Introduce Yourself

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Will_D
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 2:15 pm

Introduce Yourself

Post by Will_D »

Hi, What a great resource for apples!

My name is Will and I have just planted 30 'ish apples around my rugby club; Malahide RFC, Malahide Co. Dublin.

I got two packs from Adams Apples in Kent for the club: 10 Cider apples and 10 of the long seasson selection. He selected the varities given my location/climatic details.

Also 10 or more year old seedlings from home grown pips, plus about a dozen or so of pears ( from Lidl )

I will register details later on the site as I see that Ireland is a bit short of database entries.

Also have a few more varities at home.

I am a member of the Irish Craft Beer Association [ www.beoir.org ] and we have an active cider making section.

I am interested ( read nerddy ) about growing apples and hops, and the technolgy involved ( grafting/budding/stoolin rootstocks etc ).

Cheers for now

Will

Ps: On Beoir we have a thread called "Introduce Yourself" - hence this new thread. I searched for one here but couldn't find one. If there is one already then can the mods sort me out!
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PA_Docent
Posts: 187
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:07 am
Location: Orange Park, FL United States

Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by PA_Docent »

Welcome to Orange Pippin. I am jealous you are able to plant so many trees. I have only one hectar here in S. Pennsylvania and my property is almost full with 14 apples (3 of them cidre), three plums, two quince, two pears, three peach, and two cherries. I could probably get another 8 trees in but then I would have to rid myself of my beloved currants, gooseberries, blueberries, and strawberries. Cheers! Mike
Calville Blc,Hewes,Nehou,Fearns P,Siberian,Cox OP,Spitz,Ananas Reinette,BdB,Kingston Blk,Tremlett's,Muscat de Bernay,Ashmead's,Rambo,Stayman,Macoun,Jefferis,Winesap,Red Berlepsch
dmtaylor
Posts: 58
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:12 pm

Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by dmtaylor »

Will_D, it's good to see another craft beer and cider enthusiast on here. I'm what you call a certified beer nerd, and I've got the BJCP beer judge card and homebrewing forum pedigree to prove it! I've brewed just about every style in the book over the past 13 years. I've got some old hop plants -- they are fun and very easy to grow.

So anyway, as far as the rest of us on Orange Pippin.com are concerned, hello, I'm Dave Taylor, an intermediate level sort of apple nerd, living in downtown Two Rivers, Wisconsin, USA, near Lake Michigan. In my life I have tasted roughly 60 or 70 varieties of apples in search of the really good ones. Most are bland and uninteresting, but some are unique and I enjoy searching for the perfect apple.

I planted 3 dwarf apples in 2010 and now I just planted a dwarf sweet cherry this spring. I have been hovering over my trees non-stop since planting them, training and pruning them to perfection. Obviously with only 3 or 4 dwarf trees, this is a simple task, but I find it to be an entertaining and educational hobby nonetheless. This should be the first year that they all fruit, God willing. I have tried grafting six more varieties onto my apple trees using the stephenhayesuk saddle graft method (see his page on YouTube for details). I am most interested in cidermaking and am currently trying Foxwhelp and Kingston Black, which I figure are the best ones for my needs and my climate. Also added some Dolgo Crabs which seem to be growing nicely.

I'm also playing around with raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, tomatoes, peas, and pumpkins this year, as well as my lilacs, a silver maple, and a box elder. I am literally playing around with these because I have really no idea what I'm doing and haven't bothered to obsess over any of these plants yet like I have with the fruit trees.

So that's me in a nutshell. I'm hopeful that we hear from many more of you "apple nerds" or novices or whatever the case may be. Happy apple hunting/growing!
Greyt.Chase
Posts: 77
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 12:29 pm
Location: Mid Michigan

Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by Greyt.Chase »

Hello! My name is Jeff. I'm from the Mid-Michigan area, close to Saginaw. I've been interested in apples for a few years, but only planted this year. I wanted to at my old house, but two 75-100ft maple trees in a city lot didn't allow me to do that. Now that i'm in a new place, I have the space. In March, I planted six heirloom trees on MM111 rootstock. They are budding out nicely right now and getting some leaves.

I like craft beer as well and Michigan is one of the top states in the USA for craft beer. With Bell's, Founders, Jolly Pumpkin, and TONS of other fantastic brewers. Not too far from here is JK's Scrumpy, which is a hard cider made from organic apples.

