5 BIGGEST Mistakes when Growing APPLE TREES!
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- 5 Biggest Mistakes when growing Apples! Apples are one of the most common fruits grown and eaten in a homestead or on a farm!
There are many benefits to having and growing your own apple tree, but if you dont know how to manage it, you will not have much success.
The first one on my list, Choosing the Right variety! this is the most important one! second and third and fertilizer and water! Weed control and training systems is also critical!
If you have any questions let me know!
Farmer Dre Supply
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#appletree #appleorchard #5mistakes
1. Right variety, rootstock, and density
2. Fertilize appropriately
3. Water (most ppl underestimate how much they need)
4. Control weeds
5. Train trees appropriately for the system
So... normal things for plants
I'm looking for old big Apple trees to plant for my grandchildren. Biggest thing I remember from when I was a kid was climbing a big Apple tree for an apple👍🤠
Old trees will run you $10,000
Try MORP, Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project
I started my small orchard of 30 trees 8 - 10 years ago and I think I have made every mistake there is but I think I got it just about figured out now. I had a lot of damage two years ago from the cicadas and I think if the trees were any younger when they hit I might have lost many more, as it was I lost 3, but I have had a lot of fun and a lot of heart break along the way.
A tree is never a waste of space. Plant the trees people. The fruit it bears is icing.
Awesome! I learned something! Never knew about training the branches below horizontal to encourage it to fruit.
It works
instablaster
This one was quite helpful. I just planted our first apple trees this past spring. Liberty, Monark, King David, Enterprise and Winesap. I was not thinking a lot about fertilizer but that makes sense on building more wood to encourage earlier fruiting. I'll definitely work on that this spring. Fall work is chopping down the red cedar trees ;)
Cedars are no good
@@farmerdre1 When you're growing apples that's for sure!
remember that tree growth will largely shut down once you start cropping them. Make sure you fill your space before you allow the tree to start producing fruit. Good luck!
We are new to growing apple trees, literally just bought our first 2 apple trees of Pink Lady and Courtland yesterday 6/29/2021 and pretty excited about giving them a go lol... anyway, thanks for your video, I learned 5 thing of what not to do so I went ahead and subscribed, because I'm going to need all the damn help I can get, a green thumb I do not have lol... thanks again and look forward to more videos...
I'm right there with you! Planted a Van cherry yesterday and a Ranier today. I DO NOT have a green thumb either. Tomorrow we plant our apple trees. You cross your fingers for me and I'll do the same for you 😂
I appreciate your information & don’t really care about comedy or tic tok
Woow... the front end cost... Good to know. Thank you.. Club variety.. Nice. I learn so much from you.. Thank you.
Thanks
What time of year to prune? One of your videos showed how to prune but it was in December. I thought pruning was early spring, before buds/blossoms form?
During the winter
Awesome keep up the great videos
PML
So how do you spray an herbicide for weed control and not damage the tree??
Can you provide a fertilization schedule?
I think the biggest mistake you made was planting these in a monocrop orchard. You could massively increase the density, reduce your fertilization and herbicide costs, increase the amount of food you produce, reduce your labor inputs, and increase water retention in the soil by planting in an agroforestry/permaculture food system.
By planting some crop producing feeder trees like Ash, Eastern Redbud, Black & Honey locust, you can get fertilizer from depths of the soil that you can't normally reach. The Ash provides sugars (from fallen leaves) for the apples, and
eventually lumber, which is becoming a scarce and expensive resource. Honey locust beans are a delightful crop to add to your repertoire as well. The apple gets fed by nitrogen from the locusts, along with them being a strong living support post that you can grow vining crops like hardy kiwis and grapes up the trunks. They don't call Black locust the "fencepost tree" for no reason! You can also grow grapes directly up the apples' trunks! If desired, just string support lines between locusts for the vines to climb across and to train the apples on.
You can also feed the soil with other companion planted feeder crops like comfrey and valerian, which also produce a crop and crowd out weeds. Additionally, by planting things like garlic/common chives, plus perennial onions like walking & Welsh onions, and garlic, you can get some pest and disease protection. Daffodils repel gophers and provide you with cut flowers. Sweet cicely (sugary delight that it is) is good for pest protection too, and planting some along with some Dogwood attracts predatory insects that feed on apple pests.
