i have enough diversity of honeyberries, i can root as many as i want and have very early to very late cultivars so i can have a extended crop of them. im going to cut a bunch more cuttings of all of them today and see what roots over the winter.
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definitely Jesses brain over winter.
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How about U Pick Apple orchard, less labor intensive, let people do the work. I paid $1.98 a pound when I was there.
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thank you for the offer. what apples do you have and what rootstock would be good to graft pear to that would fruit quickly? i got tons of mountain ash but i they are fairly short lived. i want this orchard to be around long after im gone.
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this is probably what im going to do. there are none here in the Valley. closest is 60mi. south. this lands location screams apple orchard as theres one across the dirt road just up the hill thatās overgrown and still producing good apples with 0 care. its going to be a long but exciting winter! keep the ideas coming! im jotting notes from all your suggestions. snows supposed to all melt off so latter in the week im going to go there to look it over a little better. weāve had 3 killing frosts and the grass there is still lush and green. very good sign i wont have to do much to grow there. going to take some soil samples to send in anyway to do this right. wife wants to ask if we can put a small camper there as it as a nice view of the valley. thank folks!
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Steve, I am so happy for you! Congratulations!
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thank you! if you guys ever make your way back up, your welcome to a chunk of it say 1/2 acre? i can watch over and tend it for you. im sure Tad would be ok with it. if/ when we put a camper there, you guys are welcome to come up with your dogs anytime. plenty of room for them to run up there.
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That is a very generous offer, Steve! Thanks a lot! We are still busy with our new 3 acres though!
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you are welcome. i know but the offer stands if you are interested down the road. even if you guys like to come up just for a vacation with the dogs once we get the camper. its going to take a few seasons to fill it up anyway. have fun with your new property.
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so im brainstorming. i know in my climate its common to plant apples on standard sized cold hardy rootstocks. id like to get these trees to fruit a little sooner. what self supporting semi dwarf rootstocks are you northern growers using? growing on clay loam.
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Iāve got over 60 varieties of grafted apples. Many havenāt fruited yet, so I canāt swear to their positive IDs.
Pear rootstocks for quick fruit and that will survive winters in your area? I donāt know of any. I suppose āquickā may be relative. I donāt put āquickā and āpears fruitingā in the same sentence here. I donāt expect fruit from any pears Iāve grafted for at least 7 years. Longer is quite possible/probable. OHxF97 survives here as long as we get and maintain snow cover before it gets really cold. When that doesnāt happen, 97 dies. Common domestic pear rootstock from northern grown seeds has survived well here. Ussurian is the most winter hardy. There are issues with pear decline with Ussurian Iām told.
edited to addā¦before deciding what varieties of apples/pears to grow for selling Iād spend some time picking other orchard owners brains. I donāt grow varieties to sell. I grow them for me, the deer, and to give away. I used to communicate with a guy who owns an orchard in Downeast Maine (did I spell that right?). He told me a number of times that customers want Mcintosh and Honeycrisp and not much else. I imagine that could change from one area of a state to another.
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M7 will survive here with early/consistent snow cover. I only have a few trees on M7 because I doubt their long term survival. I wanted a few trees to produce fruit more quickly. B118 has proven to be a āleanerā here, but it does survive winters. M111 is slower to fruit than B118, but it hasnāt led to leaners and also survives winters (so far). M106 is borderline hardy. Iāve lost all but one tree. I havenāt grafted any of the Geneva rootstocks, so canāt tell you anything about them. Most of my trees are on Antonovka, Dolgo, and Ranetka. Those are the trees I expect will be here long after Iām dead (or until the next owner cuts them down).
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You spelled it right but you say it like DAHNEEESTš
Itās unfortunate that Callery is not cold hardy enough (yet) for rootstock up there. Itās not one that should be intentionally bred for the purpose, either, unless under very controlled conditions.
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Hey Steve, sounds like your neighbors are kinda cool and open about parting with the land. I would walk the land and propose a split where you assume the costs for the split and survey and all he has to do is sign the agreement before split and take the check after split. Make it super easy and if you ask him right he may even propose a cheaper than expected price.
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Seems to me, with people like that to deal with, your biggest worry would be that they would overextend themselves and creditors would end up getting all the land, including the part they had gifted to you.
Sounds like perfect set up for PYO Apples. Apples grow well, but nobody selling Apples!
We love to grow fruit but selling fruit is not as much fun as growing fruit.
Selling fruit can consume a lot of personal time. We try to manage our acre of PYO Apples to reduce the workload required to sell the crop and improve our fun factor. .
It takes a lot of transactions to sell just one acre of Apples. Figure 25K pounds of Apples per acre or sell about 2500 one peck bags. Thatās a lot of customers and not everyone follows the rules.
Itās a lot less work to have all varieties ripen over 3 or 4 weekends so you can sell entire crop in just a handful of six hour Saturdays.
People love fall Apple picking and are not very sensitive to price.
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Check the insurance liabilities plus the produce and health department licensing requirements of owning or operating a PYO orchard. They vary among states and insurers. Also check the limitations and actions invoking coverage cancelation by your current insurer, if any.
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they paid cash for it from a malpractice settlement they got that sadly took their 17yr old daughter.
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That is very sad that they lost their daughter. Bad things happen to good people sometimes.
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as time goes by i will be conversing with him about this. dont want him to lose his land over a lawsuit.
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