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Apples and Pears

Old 03-29-2008, 08:02 PM
  #1  
Nontypical Buck
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Location: Millboro, Va
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Default Apples and Pears

I was thinking about gettins 3-4 Apple or Pear trees to plant. I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with them, they upkeep they require (I know its quite a bit), just any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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Old 03-29-2008, 10:28 PM
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Default RE: Apples and Pears

How about some more info.? Are the trees for your back yard or a hunting property? Do you already have soft mass available on the property? Are the trees for you or wildlife? Generally the bigger the better, people recommend circling the trees with brush to prevent overbrowsing and protect the trunk with a plastic tube. Here's a link with more info
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homefruit/apple/apple.html
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Old 03-30-2008, 01:33 AM
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Default RE: Apples and Pears

I have both growing in my backyard. The deer seem to favor the pear trees over the apples . . . but the apple trees are much closer to my house too. The deer nip off the buds early on and will stand on their back legs to reach any tender shoots and leaves. They will come to get what the crows don't get first.
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Old 03-30-2008, 04:39 AM
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Default RE: Apples and Pears

Hey RockinChair,

You are in the Northern part of Virginia so the hot southern weather shouldn’t cause diseaseproblems. Annual pruning and fertilizing before buds appear is a winning combination. If this is for a hunting property
then plant trees in rows side-by-side or a circle as this supports pollination.

Apples and Pears are like acorns and deer can be picky eaters when
it comes to certain varieties. Talk to a local orchard to see what
apple or pear varieties deer are eating and buy that variety to plant.

Greg
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Old 03-30-2008, 07:12 AM
  #5  
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Default RE: Apples and Pears

Finding a variety that gets ripe during the hunting season might be hard to find. Down here the old "Pineapple Pear" is a big hardy pear that is a little later than others.
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Old 03-30-2008, 02:55 PM
  #6  
Nontypical Buck
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Default RE: Apples and Pears

ORIGINAL: Campbery

How about some more info.? Are the trees for your back yard or a hunting property? Do you already have soft mass available on the property? Are the trees for you or wildlife? Generally the bigger the better, people recommend circling the trees with brush to prevent overbrowsing and protect the trunk with a plastic tube. Here's a link with more info
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homefruit/apple/apple.html
I'm sorry, I should have included that in my first post. They are for our hunting property. We have two apple trees sporadically placed on our 260 acre property, only one really produces. They are primarily for wildlife, but of course I'll stop by and pick off one too
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Old 04-01-2008, 07:59 PM
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Default RE: Apples and Pears

I have apple and pear trees planted along a feild edge on my land, they do pretty good, but the deer around here defiently tare up the wild persimons growing around the feild far more than the pears or apples.
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Old 04-02-2008, 12:02 PM
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Default RE: Apples and Pears

pears will work wonders, try pruning up your other apple tree, not sure if its too late this year or not
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Old 04-02-2008, 01:21 PM
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Default RE: Apples and Pears

PRUNE THEM NOW nows the time to prune them graftthem generally if they are budding its still allright to prune them i like to prune them now you can see what linbs are ok. dont be afraid to prune old one way back generally three to four good strong limbs branching upward keep i generally take a year for a tree to recover
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Old 04-02-2008, 02:05 PM
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Default RE: Apples and Pears

Where I live in Pennsylvania, there are all different types of pears and all different types of apples.

There are some apples - like the yellow apples that seem's to ripen first and then there is red apples that ripens after that and then there is apples that has a hard skin and doesn't ripen until after a couple of frosts hits them.

Most of the winter apples are sour in the beginning and then gets more ripe as they get frost bit a couple of times.

I would look for one of the winter types, but at the same time, I would check my soil and treat it before I planted anything to make sure that the ph and everything was right for that tree.

I would put some chicken wire around it the first couple of years, until it gets strong enough to grow on it's own.

The bucks seem's to have a problem with young trees and will scrape on them and kill them before they get big enough to stand on their own.

Once the trees takes off, I wouldn't look for a good crop of apples for about 10 years.

But once the tree gets big enough, it will be your responsibility to take care of those trees - because if you keep them prooned properly - they will have a good harvest most years.

Apples seem's to grow in cycles around here and not all trees has a good crop of apples every year.

I'm sure that the weather has something to do with that.

But in my opinion - nothing beats a couple of dozen apple trees on your place to improve the hunting.

The last place I lived, I had a good sour apple tree in the backyard that produced as many as 30 bushels of apples per a year.

I took many loads of apples to our camp and the deer never missed a one.

They would eat 6 bushel a day - if they know that they are there and they will not leave the area as long as there was apples on the ground.

My dad often fed them apples - out of the back of the truck. Had a couple of does that he threw the apples to and they would eat them in front of you and was not scared of people.

The one good thing about apples. compared to any other crop was that no matter what you did, once they started to produce - they will produce a crop of apples - even if you are not there to take care of the trees. Like in the case of many old homesteads.

One other benefit is that it also attracts other animals and even bears.

Definately a smart move on your part to plant some trees.
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