We grow and sell a wide variety of grafted disease resistant apple trees for deer. When buying and planting apple trees for wildlife, it’s essential to select suitable varieties of apple trees. Many apple trees will be very susceptible to common apple tree disease. These diseases will limit your tree’s ability to carry fruit to maturity to drop at the proper time.

The low-maintenance, grafted apple trees we grow and sell for wildlife are genetic clones of the original tree. Grafted apple trees will be fast-growing apple trees and begin bearing fruit in 2 – 4 years. Below is a drop time chart giving you an excellent idea of when the fruit will be falling. Our apple trees will allow you to select when you want fruit falling, depending on the cultivar of the tree you choose. Many of these apple cultivars are the best trees grown for deer today! Click on the little blue box that says online shop to see each variety.

STANDARD ROOTSTOCK

The rootstock used to graft our apple trees is a standard rootstock called Malus Dolgo.  Malus Dolgo is extremely cold hardy, vigorous and certified virus-free. This rootstock is an excellent choice for wildlife trees because it produces a full-size 20′ to 30′ tree. Producing a full-sized tree for wildlife means much more fruit on a given tree. Malus Dolgo rootstock will develop deep “Real roots,” making it exceptionally well anchored, penetrating well into the subsoil, pulling up lost nutrients, and therefore making Malus Doglo rootstock very drought tolerant. Malus Dolgo is an excellent all-around rootstock for wildlife plantings.

This standard-size rootstock is adaptable to many soil types and conditions, especially when planting in less desirable locations. Therefore, with its full vigor, it can be used in areas that were wooded and are now food plots, reclaimed land, shale mountain soil, dryer uplands, and ridges. Malus Dolgo rootstock will also perform well in improved soil in an orchard-style setting. We are only grafting onto the most vigorous Malus Dolgo roots grown in a given year. When grafting onto the top 30% of seedlings grown, you get a rootstock that is about 40% more vigorous than many clonal stocks used for wildlife trees today. Malus dolgo is a crabapple rootstock and is very precocious, with many trees producing very quickly and making Malus Dolgo an all-around great rootstock for wildlife plantings.

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Purchase Details

TREE SIZE 

2-3′ ( 3/8″ dia.) These trees will have a good root system. They will be whips around 3′ high with a trunk diameter of 3/8″.

3-5′ ( 1/2” dia.) These trees will have a good root system with some possible branching but will mainly be whips. They will range in height between 3′ to 5′ with around a 1/2″ trunk diameter.

4-6′ (+ 1/2” dia.) These trees will have an extensive root system and typically have multiple branches, but many will be solid whips. They will range in height between 4′ and 6′ with a 1/2″ to 3/4″ trunk diameter.

Download Drop Time Chart

Freedom:

This grafted apple tree is one of the best apple trees for deer! Freedom is a very productive tree that produces apples a year sooner than some other very popular disease-resistant apple varieties. The tree you see pictured above is the same tree I use for my grafted trees. This Freedom apple tree is annually productive, with an abundance of apples ripening mid-September. It will be dropping from the tree in late September and continuing into October. Hardiness zones 4-8.

Arkansas Black:

A heavy-producing grafted apple tree. Arkansas Black originated in the mid-1800S in Benton County, Arkansas. The Arkansas Black apple from my farm will give you a tree with excellent disease resistance. Arkansas Black produces at a very young age. During years with high insect pressure, the Arkansas Black apple is one you can count on to give you plenty of good-tasting apples! This tree will begin dropping in late October and continue through November in the NorthEast. Hardiness zones 5-8

Enterprise:

This grafted apple tree is productive producing annually. The Enterprise apple tree has excellent disease resistance, ripens at a perfect time during October, and continues dropping into the month of November. Enterprise apple is a fast growing tree with excellent disease resistance making this a great apple tree to plant for deer. Hardiness zones 4-8

Gold Rush:

This late deer grafted apple tree is one of the latest ripening apples. Gold Rush apples ripen in late October through mid-November, yet hang well and won’t be dropping much until you receive a hard freeze.  The start of dropping typically occurs in late November through the first weeks of December.  This tree has average disease resistance, is scab immune, and is susceptible to cedar apple rust on the leaves. Gold Rush produces abundant crops of quality, excellent tasting apples! Hardiness zones 5-8

Yates:

This heavy annual producing grafted apple is really gaining popularity and living up to the recent hype!  With its “Southern Roots”, many people would think that the Yates apple isn’t a good Northern apple.  This tree is thriving well in temperatures down to -25 degrees, making this a solid zone 5 apple.  The Yates apple tree is a heavy annual producer with great taste. this late season apple tree is very resistant to common apple tree diseases. This tree has a great drop time of October, November, and continuing well into December. Hardiness zones 5-8

Canisteo:

This late dropping grafted apple tree was found growing in Steuben County, NY. This standard size apple is quite possibly the heaviest producing and latest hanging standard apple available anywhere today!  Even after many freeze/thaw cycles through mid-February, these apples in the picture aren’t rotten and were obviously receiving a lot of attention from the local deer herd!  Fruit on the ground in late winter…..invaluable!  Diseases and insect pests show no sign of affecting the huge production of this tree.  In fact, the Canisteo apple tree produces so much fruit that in January it’s hard to even see the wood on the branches. Canisteo trees begin dropping in January and continue into March. Hardiness zones 5-8