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Post by smsmith on Jun 3, 2023 11:20:36 GMT -6
I made myself walk this morning so I could drink more beer later today. As I went past my white trash neighbor's place, her black locust trees were in full bloom. I could literally hear the bees buzzing 15 yards away. It was crazy. My bee guys should be happy I'd think. When I walked my main orchard where the bee hives are kept, the constant flight path back and forth towards those locust trees was intense.
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Post by chummer16 on Jun 3, 2023 14:47:04 GMT -6
I had to water today for probably the third time ever. We have had no rain for 2 weeks and near 90 for over a week. Great year to plant 42 trees. I did get a lesson on why diversity is important. I have trees with no apples, some apples, and lots of apples. Interesting to see how they handled the cold temps different. Looks like my grafts took at about 90%. Best year so far if they stay alive. I did lose a Kerr graft from last year that was 20” high, very frustrating.
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Post by kooch on Jun 3, 2023 16:07:05 GMT -6
I had to pinch a couple of these off both my new dolgos and this crossbow crab today. Just planted them. Crazy.
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Post by honker on Jun 3, 2023 22:57:32 GMT -6
Wildlife Crab loaded up. I’ve been watering them when I’ve been up there and I sprayed last weekend. My Norland and Dolgo are putting on some fruit. Didn’t see anything else forming
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Post by biglakebass on Jun 4, 2023 14:55:40 GMT -6
15 of my 26 apple trees at the cabin have fruit on them. Oldest ones were planted 5 years ago. My hazen hasnt had an apple yet and that was tree 1 planted.
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Post by benmnwi on Jun 5, 2023 11:46:57 GMT -6
I sprayed my fruit trees Saturday and it went fairly well. My sprayer hose was long enough that I could park next to the tree and walk around the tree to spray. timing was pretty decent since I had quite a bit of fresh insect damage on leaves. The orchards are looking very good and some trees are really starting to produce. I’ll need to thin fruit on a couple dozen trees since the fruit load is too high. It is a good problem to have after waiting so long for some of these trees to produce.
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Post by benmnwi on Jun 5, 2023 11:53:03 GMT -6
As you can see in the picture, my clover/alfalfa/chicory plot around my apple trees is starting to get taken over by grass. I'll need to hit that with clethodim soon.
I pruned my apple trees pretty hard last winter, but it is very difficult to tell from these pictures. There should be more air flow and sun exposure in these trees than prior years, so hopefully that helps the fruit. The deer do a good job pruning eating all the leaves they can reach. The trees are starting to grow wider now and I'm expecting some scrapes to show up under some of these apple trees this fall.
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Post by smsmith on Jun 5, 2023 12:55:19 GMT -6
A look at my two orchards as well as at a few scattered other trees shows that trees on heavier ground appear to have a much better fruit set than those on lighter soil. Makes sense I suppose I'm also noticing a better fruit set on the trees that bloomed earlier in the year. I'd guess that's due to better soil moisture earlier in the bloom period.
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Post by biglakebass on Jun 5, 2023 20:28:48 GMT -6
apple tree painting question. I dont recall the specifics of the paint to use for the sun scald prevention. I have this quart available. Can I use this?? Mix is 50/50 water/paint??
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Post by smsmith on Jun 6, 2023 6:50:49 GMT -6
apple tree painting question. I dont recall the specifics of the paint to use for the sun scald prevention. I have this quart available. Can I use this?? Mix is 50/50 water/paint?? That looks okay to use to me. You can mix 50/50 with water if you want to spray it on. I mix white interior latex with drywall mud and enough water to make it "brushable". I haven't had to repaint some trees for going on 5 years now. Much more labor intensive up front though.
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Post by honker on Jun 6, 2023 16:17:01 GMT -6
Fleet farm has their apple trees starting to go on sale. They have a few Sweet Sixteens that look good. Are they a good variety to try out?
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Post by Sandbur on Jun 6, 2023 16:31:49 GMT -6
Fleet farm has their apple trees starting to go on sale. They have a few Sweet Sixteens that look good. Are they a good variety to try out? I would call them decent. We bought one for my in-laws but I have not had one.
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Post by smsmith on Jun 6, 2023 18:20:33 GMT -6
Sweet 16 has been a vigorous grower for me, but slow to fruit. I'd call it fully zone 4a hardy and likely down to 3a or 3b.
I've yet to eat one, but the reviews I've read go all the way from awesome to terrible....kind of like Frostbite, one of it's parents. Sine the other parent is Northern Spy, that'd help explain why it's been to slow to fruit on standard rootstock for me.
I'm guessing since I enjoy Frostbite, I'll also enjoy Sweet 16
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Post by badgerfowl on Jun 7, 2023 9:36:20 GMT -6
Sweet 16 is my favorite eating apple. But I like sweet. I've also only been able to try it once in 10 years. Coons love the damn thing too unfortunately.
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Post by daydreamer on Jun 7, 2023 9:57:01 GMT -6
I have one mystery tree that died off originally and I removed the cage and all markings. But it ended up coming back and is looking pretty good. I'm crossing my fingers it is a Sweet 16. No blooms/fruit yet but thinking maybe next year. It was planted in 2016 on Anty. I believe it either has to be that or a Freedom.
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