Small orchard

[metalspinner]

I'm not sure this is the beat place for this discussion??
I've always been thinking about having a small orchard(?) type of area on my property. But with all my wood piles, buildings, driveways, and house in the way there just didn't seem to be room. 
But! We have under contract and a close date pending on an adjacent lot to our back yard. The open lot is 3/4 acre and wide open lawn. 
I have visions of apple trees, blueberry bushes, maybe a pecan tree, etc. 
I do not have a green thumb. My dad sure did. Anything he touched would grow and produce. My oldest son seems to have the touch, too. It just skipped a generation, I guess. 

I already do have a few apple trees around the house. And today they are just full of flowers and they will have many little apples in a few weeks. But they will fall off and/or get eaten by various critters. 

So I'm wondering what I can do to help my current trees and how to layout and start something on the soon-to-be back 40? 

Here is a Cortland


 

Arkansas Black


 

Braeburn, I think?


   

[thecfarm]

Leave room to mow around them, plant in a straight line. Looks like that Cortland could stand a haircut.  ;)
My Father had a bunch of trees. Maybe 50 at one time. He started to plant them before he retired. Worked out good, he could prune and take care of his trees when he retired. He had peach, apples, cherry, pear, some nut trees. Did I miss any?  ;D
He spent a lot of time spraying the trees. 
 Seem like there is always a training program on pruning trees each year around here.
He enjoyed looking at the catalogs for fruit trees. Them small trees are much cheaper than a tree 6 feet tall.

[metalspinner]

I have learned that these apple trees are like pets... always needing attention. 
I did a heavy pruning on these last year. This past winter I took out most of the vertical shoots. Don't really know how far to prune. 

[Iwawoodwork]

Your apple trees definitely need pruning, as stated the local extension agent might help also tons of info on the internet, when pruned they will have bigger fruit, not feeding so many sucker shoots. 

[SwampDonkey]

You're homesteading (maybe not ;) ), so you need a nice orchard. ;D I like the apple trees for the spring blooms, even if the bugs like the fruit. I don't spray noth'n. We had a real old orchard here with some trees developed locally by Mr Sharp, who developed the New Brunswicker around 1860's. That's the best early apple I ever ate, and when cooking it just froths and foams with all that nice sweet juice and goodness. ;D I had bought a couple back 30 years ago, but they aren't what they said they was. The coons won't even touch'm. :D Also, some Cortland, marketed as such aren't. I've read with apples, it's not just the graft, but the root stock to that is important for the flavour and texture of the apple. I've seen some papers where they note what the graft is and the root stock. Apples are peculiar plants. I never really have trouble with coons in apples much, but cherries, they will destroy a cherry tree over night. :D

Your apples grow like mine, plant then straight as an arrow and they want to grow with a lean on their own. :D

[GullyBog]

The Cortland in the first picture looks great, plenty of room for air to move around, wouldn't need a lot of pruning.  When we moved to our place there were two apple trees in the back yard.  I watched the apples ripen but was confused at how small they were.  They do taste good but are unlike any variety I've ever seen.  I've come to realize the grafts on these trees had failed and the rootstocks took over sending up a shoot that is now a fruit producing tree.

[metalspinner]

Swamp donkey, I really enjoy the spring show the apple trees put on, too. Right now, our dogwoods, redbuds and apple trees are in full bloom. The apples, too me, have the beat show. 

Apples at the end of the season would be a great bonus. Each year I make cider but need to buy my apples. It's not terribly expensive especially considering the amount of work it saves me from growing them. 😉 but it would be nice to have a harvest from my own trees. 

And another thing is that cider - I've only read this- benefits from some very tart varieties like crab apples. Something you would not ever eat on their own. But as part of a blend it's supposed to give the cider a tartness or bite that is very good. 
I've not found crab apples on the market. But I believe just planting apple seeds might get me an original crab tree??

[SwampDonkey]

We had old crab apple trees here, they were tall, not dwarf, the old people made preserves and canned them, cloves in it. Mom has done them years ago. Trees are gone now, lived their life. There is a wild one up at the end of a fence row that the grouse, robins and pine grosbeaks eat in the fall. You can buy crab apples up here at nurseries. Not the same as the ornamental red flowering kind. I doubt you get a crab by growing from a seed, unless you're really lucky. ;) I've never seen anyone selling crab apple fruit here neither. The more tart the apple the more pectin in it, good for jelly, but I don't think for drinking. Might be a bit of a laxative. :D Crab apple fruit is like eating chokecherries, makes your mouth dry.....until cooked.

[bitternut]

For sure those apple trees need some serious pruning. There are lots of videos on youtube that give you a lot of tips on growing fruit trees. Some of the videos are put out by local state extension services and are very good. Those are usually geared to commercial growers but still pertain to home fruit production.

I live on the shore of Lake Ontario which is a fruit belt region. There is an Amish family near me that produces a lot of nursery fruit stock for growers nation wide.
They have a catalog called SCHLABACH'S NURSERY. I am pretty sure that they are mail order only. One of the best things about this nursery is that the owner has published a book that every home fruit grower should have and read. Here is
the name of the book.....BACKYARD FRUIT PRODUCTION by David R Schlabach. It has great illustrations and is available on line ( amazon and many others). A purchase of his book would be some of the best money you ever spent.

