That sounds like a lose/lose situation to me. Hammer hits or yellow jacket stings its going to hurt either way.
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Wild Red crab #2 fruit. A week ago they still had white seeds. Today, I noticed a bunch were missing. The deer have been picking the fruit off the tree. I picked and tried one, they are fully ripe. Starting to go a bit soft. They are sweeter than tart (probably why the deer are wiping them out) with a bit of pink flesh.
edited to re-post pic of the tree from this spring
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nice crab. i put in wickson, trailman, centennial. and clarks crab last spring. all are growing well
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I always got a lot of bird pecking with apples, do you see much of that? I stopped growing apples because it got so bad.
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I certainly get some, yes. It seems very dark red fruit like Liberty gets attacked here more frequently than less red varieties. Location also plays a role. My largest orchard seems to get more bird more pressure than my smaller orchards, or single trees scattered through the property. The large orchard is very open. The smaller orchards and singletons are much closer to brushy/woody cover. No idea if that plays a role or not.
I’ve got more than enough apples for the birds and other critters to get their share and I still get plenty of nice, clean fruit too.
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Good crab choices. Trailman is really good for fresh eating in mid August. Centennial is “ok” right around that same time, maybe a week or so ahead of Trailman. I’ve got a Wickson that I grafted to Dolgo rootstock in 2020. It’s about 7’ tall now with good branching. Nice grower at this location. Time will tell how it does with a test winter, and how the fruit develops. A guy not far from me grows Wickson and isn’t all that impressed with it. It cracks a lot at his location and the flavor isn’t his favorite.
I grafted a few Clark’s crabs last spring, but I have no idea if any are still alive after the heat and drought. I probably won’t check on them until late winter.
If you like crabs, you’ll probably want to add a couple Chestnut (better than many full size apples in a good year) and Kerr at some point.
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Never birds in the apples. Mostly wasps this year, some squirrels.
I cut my Kieffer pear the other day - maybe shoujld have left it for the squirrels
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I have some exposed foam board on an exterior wall and i’ve been chasing a woodpecker away because he keeps wanting to destroy it. I even threw a walnut at him and all he did was duck his head (it was a very good throw). I ran at him like a crazy person and he flew off. I’m trying to get it covered back up but things keep delaying that.
I’m going to get some apples from Bauer’s market in La Crescent, mn …they usually have a good selection and you can buy big bags/2nds etc. See what the lack of rain did to the local apples.
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This is about 2 1/2, 5 gallon pails of mixed apples/crabapples. They became about 1 3/4 gallons of cider this morning. I was a bit disappointed with the yield. It was my first time making cider, so I’ll keep learning as I go. I will say that I had frozen a few gallons of Zestars from earlier in the fall, then thawed them overnight. I think I got more juice from those than the rest of the fruit combined. I may freeze/thaw a bunch more next time.
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Maybe the yield is due to the drought. Any chance its extra sweet because of that?
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I will brix test it later today. I’ve got it chilling in the beer fridge now.
Edited to add…Tested both jugs…both tested to 15. I have 0 idea what sweet cider normally tests at.
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how does it taste>? I love apple cider, but i try to limit myself to only a jug or so a season. Woodmans usually has it about now (local stuff).
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It tastes as good or better than any cider I’ve had. I used to love cider from Kickapoo Orchard in Gays Mills, WI. This is just as good as theirs.
Your mention of Woodman’s brings back both positive and negative memories. I used to love the Woodman’s grocery store in north Madison in the 90s. I believe that was one of their original stores. The last time I was in a Woodman’s was in Sun Prairie sometime around 2019. It was so unbelievably huge, bright, loud, and populated that it was all I could do to find a flower bouquet for my mom and GTFO.
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Yes it has a great selection/prices but is huge and can be annoying if you only need a few things. There are at least 2 in Madison and they are nuts. Combat shopping! There is one in Eau Claire.
I stuck a drill bit thru the top of my foot today (wright above the middle toe–cobalt bit that was very sharp). and ended up in urgent care (just antibiotics and a tetanus shot). I can’t go a year without injuring myself.
About ready to remove the tomatoes when i can walk again. Lots of flowers on them but not much fruit.
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I like to let them get more ripe than that one but often I’m only home for a few hours so any that are close I pick.
I like growing them in containers in southeast MI. My first was august 28. I’ve harvested about 200 so far.
I like to dry most whole. I think I had three trays this day? Sept 8th.
I’m at my cottage right now. I took about 20 out of the 30 I harvested today to give to a friend. Mostly Mt Etna but a few others too( top photo is today bottom was on sept 8th.
I still have pluots and peaches to harvest. My late ripening white peaches
I have some seedlings and two of them are ready to harvest. One still needs a week. I picked a few to try. The rest I’ll harvest on Sunday.
Here on Russell island my cornus mas cherries are ripening. I have been harvesting daily. Almost done, a few more days.
My potatoes are dying back so I can start harvesting them Sunday too. I’m going back Sunday for a few days.
Raspberries are coming in like crazy too. I love all this fall action!
Here’s a daily harvest from sept 1st
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We’ve been taking UTV rides after supper to look at fall colors. Last week we found a ditch apple a few miles north but didn’t stop. I went back this week to check out the fruit. Last week it was loaded, this week it had maybe a couple dozen fruit still hanging. The weeds/grass under the tree were beaten down, so the critters have been enjoying the drops. The tree is growing on a dirt road less than 20’ from the edge of the road in the ROW and the closest house is maybe 1/4 mile. I’d be surprised if somebody has been spraying it, but I suppose it’s possible. I picked three random fruit, I didn’t look for nice specimens. The fruit is sweeter than tart, very juicy and still crisp. I’d guess it would start going soft in another week, if any were left. We shined them up on our sweats, but did nothing else. I’ll be snagging some scions in a couple months. Don’t let anybody tell you all wild seedling apples are spitters. This one makes the 4th good fresh eater I’ve found on my place or not far away.
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I need more apple trees like I need a hole in my head, but I’m an easy “sell”. A local nursery has their annual fall sale going on today/tomorrow. I picked up this Haralson for $60. I don’t really enjoy eating Haralsons, but this tree is mainly for deer. The nursery had some Chestnut and Whitney crab trees that had to be pushing 11’ tall for the same price.
r
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How do they grow such large trees in such small pots? Anybody know?
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Lots of fertilizer and water I imagine
FWIW…when I buy fruit trees like the pic I posted, I remove most of the lateral limbs when planted. This tree is on standard rootstock (Bailey Nursery doesn’t identify what they use) and any limbs less than 5’ above ground are of no use to me long term.
edited to add…I’ve talked to a couple nurserymen in the past where I bought the Haralson. They get a bunch of various caliper bareroot stock from Bailey Nurseries very early in the spring and pot them up. If a person buys a potted tree from them in the spring, the tree won’t have much for roots. By the end of the summer/early fall the pots are full of roots, bordering on root bound. I always take a very sharp, heavy bladed knife and make vertical cuts from the bottom of the root mass to the top every 4-6" or so, as well as some cuts along the bottom of the pot. I pay special attention to any large roots that are circling/beginning to circle the pot.
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