Michigan is also a big producer of apples. Within a 30 minute drive, I could get to probably 10 different orchards. It makes it a bit easier to get fresh apples and try lots of different varieties.
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PA_Docent
Posts: 187
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:07 am
Location: Orange Park, FL United States

Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by PA_Docent »

I am Mike and have lived all over the USA. For the last 1.5 years in southern PA and plan on staying here. My parents took us to the apple orchards in MA and NH when I was a child where I immediately started enjoying apples - mainly Jonathon, Macs, Golden Delicious. I have eaten apples ever since. When I moved to PA, I decided to start a home orchard. My first year I planted five apples, two peach, one quince, one plum, and one cherry. This year I planted another nine apples and added six more fruit trees. Five apples are for making cider/vinegar and the remainder will be for eating, baking, etc as well as additives for my cider.

My cider apples include Tremlett's Bitter, Muscat de Bernay, Kingston Black, Hewes Virginia Crab, and Nehou. Only the last two were planted last year. I am waiting on all of them, except for the crab, to start flowering. Every day when I return from work (Engineer) and all weekend I go around from tree to tree and marvel at the daily changes in the buds, growth, form. Several of my apples flowered for the first time this year and I have been busy hand pollinating them. I am anxious to try my Calville Blanc and Ananas Reinette this year. I am starting to compile data for what may possibly become an apple book in the future.

I also have an organic garden, and currants. gooseberries, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries growing on my land. I have to get busy in the yard today before it rains. That's all for now so happy orcharding!
Calville Blc,Hewes,Nehou,Fearns P,Siberian,Cox OP,Spitz,Ananas Reinette,BdB,Kingston Blk,Tremlett's,Muscat de Bernay,Ashmead's,Rambo,Stayman,Macoun,Jefferis,Winesap,Red Berlepsch
redzzed
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2011 3:35 pm

Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by redzzed »

Hi all , dave here , a gardener on an estate in oxfordshire england .

I have access to an abandoned orchard containing some very old apple trees , some pear trees , and some plum trees.Also on the estate we have about 10 apple trees , 6 plum trees , many cherry trees and some quince and crab apple ,as well as gooseberry redcurrant and black currant and rhubarb .

Of the apple tree types we have identified .
Cox
Bramley
Blenheim orange
Charles ross
Boskoop
Jonathon
Russett
Lane prince albert
Laxton superb .
many of the trees are rotten or full of holes , most have lichen growing on the branches , which is a sign of clean air i beleive .There are about 10 dead trees .
This year most of the cox/boskoop/bramley appear to have no apples at all after some years of very good crops .
JeffNH
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:27 am

Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by JeffNH »

I suppose I shoud do that :) I'm interested in setting up a decent sized orchard once we have bought up some land. We're in New Hampshire (Easter US) pretty much a tossup between zone 4-6 depending on what part of the state and what garden (lots of micro-climate).

Main motivation is probably going to be eaters - but as a home brewer I'm also thinking decent cyder and maybe perry as well.
robert5521
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:43 am

Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by robert5521 »

Hello
I am newly registered to the site and happy to join a community of apple lovers. My name is Rob and together with my wife Esme, purchased a four acre apple orchard in south-western Ontario (near Simcoe if you know the area) in 2006. For the past years the 150 or so trees have been maintained by a local grower / neighbour but that arrangement ended last year when new owners took over last spring. This past season (2012) was a write-off due to the spring weather so that we had no apples to speak of. For the past year we have been building a home on the property (sadly had to sacrifice 40 trees) and are now looking forward to more hands-on management of the orchard. Needless to say we are looking for all the best advise and guidance we can find from more experienced orchard owners. We currently have Paula Reds, Macs and Spys. I'm interested also in cider and perry (maybe brandy?). We're plannning on vegetable and flower gardens, raspberry and maybe some other fruit trees as well. I think we are going to be very busy!
rickg
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:46 pm

Re: Introduce Yourself

Post by rickg »

Hi, newbie from Pa. Have been planting apples off and on for 30 some years on my 66 acres. Have had some sucesses and failures and always looking to learn more. Have just started to graft (should have started years ago) with one sucessful graft out of 4 last year. Have been watching youtube and have learned a great deal about what I did wrong last year. Most of my plantings for been for wildlife with a leaning towards antique apples.

Rick
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