I grew up in NJ, where apple trees could volunteer in the the hedgerows and produce usable fruit. When we moved to NJ I planted a number of them and I have learned that they are "iffy" here. Dawn's input was very good.

I have to side dress mine with compost in order to get them to bloom. They suffer greatly in our heat. Arkansas Black has done much better than the Northeast adapted varieties I planted. But perhaps the kicker is that every time I get any apples, the squirrels arrive and carry them ALL away.

I have a beautiful Cortland apple tree, which is similar to McIntosh. It has flowered almost every year for the last ten years. But I have yet to taste a single apple.

Hi George! Thanks for your input. I was hoping maybe growing apples might be easier in northeastern OK than it is down here in south-central OK but it sounds like the same challenges exist.

I'm seeing the same squirrel problem develop here with peaches and plums. For many years, the squirrels didn't bother them much but the squirrel population has gotten huge the last few years and now I have to fight them for every peach and plum. If this keeps up, I won't replace the peach and plum trees when they get old and die.

I wish I had my grandmother back again so I could ask her how she grew Granny Smith apples in her backyard surrounded by cedar trees and never had Cedar Apple Rust on them. I know my grandparents were organic and never sprayed anything on any of their plants---not even organic stuff. They just had the magic touch and could grow almost anything.

Dawn

I live in the south okc metro and managed to grow a yellow delicious and gala for a few years and harvested maybe 8 apples per year on the yellow delicious. The gala never produced. Both were mid dwarf grafted on rootstock. The YD actually established well but the Gala never really did. But given there are cedar trees nearby, cedar apple rust was the main problem. I had to spray weekly with copper fungicide from the time they budded for about 6-7 weeks and they still got rust.. They also had to be supported, as mine didn’t handle the wind well out in the open. I removed them this summer. If I had it to do over again I’d have saved myself the trouble and planted a different kind of fruit tree. Just my two cents.

Yikes, you are all dashing my hopes/thoughts of planting some semi dwarf apple trees in espalier fashion in front of my back fence.

I may do it anyway, just for the trees... and we'll see if I can harvest anything.

First, I will have to get a bb gun, and reduce the squirrel population. The cats that use my yard as a litter box are not good squirrlers.. they just manage to chase them up on the fence.

Where I lived previously I had a peach tree, that had such an abundance of peaches by the second year... that I plan to plant one here as well. At this time, all I have is a fig tree/bush.

But the areas of Bermuda lawn are shrinking... :)

Moni

Apple orchards used to be a major cash crop of the Ozarks region I live in. However, its my understanding that they have become a thing of the past as fungal issues have become more and more invasive....I’m not sure why this is so. We do get many apples from a few local orchards, but they’re not organic orchards FYI. My grandma grows great apples still. They make a great applesauce. I’m not sure of the variety.

I would love to grow apple trees, but I don’t think they’d do well. I have a tendency to leave a tree in a pot for years, then transplant it out after it’s rooted out of the pot and into the ground....I‘m not the greatest with trees. Someday, though, I’ll get the space and start a home orchard.