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Opinions of dessert apple varieties from flavor and growth habit to disease resistance and annual bearing.
Re: naming apples - 3 years ago
I like to go by the American Pomological Society's nomenclature rules in which almost no university follows. Rule 1: No two varieties of the same kind of fruit shall bear the same name. The name first published for a variety shall be the accepted and recognized name, except in cases where it has been applied in violation of this code. Rule 2: The name of a variety of fruit shall consistby Henry Jacobson - Apples
Re: planting on raised ground - 3 years ago
Chad, I must applaud you for trying a method that is not a very common situation as most people are on high ground. I also must applaud you because an orchard of 250 trees is a huge undertaking especially if they are in raised beds. Where I live here in Wisconsin, water surrounds my land. We live in a river bottom so everything has a high water level and mostly every spring, we get water in our bby Henry Jacobson - Starting an Orchard
Orchard Apprenticeship - 4 years ago
Hello fellow Holistic Orcharders, After this coming Spring, I will be graduating my local college with a Horticulture Technician Degree. It's a 1 year program but ended up screwing up my scheduling so it ended up to be a year and a half. Nonetheless, I have no idea on what I am going to do. I could get a job in the Nursery business locally or go to a 4 year college and spend more money beby Henry Jacobson - Just Talk
Re: 2017 scab review - 4 years ago
This fall I am picking apples at a local orchard on the weekends for some extra money to help with college tuition. They are not organic but I keep pushing my employer to go organic. This summer has been really wet here as well so I asked how and what he sprayed with. He uses Captan for the scab. He had to spray really hard to get a good crop without any scab but even then, there were a lot of apby Henry Jacobson - Fungal Pathogens
Alnarp-2 Rootstock - 4 years ago
So I know it is kind of early to be thinking ahead for next year but does anyone know where you are able to get Alnarp-2 rootstock here in the USA? In one of Michael Phillips book it mentions that the Alnarp-2 grows quite fast. Even though it is susceptible to fireblight and woolly aphid I would still like to try and experiment with some of these rootstock because we have a lot of deer pressure.by Henry Jacobson - Apples
Re: Grafts not taking - 4 years ago
Hello Mr. Martin, Great to hear you are starting an orchard here in Wisconsin! Some varieties are less vigorous than others so that could be one of the reasons. I planted them out behind the barn where during the morning up until maybe 11:00am they are protected from the sun but after that it's all sun until sundown. That was a week ago. We have had some pretty nasty hot and humid weatherby Henry Jacobson - Grafting
Grafts not taking - 4 years ago
Hello folks, So I grafted way back in late April early May as I live in Wisconsin. Since I have only been grafting for 2 years I still have some questions that cannot be found in the Google Search engine. I have also observed some things that I find interesting with the apple trees and whatnot. I'd say 60% of my apple trees that I grafted took. I have a young farmer friend who wantedby Henry Jacobson - Grafting
Re: Germinating Apple Seeds - 4 years ago
Hello Paul! The source of the seeds came from trees I am currently identifying for my project but have pinpointed it to 2 possible varieties. The Wolf River or a Waupaca County seedling, the Rose apple. Anyway the trees are in the middle of the woods. The apples were ripe or even almost decaying so the seeds were ripe. I planted them in bare earth. Only 1 seedling came up but it died last weekby Henry Jacobson - Just Talk
Re: Germinating Apple Seeds - 4 years ago
Thank you very much! I will try this method this coming fall!by Henry Jacobson - Just Talk
Germinating Apple Seeds - 4 years ago
Hello folks, So as an experiment last year, I decided to plant some apple seeds (about 50) in the fall and wait for spring to transplant the seedlings. However, none of the seeds germinated. The seeds would've been cold stratified over the Wisconsin winter. So I tried it again this year with the same strategy and no luck yet. Is there a good way to germinate apple seeds or just throw themby Henry Jacobson - Just Talk
Re: Starting an Orchard - 4 years ago
Liz Griffith Wrote: ----------------------------------------------------- > Is your school near your family's farm so that you > can continue to work in your orchard? If not (or > even if so), is there another orchard near you > where you could maybe work/intern while you earn > your degree? Even if they are not completely on > the same wavelength managment-wise, geby Henry Jacobson - Just Talk
Re: Starting an Orchard - 4 years ago
Pat Pryal Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I would suggest reading Michael's book "The Apple > Grower" as a must-read for going organic. As far > as the land, can't help you much in that regard, > except to say that it needs to have well drained > ground and not located at the bottom of a big > hill. A 30-40 acre orchardby Henry Jacobson - Just Talk
Starting an Orchard - 4 years ago
Hello Folks, I am an 18 year old apple orchard enthusiast that wants to grow organic. Currently, I am enrolled at a community college here in Northeast Wisconsin going for Horticulture. I believe this may be the closest degree/major/diploma to starting an orchard other than a sustainable agriculture college out in Vermont. My family has a 20 tree orchard that I just added onto turning it intoby Henry Jacobson - Just Talk