Shrubs like raspberries, dwarf/apple roses, sea buckthorn, gooseberries and currents make a great shrub layer under apples. Besides producing fruit, you can also make tea from the leaves of the raspberries, currents and roses. Roses are amazing because they attract pollinators, have vitamin C rich hips, vitamin E rich seeds that can be ground into flour, you can make jelly from the petals, the leaves are good in tea, and you can sell cut flowers! They're insane for cash flow!
You can also get some nutrient mining plants to draw up nutrients the apples can't reach at various levels of the soil with root crops; especially deep taprooted plants like the comfrey, lupine (which could give you edible beans in a warm enough USDA planting zone and with the right variety of lupine {white lupine=lupini beans}) and flowers that attract pollinators, besides being a nitrogen fixer. Borage is a good edible accumulator too. Many of the flowers in the system attract pollinators or predators of the pests. Sunchokes do this and give you an amazingly tasty root crop/wind break. You can plant other staple perennial vegetables like rhubarb, asparagus, strawberries, lavender, mint, mustards, collards (and artichokes in the right USDA zone), besides your typical annuals like carrots, beats, mustards, radishes and peas right under the apples to REALLY crowd out weeds, and cover the soil to reduce carbon and water loss, besides giving you way more crops to harvest. You could even grow culinary mushrooms like morels under the trees to increase the symbiotic mycorrhizae in the soil! Healthy soil is nutritious soil!!!
This whole system is way more cost/water/labor/fertilizer efficient. You get the plants to do your job for you, reduce your costs and increase your revenues by mimicking a natural forest system. I'm glad that you've studied this subject deeply, because I can see your passion for growing and teaching. I mean no offense when I say this, but those that gave you your degree steered you wrong. A better, more Sustainable degree, would've been a Permaculture Design Certificate. I would love to talk to you more about this, and I encourage you to do some more research if you're interested.
I forget to mention, mulching during establishment, especially over the root ball and in swales, massively increases your soil's water availability while feeding the tree. Over time, the system adds more mulches from leaf litter than you'll have to add manually. Chop and drop fertilizers are something I also forgot to mention. If you cut the comfrey leaves and drop them on the ground at the base of the apples, you add NPK and are a compost activator that helps mulches break down. Crops like chickweed and dandelions add calcium to the system. They're vilified as weeds, but they're actually tasty edibles that accumulate calcium.
With enough pest reducing fertilizing plants, you might even be able to market your apples as organic by eliminating your need to use chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Organics are great in marketing for increased revenues!
Hi curious kitten. I can see your passion for apples. I would like to learn more from you please as a new apple farmer. I have a burning question which may be somewhat a silly question so some but hey, I’ll ask. Can someone grow chillies 🌶 next to apples 🍎 ?
@@maxlynlc2718 I haven't been able to find much research on Chili's and Apples together. I saw 1 grower who recommended Potatoes (who are in the Nightshade family like Chilis) as a mulch maker for Apples. I also haven't seen any other associations with other Nightshades like Tomatoes or other Peppers with Apples. Tomatoes and potatoes are tricky companions because they can antagonize or be antagonized by some plant neighbors. I recently went in someone's yard who was growing a Tomato at the base of their Apples, but the tomato plant looked small. I don't know how it'll turn out yet because I haven't tried this combination.
Depending on your growing zone, I'd grow the Chili's with warmer season crops, possibly in a greenhouse. In Southern California I grew Goji and Purple Nightshade under a Mesquite tree because I saw someone else who planted Chiltepin Peppers under their Mesquite, around some Prickly Pear cactus, near a 7 year Lima Bean and some Moringa. Although I haven't grown Chili's, I imagine they like the kind of companion plants that other peppers like. Perhaps plants like Cilantro, Garlic, Oregano, and Marigolds would be better for the Chili's. If I was trying to plant Chili's under a tree, I would try Mesquite or Olive first. But I have planted Apricots (cousins to the Apple) under Mesquite, and I've seen Apricots with Olives, so I can't rule out Chili's with them either. I just don't know yet.
