I planted apple trees from North Forty apples trees out of Florence, WI. These are not trees for making pies, they are for feeding wildlife. I bought from a place in WI seeing as the winters can get pretty brutal. I don't recommend buying from some box store, they get apple trees in from down south ( Tennesee, Kentucky, ETC ) and they wont survive the winters up here. I bought 15 trees, the 24-36" transplants, stuck them in the Plantra tree tubes, 100% success, I did have 2 that looked iffy and bad the first 2 months. They are mint now. I mulched around every tree seeing as I'm not up to my place as much as I would like to water. I have some trees as of Sept. 15 that are now 6' tall, just about out of the 7' tree tubes, the tree tubes protect the tree from animals and force the tree to use it's energy to promote vertical growth for a stronger trunk, then branch out. I will be buying 30 more this year from them. Property I planted on is Tomahawk, WI. I bought trees from further north, near the UP border.
Hope this helps, Once again, these are not pie making trees. they are for feeding wildlife.