apples and fruit trees
08-26-2006, 07:40 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: up state NY
Posts: 30
apples and fruit trees
i have over 100 types of fruits & apple trees , wild apples ,crab apples ,winter pears, plums , and many other hybrids ...the deer are going nuts all ready this year ! i hope you enjoy seeing the many strains .here is 85
08-27-2006, 06:50 PM
#2
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: up state NY
Posts: 30
RE: apples and fruit trees
sorry about the delay with the picture .these trees are part of the founders of the st lawrence nurseries home breeders farm . edible and ornamental plants. the nurseries were founded in 1920 by fred Ashworth .the largest nurseries in northern NY ,maybe the largest in the north eastern states or in north america for that matter ,. specalizeing in northern climate fruit and nut trees , the collection you are looking at started in 1920 -1977 when fred died ....i worked for fred for a few years in my teenages days and his brother Harld that own the farm across the road, i now own . my girlfriend is freds grand daughter ...i posted the farm and hope to save the vast collection of types fred put in these test nurseries about 140 trees not counting nut trees or pollenators ...i can walk to these trees about 100 yards from my front door ...i am now recording what strains the deer eat most and at what times of the year ... fred was a famous tree hortaculturist and some of these are hybrid and you will never see them any where else other than in this post ...fred is known for the frist wormless apple ,the Ashworth Bur Oak .and the blietless potato . he wrote some of the best books ever writtern on hortaculture ....he spent his life doing this work all i can ask is that you respect what you see ........... I hope you enjoy them as much as the deer do ...
08-28-2006, 10:10 AM
#4
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: up state NY
Posts: 30
RE: apples and fruit trees
thank you . i have 40 acers of hay feild and to water wells set aside for this project .it calls for a 10 ft high cain link fenceing and each tree well need 3- 5 gallons of water a day for the hot summer time for the frist 2-3 years , few hunters under stand the values of good feeding aera beyond the food plots . i see far more rubs than any where else in this aera .un like most full size apple and fruit trees these are a better bit size for deer ,lol .the trees are for the most part in two groups shorter small apple and crab apple and the very small fruited oranmental trees that stand taller than the other apple & crab apple .yet produce hunderds apone hunderds of fruit ..unlike food plots deer feed year round in these feed areas ...i have recorded deer comeing from as far as 5 miles away to feed here .often most old home steads have trees yet few under stand those trees lack the favorites of the deer ...they may have been great for humans but deer often eat them as a last resort.....for the lack of a true feed area ...i have seen some old bucks come in the orcherds early in the morning to feed, get a little buzz drunk and rise hell ... if you like hunting the big bucks plant this type of feed area .and watch the trees grow as fast and your deer herd ...
08-28-2006, 08:55 PM
#6
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: cazenovia, NY USA
Posts: 2,973
RE: apples and fruit trees
I've received my fruit trees from St. Lawrence Nurseries over the last couple years. Also other plants/shrubs too. I've been very happy with the cultivars and service.
Love to see the different apples too, especially the Old Time varieties. Is the 1st apple in the picture a Wolf River?
My great Uncle worked for the Forestry Dept in the 50's and we have many many apples growing wild and hybrids too that he experimented with on the farm - in the pastures. He was known for practicing grafting, and we had many trees that had apples & pears on the same trees in the pastures when I was a kid. Most of the pear trees have died off - but I come across one every now and again in the thickets.
last year, I came across a fallen apple that was bigger than a large softball. It wasblush/striped - and weighed well over a pound.Its fruit was meally though. My Dad said that the neighbor had "poundsweets" that grew nearby (gone now) and it looked like one of them. Sorry to say though that I never found which tree or where dropped the huge apple came from, but I keep looking for it.
It would be fun to catalog what the deer like. We have some apple trees that drop tons of apples that the deer never ever touch - and others that an apple never rots on the ground. some that are dropping mostly now. Others hang on the trees until the bitter of winter before they fall.
Good luck with your project. Are you going to attempt to ID the strains?
FH
Love to see the different apples too, especially the Old Time varieties. Is the 1st apple in the picture a Wolf River?
My great Uncle worked for the Forestry Dept in the 50's and we have many many apples growing wild and hybrids too that he experimented with on the farm - in the pastures. He was known for practicing grafting, and we had many trees that had apples & pears on the same trees in the pastures when I was a kid. Most of the pear trees have died off - but I come across one every now and again in the thickets.
last year, I came across a fallen apple that was bigger than a large softball. It wasblush/striped - and weighed well over a pound.Its fruit was meally though. My Dad said that the neighbor had "poundsweets" that grew nearby (gone now) and it looked like one of them. Sorry to say though that I never found which tree or where dropped the huge apple came from, but I keep looking for it.
