In a message dated 1/29/99 11:13:02 PM Eastern Standard Time, (a Minnesota landowner) writes:

> My current question, as I peruse the seed catalogs, is regarding apple trees.
>
> We would like to plant a small orchard but we won't know where a good site
> for
> it would be until we've spent some time on the farm. I had planned on
> tabling
> this project until next year until I read the instructions on planting trees
>
> from the catalog I received from Bear Creek Nursery. In that catalog they
> advised planting the trees in a nursery plot for the first year, and then
> replanting them in the permanent site the next year. If this is the case,
> then
> I should order them this year, as there is an appropriate site for a nursery
>
> plot. However, I've not read of this anywhere else (I went to the web sites
> on
> apple trees posted a few weeks ago, and the University of MN Extension
> Service
> web site) and I wanted to know if this is a good idea or not, as everything
> else I've read refers to the permanent planting site. Would replanting it
> again the next year be too much of a shock for it? (The only apple trees I'm
>
> familiar with are the ancient ones on my grandparents' farm).
>

I've never tried the idea of planting nursery trees in a nursery to be replanted again, but I don't like the idea. This is a setback to the trees, and a lot of extra work for you. Now I do like the idea of keeping a nursery for yourself. You can establish some rootstocks and propagate them by layering. Then you can graft your own trees, and have a continuous supply of them for replacements (rabbits, mice, deer, disease, will take their toll) and for experimentation with new varieties. You should plan to learn to graft immediately. It is a skill that you will need. You may need to bridge mouse damaged trees in spring, or you may need to topwork a tree to eliminate a variety that is not working for you.

I am handicapped by lack of knowledge of Minnesota, but remember that most fruit nowadays is planted in sheltered locations, and I imagine these spots are not so common in your area, or already taken. If your farm is on the lee of a good sized lake, you have gained a lot. This moderates extremes, though the effect will not be so pronounced as it is in the lee of the Great Lakes. The biggest problem of fruit growing far away from water is spring frosts. Along the south shore of Lake Ontario there are many orchards. The ones closest to the lake, bloom the latest, and don't usually have spring frost damage. Even here in South Carolina, the biggest problem for peach growers is warm spells in winter (such as our current 80 degree spell), followed by frost/freeze at bloom time, which comes too early.

You want your trees to bloom as late as possible, after frost danger is past. I have seen advice for northern fruit growers to plant on a south slope, and this is just the opposite of common sense. The sun will quickly warm south-facing slopes, and trees will come on and bloom too early. I'd prefer west or north-facing slopes.

The next thing you need to think on (because of the spring frost problem, and because of fungii), is air drainage. The upper 2/3rds of a slope is best. Never plant in the bottom of the valley, and never plant on a slope just alongside a hedge or woodlot that will stop downward flowing cold air. Look over your land and think about this flow of cold air always moving downward on clear nights, and what barriers will stop it and make frost pockets.

You'll probably have less fungus (scab, powdery mildew, etc) than the humid east because you are dryer. But you will have to contend with the extreme dryness of the winter winds, which can damage fruits. So avoid places where the winter winds are funneled.

Go your your county Soil Conservation office and get a copy of the county soil maps. They are free (one of the best things ever done with our tax money). STUDY the map which includes your farm. Read and reread the explanations of the soils on it. You will not understand it all, but get what you can.

Fruit trees need good water drainage. If you don't have that, think cranberries, not tree fruit. Do the soil maps for your farm indicate poor drainage, or seasonal high water table due to a hardpan (an impervious layer that keeps water from moving down)? You don't want tree fruit to stand in waterlogged soil, even for a brief time in spring. The longer they are waterlogged, the poorer they will do. Soils that have a hardpan are usually tiled before planting an orchard, as it is very hard to do later.

Northern tree fruits need sweet soils. Look again at your soil map. Do the soils on your farm run acid? If so, you will need to lime. Soil acidity locks up nutrients so that trees cannot obtain it. The major exception to this is blueberries. If you have a highly acid area, that's the place to put your blueberries, rather than fight the acidity. After you've learned all you can from the maps about your farm, get a soil acidity test kit from a farm or garden supply store, and start testing. You may find that the acid levels change very quickly as you move across the land. Do lots of tests; they are easy, and the kits are cheap.

I remember one little knoll on an apple orchard I worked, where the young trees were stunted and did not perform. The owner of the orchard limed the entire orchard every three or four years, so we did not think of acidity as a likely problem. But testing with the kit, showed the acid level on this small spot to be just about off the scale. The sourgrass should have tipped me off sooner. We laid on a very heavy liming by hand early one spring and the trees "jumped" that season.

Get your county extension agent to walk the land with you. He'll take general soil tests and point out a lot of things you wouldn't notice. Of course their expertise varies. Some are incredible fountains of knowledge, some don't know from "nuthin'." You'll have to get a feel for that. Try to get a member of your state's fruit team, if you can. They should at least know the difference between a pollinator and a pollenizer.

Incidently, a visit to your county extension office will usually get you a briefcase full of free information on fruit growing. Or go to the state extension web site. Some states are better than others about getting information online. To find that, go to your state land grant university, and try their own search engines for various fruit topics.

Plant your trees as early as the soil can be worked. You don't want to "mud them in," but you don't want to wait until fruit trees begin to bread buds either. There is about a six week span that you can plant, and have the trees survive. But planting early in that span will gain you the equivalent of a growing season.

