Planting fruit trees on hunting land

[John Krause]

Anybody have some advice on this? The property is S Central MO land. Up and down with cedars, oaks and hickories. Rocky soil. The property has a logging road that snakes thru it along a ridge and about 4 places where it opens up from where logging equipment worked. These areas are large (probably about 25yds wide and 50 yds long.

We have been keeping them brush hogged so they don't grow up but I am thinking some apple, peach or persimmon trees might be the ticket.

Any advice on what type of trees? What it takes to get them going.  Do you mix male and female trees or do you even know what kind you are buying before they come up?

[C Kerley]

John I'm not far from you in Rogersville (by Springfield), and I don't know why any of those wouldn't work.  I've planted apple and persimmon right here in my yard to attract the deer in a few years.  You can also get persimmon trees from the George O White nursery ran by the Dept of Conservation, and they only run about $7 for 25 trees around 36" tall.  I'd plant them around the edge of the clearings and put down some kind of "throw & go" food plot in the open areas.  

My parents have apple and pear trees in their yard in So IL and my mom just told me they had 15 deer under the pear tree yesterday.  As for peaches, I don't know about that one.

[C Kerley]

Oh, and my apple trees came discounted from Lowes at the end of the season (about now), and the persimmon will have to have several planted together to produce.

[Earl Jeff]

John Look up your local chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation. They should be able to get you 25 free Crab apple trees each spring with tube and stakes.

[OkKeith]

John,

I would recomend talking to one of the MDC foresters. You have a great one in the office at Springfield. She is a good friend of mine.

I can almost bet she will recomend native fruit bearing trees. They are much more drought tolerant and an early frost/freeze won't wipe out the entire crop. You can get seedlings locally as well.

We planted a couple a hundred around my Dad's property here in Oklahoma. Sand Plums, Perssimon and a few others.

OkKeith

[toppredator]

I would go with persimmon trees myself.  I had a nice spot with 3 mature persimmon trees on it and I've never seen anything attract deer like that.

[Eric Krewson]

I looked into this and found there are several varieties of apples that don't need to be pruned or sprayed to produce a crop for wildlife. These are old heirloom varieties and available form places on the net that specialize in plantings for wildlife.

[KentuckyTJ]

What Eric said. We have apple trees clusters planted in travel routes to bean/corn fields from bedding cover all over the farm I hunt. It's early season murder and should be illegal. Deer love apples.

Now my secrets out.

[Mechslasher]

definately persimmon and pear.  pear trees will drop in the early season and persimmons will drop from then on to mid season.  persimmon will grow fast and start producing early.  i have some three and four foot persimmon trees on my farm that are bearing fruit this year.  the only down side to persimmon is the high ratio of male trees you will get if planting seeds.  i'm planning on doing some grafting next spring and turn a bunch of my males into females.  i had three 12" persimmon trees that grew out of the same stump and every year i would see between 10-20 deer under it at any time.  i literally went into a state of morning and depression when it died.  there is nothing like hunting under a persimmon tree in early fall.

[Eric Krewson]

Maybe it is the soil in south central TN but the deer leave the persimmons alone, never even eat them in most cases. At first, when I would find a loaded persimmon tree I thought" this is the spot". I guess it would be if I was hunting possums but the deer never showed up. Could be the 1000 or so acres of corn and soybeans around the property have the deer spoiled.

[John Krause]

Thanks for all the info. When is the time to plant?

[BobCo 1965]

Plant in the dormant stage. I usually plant in early April here in NY.

You may want to look into some Asian Pears. I have found the trees to grow like weeds. The taste is very good and they sell for $1.69 for 1 piece of fruit here. They are also firmer and less likely to bruise then the average pear.

[ChuckC]

just make sure the trees are protected enough to grow without the deer eating THEM
ChuckC

[VAFarmer]

I would agree with ChuckC.

Make sure that your trees have the best possible chance for survival in this area first.  This is a long term investement that will pay off for hunting generations beyond yours, but is hard to get to establish.

Not just deer, but many animals will eat the trees when they are early on in growth.

Having said that, three of my 8 hunting areas this year are in direct proximity to crabapple trees.  The lure of this type of food is irresistable, and not just for deer.   This will also attract turkey, furbearers like raccon, squirrel and bear.

Best of luck with getting the area established.

God bless,

Farmer

[Pat B]

The best time to plant trees is in the late fall before the ground has a chance to freeze. Get a soil test first to see what you need to add to the planting holes. Around here our soil is lacking in phosphorous so every plant that goes into the ground gets a dose of triple super phosphate. It has to be mixed in the soil because it attaches to the soil particles unlike other nutrients that will leach down through the root zone in the soil. By planting in the fall the trees have a chance to develop a good root system over the winter even though the rest of the tree goes dormant.
  Proper pH is critical too so lime may be needed. Each plant has an optimum pH where it can up take nutrients. Without the proper pH the tree won't take in the nutrients no matter how much fertilizer you put around it. Also don't add nitrogen this time of year. It will promote growth and the new growth will be damaged by winter weather. Add fertilizer in the early spring just before or as the new leaves form.
  Also, plant trees that produce their fruit while hunting season is on. Some apple varieties are early producers and produce later. I would go with the later varieties.

[BobCo 1965]

Add to the protection list mulch and trunk protection from rodents. Weeds will take a lot away from young trees and even kill them. I have 5' of fabric mulch around each tree. But don't go cheap on the mulch, you'll regret it.I also ahve 5' of fencing around each tree.  

Prunning will also be very important in the early years.

Depending on the insect population, you may also need to spray the young trees. I usually end up doing this about 5 times during the year.

Soil testing is important. I also did this on my small orchard (15 trees).

[HB3]

I plant several hundred hardwoods and soft mass trees every year. I would recommend putting your trees in tree tubes. You will not believe the difference in the growth rates, they are like a mini green house and protect them from the deer. You can get them at
forestry Supply or other suppliers. I have started using a 1/2 inch x 5 ft round fiberglass post made for electric instead of wood stakes which will rot off in one year. I get these at Kencove Fence through the mail. I plant a lot of persimmon trees that I get from our International Paper nursery, they have a lot of different types of trees many which are super trees with better genetics, don't know if they would have a nursery in your area, they will mail bare root seedlings which work great. They start out 6 inches and will be 5 feet in one year. Good luck.

[Blacksmith]

I plant 20 trees every spring. I've been planting persimmons, sawtooth oaks, white oaks and even a few pecans. I use 5 ft tree tubes to protect them with treated 2X2's for stakes. The deer were breaking off a few of my 1/2 inch stakes so I switched them all to treated stakes. I've had 100% success on my trees the last two years with all the rain we've had and excellent growth rate also. I think I'll try a few pear and apple trees next year also.

[Tom Leemans]

You'll need to high fence them in for awhile though if you want them to survive the deer.

[Mechslasher]

here's a pic of a nice buck who just can't get enough of granny smith apples.  oddly enough, he's the only deer i've got pics of at this tree.  don't know if he's guarding it and nabs the apples time they hit or just the other deer don't like this type of apple.  i've lost count of how many pics i've gotten of him.  most of the time there is another buck in the background feeding on my oats and vetch.  my other bucks and does hang out at my mini orchard of winesap and staymen apple trees.  unfortunately, the apples are almost gone.  i bought a pair of 12' sawtooth oaks two years ago and one is producing acorns this year.  can't wait until they start dropping!