Keep researching and do some experiments of your own. We'll never know till someone tries.
@@curiouskitten4351 Thanks for your reply. I have since been told that although chilli is good for pest control as a organic farmer, Chilli makes the soil spicy 🥵 so not a good idea next to sweet apple or in an orchard. The best thing I’ve hear is beans 🫘 as the empower the soil with nitrogen and also to retain soil moisture. The weather in africa is quite seasonal unlike California. Growth is slow in the cold months may to August but they still do well the rest of the months.
In UK however, it’s amazing Apples still grow despite winter seasons. I wouldn’t have patience for that though.
@@maxlynlc2718 That makes perfect sense. Thank you for that contribution. I definitely agree that a nitrogen fixing bean or several are very important fertilizing companions for Apples. Apples like to grow under trees with sweet leaves like Maple and Ash, and under nitrogen fixing trees like Black or Honey Locust. The Apricots I put under the Mesquite definitely love the nitrogen the Mesquite provides.
Apples need a certain number of chill hours to fruit properly. When I planted in Southern California I chose Apple varieties with very low chill hour requirements like the Anna's Apple and the Golden Dorset Apple. Are you in an African country below the equator? I have a friend in Gambia and a couple friends in Kenya who I exchange planting ideas with. The success of your Apples will depend on whether your hardiness zone will give you enough chill hours, and if you have enough water for the Apples. The companion plants will help keep the moisture in the soil, along with a healthy application of mulch.
I am glad you found that info about the Chili's. It's very important to look at how plants change the soil with either their leaves dropping or their roots exuding phytochemicals when you're thinking about companion plants.
Great information
For the weed control can you use mulch ?
Wood chips
And it holds moisture
Great information! Keep it up!
thanks for your vid :) . I'm starting a half-professional apple tree orchard , but I keep away those high density systems which involve lot of cure treatments as trees are touching between each neighbors .. I try to think differently : "which is the correct inbetween distance to make trees not be contamined by neighbors ?" . My goal is not density but fruit quality ( not been covered by Coper, Insecticide..etc ) And the 'empty space' will be filled by other fruit trees ( small fruits : grapes, berrys , gojis etc ) ..so no empty space at the end and mix production. I know it's not the best buisness vision but more 'permaculture' like :) . Anyway thank you for all your advices and explanations ;) . and happy new year !
What do you use to keep deer away
💪🏼 Good video 🇺🇸
Where can I buy those high density apple trees?
Great videos man.
My 2 apple trees are well fertilized, well sunned, well pruned... 1 is a great producer, it flowers beautifully, then out comes the fruit in August-September... the other one which is planted about 7-8 ft away, NOTHING! No flowers, no fruit. They're the same age and same size (approximately). I am confused...
What varieties are they?
This is bad ass, you can tell what you’re talking about you have a lot of knowledge this is good information and I’m going to subscribe
I have 15 healthy apple trees of 5 variety's. They are about 11 years old. They blossom very well but I never get apples. What am I doing wrong?
Thx DS
Farmer Dre, can you do a video on spraying apple trees? Theres so many fungicides on the market, its almost dizzying.
Look into permaculture orchard, Stefan Sobkowiak.
Great information...
Thanks for the great video! What do you use to manage insect and disease?
So we farm and use cow manure on our fields. Would cow manure also work for apple trees?
It will, but I'd let it set and compost for awhile before spreading below your trees. I apply manure compost twice a year, one in March and one in late July/early August (in Ohio)
I would stay away from it personally. Can’t be fresh for sure. Invest in some good fertilizer like calcium nitrate
That's a pretty good statement on weed control. That it effects tree growth ssd substantially. In my hobby orchard I let the weeds grow 4 feet high to act as a living mulch because I'm totally dependent on rainfall only but my trees do grow very slowly I thought it was th er lack of water but you have turned me on that it might be the weeds
You can mulch instead, but keep mulch away from the trunk.
