Growing apple trees, lessons learned so far

Last time I planted apple trees I was living in maine. A pretty good climate to grow apple trees. Plenty of rain, good soil over most of the state, sun not too intense, wind not too bad over most of the state. Just stick them in the dirt and they are good to go.

New Mexico it's a lot different. I didn't realize how much water these things need until this time around. Depending on how hot it is I am watering them with 3 to 5 gallons of water per tree just about every other day if not daily.
So I'm definitely going to need a reliable well pump setup and a backup, with out water trees planted that year could be dead in less than 5 days.
Once the trees get rooted in they shouldn't need nearly as much hose water. I'm thinking once or twice a week at most, no hose water if it rains.

The wind is another problem. The wind beats up and tears up the leaves.
All I can do for that is plant next to some kind of wind break, such as another tree or fence.

Then there is the sun. It's so hot here some of the leaves are scorching. If I keep the trees well watered it's not as much of a problem. Not sure how to fix the sun problem other than water, water, water.

 

Shade cloth needed till established root system .
The tree will move ground water up and back down to cool the tree .
Sloth

 

I was trying not to rig up shade cloth but that's what it looks like it's come to.

 

@oil pan 4 you wil need shade cloth till the trees adapt also the older apple varieties are more hearty

Directory of apple varieties starting with A

Apple variety identification - varieties which match your attributes

 

Anyone who thinks that they can just stick seeds in the ground and start growing food post-shtf, well you gona die.

Baby steps. First find something that isn't killed by the sun, hot daily temperatures, wind and 10% humidity.
Then find something that bears ripe fruit early then find a late season tree whos apples store well. Hopefully.

 

@duane that is so true.

I am working on growing indoors and I am killing plants right and left

 

We don't have bears round here.
The only thing that would tear up an apple tree bad enough to kill them would be retarded goats or hungry horses.
I don't even think we have turkeys, they tear up apple trees pretty bad, was a problem in maine.

 

Neighbour was late in picking it & neighbour had a scant dropping (BEAR SHIT ) so when the fruit was semi done the bear could tell ..
They mark the area with Bear shit.

I live in Bear country & have 3 around that I know as with wolves . Plums are the worst , if the plums get over ripe & no one picks them , there booze to critters & then the fun starts , Bears attack as with dogs & wolves .. They normally don't get aggressive , but the Booze fruit will get you killed .

 

I am put a bunch of fuji apple seeds in jiffy starters.
Let's see if it's as easy as Bloomberg says.
(I already know it's not, hell I had enough trouble keeping ones that were 3 to 4 year old saplings alive)

 

OP4, you might want to check out these irrigation spikes. They seem to be pretty popular with folks, for planting & watering trees.
DEEP DRIP 24 in. Watering Stake (3-Pack)-24GKDD-3pk - The Home Depot

 

The apple trees grew a little better this year. I gave them a little synthetic fruit tree fertilizer. And I bought a soil test kit.
My soil is very alkaline and even more alkaline when watered with tap water.
I'm surprised they're still alive.
I might get a day tank and add a little nitric acid to it to bring it down to 7, or make it slightly acidic like rain water.
Long term I will probably need to get some NH4SO4 and sulfur.
No wonder farmers have such an array of chemicals, not just pesticides and fertilizer, all the shit for soil prep, to include actual shit.
And it explains why the peach tress is doing so well, they do great in neutral soil and are slightly alkaline tolerant.

 

Now I understand why pine trees and apple trees went together so well in maine.
I tested my soil. It's definitely alkaline and more so when I water with tap water.
I am at least deficient water soluble nitrogen, there is a surplus of phosphorus like it maxed out the test and at least adequate to surplus potassium.
So ammonium sulfate for sure.

What the hell Bloomberg didn't say anything using science, doing math so you can buy then mix/apply chemicals correctly and shit.
I think he's full of it.

 

It's been less than a month and a little synthetic fertilizer and some soil acidifiers have made a huge difference.
Compared to now, 3 weeks ago they looked like they were about to die.
I'm going to stake off some 1 meter by 1 meter plots and pretreat the soil with some acidifiers and fertilizer and go over the plots with a push mower if weeds try to move in for next year.

 

Well I definitely don't have any before pictures.
If I can get home before dark I will get some pics.

 

Congrats OP on the progress you're making with your apple trees! That's awesome. I was listening to a podcast recently about how difficult it is to develop new apple varieties, and a big part of it was how long it takes the trees to grow and how variable the fruit can be. Have you had any produce fruit yet?

 

I get little apples some times but the soil pH isn't right and I need to keep nitrogen levels consistent.
Oh and I need to eradicate moles.
I think I got the little bastards with strictnine the other day.
Definitely plant the your fruit trees in side of inground chicken wire cages. To keep the moles out of the trees roots. They eat the damn roots and your tree dies.
If I could I would dig the little bastards up, nail them to a board while still alive and leave them on a fire ant hill.

 

My best growing trees are in old 24 inch rim tractor tires.
I dug a 24 inches wide divet about 6 inches deep, put down chicken wire to the edge of the tire sidewall to keeps moles away from the root ball, put 2 inches of wood chips, a 1/4 cup of synthetic "fruit tree fertilizer", then take native sandy soil dampen it to reduce dust and mix with cow manure compost until it looks healthy potting soil or top soil would work too, about 20 to 25% manure comp by volume, plus another 1/4 cup of synthetic fruit tree fertilizer mixed in with the dirt, put the tree in it and cover with another 1 to 2 inches of wood chips. I only put enough dirt and wood chips to fill the tire about 2 inches from the sidewall.
The trees in the tractor tires have done better and needed a lot less water than trees stuck in the ground. Tractor tire trees need water about once a week, regular planted trees need water about every other day.

 

I finally made a shade cloth tree shelter. Even after 4 days my over exposed trees are doing better.