An apple a day

Wow, a year gone by.  This spring is so different than last year, it's hard to believe it's the same orchard.  Last year at this time there wasn't a blossom to be seen, this year several trees are already in full bloom.  We are 3-4 weeks ahead of schedule this year.  Don't know what that will do to harvest dates.....

In last year's post I mentioned planting 60 trees on an interstem.  Unfortunately, none of the grafts took, so I had to dig them up and replant this spring.  And, the deer got into the new orchard in July last year and destroyed all the new growth.  I hope most survived the winter, but we're a whole year behind in planning the first honeycrisp harvest (now projected for 2013).  In addition to replanting the interstem trees, I also planted 24 Snowsweet and 60 Liberty on Bud 9, and a variety of "antique" or heirloom trees on various rootstocks as well as another 80 Honeycrisp.  Later this week, Bill Meyer, a second generation orchardist from the Kickapoo Valley, is going to come up and topwork about 60 trees for me.  That means we're grafting a new variety onto an existing tree.  In addition to planting, I've been busy with my chainsaw preparing the trees.  I plan on coverting 30 of my Min-Jon to Haralson since I lost all my Haralsons to drought, and 30 Keepsake to a variety called Kickapoo Spice.  It's a fairly early apple and is highly disease resistent.