Anna Apple

Sounds funny when I read the title out loud.. hah!

Bought a baby yesterday, um, 3ft tall? Straight, with some nice branching started already. Lady at the nursery said they are self-pollinating. Is this true?

Is there a special watering regimen for new fruit and nut trees? I also got two pecans, one Kiowa and one Cheyenne. My first tree planting ever, and I sure don't want to kill them.

TIA
Jennifer

Anna is considered self-fertile, but you will get better fruit production if planted near a Dorsett Golden. You didn't mention whether the trees were trees grown in their pot, bareroot, or bareroot trees that were placed in pots after they didn't sell as bareroot.

Trees that have been growing in pots can be transplanted anytime although for south and central Texas, the best time to plant trees is in the fall. The second best time is in January. That way all their energy can be directed into establishing their root system.

It is rather late for bare root trees. Planted this late, they might not get established before the how stressful summer heat arrives. You might have to provide temporary overhead shade for them this summer. Contact your local AgriLife agent for specific care recommendations for your area.

Here are some helpful links.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homefruit/pecan/pecan.html
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homefruit/apple/apple.html
http://www.gardenguides.com/89742-apple-trees-not-require-pollinators.html

Pretty good root ball, growing in dirt, in a pot. A good portion of the green leaves were lopped off, and I helped the hole with root stimulator and cotton burr compost. The pecan trees only have a coule buds, no growth, so I hope will be okay planted now.

Nursery lady said we were near the end of planting, but if I water up good, they'll do fine. This place has done me well before, and I thought about trees earlier. I was kicked in the chest by one of my horses end of year, so I have been busy healing... no planting until a few weeks ago.

Thanks for the info!

AngelSong, I do have a couple of apple trees but not Anna. I'll second bettydee's advice, Anna will fruit--but will fruit better with a pollen partner. You do not mention how much room you have or whether you are living in an area where others have fruit trees. If your neighbor has the right partner then you probably don't need to go out and buy more trees. Sometimes we get lucky that way.

I do have mature pecan trees living in my pasture. The entire property used to be a pecan orchard over fifty years ago. A previous owner lumbered all but a few and I am lucky to have several very mature pecans and am planting out a few young trees to replace the older ones when they can't go on any longer. I want to point out that pecans can get very large if left to their own devices. So my advice would be to pay attention to the spacing between the trees. When the trees are small a few feet can look like several yards but as the trees grow they can eat those feet up in a matter of years. Although your pecans may not get as large as the ones I was lucky enough to have in place in my pasture, someday they might be. I always hate to have to make a decision to cut down a large tree because it is too close to a building, another tree, the overhead lines, etc. And I don't know what you plan on doing with your pecans. The orchard guys plant closer together and then prune.

Have fun with your new trees. I hope you are eating your own apples and feeding the cores to your horse in no time! =)

You've probably got all kinds of pecan trees in your area, but here's an idea of how big a pecan can get someday depending on variety--just in case. This photo was meant to show someone one of our fencing projects, but you get the idea.



This message was edited Mar 18, 2011 7:45 AM

Here's another photo, both trees in the foreground are pecans. They can really spread out and form a nice canopy!

All three trees are appropriately spaced, as I paid close attention to the labels, and measure. =) got it covered!

They're still hanging out. None are showing outwards growth signs yet, but I suspect rooting and adjusting.

The pecans are always the last to leaf out at my place. DH always tells me they are dead at least three times before they start showing any signs of life LOL!

Terri, What do you mean feed the apple cores to the horses? What's wrong with eating them yourself. It's all good healthy food and thats why we have molars to chew. Don

LOL, Dlmcgrw! The horses I had would have expected the core as their royal due!

In Georgia the commercial growers typically plant on half-spaces, then remove every other tree as they mature. Economically the value of the extra nuts far exceeds the cost of the individual trees. I don't suppose you're doing it for the money, but of you want quantities of nuts sooner and have the cash up front, you may want to consider that option. You'd of course need to be planting at least three trees and have the space for two mature trees to make it work for you.

-Rich

I have a dwarf Anna in my front yard that is about 5-6 yrs old (it's the only one I have) and produced the largest apples ever this year. You need to thin the apples down to no more than 3-4 to a cluster, fewer as it gets later in the blooming season, as the summer heat speeds up ripening.

WOW!

How tall did it get, frogymom?

That's soo gawgeous! Can't wait for mine to do that!

It's about 6'-6.5' and about 7' around. Didn't do a very good job of pruning the 1st couple of years, so I probably have too many stems near the base, but it's doing well, so why complain?

Wow! It's super pretty!

They make better cooking apples than eating ones early in the season, but do sweeten up later, though they lose some of their crispness. My grandson loves them straight from the tree.

On Pecans: Im in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. We have 120 year old pecan trees that are very large and beautiful. (also extremely messy and we never get pecans to eat - they drop green or half eaten by squirrels)
Speaking of which, the squirrels seem to get more fruit than we do on our newly planted apples and on an old apricot tree. Any suggestions other than black netting?
thanks

Dansdorf, Bait station and poison grain. No secondary kill and only the squirrels enter the bait station. I hate to kill the cute little suckers but they can do a major amount of damage in an orchard. Available at almost any nursery and Lowes or Home Depot. The netting won't help you. They can solve almost any entry problem you can present them with. Don