Thanks Blueberry. I’m going to try a Goldrush, Gala, and a Pink Lady on the G41. I’ll have them on a drip line, but that doesn’t do much when temps are 105 in August. Time will tell how they turn out.
There’s an updated version being written now by the lady who ran Foggy Ridge Cider in Va.
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I will watch out for that. Thanks for the warning!
I thought I’d give an update on my apple orchard. The wide spacing with pomegranates between did not work, though the cotton root rot has moved slowly. I think drought might be a stronger factor limiting the spread than the distance.
This year, trees only started to show leaf curling these last couple of weeks despite the heat.
G41 Arkansas Black- Both dead, one maybe cotton root rot or girdling, one definitely girdling by rabbit/rodent
G.222 Goldrush- produced small apples in 2022, never matured them. Trees cratered after drought of 2022 and were removed January 2023. I didn’t check for cotton root rot, could have been that or drought. The roots were certainly rotten. These trees were the tallest.
G.210 Williams Pride- one tree died from cotton root rot (I think) in 2020, other tree fifteen feet away has survived so far. It produced a couple of apples last year and has about 5-10 this year. I have eaten one apple so far this year, and it was SHEER AMAZING. Enough to kickstart my enthusiasm again.
G.890 Akane- both trees still alive, trees had apples last year but were small and cracked and never ripened. This year they have full size apples, about 2-3 per tree. Not ripe yet. Trees look healthy but the heat and drought from this year is taking a toll on them.
M111 Reverend Morgan- One tree had so many burr knots it had died on one side. The tree would fall down, I’d pick it up, and decided I was tired of that so I just removed it. The other one, with burr knots as well, is doing ok. It bloomed this year, set one apple that I removed.
M111 Red Rebel-Lost one tree, not sure when. The other one has not bloomed yet. Seems to like pushing most of its growth from the rootstock at the base. I’ve been more aggressive in removing the rootsprouts this year, and that has helped the top growth.
There is also a wickson crab (planted 2021) on G.890 that flowered last year and this year, set one small apple that it dropped (no pollinators) and those two mysterious “Sierra Beauty” (planted 2020) apples that exhibit lack of chill this year, have never flowered and are getting grafted over this spring. There is also a G.202 Co-op 29 planted in 2017 that has never bloomed too. I think that one was due to a pruning error.
The pomegranates except for one this past year keep freezing down to the ground. The lone survivor, which did bloom but did not set, was Russian 18.
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I am from Abilene Texas and the only apple tree I have had success with is the Golden Dorsett. I planted the Anna and it died and also the Ein Sheimer and lost it this year due to the drought. I also have pomegranates and have had great success with Kazake, Russian 18 and Salavatski.
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