Hello from Washington State

[Patrick B]

Hello,

I discovered Prof. Kent on you tube, he is one of a handful of people who has subscribed to my channel.
I live East of Arlington Wa. In the Cascade foothills on a five acre parcel with my wife, kids and a crazy Chocolate Lab. We bought the place about 3 years ago. I have been an organic farmer and gardener for many years. I am now planting an orchard. I started last year with six bare root trees, they are liberty, honeycrisp and another variety I don't remember the name of, I'll get it later, also two Concord grape vines and a Blackcurrant bush.
I have always loved seed saving and starting my crops. Now I want to propagate from my scions. This is new territory for me and I am really looking forward to it. I'm hoping you all will be able to provide me with some guidance.
I'm glad I found y'all.

-Patrick

[David Taylor]

Welcome to the fun!  Activity in this Google Group has died off quite a bit but there's still a couple of us that check on it from time to time.  I myself have a tiny orchard in my back yard in the metropolis of Two Rivers, Wisconsin.  I have a dwarf Cortland with Fauxwhelp, Hudson's Golden Gem, and Dolgo Crab grafted on, also have a dwarf Sweet Sixteen and a semi-dwarf Honeycrisp.  The two little apple trees have been bearing for years while Honeycrisp is just getting started, I think I got 5 apples last year but expect a bazillion this year.  I also have a Black Gold sweet cherry, a gooseberry, some blackberries, and a million raspberries.  It's just fun growing your own stuff, I love it.

Take care and maybe we'll see you around.

Dave 

[Prof. Kent]

Patrick,
Nice to hear from you. Honeycrisp and Liberty are two really great apples. See if you can find room for a Jonagold apple tree. You won't be disappointed. I use rootstock from Cummins Nursery from NY state but I'm sure there are other rootstock nurseries closer to you that you can use for you scions. When you get a chance I hope you will created a Youtube video and put a link to it here on Mi-Home-Orchard forum. The forum hasn't been too active in the past couple years probably because people use most of their time watching Youtube videos from each other.
If you have any questions on fruit trees, please ask. And if you have learned something that you would like to share, please do. We are all Students of the Orchard here.
- Kent Eddy

[Prof. Kent]

David,
Does your Sweet Sixteen taste like cherry Twizzlers licorice?

[David Taylor]

On Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 7:55:15 PM UTC-6, Prof. Kent wrote:

David,
Does your Sweet Sixteen taste like cherry Twizzlers licorice?

Yes, you know it really kind of does!  It's a wonderful apple.

The Honeycrisps I grew this year.... man, they were the BEST Honeycrisp apples I have ever tasted in my life!!  I mean, they were the Honeycrispiest Honeycrisps ever!!  Huge in size, very sweet and very juicy.  I can't wait until I'm growing several bushels of them this year or next -- my tree is finally hitting maturity now.  It's a gorgeous tree.  I wish I planted all semi-dwarf.  The dwarf trees (on Bud 9 and G.16) are looking pretty wimpy compared to the semi-dwarf monster (unknown semi-dwarf rootstock).  At least I know for sure now that it's Honeycrisp.  Since I never found a graft union, I didn't know if I could believe that it was truly grafted or truly Honeycrisp.  Well, it's a Honeycrisp for sure alright.... now the debate is whether it's truly a semi-dwarf, or could there be some off-chance that it's on its own roots!?!  I mean, it took like 7 or 8 years to bear any at all.... seems kind of odd although I did prune it heavily every year to get to the ideal shape.  But can you imagine, a 30-foot Honeycrisp tree!?  Part of me hopes that it really is a standard.... might make life more interesting.

[Patrick B]

Thank you for the kind welcome. I I will post a video as soon as I am able. I buy my trees and rootstock from Raintree Nursery here in Western Washington, rootstock I am considering  for my scions, the emla27, mm111, and maybe a couple Antonovka because I can't resist the idea of a couple giant apple trees. I am definately adding some Jonagold to my orchard, thank you for that advice. Oh! By the way, the other apple tree I have is a Rosy Glow. Last night I picked up 3 bareroot cherry trees at costco for $13 ea. 2 montmorency and 1 Stella. I will be getting more Montmorency because we really enjoy home baked pies but 2 was all they had.

[Kent Eddy]

Glad to hear your Honeycrisp is doing well. I find my Honeycrisps taste better than store-bought one. I can't say enough about letting apples get ripe! It is possible if your honeycrisp was planted to deep that the tree has sent down its own roots, thus negating the dwarfing of the tree. Semi dwarf trees (MM106, MM111) can get 25 tall if it is an upright grower. It would not have been on its own roots originally, of course.

Make sure you keep your dwarf trees well mulched out to the dripline. Trees have a hard time competing with grass for nutrients near the surface...especially dwarf trees.

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[Kent Eddy]

My brother's Sweet Sixteen tasted like cherry the first year and the not the second year. It might have to be picked just at the right time for the right flavor.

On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 9:28 PM, David Taylor <dmta...@charter.net> wrote:

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[Kent Eddy]

I had some dwarf trees take 7-8 years to produce. A Shizuka and a Cortland come to mind. Both tip bearers. Cutting off the tips cut off the blossom buds. Oops!

A 30 foot Honeycrisp. Now THAT I'd like to see!  Sounds like it was transplanted too deep and went Standard size. I've found Honeycrisp work better on semi-dwarf (M106 or MM111). The Honeycrisp trees we've had on M7 and G13 rootstocks do not seem to fair well in our sandy soils.

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The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago; the second-best time is now. —Chinese proverb