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Post by Sandbur on Feb 6, 2024 16:26:11 GMT -6
Smitty’s seedling has to be one of the fastest growing topworks I have ever had. perhaps it is also in just the right spot for soil quality and moisture. I put two limb spreaders in it. Smitty’s seems to have an upward growth pattern. I was able to train the mother Smitty's tree to have pretty horizontal limbs, but it sure does throw out a shitload of vertical watersprouts every year. I have about 8 trees that do that. PIA to prune. I have about 10 trees left in the main orchard.
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Post by biglakebass on Feb 6, 2024 18:22:33 GMT -6
where did you get those devices to push the limbs away from the main trunk? Do they adjust? It doesnt look like it.
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Post by Sandbur on Feb 6, 2024 18:49:27 GMT -6
where did you get those devices to push the limbs away from the main trunk? Do they adjust? It doesnt look like it. Somewhere I bought a bundle of them and they came in five or six sizes. No adjustment with them.
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Post by Sandbur on Feb 6, 2024 18:54:19 GMT -6
where did you get those devices to push the limbs away from the main trunk? Do they adjust? It doesnt look like it. Amazon has a variety of different types, as well.
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Post by smsmith on Feb 12, 2024 15:31:57 GMT -6
I gathered some scions for a guy near Bismarck today, and then I started pruning. It's way too nice out there for February...
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Post by Reagan on Feb 12, 2024 15:46:43 GMT -6
I pruned and cut scion last weekend.
We had a guy here named Trooper. He was the trapper from Ohio. We traded scion again this year and he gave me 2 apple trees for free. Tree scion was cut from an ancient old trees on his place and grafted to m111. He said one drops in august and the other October. Heavy producers every year.
Hell of a guy. I don’t think he comes here much due to the lack of info available on the public side. But he should be admitted in the club.
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Post by benmnwi on Feb 13, 2024 12:53:57 GMT -6
It felt good to get out for a little while last night and start pruning and take a closer look at some trees. The trees I grafted and planted in 2017, 2018 and 2019 are all starting to look good and most are large enough for me to pull the 5' tree cages (I'll keep the trunks guarded with a 3' welded wire trunk guard). The growth rates on most of the trees were below average last year because of the drought, but I haven't found any dead trees yet.
My best Franklin crabapple had a decent crop last year and there are actually quite a few apples still hanging on that tree. The fruit is pretty ugly and not too tasty, but I do think that can be a solid wildlife variety. My purple passion tree that was barely hanging on in its original sandy planting location is looking great now after moving it to a new area a couple years ago. I'm very impressed with the growth of that tree and I might get to try my first apple off that tree if the fruit spurs produce. A number of my 2017 seedling dolgo's are starting fill out and look great. I'm very impressed with the size of the trunks and branches, so I'm confident those trees have the frame to support large fruit loads.
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Post by Sandbur on Feb 13, 2024 16:36:57 GMT -6
I have been pruning and noticed some damage on what I cut off. It was in things of smaller diameter but may have been two years old as I am using a ladder to prune this year.
It looks like winter damage, but I wonder if fall rains or heat did not allow new growth to harden off. I noticed it most on trees with Anty rootstocks. Those also do tend to be planted in a more drought prone area. Perhaps herbicide drift, but my ag renter is careful.
Nothing significant at present.
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Post by benmnwi on Feb 14, 2024 12:35:31 GMT -6
Last night I pruned a couple trees in my back orchard where we typically shoot quite a few deer. This area has some of the sandiest soil on my land, but I planted apple trees anyway and hoped for the best. My long term goal was to have some apple tonnage for the deer on the years that the plots struggled because of the sandy soil.
This row of fruit trees really struggled early in this sand, and it was pretty common for the trees to lose all their leaves in September because of the crappy soil. Annual growth was minimal initially, but the trees didn't die. For the last 10 years I've been dumping the leaves from my yard around these trees in an attempt to build up the soil. I've also added a bunch of wood chips, wood ash/coals, deer bones, raccoon carcasses, compost, etc. around the trees. I don't know if my soil improvement efforts finally paid off or if the tree roots finally reach down deep enough to find some moisture, but these trees look great. These trees have antonovka and red splendor crabapple rootstock, so they aren't fast out of the gate but I'm hoping they will reach an impressive size in the future.
