apple trees
 

thinking of adding some apple trees to my crp/ pollinator field to try and hold some deer. right now i have 5 acres of pines and oak trees with red dogwoods mixed throughout. net to that there is 35acres of the pollinator/ crp. i have a few unknown apple trees in my yard that we typically pick up and dump in a spot for the deer and they seem to eat them on the regular but the trees in the yard are starting to look pretty poor and I'm not sure how much longer they have.

I checked with a local place and they sell the following apple trees:
Fireside Apple
Yellow transparent
Wolf river
Courtland
Winecrisp
Beacon
Red Baron
Honeycrisp

I am in Iowa which is zone 5 and it appears all the trees were rated for zones 4-6/7 .
any of these i should steer away from or one that will produce for then the others ? ideally id life on or 2 to drop late Sept/early Oct and a few to drop later in November in to Dec if possible. I looking to add 4 to 6 trees.

If you have any local orchards in the area, a quick phone call would provide some practical guidance.

I’ve planted Honeycrisp and Cortland in my orchard, and they do really well in our zone. Honeycrisp is especially a hit with the deer in late September. Winecrisp is also a great choice for extending your drop season into November.

I'd avoid Yellow Transparent if you want late drops. Fireside and Winecrisp should give you good coverage from September through November. Maybe try a mix to see what the deer prefer?

I have 9 planted apple trees in my yard. 2 are Empire, 2 are Mackintosh and 5 are Honeycrisp. The Empire are smaller late season apples that seem to stay in the tree into December. The deer come through most nights to check for drops. We are zone 5.