olin erickson

I grew some a few years ago (2020). I got sick of looking at it hanging in the barn. I’m a little bitter it choked out daffodils; multi cropping maybe a bad idea… and thinking I wasted my time and energy growing it (kid’s changed free time priorities of my linen nut wife. I have a couple varieties under a blanket of snow right now- if the seed is still viable. Pretty plant.

Apple need a cold treatment.  Whole apple may cause to much decay / damping off. I keep them lightly moist in a ziplock in the fridge until they start to sprout. I bought some m. Baccatta seed and it is really small but same program. it’s supposedly super hardy. I'd love to get some of the clay tolerant that was mentioned.

I have a row of about 10-13 that I started from various storebought apples (seed) a few years ago. I really need to get my “orchard fence finished and get them into permanent locations. Trying to get rid of my surplus, I posted them (and my grafted ones) on social media and, given their stigma, was surprised at the demand for the seedlings.

They grow fast from years 2 on.... if you or nature don’t kill them. I definitely have fireblight and cedar apple rust present, but most of the trees have shown resistance.

Careful with the pruning! For me 20/21 was a mild but testy winter due to some intermittent and late cold snaps. Now after the fact I have seen writings about pruning timing in cold climates (z4) and I’ll wait till March instead of Jan/Feb. Seems that mid winter pruning isn’t a good idea here. It stimulates a healing response which kind of pulls the tree out of dormancy. it got down to zero after pruning and I had noticeable death or dieback on trees/whips that I had worked - including some of the prized seedlings that I was trying to shape for fruit bearing. Things are taking shape, but 4 years here and I can’t seem to grow anything except flowers on my fruit trees.

I’m in zone 4 central Montana and my experience here is - don’t waste your time and money. Zone 5 Kalispell several varieties were doing pretty good.

I got on a real inquisitory tangent - many Alaskans wax poetic about malus baccata. So I ordered seeds - twice. I won’t drop a company name bomb; but check davesgarden.com before you buy from a random new place.

What is the virtue of the “no prune” method? I wasn’t even aware that was a thing. It seems to me that might work ok with bush cherries or juneberries but with larger fruit you could be wasting your time and space. At least training branches more towards horizontal changes hormones and can improve fruiting.

I have a dozen apples that I planted from seed - they’re forming a hedge - lots of vigor, no fruit yet.

Just throwing out ideas here: did the cracks just appear in the winter? That could be from freeze thaw. People whitewash where snow reflection can add to this problem of bark warming even on the bottom of lower branches. Hard to tell the bigger context from the pictures. My other guess would be hail damage. Ive got lots and I may end up with some real Charlie Brown bonsai trees. On cracks like that where there is no obvious infection I would think some neem oil would help healing and prevent bacterial or fungal establishment.

Burr knots or Any point of injury are a place for infection to occur. I’m thinking mostly of fire blight. Some streptomycin powder is probably worth having in the tree first aid kit. Neem may help that too, but I’m not sure.

Good job. Keep posting. Moving chips is a lot of work. Get more; they’ll disappear quick - And it takes a thick covering to really smother most competition. Bindweed cant be stopped.  I haven’t read your full thread. Contemplating NAP etc on 3/4 acre.

I’m Curious about the status of the project. I came across this thread doing a search for G890. I live in 4a in the middle of Montana. I’ve been grafting and planting seeds the last few years. I’ve done pretty much everything talked about. I’ve come to the realization that if you want results like your grampas blueberries, money would be well spent getting a few trees from a good nursery.

I’ve tried cuttings of crabapple several times and never gotten them to root. One lady on a Facebook group has told me it is possible. I’ve got a whole row of trees that grew from grocery store apples and they are doing great. Unfortunately most of them will need to get transplanted.  Planting in place would be awesome if you don’t mind full size. Skeeter Polarski and others espouse the value of an in place tap root that only comes from a seed. I will try do topwork graft next spring on a few of my trees. Learn to bud graft so you modify those in place trees.

I went with pretty much the same sort of stuff - put in an order a couple weeks ago. I didn’t realize orders had to get in so early! Also went through the bulk dilemma, you may want to call copenhaven but their inventory page says they’re out of 890 in all but 7/16” which would maybe limit your choices. I had to learn to cleft graft this spring for that reason - the P18 I got was huge and some scion that I bought was teansie.  Cummins should still have a decent selection though prices are a little higher.