I've started my real orchard on my hunting property. There are about 10 acres of seedling apple trees at the back of the property but now I'm planting grafted trees. I figured that with about 5 years to go before I build a house, the trees will just be coming along nicely. I put in a dozen MacIntosh, Empire, Delicious, Ida Red, Cortland and Spy apples as well as Bosc and Bartlet pears. This will give me a mid September to late October harvest season. The orchard is located near my pond next to a 150' wooded buffer I'm letting grow next to the swamp. This will close in the open side of my clover/alfalfa field which should bring the deer out earlier at night (I hope).

The food plot planted with scratch grain (oats, wheat, barley) is about 4-6" tall. The deer have shown up again. They appear to like the food plot. The ripe apple tree right next to it isn't hurting the situation either.

My bear hunt has been a bust so far. I put out a full 45 gallon barrel filled with donuts, corn flakes, and bran flakes all covered with 10 gallons of used peanut oil. I hunted it for 3 days with no sign. I went away for a few days and they knocked the skid off the barrel, tipped the barrel over, and cleaned up everything. The grass for 6 ft. all around the barrel was so stomped down it looked like they were having a party.

I hope we start getting some rain soon. The trees made it through the summer but they're looking pretty ragged right now. Just 2 weeks to deer opening. <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

Dan O.

Sounds great Dan, will you be harvesting the apples for resale, or your own use? I'd like to do a small orchard with &quot;real&quot; apple trees, sometime soon next to my cabin. Do I need to wory about cross pollination with the wild varieties around the property?

Good luck on hunt bear hunting, they can be like ghosts. Your food plot sounds intriguing, I'm very curious how it will be after a few hard frosts, let us know.

farm hunter; With the property in a 5b climate zone I'm using these trees as a test to see if the late varieties will ripen. There are a few farm orchards around but no commercial orchards. I'll just have to keep planting 10-20 trees a year, monitoring them and I might end up with something semi-commercial in the future. The wild trees love the soil conditions so hopefully that's a good first indication.

Don't worry about wild apples causing problems with pollination. They make a great source of pollen. The only problem will be with the disease and insects that they harbor. You may end up removing or spraying all wild apple trees in a zone near your good trees.

Dan O.

Use some fish emulsion oil to assist against frost damage. Spray 24-72 hr be fore frost, 26 F, and you should experience little or no frost.

Romans 10:9 Psalms 42