Today in the orchard
It was only 15 F this morning. We seem to be sliding back into winter now that it’s officially been spring for the past three days. The daytime temperature reached nearly freezing, but the wind never let up.
Jughead, Super Chilly Farm, 10.17.24
Cammy pruned our dwarf block of G11’s and Bud9’s. We have about 30 dwarf trees just to keep tabs on how they do in central Maine. They are precocious, and some of the trees look great. In 2024 a one-year graft of “Jughead” on Bud9 produced two apples! (We were probably supposed to pick them off as they started to develop but who would ever do that?)
On the other hand, some of our dwarf trees haven’t done well at all. That may have more to do with the cultivar than the rootstock. We have Reine des Pommes on G11 and Bud9 that both have failed to thrive despite our TLC.
We do not have the dwarf trees growing on wires, although we do have each tree tied to a cedar post. Free-standing dwarfs do not have the strength to stay upright. They can also be drought sensitive so we irrigate ours.
Of the two rootstocks, we like Bud9 better than G11. These days we don’t even try to keep up with the dozens of rootstocks out there to choose from. We focus our attention on the cultivars, and grow most everything on standard seedling roots.
