MendonOrchards: Life on an Apple Orchard

[MendonOrchards]

How many apple trees can you plant to the acre?

300-400 dwarf, 100 semi-dwarf or a max of 40 standard trees.

 

[goatgurl]

welcome, enjoyed catching up with your journal. use to grow apples on my farm in w.va. York imperials were my favorite. they were good for everything. pies, sauce, dried and cider. sadly they don't grow well herein arklahoma. weather is just to darned hot. your chickens are awfully pretty. thanks for the pictures. we are just stupid for pictures.

 

[goatgurl]

welcome, enjoyed catching up with your journal. use to grow apples on my farm in w.va. York imperials were my favorite. they were good for everything. pies, sauce, dried and cider. sadly they don't grow well herein arklahoma. weather is just to darned hot. your chickens are awfully pretty. thanks for the pictures. we are just stupid for pictures.

 

[goatgurl]

welcome, enjoyed catching up with your journal. use to grow apples on my farm in w.va. York imperials were my favorite. they were good for everything. pies, sauce, dried and cider. sadly they don't grow well herein arklahoma. weather is just to darned hot. your chickens are awfully pretty. thanks for the pictures. we are just stupid for pictures.

 

[Latestarter]

Just found the journal. Thanks for sharing the stories and pics! Looking fwd to following along on your journey!

 

[MendonOrchards]

More to come soon! Been a rough recovery, and not much going on other than eating soups and doing more research on the animals I want. I of course have been doing a lot of online shopping.....lol

 

[samssimonsays]

Hoping for a quick recovery for you!

 

[MendonOrchards]

Fully recovered minus a sore spot in my mouth! So many things i wanted to do but couldn't, and I feel like I was going stir-crazy! Remodeling a motel unit for rabbits and still working on a room in my house the ducklings are broodering in. Will update soon!

 

[Bruce]

.....

Maybe I should gather up some courage and ask you how to prune an apple tree. I have a several dwarf varieties that could use some work, but I have no clue or confidence to prune it correctly. Maybe you could recommend an easy to understand, lots of pictures book?

Anyway, your pictures are lovely!

Here are a couple of videos that talk about the process

A properly pruned apple tree is not necessarily a beautiful thing to behold

 

[norseofcourse]

and to Norseofcourse: Ive heard of sheeps nose, but i cannot remember whether its a cider apple, eating apple, or what.

I don't mind what it is, I just like the name The sheep and ponies end up getting most of the apples, anyway. They love the apples, and the sheep love apple leaves! There are a lot of crabapple trees in the pasture, so I bend down the ones that are still young and flexible, and the sheep crowd around, eating all the leaves they can reach. When most of the leaves are gone, I let the tree spring back up again. We do the same thing with oak and maple saplings, too. I will be pollarding some of the trees, to continue to grow and harvest browse, as the pasture is cleared.