On Saturday I went to the garden of one of the women at my Permaculture Gardening Group who was going to take us through Pruning, Air-Layering, and Grafting.
The part I was really interested in was the part where she offered scions of her apple trees. She has FOURTEEN kinds of apples in a suburban garden, most of them grafted on individuals trees. It was AMAZING and I came away quite inspired in several dimensions.
I did have about six apple types before I got a bunch of her scions. Four arrived already grafted on a single rootstock: Anna, Granny Smith, Golden Dorset, and a mystery apple (I lost the tag that indicated what type it was, but it might have been a Jonathan?). And two were individual trees from my mother: a Golden Delicious and a Gala.
I got about nine apple scions from her: Akane, Adre Sauvage, Blenheim Oragne, Tropic Sweet, Tropic Dorsett, Tropic Anna, Egremont Russelt, Kid's Orange Red, and Yates.
I have two more apples coming: a Pink Lady with a Braeburn grafted to it. The Braeburn is because my sister loves them, but they don't grow them commercially this far north because the climate doesn't support it - Braeburns are cold-weather trees.
So, yes, we should be covered for apples through the season. Assuming I can get a harvest from them.
And, more importantly, that I can successfully get the grafts to take...
Right now, I'm thinking of which ones I should graft together - cross-pollination requires multiple cultivars flowering around the same time.
Having looked up various apple types, I'm reasonably sure there are maybe 4 pollination groups:
P1: Anna & Golden Dorset
P2: Tropic Sweet, Tropic Dorsett, Tropic Anna, Egremenot Russet.
P3: Akane, Andre Sauvage, Blenheim Orange, Kidd's Orange Red, Yates, Granny Smith, and Golden Delicious, Pink Lady
P4: Gala & Braeburn.
The strikeouts are already on the one tree, along with the mystery apple, which is most likely in a similar pollination group. I could add to the existing multi-apple, I suppose but more than four is probably pushing it, and there are other rootstocks available.
So, probably a mix of P2, P3, and P4 on the Golden Delicious and the Gala and the Pink Lady:
Golden Delicious: Tropic Sweet, Tropic Anna, Blenheim Orange
Gala: Akane, Andre Sauvage, Tropic Dorsett, Yates,
Pink Lady: Braeburn, Gala, Egremont Russet, Kidd's Orange Red
I think some of it will very much depend on what takes. It could be a bit of a hit and miss.
The pruning unit was educational too. I've been pruning my apples like my stone fruit and...that's not the way to do it apparently... But the multi-apple has a few blossoms - at least one of the branches appears to be a tip-bearer rather than a spur-bearer, which might explain why I haven't really had any fruit from it at all! I've been pruning it back and probably pruned off all the fruit-bearing shoots! and then there's nothing left to enable cross-pollination...
Ah well, we garden and learn. I just wish I'd learned a bit earlier.
a bunch of apple-growing links
University of Mass: Spindle Pruning Apple Trees (video)
Fruit Grower’s News: Tall Spindle Design for apples - I’m still trying to find a proper/definitive description of spindle systems and how to prune trees into that shape.
Kimmel Orchard: Tuesdays With Tyler high density orchard plantings - there’s a whole series about orchard care in here.
How to prune apple trees in winter: summer for fruiting and growth, winter for vigour.
I’m also going to need to read up on apricots soon. I’d like one really good harvest out of the backyard apricot before it gives way to probable gummosis. *sadface*
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