Its a great year when the Stayman apples don’t split and fall on the ground!
These trees only grew to 7 feet tall. They were spaced 6 feet in the row but 4 would be better
Probably too many apples for these 6 year trees.
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Has it been pretty dry there this summer like it has here? If so, maybe that’s why they didn’t split? How do they taste?
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The apple we regularly buy a bushel (or two) of most every fall. I have a few 5yr old trees, hoping they get more into a production mode “next year”.
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Yanking my 15 B-9 trees out this winter, just too much runting for me and thus too little production. Going with G-890 trees as replacements hoping for free standing trees I can maintain at around 10 feet.
Very dry here for last 6 weeks which has helped a bunch with the quality of my apples. No spray since 8/4 and no reason to spray with no big rain predicted until 10/7.
Had problems with Goldrush splitting too after large rainfalls pre harvest but Stayman is very sensitive
Stayman is one of my favorite apples and these taste great. Do they grow well in your area?
The big orchard in Paris we go to a lot has Stayman’s. They are very good, but the Winesap’s they have growing next to them I think are better. Winesap may be in my top 5 of favorite varieties, with Goldrush at the top.
I recall the owner saying he has issues with Stayman’s splitting on him, too. I imagine they’re doing well this year, with our lack of rain. I don’t think they’re ready yet, but may be in a few weeks.
Last year, I did a bench graft on M7 of a sport of Stayman called Snapp’s. It’s supposed to be a red version of it. It’s been in a pot for over a year, so I need to plant it out this fall, along with five other varieties.
Subdood I am eating cobbler I made from Winesaps picked on 9/8…about half had rotted.
No splitting this year, but still many would not keep, even in the refrigerator.
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Hmm, that’s interesting. Reed Valley says both WS and Stayman are usually ready in late Sept. But, with it being so hot and dry, maybe they’re ripening quicker?
Suncrisp is supposed to ripen around the same time. I have one large SC on my tree, and have been tempted to pick it, I actually saw it this evening. I have one more Grimes Golden left and that and the SC are the last ones for this year. Hope next year will be a more productive one.
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Well, if I get around to visiting my mother’s Winesap one more time before they’re all gone, we’ll see if they’re better than those of 9/8/19. but, I am betting they are all on the ground, or hornets have carved them up by now.
By the way, it’s not shiny and red. Mostly greenish skin, an not smooth and shiny…reminds me of the old Winepsap my grandpa had that I probably first sampled around 1960.
And, yes, everything was early this year. And at my place, bears got everything except one Niedzwetzkyana, one Bakran and one Frostbite (which the little tree is now dead from drought). I picked the Frostbite around first of August…probably not ripe, but still had sweetness. The seeds were light brown, but I saved them anyhow…will try to grow some seedlings next year. The ‘father’ would be one of those two red flesh apples, or an unknown tree that both me and the bears like!
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Very nice tree training. I should aim for something like that. I counted around 30 apples in the photo. Fo me that’s a nice number for one cultivar in an orchard if minitrees - some to eat, some for pie, dome fore apple sauce. Nice job!
[quote=“Chris_in_GA, post:4, topic:24140, full:true”]
Yanking my 15 B-9 trees out this winter, just too much runting for me and thus too little production. Going with G-890 trees as replacements hoping for free standing trees I can maintain at around 10 feet.
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I love the idea of freestanding trees 10 feet tall! Does G-890 suffer from problems folks here have been talking about?
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Me, too. I’m trying to achieve the same thing with MM111 and roughly 8-foot spacing.
What problems are you hearing Rick? From my reading, seems like a good M-7 replacement
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Not sure about the problems with G890 but some of the other Geneva series have problems with brittle rootstocks or latent virus problem. I’m not sure if anyone really understands the final outcome.
G935 was suggested for my area before the virus problem popped up. The person who made the recommendation was part of the NC-140 trial in my state. He is true expert with relationships with a lot of other experts in other states so he must have been blindsided when the virus problem popped up
I tried to keep my MM111 low, but they grew so much the size was hard to control
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Apples look really good especially since you don’t have splits. Tree looks nice too. Are these trees trained tall spindle, slender spindle or vertical axis?
-mroot
I’m not quite sure. The trees never got tall enough for “tall” spindle!
I removed the large diameter laterals at planting and put weights on the rest to pull the branches down.
Not much pruning since then. The local apple PHD suggested I keep at least one or two permanent scaffold whorls at the bottom and renew the rest when required.
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I’m hoping that I’ll have better luck in my summer-dry climate. So far, so good, but only time will tell.
Ah, it sounds like your using a modified slender spindle since the bottom whorl is permanent in that system. I have seen a few youtube videos from the North Carolina Extension that use that system. I think they were using it in some NC-140 trials at their site.
That’s Mike Parker in the videos. Same guy in the excellent videos on Peach tree pruning.
I’m fortunate to live in a state with good extension support on fruit production.
Dr. Mike conducted a pruning demo here a few years ago. and has been by several more times to check on my trees. I believe he was surprised my B9 trees were smaller than expected.
Have you seen his publication on High Density Apples?
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