Some crabs are in blossom in Southern Kentucky! You can see those blossoms on the fresh growth that occurred last year! We are still some time away from blossoms here in central Pennsylvania.
This is a good representation of pollination. I have watched and documented many more fruit trees than we sell here at www.bluehillwildlifenursery.com Within a given species of trees, bloom will occur for about two weeks, and there is some overlap from early to late blossoming trees. This can be seen when looking at Big Dog, which is starting to cast some petals in the picture, and a very late tree, like Turning Point, opening up.
When planting different species, you will get the most diversity in blooms. Pears will pop and blossom for two weeks before the apple family, and persimmons will flower many weeks after the apple family.
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I get a little eccentric in this video. Still, I'm focusing on pounding down the proper pears at the right time, a great attraction as the natural cold storage occurs in late October through November—pears like Sweet Advent, Hunter's Deer, Harvest, Kieffer, and Korean Giant. They get that natural cold storage and become very sweet. When this happens, everyone in the wildlife community is on the pears! I use pears more on the dessert side of things, like Marble Hill, Luscious, JackPot, and Seckel, to feed on the earlier side of things(September through October). I should say what these specific trees are grafted to: That root is Betulaefolia. Root stock is so essential when planting for wildlife, and this is a stock with a lot of horsepower behind it will push that tree up into 30″+ and allow us to double-crop with some clover and chicory below. bluehillwildlifenursery.com/product-category/pear-trees-for-sale/
youtu.be/YPFlTip11BA?si=1E6iOp4Y5ofL2X1-
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Sometimes, you just miss them. The picture of the shed is from a week ago, yet it's a horn that would have fallen off this buck in this picture from 2021, a buck I was fortunate to harvest in 2023 as six and a half years old.
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Wes Delks stopped in a few weeks ago to get his and Don's tree orders. I had some great conversation hearing and seeing the strategies Wes had for his new property and the fruit trees.
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Do deer eat those quarter-size crabs that like to persist on the tree into winter? If you were my neighbor, I might tell you no, but in reality, yes, they do, as you can see in the pics. Under the tree, the snow is packed down so much that it's turned into ice, so much that a deer can't make another track. It's much easier to see the amount of tracks leading to the tree in the fresh snow.
We are only looking at one tree mature tree in these pictures, so I have been establishing specific orchards on my property with very late food sources. These food sources are in the form of soft mast. These specific orchards are not done with seedling trees but grafted trees, so I know what they will do for me. There are lots of grafted varieties at www.bluehillwildlifenursery.com that I like to utilize, such as Winter Crabarina, Big Lou, Sonofcal, and Buckman, when looking at crabs. In Pears, Winter Deer, pear fits the same bill. When looking at crabs, Winter Crabarina would be my go-to in my location as in my 9 years of having this crabapple tree, I have never seen it fail to set a crop. Alternating others for pollination makes a perfect deer destination this time of year. I know Winter Crabarina is falling for you guys in the deep south in November and December, but I'm writing this for my location and those north of the 40.
Having food fall from above on top of that snow is a premium food source in the north. Aside from feeding deer and many other animals, antlers falling off is right around the corner and is already happening in many places. One of my top 3 three things to do in this world is to hunt for shed antlers with my family. It's a giant easter egg hunt that we all get excited about!
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Late season soft past that is persisting on the tree? They will find a way to get it!
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I want to think these 2-year-old Ed's crazy won the contest for the biggest trees grown this year, but everything is huge! The trees also have roots that go with the tree so that you see good growth this planting season. There is not much in my picture for comparison, but that drain is 6'', and the ceiling is 10' 6'' on the new building. I updated some numbers on the website at www.bluehillwildlifenursery.com Some trees that were previously sold out are back in stock! Please feel free to hit the share button and post this somewhere where others looking to feed some wildlife can see it.
Theres going to be a nice window for us to be able to ship to the south this coming Monday and Tuesday. If you have ordered and want your trees before spring write to at ryan@bluehillwildlifenursery.com
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I have posted about this tree in the past. The crabapple makes more fruit than leaves. These pics are from October 28th, 2024. This past year, we grafted a small number of 200 of the tree, now named Happy Valley, to be two-year-old selects that will go for sale this coming summer. The name gives this tree's location away if you have ever been to Penn State.
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