Russ otten

I agree with Farmhunter. I have seen more damage from wind and rain, even in the gardens. Frost may get blooms on the tops of the trees some, but some of our spring storms can really ruin our tree crops.
Russ

greg-dude

Here in MO we have wet, windy, and cold springs. It can be near 80 for a few days or weeks and then dip down into the 20s. We have a production apple crop in the state, but as far as I know they are all planted on hills.

We had a few apple trees near my house when I was a kid, but only once did I every remember them bearing enough to pick in the fall. We had a few peach trees as well, and we never was able to eat a single fruit from them.

I could put a few up on some higher land, but that is not where I would like to see them at. How about plums? Wild plums do very well in the valleys, but I don' t know about the domested varities. I may just have to stick to regular food plots, but I get tire of hearing about apples and deer and not being able to cash into it. I may try a tree or two of the frost resistant varities for the heck of it.

Thanks for the imput from you guys.

Dan O.

farm hunter; we' re pretty protected down below the Niagara Escarpment so we don' t normally get frosts during apple bloom period. If peaches, cherries or apricots take a frost you lose the crop. Apples are more frost hardy but they also bloom later than the tender crops. If you were in a really bad frost pocket most trees would suffer some damage.

I agree with you that continual rain during and after fruit set is a problem with apples (almost any fruit).

Even though we are well north of you we can grow some very southerly trees because of the lake effect. The ice and cold lake water don' t allow the weather to warm up too quickly in the spring. This holds back the trees from flowering until the frost danger is over. It' s the same as planting on the north slope of a hill. The trees on the north side might be a week behind the ones on the sunny south side.

Dan O.

lemond33

go with a better apple..gala. persimmons will get alot of action...and an oak of sorts. not a big fan of pears. mulberry too

fshafly2

I have an apple orchard w/42 semi-dwarf trees - I have never worked so hard for so little return - do not plant apples unless you have too much time on your hands and you have masochistic tendencies. I planted the trees in ' 93 for the owner before I bought his farm. Fuji, empire, jonagold and staymen are the main varieties, and I later added a few royal gala and pink ladies for more variety. Last month, Hurricane Isabel blew over 20 trees that I had to guy wire up the next day - looks like they' ll survive. The ground is littered with wind-blown apples, but the deer are ignoring them for the time being (however the hornets and yellow jackets are really enjoying them). Someone will " flip a switch" , the deer will decide to eat apples, and every apple will disappear in a few nights. It takes a few weeks to prune the orchard (usually Feb, a slow month anyway), spraying for the various insects, pruning out fire blight (a bacterial disease that threatens the whole orchard because of our wet spring/summer - two neighbors lost all their apple trees because they would not prune out the infection), cedar apple rust is a pain, etc etc etc... Last year crows destroyed the entire crop - literally got only 1/2 bu of apples - as the apples were a source of moisture for the crows during our severe drought. They pecked an apple and would go to the next. (The only good thing about west nile virus - it favors crows.)

In ' 98, I planted a small orchard of crab apples (sergeant and Japanese) in a reclaimed section of sweet gum woods. The 14 trees have been producing well, but do not draw the game - the fruit gradually disappears over the winter. I doubt that it would be worthwhile to take a deer stand near them. I have to shake the Japanese trees to knock the fruit off, otherwise it mummifies on the limb. The crab apples on the sergeants are within reach of deer for the most part. I discovered this year that Japanese crab apples can get fire blight too.

I planted pear trees in a small orchard near cover three years ago. This other farm I bowhunt has bodacious bucks coming 80 yds out of the woods up to the tenant' s house in the afternoon to eat the pears. (Two pears on my trees this year, so production should kick in the next year or so). Unfortunately, several trees were severely horned by bucks last year, I have wire cages around them now. My deer repellant spray (Bobbex) that had worked the first two years failed to protect them last year - maybe operator error!? So far, no fire blight problems, strange since pears have a reputation of being more susceptible than apples to the disease.

I also have some persimmons - deer candy! Not much maintenance. I fertilize my wild persimmons in the spring and kill off trees that are shading them. I have a couple of semi-dwaft Japanese ' simmons that I planted at the end of a clover field. The trees have finally gotten enough height so that the deer cannot get the all the fruit - it had been an annual contest because the deer would get most of them about a week before they ripened to my taste.

Bottom line - I would recommend sawtooth oaks over fruit trees - sawtooths are reliable producers, less maintenance, and always a draw.
-fsh

coolbrze0

id recommend persimmon trees. Not a whole lot of maintenance and the deer love them! Only problem is they are gone early - usually during the month of the 1st frost.

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JJWIII

Pears, persimmons,and last but not least consider the Pawpaw. you can read about them here http://www.gardenweb.com/cyberplt/plants/pawpaw.html . Good luck

TeXLaXHunter

Deer love apples but it will take about 10 years for apple trees to start really producing well. Deer also love acorns. Oak trees take about 15 years to produce acorns then about 35 to start gettting reallly good amounts of acorns. Both of these are excellent to have but take a while to get producing the fruit and seeds. So if its a lease it might not be a good idea to plant stuff