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Post by Sandbur on Feb 14, 2024 15:59:00 GMT -6
Last night I pruned a couple trees in my back orchard where we typically shoot quite a few deer. This area has some of the sandiest soil on my land, but I planted apple trees anyway and hoped for the best. My long term goal was to have some apple tonnage for the deer on the years that the plots struggled because of the sandy soil. This row of fruit trees really struggled early in this sand, and it was pretty common for the trees to lose all their leaves in September because of the crappy soil. Annual growth was minimal initially, but the trees didn't die. For the last 10 years I've been dumping the leaves from my yard around these trees in an attempt to build up the soil. I've also added a bunch of wood chips, wood ash/coals, deer bones, raccoon carcasses, compost, etc. around the trees. I don't know if my soil improvement efforts finally paid off or if the tree roots finally reach down deep enough to find some moisture, but these trees look great. These trees have antonovka and red splendor crabapple rootstock, so they aren't fast out of the gate but I'm hoping they will reach an impressive size in the future. Have you checked pH before amendments and after to those areas?
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Post by smallchunk on Mar 10, 2024 8:20:15 GMT -6
I’m just curious what your guys’ thoughts on this are..
I have a bunch of trees to graft in the fenced nursery out back that were girdled by voles not this winter but last winter. All have sent shoots that are perfect to graft to from below the girdle.
I plan on leaving all of the Dolgo and “field grafting” them as they have a big root structure. The B.9’s and B.118’s I’m on the fence for. Should I dig them up and graft them right now & baby or just wait and field graft them as well when the time/weather is right?
Pros and cons of both. I won’t have to baby them if I wait and field work, but they might grow more if I pull them out and graft now…
Easier to “bench graft” them in the garage but also way more time involved!
(I already know what I should/am going to do, just have the itch to graft and am curious what you guys would do 😅)
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Post by smsmith on Mar 10, 2024 8:40:50 GMT -6
I’m just curious what your guys’ thoughts on this are.. I have a bunch of trees to graft in the fenced nursery out back that were girdled by voles not this winter but last winter. All have sent shoots that are perfect to graft to from below the girdle. I plan on leaving all of the Dolgo and “field grafting” them as they have a big root structure. The B.9’s and B.118’s I’m on the fence for. Should I dig them up and graft them right now & baby or just wait and field graft them as well when the time/weather is right? Pros and cons of both. I won’t have to baby them if I wait and field work, but they might grow more if I pull them out and graft now… Easier to “bench graft” them in the garage but also way more time involved! (I already know what I should/am going to do, just have the itch to graft and am curious what you guys would do 😅) I would field graft them all if they're growing in their permanent homes. If not, then dig up and bench graft. I will say that the older I get, the less "fun" it is to crawl around and graft on my knees
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Post by Sandbur on Mar 10, 2024 12:10:16 GMT -6
I’m just curious what your guys’ thoughts on this are.. I have a bunch of trees to graft in the fenced nursery out back that were girdled by voles not this winter but last winter. All have sent shoots that are perfect to graft to from below the girdle. I plan on leaving all of the Dolgo and “field grafting” them as they have a big root structure. The B.9’s and B.118’s I’m on the fence for. Should I dig them up and graft them right now & baby or just wait and field graft them as well when the time/weather is right? Pros and cons of both. I won’t have to baby them if I wait and field work, but they might grow more if I pull them out and graft now… Easier to “bench graft” them in the garage but also way more time involved! (I already know what I should/am going to do, just have the itch to graft and am curious what you guys would do 😅) I would field graft them all if they're growing in their permanent homes. If not, then dig up and bench graft. I will say that the older I get, the less "fun" it is to crawl around and graft on my knees I agree. The crawling around isn’t so bad, it is the getting back up that is a problem.
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Post by Reagan on Mar 21, 2024 9:58:23 GMT -6
Good time of year to find Bradford pears here. Most are in full bloom. These are all invasive planted by the birds. I need to get back to my land and find any that I missed last year. My first chance going back is Wednesday
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Post by smsmith on Mar 21, 2024 20:24:54 GMT -6
Good time of year to find Bradford pears here. Most are in full bloom. These are all invasive planted by the birds. I need to get back to my land and find any that I missed last year. My first chance going back is Wednesday I am envious of your spring signs. I'm glad weather here cooled off to hopefully prevent an early bloom and then a killing frost, but a longer growing season would be kind of nice.
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