My NovaMac apple arrived today from Maple Valley orchards. Very nice looking long whip… but unfortunately somewhere in shipping (I suspect)… some clown seriously bent the long narrow package.
Just my luck.
I lopped it off just below the break… think it will be fine. Very nice root system in place.
Noticed it arrived on my lunch hour… got it temp planted in the edge of one of my compost piles… and gave it plenty of water.
I’m not sure the brake actually matters.
I’d like to prune the whip back low any way’s. So i get my framework branches low. Since it’s on B9 I’m assuming you want it to branch low. If you wanted it to branch high, the brake would matter.
you could even prune it further back, or brake off all buds except the ones at the right Hight and direction to form you laterals.
I think skillcult has a good video on this. But i can’t seem to find it.
i think it might be this one.
or this one
@oscar … I have no experience with B9 but that was all they offered NovaMac in.
I am not worried about the break in that long whip… I would have lopped it off some myself.
I hear you have to steak b9… so I may try my first espellar project with it.
I did get some m7 rootstock from them too and 2 pcs NovaMac scion. So hopefully I will get another going on M7 which has proven to work well for me here.
I bought a few apple trees from Maple valley last year on Bud9. They had Lindamac and Sansa which I wanted. The trees grew nice the first year. Came as 3.5’ whips and grew to 5’ by the end of the 2021 growing season.
@Spartan — it is a very nice looking tree… the break was not ideal but other than that the tree looked great. The roots looked very nice to me, it was packaged well, roots nice and moist, nice buds on the whip. No complaints really. And cost 25.00 which seems very reasonable to me (considering todays crazy prices).
I included 4 m7 rootstock in the order (14.00), 2 novamac scion (8.00), and a Victorinox fixed grafting knife (8.00).
Got all kinds of stuff to work on now…
Mine did not suffer the same fate in shipping. Mine is on bud9 as well from the same place obviously. Could you elaborate on streaking with bud9?
@Jujube …
Streaking with b9 ???
Perhaps you meant to type steaking ???
Sorry but I can’t help much with that… all my other apple trees are on m7.
Here is what I did with that Novmac on b9…
Back/side yard in a large planter…
That will most likely be temporary…I may plant it out this winter when dormant.
I did get 2 pcs of Novemac scion and grafted them to m7 rootstock. Below is what they look like now. Pretty good I think.
I will plant one of those this fall and I am giving the other to a friend.
So hopefully I will end up with a Novamac on b9 and another on m7.
Ps… I bet @blueberry knows a little about the best way to grow a b9 apple ???
TNHunter
Here is what my novamac on b9 looks like today.
Espellar training ??
Something like that… will see how this turns out.
I figure it is going to be small enough that i will have to plant it on the south side of my house next to hvac to keep the deer from destroying it.
I like that look… so far.
I stumbled on your post and checked out that Maple Valley place. They have a massive selection of trees and scion for cheap prices. I’m going to order from them myself. Your tree had nice roots.
As for your rootstock I think you did right with the espalier. Dwarfing apple rootstocks are not very good IMO.
@Robert … i really did not want the b9 rootstock but that was the only nursery I could find novamac at… and they only offered it on b9.
So… i got one…
They also had good prices on m7 rootstocks and novamac scionwood. I grafted a couple of those and both turned out well. I gave one to a friend and will plant the other in my field this fall. It is getting close to 4 ft tall now.
Ps… that novamac on b9 set one bunch of blossoms this spring (first year planted in container) and they are very pretty blossoms.
I pulled them off after so no fruit set.
I bet it will bloom a bunch next spring.
I may let it set and ripen a few apples next year… for my first taste of novamac.
If nothing else perhaps i will get some earlier apples with this b9.
We will see.
