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I'm thinking about buying some apple tree saplings and plant them at our hunt camp which is just south of North Bay.
Can't say I've ever seen an apple tree in the area, But they should grow.
Any type of apple tree I should look at or is it a waste of time?
I have planted many apples, also Oaks, Chestnuts (Dunstan), and pear.
There are a few strategies to use to acheive some hopes of success. Pleanting fruit or nut trees in the wild can be best described as the expectaion of failure with small succusses. I ususly plant a few hundred seeds and get about half dozen seedlings the next year, squirels take most seeds, raccons pull the whole thing out og the ground, and deer eat the seedlings to the ground.
1. Use a tree tube, even if planting a seed. Bury the bottom of the tube about 6 inches in the ground.
2. Plant when the tree is dormant, from fall to spring.
3. Plant a cold hardy tree in the right soil, if you put any plant in the wrong soil or cold zone it will have trouble growing, plant it in the right conditions and you wont stop it from growing.
4. Plant a lot and be happy with a few successful trees the following year.
Its easy to start your own trees from seed and its free, simply take the seeds from an apple core and stratify them in the fridge for a few days then transfer to the field or start them in a pot for seedlings.
My strategy is to do the following:
Year 1 plant Apples, Oaks, Chestnuts.
Years 1-5 bait with corn
Years 5-15 hunt the apples when they are fruiting
Years 15+ hunt the Oaks/Chestnuts when fruiting
To build on Marker’s suggestion….some protection like chicken wire around the saplings might help….I imagine rabbits, deer and others would find apple saplings tasty ?
We learned this, deer eat the tips right off them. Added snow fencing around them.Quote:
Originally Posted by 73hunter
1. Cold hardy - Mac or SpyQuote:
Originally Posted by SongDog
2. Check if self polinating, or cross polinating and if so plant close enough so bees can polinate (add a crab apple to the mix for polination)
3. Not a dwarf tree, full size is preferable
4. Avoid grafted trees, the root stock may be cold hardy but the top section may not be
Use the white tree wrap to protect against mice, and snow fencing or corncrib fencing to protect against deer. The deer fence should be about 4 feet in diameter.Quote:
Originally Posted by 73hunter
If you're not going to do the above, don't bother with planting the trees.
I'd learn to graft. Once establish can graft multiple varieties on one tree and have successional drop all season. Not for deer but in my back yard have apples that will ripen from end of august till well after dec.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marker
It takes like 10 - 15 years+ for a regular Apple tree to mature and produce. If I plant apple trees I would want dwarf or semi dwarf which produces fruit in less than 5 years
Beautiful Field Farm only carry varieties that do well in the Sudbury area. Have a look and see what varieties they carry.
https://beautifulfieldfarm.com/
Yes a dwarf is good in a back yard where the sun can get to it but not in a forest canopy, the trees need to get up high to get sunlight otherwise they do not do well.Quote:
Originally Posted by greatwhite
Yes, fruit trees need full sun or will not produce.
At age 54 I would be 74 years old or more likely dead, LOL, before it began to produce
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pioneerfreq
Its been said, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time to plant a tree is today. The reason we plant trees that we will never sit under their shade is so the next generation can.Quote:
Originally Posted by greatwhite
In 1904 the chestnut blight hit North America, previously 25% of trees were chestnuts, to date it was the largest ecological disaster. We can help bring back the american chestnut by planting a cross between the american and chinese chestnut, this cross breed was started by Mr Dunstan in Florida around 1950 at a 50/50 cross, the seeds from these trees were then crossed to produce a 75/25 American chestnut which grows to 60' and has the blight resistent gene. There are growers that sell the seeds, not cheap, but it is part of a reintroduction of the greatest tree in North America that most people have never seen,
Some of the seeds I planted are now into their fourth year, it takes about 17 years for them to mature to produce seed.
I have a small quantity of first year seedlings for free if anyone has some land with well drained sandy loam soil.