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Grafted Apples for Deer
Topic Started: May 28 2014, 10:05 AM (580 Views)
Friggs
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I thought I would share a photo of my end result of my grafting course I took in the beginning of May. We were allowed two grafts from a variety of apple scions and two types of rootstock, B118 as a semi-dwarf and should grow 20'-30' and I forgot the variety of dwarf rootstock.
In the photo, one is Freedom apple (blue tag) grafted on to B118 rootstock, and the other is Liberty (orange tag) on B118.
Looks like both grafts took. I decided on these two varieties because they are both disease resistant to scab, blight and cedar rust just have to worry about spraying for certain insects. I ordered more B118 rootstock for next spring where I will be grafting sweet crabapples like Kerr, Rescue, Hyslop and Haralson which are smaller and easier for deer to fit in their months. I've started a sweet crabapple orchard and now have growing Dologo, Centinneal and Chestnut which haven't fruited yet.
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Frank
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Renegade
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Atikokan, Ontario
Awesome work. I tried planting an apple orchard and all my trees eventually died. They were all 6-8 feet tall and there were 30 of them. I fenced in the area as well. My appetite for planting trees has been stunted from that.
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Friggs
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Renegade
May 28 2014, 03:45 PM
Awesome work. I tried planting an apple orchard and all my trees eventually died. They were all 6-8 feet tall and there were 30 of them. I fenced in the area as well. My appetite for planting trees has been stunted from that.
I just checked your area Renegade and your in zone 2-3 and their are very few apple varieties for that zone. Were your trees winter kill or something else that killed them ? They must of been growing for a few years to reach 6-8 feet.
I would focus on trees for zone-2 with a cold hardy rootstock like B118, check out nurseries in the prairie provinces. Most of the crabapples I mentioned above will grow in Z-2 except for Hyslop. Their are other larger sweet varieties such as Norland, Parkland and Battleford to name a few that are zone-2. They now have rootstock and varieties that are growing in Alaska and the university of Alaska is trying to develope several varieties for that area.
My two grafts above are for zone-4 and would probably die in Atikokan. I lost 4 pear trees that were zone-5-6 that I grafted and all died two winters ago at my hunt camp, that is zone-4.

Frank

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Posted Image Bocephus_86
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They look great Friggs! Hopefully your orchard pans out for you! :cheers:
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Lanark Hill Country

Great job Frank! I have been wanting to get into grafting for a while now, just haven't put the time into it. I grew 10 apple seedling last Spring. I put them out on my step to grow outside & a squirrel destroyed them all :( . I have six more seedlings now that I will protect with a wire cage.
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Friggs
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Thanks Bocephus and Morel Hunter for the kind words,
Morel hunter, I ordered a dozen rootstock for next spring and will be doing some grafting next April. Their are several videos on YouTube describing several methods of grafting. These two below are bench grafted with a whip-n-tongue method. If you need any help just post it here. The deer just love crab apples because of their size and flavour but if you want eatable apples for you and your family you will have to graft.
The squirrels are always digging in my pots looking for stuff to eat and make a mess sometimes, especially with the oak seedlings. These two grafts below are coming along great, I've noticed some cedar rust on the leaves on both and its probably all the rain we been having which is the culprit. With all this rain I'm thinking of covering the two pots so they can dry out a bit, haven't water them in 2-3 weeks and fruit trees hate wet feet.
Photo below...I pruned all the bottom buds on the scion and left the top one to form the central leader, which is about 8" now. I've also used a velcro strips to hold the leader to the support and will add another strip above that one in a week or two. Then in a another month or so I will remove the wax and rubber band from the union. I might plant these two this fall or maybe early next spring at the hunt camp, we'll see.
I'm still nursing this left hip of mine after my hip replacement in early March and I'm limited on what I can do.
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Friggs
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Lanark Hill Country

Where do you get your whips Frank? I have been trying to grow seedlings from the seeds of wild apples from one of my Aunt's old farms. I have heard that growing apples from seeds doesn't guarantee the same variety of apple.
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Friggs
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Morel_hunter
Jun 18 2014, 02:14 PM
Where do you get your whips Frank? I have been trying to grow seedlings from the seeds of wild apples from one of my Aunt's old farms. I have heard that growing apples from seeds doesn't guarantee the same variety of apple.
Yes, that's true, you will not get the same variety apple from the seed. It will more than likely grow to be a crabapple standard in size that's tart and not sweet, but deer will eat. The only way is to graft a scion from the certain variety on to a certain variety of rootstock.
I've grafted on to seedling rootstock it works but not certain how it will turn out. I've also planted seedlings too.
I guess you mean rootstock not whip. The first year of a grafted fruit trees life is called a whip, like mine in the photo they are whips. I buy my rootstock from Silvercreek Nursery near Kitchener. I've ordered a dozen B118 rootstock for next spring. B118 will grow to a semi-standard size and can handle real cold weather to zone-2-3 ideal deer trees.
You should Google apple rootstock and find the size and variety that you like such as M111, M106, B118, ranetka and antonovka. The last two are hard to find. Try googling "apple trees for deer". Also, check "Apples to acorn" in this forum and read post#8 which has loads of links regarding apple trees for deer and wildlife, hours of reading.
Post#8 - http://s4.zetaboards.com/The_Hunting_Forum/topic/1108048/1/#new
http://www.appleman.ca/korchard/rootstok.htm

I hope this helps....Friggs
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