Mulch! I lay down compost, then cardboard, then 2-3 inches of wood chips. Keep the much away from the trunk. Needs to be renewed every 3 years or so. Be aware that voles can invade under the cardboard. MUCH better growth than if you just have grass/weeds up to the trunk.
Glyphosaten Nonselective herbicide should not be used for our food supply.
I don't care what Bayer says...
They may not care about long-term side effects of the poison they profit from
Stay curious unfolding TRUTHS choices WE get to make it a great season
Why do you think planting Golden Delicous is/was a mistake?
I agree with you, I have 9 varieties of apple trees in my yard, and two of them are yellow delicious. My apple sauce and apple pies are not the same/as good, if I don't have some yellow delicious apples in them. NOW, as a guess, of all my apple trees, my yellow delicious have been the most susceptible to Cedar Apple Rust, a couple of years I got virtually no usable apples because of this. And one of my yellow delicious apple trees got infected with something in the wood, that made a couple of the big limbs die. The tree is only 15 years old. So their susceptibility to getting sick MIGHT be a reason someone wouldn't want to plant them.
I like standard root stocks because far north. We inline u.f.o our cherries and round ufo with apples. Food plot clover helps with nitrogen and less mowing too if any.
fantastic info thank you !!🙂👍
Can you do a video on the very first plant you planted and show how big they are when you planted them and what all you did?
Got you to 1k, you're welcome.
Thanks for by the information
I'm trying to add apple trees to my food plots here in Iowa, already have some wild apples growing from bare root 2 years now. I've started some Cosmic Crisp from seed. Cosmic is mix of Honey crisp and Enterprise. Will I get Cosmic crisp apples or something in between? TIA.
How do you keep your nitrogen under control so that you don’t push the tree too hard with vegetative growth and produce more fruitwood. Also do you have concerns of fruit not ripening with amount of nitrogen you put on?
I haven't seen much issue
Push that tree for the first 3 years to fill it out. Tying down branches while pushing growth will still spur up the branches.
Two other channels recommend 20 20 20 synthetic fertilizer for newly planted trees youtube channels "sweet Cherry Grower" and "Excelsior farms"
I think the stragedy is to push the growth as. Fast as you can get to the top wire about 9 feet by second year and control the fruiting by spreading the branches 45° to below horizontal on certain apple varieties
@@robertbrawley5048 if it’s low vigor like Honeycrisp Evercrisp be patient with it. Don’t hang fruit till it’s filled out. Also I would be carful with the Triple 20. I like 10-8-8 foliar so 1 your not throwing off the K levels in the tree which is not good for Ca usage or absorption. ESPECIALLY varieties with HC parentage. It’s called Zonal Leaf Chlorosis. Hope this helped!
The goal is to fill the space then develop Spurs. You crop to early and you will have a small crappy tree. Because low vigor trees will basically shut down growth after you leave flowers and fruit on.
Good going 👍🏼
Liberty apples take two different pollinators so I'm told by Cummins nursery
No problem, this orchard has a huge variety of other apple types to cross pollinate with. Any apple tree catalog will show which varieties are best for cross pollinating with a particular type of apple tree.
I’m planning on planting apples, where can I get the seeds from?
You need to watch a lot of apple videos first. Any beginner should start just purchasing a 5 foot tall tree from a nursery, catalog or big hardware store like Lowe's, Home Depot or Menards. I have found apple trees, in 3 gallon pots, 5 feet tall are way cheaper at the big hardware stores than any other source. So that is where you start,,,,, not seeds.... Then you need to know which types of apple trees go with which types to make sure you get your trees to pollinate..... Again, you need to start by watching a bunch of videos.
You said you use an herbicide for weed suppression, just glyphosate/Roundup? I've been trying to keep the weeds at bay by piling compost and mulch over cardboard out to the driplines, but the weeds are relentless. In a couple new rows I'm planting this spring, I can more easily spray. Thinking I'll switch to the herbicide to compare how they do with my established trees. Still going to do heavy mulching though
Heavy mulching works..Herbicide is toxic to environment.
@@carollynne5943DONT use glypho m. It’s a product called paraquate.
@@gabeolson-jensen8676 Great! Check if the soil is alive after spraying..The Elaine Ingram method.