I have forty trees in my little home orchard. I currently have apple, apricot, pear, asian pear, sweet cherry, tart cherry, nectarine, prune, plum, pluot and plumcot.
Did I mention that I like fruit.

[Wudman]

Do a soil test to identify any nutrient needs that may be deficient.  Buy stock that is suitable to your area.  I have a pair of peach trees in my yard that came from the local big box store.  They are not a suitable variety for my area.  They bloom too early and get smoked every year.  I'm not sure what the evergreens are bordering your yard, but be aware that some of the juniper species are intermediate hosts for various apple rusts.  I have a few eastern red cedars around my yard that need to be taken down.  I get some rust on my apple trees.  Japanese beetles for me are a pain in the butt.  They can destroy leaf area in a day if they get a jump on you.  They really like grape leaves.  Deer are another problem for me.  Blackberries and grapes disappear if you are not protecting against them.  They will take any apple they can reach and stand there waiting for others to fall.  My dogs are fenced in and the deer will stand on the opposite side of the fence and laugh at them. 

Wudman

[thecfarm]

My Father had a really nice formed peach tree, it forked out. Had maybe 6 peaches on each limb. Something got up into the tree and went out on one of the limbs and split that tree in two!!!  :(  My father was some upset.

[metalspinner]

Thanks, butternut. I will go ahead and order that book today. 

We don't get too
Much big wildlife here anymore. Once in 15 years we had a deer in the yard. But with so much development in our town, all the big animals have been pushed back. 
We do have plenty of the smaller animals, though. A couple of Redtailed hawks have taken up residence in the tree line. So they will cut back on the rodent population pretty good.  

Wudman
Our little property is lined on each edge. The north tree line is Leyland cypress. To the west are white pines, and the tree's south are mixed hardwoods mostly white and red oak. Interspersed are hemlocks, blue spruce, maples, and various ornamentals. 
I'm not aware of any ERC within several hundred yards radius of our property. Except in my log and lumber pile. 😉

[metalspinner]

Bitternut, the book came in and I've already read it. It is very well written and easy to understand. Thanks for the recommendation!

And my trees certainly need a good pruning. I'm just nervous to do it. 

My wife and I went on our evening walk and went to the local college woods. One of the trails led right to not one, but two small orchards! This is what I'm picturing in my backyard.  



 

 

 

I'll try to find the person in charge. Maybe I can get a lesson on pruning.  ;)

[metalspinner]

This story is very good! 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/heritage-appalachian-apples?utm_medium=atlas-page&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2BJJlE9491gQFqLOlVM7YtsZDm9ers7a3nuhCX5TyRm2ikkJkcPC9dB7Y

[SwampDonkey]

Very nice efforts he is doing to preserve the varieties.

I'd like to get an old Victorian apple variety, 'Northern Greening'. Had one here on the woodlot. Was an old homestead there. It was a little close to the road and the road crew shoved it over and that was the end of it. The apples on it were only good after October frost. Then it was excellent.

[DMcCoy]

I'm not sure this is the beat place for this discussion??
I've always been thinking about having a small orchard(?) type of area on my property. But with all my wood piles, buildings, driveways, and house in the way there just didn't seem to be room.
But! We have under contract and a close date pending on an adjacent lot to our back yard. The open lot is 3/4 acre and wide open lawn.
I have visions of apple trees, blueberry bushes, maybe a pecan tree, etc.
I do not have a green thumb. My dad sure did. Anything he touched would grow and produce. My oldest son seems to have the touch, too. It just skipped a generation, I guess.

I already do have a few apple trees around the house. And today they are just full of flowers and they will have many little apples in a few weeks. But they will fall off and/or get eaten by various critters.

So I'm wondering what I can do to help my current trees and how to layout and start something on the soon-to-be back 40?

Here is a Cortland


 

Arkansas Black


 

Braeburn, I think?


 

"I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do."
Thankfully I didn't have a mouth full of coffee when I read that... :D :D :D
I think they all go to girl school - it's in the girls bathroom, that's why they go in groups.  Secret handshakes the whole 9 yards...

[DMcCoy]

Apples in particular are extremely forgiving with pruning.  There are several espaliered commercial orchards in our county.  Grafting apples is a snap,  I use a dormant whip graft and black electrical tape, no wax.  After a year that black tape rots off due to UV and the graft has taken.
My pruning goals have changed over the years.  I want to be able to mow under them.  I also don't want to need a super tall ladder to pick fruit.  I use a pole and basket to get the highest ones.  I don't want a 50' tall apple tree so I prune the top.
Sometimes I feel all the rules to pruning are a detriment to new orchard owners.  An apple tree left alone will grow and produce apples.  Treat the rules as guidelines and prune it the way you want it to look.  
Thinning the apples will give you fewer but bigger apples.  Locally the insecticide Sevin is used to chemically thin blossoms.