Apple Trees

[ewp11100]

I have always dreamed of having apple trees! We are finally moving to our own house at the end of the month!!! I want to plant 2 trees in the spring. I'm planting then just over the fence from the compost pile so the fallen yuckie ones will be easy to clean up Have you bought trees before? From where? I know they take some time to mature and fruit, but how long? Can I plant 2 different trees? I would love one granny Smith and one enterprise but do they cross pollinate like zucchini and pumpkins? Any input you have would be helpful

[JamieCatheryn]

Trees do best if you plant them in the late Fall, I'd order now if I were you. 2 different kinds is great, in fact best sometimes, there are some varieties that do better than others for pollinators and the catalogs will tell you about that. I ordered mine from Stark Brothers, they are pretty good and best of all give a full refund if your trees die the first year. Best to avoid bare root trees, they can have trouble bouncing back from shipping, the ones in a plastic pots do better. Cross pollination is only a problem if you are planting the seeds from the fruit, not for the fruit itself. It should be 2-4 years til you really start getting fruit I think. Oh and watch out for diseases, spots on the leaves or anything, you can treat those organically if you catch them early.

[ewp11100]

I see that you are in KY, so planting in the fall in your area is best. I have read that planting fruit trees in the north should be done in the spring. I'm in the mid-altantic, Maryland, I'm going with north?

[SleeplessMommy]

If you go to Lowes or Home Depot, you will find potted apple trees for about $20. (maybe on end of season clearance!) You have a pretty good chance with fall planting for these, and they are the same tree varieties you would get in the spring.

More exotic varieties will be available mail order, which means bare root. I picked up most of my trees (bare root) in Adams County PA, and drove them home. 2 major suppliers there. The "local" bare root trees did a little better than the mail order bare root trees - less travel stress.

In retrospect, pear trees may do better than apples (fewer pests). I think you could be quite OK with fall planting, just get one of each.

[ewp11100]

Thanks! Hate pear, love apples

[nmelanson]

We have 16 apple trees - 5 of them are LIBERTY and they are amazing! They are the most disease and pest resistant apples that exist. The variety was developed in NY in the 70's. They work great for organic growers, as there is really no need to spray them.

They are fantastic eating apples and we also sell tonnes of them to a local cafe who loves them for baking. They are later season apples, but still tasty near late summer (when they're yummy, cruspy and tart). I LOVE THEM!

[aikigypsy]

I would definitely consider MD and most of the mid-Atlantic a southern area in terms of apple planting. Here in southern Massachusetts we're just on the edge of the fall planting area. It gets down to 0-5 Farenheit here most winters, at least once, and I know some people have successfully done fall planting, although the landscape pros I've talked to recommend spring planting.

I haven't planted any apple trees yet, but I second the recommendation for the Liberty variety. There's a local orchard that has them and they've done very well there.