@@carollynne5943 I am a organic orchard I actually don’t use herbicides. I use flame weeding after my clover is done for the year.
no way! i got a ludacrisp! planted fall 2021. tree is doing great. havent taken fruit yet. plucked it off last year. was first time fruiting.
I inherited an apple tree that has been neglected for years, I'm slowly coming to the conclusion the tree just needs to go and we can plant a new one if we want. I was really looking forward to the apples.
edit: inherited by buying a house
that's how I got here. lol. bought a house and app i looked them up on says trees out back are a paradise apple tree and a common pear tree
There are plenty of videos that show you how to rejuvinate an old tree. It would be a shame to throw away an established apple tree. And if you fail to prune and manage your new apple tree, it will turn in to the same mess as your old/existing apple tree!
"Ludacrisp" is the best name for an apple of all time. 🤣
What the spacing from one apple tree to the other and between rows
Thank you for the vedios. You can also try the Wambugu Apple variety from Kenya very good and profitable. Dwarf and starting fruiting very early
I didn't know you could use steel instead of wood posts. What type and thickness are the steel posts and how do you tension the wire to them? ALSO, how are you irrigating the trees? I didn't see any drip lines.
My three favorite Honey crisp, envy, ambrosia
What kind of herbicide do you use to kill the weeds? I have a small apple orchard and I'm afraid to use Round up, can you recommend anything?\
Round up kills the soil... Kills the worms...
Hopefully he learns better "weed' control than killing the soil
RoundupGlyphosaten Nonselective herbicide should not be used with our food supply.
Do you have any bee populations around the orchard? You could get anywhere from 10%-20% bigger yield with some bee colonies nearby.
What do you spray to keep bugs away and how often?
Great question,,,, I was wondering the same thing. My 6 apple trees are about 14 years old and while I have pruned every year, mulched, watered, and gotten lots of apples, my biggest problem is controlling insect and rust damage. Fruit tree spray is expensive, so I fear I have used too little spray, some years, 50% of my apples are wormy.....
Discovered your vids. Good stuff and looks like an amazing farm. I have a 500 tree hobby upic and cider orchard in the Western Catskills of NY. Keeps me busy in retirement! Keep the info coming as I’m learning “ on the job”🤣
What's the name of the farm? Also what verity are your growing?
@@BS.-.- Sunrise Mountain Orchard…24 dessert and cider varieties
Arent those apple too close to each other as far as spacing?
What time of year should you tie the branches down?
I like the idea of interstem a bud 9 dwarfing rootstock on to a Antonovka seedling rootstock for dwarfing tree with out relying on tresling for home or hobby orchard
Can I use semi dwarf root stock
Question baby..The turkey poo poo is it fresh when you throw it down or older and broke down some? I don't want to burn any trees from fertilizer being hot..
Of all crops, apple trees, it doesn't make sense to fertilize as much as you are. All you've done is inhibit the ability of your trees to produce their own nitrogen in the soil in the long term. There's definitely reason to fertilize in small amounts at particular times but not all throughout the season like you say. We get tons of growth on established semi-dwarf rootstock trees with extremely small amounts of fertilizer, and only early in the season for fruit development.
I wanna get in to this. I want apples and peaches the good peaches.. and my favorite apples ..
Hey man, great videos! I am just wondering, for how long does this high density system can produce apples? Do I have to change them or I just grow it once and than just harvest and cut it to not grow any more bigger? Thank you!
And he goes to church! The boy!
My apple sapling is full of blooms already.Ive been told I have to take the blooms off being the tree can't yet support future apples. When do I do this??
Can you use salt water from the lake to give it to apple trees?
Hope that you are picking up new subscripters on your way to your 10k goal! Enjoy your videos! My apple variety that I want to try next is the Spitzenberg. It was Thomas Jefferson’s fave apple.it stays on the tree after frost and is harvested in November.
Please grow some Envy apples. They are delicious & expensive. They store well, too, better than Fuji apple.
What do you do about deer control?
I wanted to know do red delicious apple trees get black knot?
Apple trees NEED 11 foot circumstance from central point ( seedling ) so roots have room to spread and do not overwhelm next tree or bush plant.