It would be fun to catalog what the deer like. We have some apple trees that drop tons of apples that the deer never ever touch - and others that an apple never rots on the ground. some that are dropping mostly now. Others hang on the trees until the bitter of winter before they fall.
Good luck with your project. Are you going to attempt to ID the strains?
FH
08-29-2006, 01:51 AM
#7
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: up state NY
Posts: 30
RE: apples and fruit trees
yes i hope to ID all by RNA testing , this well ID even the hybrids . and fred Ashworth was known as the father of modern grafting LOL you are very lucky many that read fred's work started trying home grafting .often came to the reallity that grafting can hybrid almost any tree if the basics controlled ....we have some trees that have as many as 35 grafts on one tree .and yes the wolf river was hybrided as it was for cold weather in northern NY ...bill mackentley comes every year to collect nuts from the 2 farms .8-9 diffrent black walnuts , butternuts . bush hazel nuts, Ashworth bur oak ,,horse chest nuts, hickey ,few people get the chance to look behind the nurseries .at the base stock that gives brith to full grown nurseis .i learned grafting from fred if i can not make this project work no one could ....
many of the trees sold by the nursies are from bills work and are for human use....
sadly the cost has taken the work in the cash dirrection and away from the fred's true love of wild life ....
i say that openly but in the latter years fred hated deer . because the damge they had on the trees. he just had not realized that his work had a never ending effect on the local deer in this area ....
the land and water supply prodict around 4,000 trees ,some well be from the nursies for human and the rest well be from these two farms ...
as well as a collection of the nut trees...
take care of your trees and they well take care of you .
stay safe stay free
ps farm hunter have you ever herd of a plant called comfrey ,.. its and old world strain of plant used as cow feed in the old days . the deer eat it level to the ground , it takes almost no care to grow ... and comes back year after year for the past 37 years i know of ...
"stated that your trees had winter pear and apple grafted to the same tree " do you know why I do ... fred found that the winter pear thorn varieties could rise the ablities of the trees to with stand colder temps ...often trees grafter with the winter pear would not bear fruit on the graft yet after time the tree it self became more cold weather friendly ......in freds early year he went all over the world studing trees and all over the state of NY .. your very lucky to have a collection like that one ,, they are more rare than most know ....and yes that apple is in fact a hybrid wolf river one of the only full sized apples in the area .being a strong grower it was planted in the area to judge envirmental effects on the tree ...often not effected by cold temps ....
many of the trees sold by the nursies are from bills work and are for human use....
sadly the cost has taken the work in the cash dirrection and away from the fred's true love of wild life ....
i say that openly but in the latter years fred hated deer . because the damge they had on the trees. he just had not realized that his work had a never ending effect on the local deer in this area ....
the land and water supply prodict around 4,000 trees ,some well be from the nursies for human and the rest well be from these two farms ...
as well as a collection of the nut trees...
take care of your trees and they well take care of you .
stay safe stay free
ps farm hunter have you ever herd of a plant called comfrey ,.. its and old world strain of plant used as cow feed in the old days . the deer eat it level to the ground , it takes almost no care to grow ... and comes back year after year for the past 37 years i know of ...
"stated that your trees had winter pear and apple grafted to the same tree " do you know why I do ... fred found that the winter pear thorn varieties could rise the ablities of the trees to with stand colder temps ...often trees grafter with the winter pear would not bear fruit on the graft yet after time the tree it self became more cold weather friendly ......in freds early year he went all over the world studing trees and all over the state of NY .. your very lucky to have a collection like that one ,, they are more rare than most know ....and yes that apple is in fact a hybrid wolf river one of the only full sized apples in the area .being a strong grower it was planted in the area to judge envirmental effects on the tree ...often not effected by cold temps ....
09-21-2006, 03:45 PM
#9
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Northwest Missouri
Posts: 830
RE: apples and fruit trees
I was wondering how you keep the deer from eating the trees when they are saplings? I've planted many fruit trees this year and the deer just munched all the leaves off. I have some pear and apple trees that produce and the deer seem to love the pears over the apples. I finally had to build wire fences around each tree. Just curious.
09-22-2006, 06:04 AM
#10
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Long Island, New York
Posts: 159
RE: apples and fruit trees
I know when I planted my trees in the spring, both hard and soft mast, I put tubes around them to protect them from what is happing to your trees louddrummer69. It really depends on the deer density and forage availability in the area, but I did it just to be safe.
