I just planted 3 apple trees in my plot over the weekend. Just wandering what type of apples you all have had the best success with? I planted two winesap apple trees and one yellow delicious apple tree.

I also thought about planting some pear and crab apple trees, what are your opinions on those? Do you believe a deer prefers a crab apple over an apple or vice versa?

Thanks for all input in advance,

Trent

Any type of apple tree you plant will produce apples deer will eat, so don't worry about the types. Instead try to give them different varieties that mature during different times of the year. This way they will always have some to eat. I've tried planting crabapples on my property, but with the drought and the deer eating them they have not grown very big. I am going to enclose them with a cage this coming year to keep the deer from browsing them.

What I've tried to do is plant apple tree's that hold their fruit until late Sept. thru Oct. Our archery season starts mid Oct. It won't do much good as a attractant to our land if all our apples fell off by August. Where I purchase my apple tree's I look up the varieties they have in stock, and select the ones that hold fruit the longest. Northern Spy is a example.
I found its important to fence in the apples, becasue the deer will tear them up all summer, and winter if they are not protected. I lost the first few tree's I planted from deer over browsing them. They literally broke branches right off, and a few got buck rubbed. I have 4-5ft high fencing around them now. I also have a good mulch bed around the base to keep the weeds down, and to keep the moisture in. In the spring, and summer. especially rainy yrs. I spray all my tree's down with a fruit tree spray to kill insects that eat all the leaves, and to help prevent disease. A rainy yr can kill a young apple tree.

Yup, that is what has happened. I lost one tree already, and another one is looking like it is holding on by a thread. We have had so much rain this year the trees are standing in water, not good. There isn't any rain in the forecast and it is supposed to dry up. So maybe, that one will pull out of it and they will take off this second half of the summer.

I've planted a few apple trees. Zestar,McIntosh,Prairie Spy, and a few others i do not remember. I recommend fencing them off somehow to keep deer from mowing them down until they are stable. also get a "trunk protector" so the rabbits dont ruin them. I would also suggest to flick teh apples of the first few years. It will cause them to focus more on root growth than producing apples. Pear and plum trees might be good by the apple trees to help cross pollinate as well. hope this helps

Something we do at work to stop deer from rubbing on the trees we plant is that we cut long ways a piece of pvc and put it around the base of the tree as a kind of protection. The trees we plant are 6'-8' tall already though so the deer do not nip off the branchs enough to do any terminal damage.

Black drainage tubign is good too.