I have a Jonagold growing in container in my backyard here in the UK
One high density orchards said Raintree Nursery butthe dont offer them on their website. You can buy the rootstock from Williamette nursery cost ab oil ut $1.50 per plant in bundles of 50 for the larger diameter 1/4 inch and larger . Bundles of 100 for the smaller diameter . Go to their website and click on colone rootstock
Cummins nursery will graft the variety you want for the rootstock , about $4 each plant plus scion at $7 plus a grafting fee of $7 about $20 a tree
Im a south african apple farmer called the du toits group... and we do things ALOT different... we have a real big success in the industry and is acually a secret how we do it.... but ill give you one tip.... DONT USE ANY ANIMAL MANURE 🙌🙌🙌
What's dawrfing root stock
Do a video on how to plant the apple trees
There are so many of those videos already,,, This host said he is trying to provide unique content,,,,,
Have you harvested any crop from those m26 plants?
Crisp is so good
Ludacrisp dam they some rocking apples👍😁
What are you supports made out of (for the trees on G41 and G11)?
Honey crisp
Do y'all prune those apple trees?
If so, at what age of the tree?
2?
3?
4 years?
Or... You don't prune at all?
The answer for apple trees is likely every year. Possibly not much in the first couple years after initial pruning
can apple trees be planted in a wooded area
Im just getting started with an acre. 9b zone. Any recommendations on rootstock and scions? I dont want to get into legal trouble trying to grow apples that Im not allowed.
What do you mean growing apples you are not allowed to?
I have a really heavy clay soil. I decided to go with an antonovka root stock because it has a really tenacious tap rooting style root structure and is also supposed to be fairly drought resistant. So far they have lived in some pretty harsh conditions. I have a few that have lived with no help at all out in a pasture. The ones up close get more attention of course. I'm inter-planting among other trees including nut and pear trees. and I have plenty of room for a full size tree to spread out. I would however like to try doing some dutch fence type plantings too. Do you have any recommendations about a good dwarf root stock for clay soil?
Research points towards M-111
I’m from Missouri. Lee’s summit area
Heard of a crimson crisp?
Good apple
@@farmerdre1 I just planted Crimson crisp two years ago. No production yet. Can you another later in the season so we can see your production?
Nice work bro.
Do you know some sources for Geneva rootstock
Cummins nursery of New York State about $4 for each rootstock
Williamette nursery bundles of 50 at about $75
"Some Nice bare soil " yea lost me there man
Actual title of the video begins:
2:04.
Brooo i hv a question
How profitable are apples per acre/year?
Ludacrisp😂 love it
Hi Farmer Dre, I really appreciate the videos. I am interested in growing fruit / veg as a hobby currently. Do you guys have to go through any testing as far as pesticide or fertilizer or heavy metal or anything like that? Thanks!
Sea of green for apples
which rootstock r u using for these plants
Geneva 41 & Geneva 11. He says so at 1:47 time mark dwarfing rootstock
Do you offer employment for migrant workers
Where do you buy your trees? I'm sick and tired of paying $ 75 for a 3 foot stick.
apples have seeds lol
Where I live, near Chicago, Lowes, Home Depot and Menards are the cheapest places to buy potted apple trees........... lots cheaper for the size then ordering from any catalogs I have seen.... But of course the varieties offered by the big box stores is tiny compared to what you can order from a catalog.
Not salt or vinegar! 😮
Super bro🙏🙏🙏
This method is why, I see less and less Macintosh Apples... all those new apples are too sweet and suck. I also noticed they are freezing apples for storage making their skins thicker and their texture mealy. If you want an apple from yesteryear, you need to grow your own. All these farmers do is what other farmers do... no variety.
Sounds more like infomercial of your trees and farm than “mistakes”. Not good! Treating viewers as such backfires.☠️
Omg! Get on with it
The audio going on and out couldn’t finish video talk to the camera
Hey, Farmer Dre, Biblical law says not to eat the fruit until after the 4th year...they won't teach you that in college:
Leviticus 19:23-25 And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of.
24 But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal.