We need an apples 2026 thread, here we go!
I’ve got a really nice fruit set on my apples this year, I lost a big oak so my main stand is getting a lot more sun. Hopefully I can keep the bugs and critters at bay.
I just recently placed an order for a Gala and a Honeycrisp apple tree, planning on putting them on opposite ends of the flowering crabapple we have to hopefully increase yields in a few years’ time. Would anyone know any tips/tricks or anything helpful to know about these varieties or just apple growing in general? Anything is appreciated as I know almost nothing about it other than the extreme basics.
Zone 6A/7B
Southern Ohio
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I just planted an Ashmeads Kernel and a Cox Orange Pippin in ground, and an Arkansas Black in a pot, probably going to keep it in a container until I can find a good place in the already crowded garden.
Excited to find more russetted varieties and learn to graft so I can have more varieties in my small space.
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Off to a great start. All trees on my outparcel including the dogwoods are snowing herbicide damage. The fruit that set are deformed and soft. My Winesap crop on an 18 year tree is shot to hell as well as my younger Stayman tree.
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Wow. That’s sad.
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Nice to see a new seasonal thread. That crabapple nearby should help with pollination for both, good thinking. Honeycrisp can be a bit fussy about thinning, they tend to set heavy and then the fruit stays small if you don’t thin early. Worth keeping an eye on that once they start producing.
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That is heartbreaking!
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I was excited to have some new varieties blooming this year, but after a couple nights in the 20’s it doesn’t look good…
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My Summer Banana is blooming nicely, in the 4th year. Looks like I will have a few apples from this one.
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all apples in full bloom now except ark black which is just budding out, a bit behind the others.
trailman in the photo.
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Gold Rush in full bloom.
Lamb Abbey has a staggered bloom. Some flowers already spent and many more waiting their turn.
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Usually i follow Purdue University spray pretty close for apples. Except that some sprays they list for apples are unavailable such as thiophanate–methyl and acetamiprid . So I substitute Spectracide Triazicide. But I really don’t know if it is doing the job.
What do you use?
For reasons that I can not think of, Freedom was the only apple tree to get zapped from the last frost a few days ago.
Shown in the picture are the two trees on either side that were unaffected- Clark’s and Zastar/ NY 75414-1.
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Young multigraft tree in Z9b SoCal. Anna and golden Dorsett fruiting well, both bloomed early March. Fuji branch did not bloom well nor fruit. I was surprised how good (flavor) the Anna apple was last year.
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It may not be a frost issue.
I cannot speak for other areas; the Freedom proved to be wretched stinker of an apple tree regarding diseases in central NC.
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I have decided to graft Makino Crab on my Pink Lady as both flower the same time.
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We are in a real drought here, 1/4” rain over a month or so and zone 7 it is hitting 80 most days and soil is already 70F. So I had been running my lawn sprinklers (came with the house, but I’ve gotten rid of the lawn without installing better irrigation) every 2-3 days. My Gala and Fuji which had been doing fine for 3 years now have been showing something like fireblight (or maybe herbicide damage but I’m in town, don’t use any, and no other plants show signs of it) probably because so close to the sprinkler heads sprinkling them for 30’ every few days. Now most of the stuff I am mass watering (seeds for flowers and garlic) that sector is well started I’m cutting back, and trimmed off all the damaged limbs, and watching and waiting. A newer Pink Lady placed where a Jonathan and a Jonagold had both died (one drowned planted too deep before I understood my yard is a clay bank and everything should be planted 3” above the clay level, the other suffered so much damage from the double cicada plague and died the next spring) is already offering me a fruit or three on a pretty small cylinder only 5’ tall. Not so close to the sprinkler.
Good. I love apples! We moved to north oklahoma 3 years ago and I had to plant a new orchard. I have 13 apple trees now and did some this year. Our challenges are early heat ( 80s for 3 weeks in feb!) Followed by snap freezes and high winds ( tornadoes!). I came from the west so having those long chill hours wasn’t a problem. Now im needing late bloomers and early harvest because August is extreme heat and the humidity here brings out disease and bugs. And the early heat does n’t ripen the apples well…. Not to meantion we dont get the cold snap till after Christmas most years. 
But im determined to find an apple that will work. It would be great of it tasted good too. Initially I planted my favorites. Galarina, gold rush, snowsweet, fuji, crimson crisp, strawberry, and liberty. Then I tried to find an apple that blooms late and harvests early. I planted Williams pride, zestar , pristine, ginger gold and pixie crunch. I got a single apple last year, hoping for more this year. Im probably not going to prune so hard this year. Anybody have an apple suggestion for me? Im zone 7a humid Oklahoma with light winters? Also!! Ive been growing on bud118. Is there something better for my clay soil and pounding/ flooding rains? Thought id ask. I know there are some professionals on this thread!
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