Very cool, we’re planting cordons this year as well. 50 trees in two rows, two feet apart on Bud10. Please keep the updates coming. So you grafted and planted in 2023, and had some fruit in the fall of 2024? That’s quite the return on investment time wise. I like the training of the first tree in the row, that’s clever.
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Excellent! I am very curious to hear how the bud 10 does for you…. Sounds like a great option. Fruit in year 2 has been a huge benefit of this system and also of the precocious root stock. It’s been very fun and encouraging to get some fruit so quick. That said the bulk of last years apples were from that farthest left tree which was a year old in a pot at the time of the planting so it got a head start. This year though many of the trees should produce and even more would have without the borer set back a few trees had. Fun stuff! I’d love to know what varieties you are planting and see some pictures of your setup!
Ps. Yes! Put your favorite variety in spot 1 and it gets some extra space!
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Grafted varieties are around 4 each (some more, some less) of the following: Wickson, pinker lady, pink parfait, king David, black strawberry, Clarion, January russet, bite me, ashmeads kernel, appleoosa, gold rush, Tomboy. I’ve gotten all.my stuff from steve edholm so far, but I plan to collect more varieties that are good in this area. With all our projects it’s been a struggle to get trees in the ground to collect varieties but hopefully this does the job. Still need to.build a trellis.
Once we find reliable fruiting varieties they will be grafted onto the seedling trees in the main one acre orchard.
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The second shorter row is pretty close to the peaches, but itll be okay I think for this purpose. To plant to the right as planned wasn’t an option, it was too wet. The rest of this area I actually becoming a nursery for the other 100 rootstock we purchased this year. Just gotta keep out the bunnies.
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Fantastic! I can’t wait to see how it comes along. I can see the strong Skillcult influence in those varieties…. He’s such an inspiration! I’m excited to see how his varieties do for you. Please keep us updated! The cordons feel like a great way to trial varieties, and get quick fruit in a fairly small foot print.
I’ll probably start a thread in the future about it as well.
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I am up north of you, just across in Campbell County. I am grafting a whole bunch of new apple varieties this year, bringing my total to 50 varieties, mostly disease-resistant varieties, mixed in with some of Skillcult’s varieties. I have also buried some rootstocks to propagate new rootstock shoots/plants, so hopefully have unlimited new rootstocks for future experiments. Definitely keeping an eye on your progress, lots to learn from it.
MF
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I probably drive by your house every day lol. I take 27 up to 275 to get to the airport for work.
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Yep, pretty much, tough commute, but at least the 471-bridge is repaired so less of a hassle coming home.
When did you do your apple grafting this year? I was planning to do the majority next week, but with weather dipping below freezing overnight tue/wed and raining thu/fri, may have to wait for the weekend.
But, back to topic, I double dug my oblique cordon row, put aged sheep manure down, then put soil on top. On one side, I put down a 4x4, on the other, will use the T-post combo. Used the G41 as rootstock, but I am planning to use an interstem combo for my next cordon row (G41 on EMLA111) as I am not planning to water it a lot, so I need a stronger root system then the G41 can provide.
MF
I grafted last week to try to take advantage of the warmer weather since then, even right now I think is decent weather despite all the rain. It’s warm enough to callous and it’s humid which will prevent dessication theoretically. It’s either a decent decision or a really bad one. It’s likely that a few grafts will be flooded by water seeping in but oh well. The roots will survive probably. I reached out to Steve edholm about double working some trees for the same reason, gea said he wouldn’t do it. Not sure why, maybe the suckering or maybe the amount of grafting it would take. I think it’s worth an experiment though.
Looking at the weather, it probably would’ve been better to wait a week…
Hey there. Curious about “double working”…… just not familiar with the term. Can you describe?
Interstem is another term. Using a dwarfing Scion underneath the varietal Scion. Put them both on m111 or another semi standard stock to induce a dwarf tree with a self anchoring root system. Example would be M111 rootstock+B9scion+cultivar scion.
Got it. Thanks!