back.

You may not need to spray though if you are willing to accept a lower yield of good looking apples. With your small orchard, there are a lot of ways you can try to manage it without using sprays or only using a few well timed sprays. The book, "The Apple Grower" by Michael Phillips provides a great introduction to non-chemical orchard management. Even if you end up spraying due to local pest pressure, the book still has a lot of good information.

Regarding apple identification, there are a lot of good websites with information on apple varieties. West Virginia and Washington Universities are probably the best. The book "Apples" by Roger Yepsen has information on many different varieties with pictures of each variety described.

[hazmat]

Andy, thanks for the info. I have that book

Here's a pic of the "orchard" in the fall

Hazmat,

The best thing to do is to contact your local Ag Extension office or find an arborist to help. They typically have people who are knowledgeable and should be able to point you in the right direction.

Another idea is to take a course in pruning your fruit trees. We did that a few years ago and it helped us to take care of keeping our trees shaped correctly. In fact, we did such a good job that the darn critters in our area decided to use them as their privite dining area and we have not had a successful crop. [img]/forums/images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

One of the things we were taught was to prune heavily on older trees to correct the shape and open them up for light and air flow.

Good luck.

Terry

[Hakim]

One of the things we did with "wild" apple trees, was to drill holes every 4-5 feet around the drip line, and insert some 10-10-10 to fill up the holes. The rain just drips the fertilizer down into the root system over time. That usually resulted in good growth and vastly improved fruits. Do it twice a year in early spring and fall. If you buy 50 or 100 pound bags, it is a lot cheaper than boxes of fruit tree fertilizer, and of course, it is exactly the same stuff for 1/10th the cost.

[s1120]

I also have a few 'wild" apple trees on my land. They are kind of misshapen from growing up in high weeds for so long, but they do produce some apples. I was thinking of cleaning up the old ones, and planting a few new ones in the area and have a little orchard. Not as big as yours, only about 6 to 10 trees.

[rozett]

Another good book is The BackYard Orchardist by Stella Otto. ISBN: 0-9634520-3-7

[Henry]

I'm a wanna-be Orchard owner and have found the following sites quite educational:

A great tutorial for growing fruit:
Small Scale Fruit Production Guide

Something local for the New Englander's
Mass. Fruit Growers

Photo's of Apple's - might help you id what's growing in the back yard:
Apple Pictures

[hagadoan]

I have about 5 acres. We are surrounded by large commercial apple orchards that are very well kept.

I have been pondering planting an apple orchard, mostly as a hobby. I have read up on planting pollination, spraying, etc, and I think I could pull it off.

My question is - could I market the crop at all? Obviously it won't be very big, but it woud be way too much for my family to use. Any suggestions?

Andy

[Stoneheartfarm]

Hakim,

How big and how deep were the holes? I have tried laying a bag of lime near the base of newly planted trees. Don't know if it makes that much difference, but I've noticed the commerical orchards doing it. Just put the whole bag on the ground and cut a couple of slits in it.

Steve