West of Mordor, North of Hades

Chazz Layne

Chazz Layne

Adventurist
Banned!
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The Layne...Ranch? Orchard? Whatever.
(Can it be a ranch if there's no horses? Or an orchard with only two producing trees?)

It's probably long overdue that I start one of these threads in The Homestead. We always seem to be under too tight a deadline to even snap a few pics, let alone start writing it out lately. As fate would have it this afternoon I'm inside taking a break from mowing acres (literally) with the worlds smallest non-driving push mower, which just happened to run out of gas as the daily thunderstorm passes overhead...convenient.

Anyways, I have no specific mission for this thread. Sometimes I have questions for the wealth of wisdom y'all have. Sometimes it's just for the sake of sharing. Today it's both.


How About Them Apples

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We finally got a long enough break in the weather. It's been raining every day for two months—long enough and hard enough to keep everything too wet to do anything, and the property was starting to look like a jungle. I was mowing the lawn (and didn't find a car), when I noticed something out of place glowing in the sun.

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Wait, isn't that...

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Apples! Not the little crab apples I expected this stray tree to produce (there's a 20-foot crab apple tree not eight feet away), but real, actual, full-size, big apples. Ok, not big, but certainly better than expected from a totally neglected little s*** tree I was planning to pull whenever we get around to fixing up the driveway.

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Here's about half of the "good" ones, or a bit over two dozen. By "good" I mean not already claimed by deer or bugs, and big enough to care. So it's not a car, but it's still not a bad surprise to find while mowing the lawn. Tasty too... :D

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So, Today's Questions

After today's pleasant surprise I plan to keep this new tree and help it thrive. It's in a good spot, I do want to keep trees lining the driveway here and it's far enough back to not cause problems. I've done quite a bit of gardening (and farming), but never with actual trees. For comparison, here's the scraggly little apple tree (left) and the huge crab apple (right)...

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Other than water and pruning, what does an apple tree need? Any tips or pointers for a first-timer? Also, there's far more fruit than we'll ever use so I don't mind sharing, but any tips on keeping the pests from getting out of control (without chemicals)?

And of course, favorite apple recipes? I'm already thinking apple butter and pie...



Arizona is just a big empty desert, you don't want to come here. :D
 
Apple trees should be pruned in late winter when the sap is down and the trees are dormant. For us the ideal time is late February and I would presume it would be a similar case in your locale. Avoid pruning in the fall since this stimulates new growth at the same time the tree should be getting ready for winter. The new growth may not have a chance to harden off before cold temperatures and frost hit, which may lead to cold damage on the tree. Also there are no damaging insects at this time of year so the tree has time to heal over any cuts before any critters get into them.

Start by removing any dead growth or funky, unhealthy branches. When you trim make your cut at the part of the branch collar where it flares which is right above the wrinkled portion of the branch close to the main stem. The collar has the cells needed to heal the cut. Make sure your tools are sharp for clean cuts.

Now begin taking off any suckers (branches growing straight up from any main structural branch). You want to encourage branches growing at angles from the main trunk at 45 to 50 degree angles. These are called scaffolding branches and will form the basic framework of your trees. Now take a gander at your tree, you want the branches to grow upwards at the above angles but have the ends of your main branches droop outward and downward so the fruit is easier to reach. Now go in and cut any more suckers off your secondary branches and than start to remove branches that cross each other or rub together. These are competing branches that will cause problems for the tree. Look for branches growing toward the inside of the tree, and remove them to improve air circulation. When you remove a branch or a limb, the bud directly under the cut will take over and grow so you should cut above outward-facing buds. You also want your trees to have a single leader, or main stem, cut away any lesser, competing leader.

Hope that's clearer than mud for you. ;)
 
I'm no expert by any means but with our apple tree (in the desert) we would have to remove some of the fruit from each branch or they would eventually weigh enough to break the branch off at some point. There's probably a better fix through proper pruning as described above, that prevents the problem by encouraging healthy limbs. We didn't know what we were doing.
 
We had a crab apple tree in Flagstaff and my mother would make crab apple jelly. I can still taste that wonderful stuff!!
 
Looks like a great place Chaz. We have successfully "recovered" an apple tree, a golden plum tree and 2 pear trees with thoughtful pruning.. As usual @Haggis gave excellent advice. Only thing I would add is that a tree cannot handle more that 20 - 30% of limbs cut at a time and survive. It took us a few years for that apple tree to get back to strong production... be patient. We are still working on those pear trees, dang it...
 
I'm definitely not going to argue with @Haggis, good stuff as always!
But, my Grandfather (also a "Pro gardener") just said "the best time to prune an apple tree is when the pruners are sharp"! A funny guy, I miss him.
Looks like a piece of Heaven to me! WOW
 
Do you have any idea what kind of apples they are? According to my mother, the best pies are made with tart, crisp apples. Pippen or Granny Smith, or something similar. I have my grandmother's awesome French Apple Pie recipe that I will share if you want.
 
The tasty kind. :D

The smaller tree I harvested resembles Gala somewhat in color, both outside and inside. The taste isn't quite as sweet as I'm used to from a Gala, but that might be because the tree was neglected for so long. Not tart or bitter, just not much flavor.

The larger tree (smaller apples) are solid green, and the taste kind of reminds me of pear...though again not much sweetness/flavor.
 
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