You are so right. It is so hard to believe that you got all of the rain and we had none! Humidity yes .
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My GoldRush seriously defoliated this year, I have never seen anything like it. The apples are much less good than usual. I think defoliation was extra bad on my apples from all the deer repellant I had to lay on them.
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Marsoninna leaf blotch causes yellow and red blotching with some black as leaves fall of tree. Have you seen that down there? I don’t think it had to have anything to do with spraying with deer repellent, mine got the same treatment as usual but the level of defoliation is extraordinary.
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Same is true for Dave Wilson’s commercial catalog after they discontinued their soft program… it’s so annoying, especially that you can’t even buy these fruit varieties in reasonable quality. Honey Royal and Honey Lite nectarines that I bought from farmers market earlier this summer were crap…
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I did not spray dear repellent on GR because I was inside a temporary fence. My Fuji, outside the fence, got sprayed with Liquid Fence deer repellent. Fuji still has more leaves on them than GR which is a 2 years older and a bigger tree).
At least Liquid Fence does not result in defoliation.
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Not related to the thread title, but related to defoliation, but yesterday I noticed my Blushingstar peach has dropped just about all its leaves. Our other 3 peach trees still have the majority of their leaves.
I’m wondering what happened, unless it’s due to a couple nights of below freezing temps. It can’t be deer munching on it, as this tree is behind a circular 4ft fence. I did a scratch test on a few branches and they are showing green, so I guess it’s OK, it’s just kind of surprising they dropped like that.
Hambone,
This is the brand I use. Walmart’s brand is cheaper but we bought this at Costco so the price was reasonable.
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I think you’ll be lucky to get half a dozen apples in the first 5 years from M7. Was true for me except for the Liberty cultivar. So, worrying about staking them to help a skinny tree hold a big crop is probably either a case of worrying too much or wishful thinking. But, yes, they all seem to lean some, though it doesn’t really hurt anything—although it might if the soil were real sandy.
BB
My apples at home were very poor this year. They are on a sandy ridge, and it was a very dry July and Auguest. I guess I should have watered them and probably thinned them more. I hoped being dry would make them sweeter, but that wasn’t the case. They were small and unripe-looking when many dropped. The remaining ones on the trees were small and blah, too. I waited until after three snowfalls to pick the honeycrisps, but they still don’t taste ripe at all.
Blueberry,
Not sure why your M7 has taken a long time to produce. My William’s Pride on M 7 flowered in year two and set fruit in year 3. By year 4, it has been in full production.
The GR I posted above is on M7,planted in 2014. It produced fewer than 10 apples last year. This year (4th) it is loaded. I thinned off 70% or may be more.
By the way, I have bent branches to 60 degrees or even more to all my treee but pawpaws 
I’ve pulled down a few limbs on my trees, but not all of them. I’ve noticed my King David has naturally wide scaffold angles, along with the Grimes Golden, Suncrisp and Winesap trees.
5 years?? I hope not! My big 10-12ft Winesap, which I believe is M7, ought to bear next year, the others? We’ll see.
As Mam mentioned a couple of her M7 trees produced pretty soon after planting, but I don’t know if that’s the norm or not? Maybe pulling the branches down induce that?
I’d be interested from other folks on here on when their M7 trees first started producing.
M7’s for me were about 3 years to get fruit. I had one M7 that was in the 4th greening before I got fruit of consequence- only 4 apples in year 3 for that one. I think it was an Arkansas Black. It was at my other house some years back.
Thanks for posting that. Is that size big enough for very large apples?
Very large ones like my King of Pippins or large Honey Crisp, No.
However, by the time those apples grow that big, no insects (apple maggot flies, coddling moths, stinkbugs, etc) are around to bother them. By then, birds, squirrels, raccoons are your enemies.
I have several HC that have gotten so big, they bursted open the zip lock tops. No issue.
In general, the size is big enough for most apples.
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All 9 of my apples have zero leaves. Has been that way since mid-Sept.
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Sorry to hear that. We had a huge drought in July/August and then heavy rains coupled with temps in the 30’s at night for a while. The leaves were about 50% at that time.
Apparently both B-118 and MM-106 are earlier to bear than M-7 or M-111. But, 106 on sticky clay that drains poorly wouldn’t be good.
Fuji, plus the old Gibson red delicious, are still near the top according to my taste buds.
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What have you had to fruit this year, and how would you rate them?
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Subdood, not much crop. I rate Fuji first of those I have grown.
I have this large tree on a standard root that was supposed to have been “Macintosh” from the defunct Miller Nurseries…but is something else. I am thinking possibly it is Arkansas Black, but having had an Arkansas Black on M-7 that died at about age 10…the taste, hardness and color are not quite as dark or hard but maybe better eating. And I picked a few knotty and wormy Braeburn last week…still too sour for my taste.
Anoka, then Granny Smith coming in last.
Those were all that fruited in 2018 for me. But, I expect Niedzwetzkyana again next year, and hopefully Redfield. I didn’t get any Grimes Golden…but I like those…something ate every leaf off my tree this summer. I have a few 2017 grafts and a bunch of 2018 grafts that I might let have a fruit or two next year if they bloom. And so far I’ve removed any blossoms from my Frankentree…which is a Wolf River with about half a dozen red fleshed varieties grafted to it.
My Redlove “Odysso” tree on M-111 rootstock was one of 7 I lost in late March in nursery pots on that rootstock, but I have it on my Frankentree.
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