Apples, Part One
In choosing the best tree fruit to grow, an Island landowner would be hard-pressed (cider joke) not to opt for apples. Apples are relatively easy to cultivate if certain conditions are met, and many varieties store well, meaning all the fruit doesn’t have to be eaten or processed right away—unlike, say, plums or cherries.
Those “certain conditions” necessary for good apple-tree growth really aren’t that hard to meet either.
The first condition: trees that work with your space and ambition. To simplify greatly, apple trees come in three “sizes”: dwarf, semi-dwarf, and standard. (Each “size” represents, in fact, a range of growth patterns and vigor, but never mind that fact here.) Dwarf trees can be worked (sprayed, pruned, thinned, and picked) largely from the ground. Semi-dwarf can be maintained at 15 feet or so in height, with an equivalent spread, and require a ladder to work. Standard trees are what many people have in mind when thinking of a traditional apple tree—a full-sized tree of the type found in older orchards or at older house sites.
Average landowners rarely plant standard trees anymore (although a movement towards their return to the home orchard began a few decades ago). They’re just too much of a challenge for many people to work. Dwarf trees are attractive because of their small, manageable size. But be careful here too: If you’re not willing to fence or cage a dwarf tree, Island deer will inevitably find it and break young branches to get at leaves and fruit, both of which they will strip in one go. Semi-dwarf trees seem more attractive overall for the casual grower. They’ll need fencing or caging for the first few years but soon grow out of deer range. At the same time, their mid-level size makes them easily workable, assuming you’re able to climb a modest orchard ladder or stepladder.
An increasingly popular cultivation practice for apple trees is known as espalier. Rather than letting trees grow upright and spread naturally, espaliering them sends trunks and branches up and along some form of trellis, typically, these days, a series of medium-sized wires strung between poles and suspended from heavier wires. Commercial orchards in places such as the Yakima Valley seem to be moving to this practice. Initially more work (installing trellis, training the tree parts along and up it), espaliering results in a neat row easy to prune, with ample sun on the fruit and easy, open harvesting. Choose tree varieties bred for espaliering if you want to go this route. One downside to this practice on the Island: the perennial issue of keeping deer off your low-growing trees.
The next condition for successful apple-tree cultivation is choosing the right variety or varieties of tree, followed by good planting and cultivating practices. Part Two in this series will address all these conditions. Stay tuned also to hear a plea for planting a home orchard, not just one or two trees.