Plan your pollinizers when you plant. Some nurseries will tell you that a particular variety "self pollinates." I think that is unethical. Self-fertile fruit must have pollinators (bees), and they almost always will be more productive with pollenizers (other varieties to provide viable pollen). Plan well before you plant, and you'll save a lot of headaches later.
Many fruit varieties will pollenize each other. You need varieties that provide abundant, viable pollen, and that bloom concurrently. Some varieties have sterile pollen, or they don't provide much of it. For apples, crab apples are excellent, with abundant and very fertile pollen. Just make sure they bloom at the same time as your apples. Personally, I'd either plant a crab apple every 5th or 6th tree in an apple orchard, or I'd graft on a crab apple limb in every 3rd tree. Get early, mid, and late blooming crabs, and you are covered.

Cummins Nursery on the Pollination Scene web page has about the best info on pollenizers for northern fruit you can find anywhere.

While you are planning pollenizers, plan pollinators. Establish your own beehives, or get a beekeeper to establish a site on your place, or plan on renting bees for the bloom period. You can sometimes get a beekeeper to pollinate free, if you will provide a permanent site for bees for him. But remember, he may be in Florida with his bees and arrive back just in time for petal fall. You'll have to have an understanding that he will leave a few hives for you. Most commercial beekeers rent hives for pollination. In fact beekeepers make more of their livelihood from pollination contracts than they do from honey. Check with your local beekeeper association.

You can supplement (not replace) honeybees with solitary orchard mason bees. There is a supplier list at:
http://www.uidaho.edu/pses/Strickler/SolitaryBees/supply.htm

Never spray insecticides during bloom (kills bees, and is a violation of the label directions, which can get you prosecuted). And keep your orchard floor free of clover and other weeds that will bloom and attract bees which will be killed in later sprays.

Pest control is critical. Don't wait until you have young fruit and have pests before you take action. You'll never succeed that way. A good dormant oil application in early spring will smother many overwintering pests. Keeping the orchard clean of drops, trimmings, weeds, etc., is good policy, because these provide hiding spots for pests.

For pest identification, spray schedules, etc, the Fruit Loop is a good resource:
http://www.caf.wvu.edu/kearneysville/fruitloop.html The Virginia site has pictures of pest insects. The West Virginia site has a lot of info on fruit disease.

If you want to go organic, be forewarned that it is extremely difficult. You must be highly knowledgeable and you won't get a lot of support. You will also have to live with some damage. I'm not trying do discourage you, just to warn you to count the cost. A lot of starry-eyed folks with little info, think organic will be easy. I've had considerable experience with apples and cherries, and I am skeptical of my own ability to produce quality fruit organically. I'd like to try, but would expect several years of losses (the tuition in the University of the Seat of the Pants) before any sucess.The best organic info I have found is from Michigan. Go to their extension web site, and run a search. You can also search with the internet search engines and find some of the organic associations, who can point you to other sources.

Don't plant your trees, and expect to forget them until they begin to bear. You'll have deer, mouse, disease, and insect damage that could make them useless. You'll need to keep the orchard mowed. And you'll need to train the trees. You've heard the old expression, "As the twig is bent, so grows the tree." Like untrained children, untrained trees don't do very well. Especially in those early years, you need a lot of hand labor in training them. It's a lot easier to nip a bud with your fingers, than to saw off a limb later (or have it split off, with fruit on it). Spring type clothespins, wire or wooden splints, and weights all have their part in shaping the trees for maximum productivity. We used to use them all. We had thousands of weights, made by embedding a piece of heavy wire in a paper cupful of concrete. The wire formed a hook to hang the weight. Limbs that were growing upward too vigorously, were weighted down into a more fruitful position for just a couple weeks in the spring, and the tree was improved 100%.

As for varieties, think north. You are beyond the fringes of commercial peach growing, but check with extension and nursery sources in Ontario and Quebec, northern NY, VT, NH, ME, etc for info on superhardy varieties for home growers. There are many hardy apple varieties, the old standby, McIntosh, is extensively grown around Lake Champlain, and Montreal. It should do well for you, as should it's child, Empire. Don't bother with Red Delicious, it's a junk apple that looks pretty. Apples LOVE sustained cold winters. They don't do well, if winter temps are up and down like a yo-yo. On second thought, ALL temperate zone fruits dislike yo-yo winters.

Cummins Nursery and Zook Nursery, on the Pollination Scene page, are good resources. I think there are some hardy pear varieties that should do okay in Minnesota. Blueberries should be fine, but get them from northern nurseries.

Finally, think small. Do NOT plant apple trees on seedling rootstocks, which will form 30 foot trees. Imaging yourself at age 60, on a tall ladder, unsteadily held against a moving limb, balancing yourself and a 20# bag full of fruit, trying to reach one last apple before climbing down, resetting the ladder, and doing it over again. Got your insurance paid?

Then FORGET IT. Plant dwarf or semi-dwarf trees. Full dwarf trees need no ladder, but will need support, a post or trellis. Semidwarf trees can freestand, but never should need more than a couple steps up a small ladder.

Read, read, READ. With annual crops you can correct mistakes the following year. With fruit, the tuition paid in mistakes is much higher. Check your city and university libraries. The internet has vast resources. Learn to use search engines, but remember, only a fraction of the info is indexed. The big general engines are good starting points, but you need to refine that with local engines wherever you find them. Check with big fruit growing state extension departments, like Michigan & New York for ongoing resources. For example, Cornell publishes a newletter, called Scaffolds that is a great resource.

Then there are LINKS. Lots of times one good site leads to another, which may not be found on any search engine. Bookmark a good site, before following links to another.

May your endeavors be FRUITFUL!