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Josh is helping me rewrite the descriptions of this tree, as he gave Rd Kill Crabapple a chance and pushed it colder. A year with some great low temps, like -39 in upper Wisconsin, and this young Rd Kill planted a year ago came out pushing hard.
I love feedback like this, and if you have any, please write me at ryan@bluehillwildlifenursery.com
It doesn't need to be that you pushed a tree's cold hardiness a few zones past where I had it. How trees are doing in a specific region, dropping, etc are all great information that helps me help others in their plantings in specific regions to meet their specific goals.
Tree sales will tentatively start the first week in August. It's going to be the same as in years past: trees don't ship at that time, but you can select a time from the calendar at checkout.
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A few pics of the original Buckman Crab growing in Central Minnesota that I did not get a chance to share last year. The pics are from November 20th, and it's not hard to see why there would be some scrapes, as there are no crabs within the deer's reach, and the rest will be falling, providing them with a food source over the next several months through winter.
As you look through www.bluehillwildlifenursery.com, there is a reason there are so many options, as not every tree is ideal for every region. Buckman is a tree that belongs north of the 40, a tree that is going to feed during those winter months, a tree that does not spit off a bunch of fruit in the early years, but a tree you look at later and think, I should have stuck a few more in the ground. If you click on a tree size, you can sign up for an email alert; trees will go for sale in August.
Late Dropping - Buckman Crab Crabapple - Blue Hill Wildlife Nursery
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Primetime™ partially self-fertile? Sure looks to be partially! I don't always get to plant my trees on time; I planted this dormant tree a month after the apples had blossomed in my area, but as a stand-alone tree, she popped some crabapples.
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Sweet Advent Pear thriving in southern Indiana on John Trout's property.
This tree has some size to it, as I had given it to John some years before I released the tree to the public. He had a significant amount of fire blight on his property, making it a great place to test it. This pear has been falling mid-to-late October at his location.
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A video that I wanted to post, so we could look at it in a few years, or better yet, watch some trail cameras on it as I added Soft mast not falling during the hunting season into the diversity pockets of switchgrass. My pockets do have a lot of good stuff on the ground, but if I can add some more falling from above and make them excel, I will. I did not plant anything that would be dropping during October, November, or December, and focused on planting trees that would be dropping before or after those times. 150 yards from where I'm standing, I have a 50-tree orchard that only has fruit falling during October, November, and December, a time I may be there in a stand. I have learned that having food when no one else does definitely brings in a lot of deer, but I have also learned that preferred bedding has food to stand up and eat for lunch, since no one is heading to a destination plot and everyone wants to fill their gut deer bed where they can do so in my region.
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I had 34 tillable acres on this property, and I don't need them, as I would rather bed more deer and feed them at specific times (leafy browse all summer). When playing the numbers game, I have had much better success when keeping them hidden. You can see in the first two pics some Hazelnut and Gray Dogwood establishing well within established switchgrass. The switch is my protection, as these are preferred browse for the deer on my property.
Hannah is pictured as we added some Switchgrass to the disturbed soil in the rows we planted this spring that did not have any Switchgrass already growing. We planted Hazelnut, Gray Dogwood, Arrowwood Viburnum, Persimmons, wild plums, and wild crabapples. All plants that, if they get the chance to set roots down this year, will take some browsing, sucker back more, and come back stronger next year. We also mixed in some white spruce, Pitch x Loblolly, White pine, and Norway at specific locations for that thermal cover. 13 acres now look like a checkerboard with preferred browse and cover.
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Striped June falling in Kentucky! Good enough to put in a bucket and take into the house, or hang a camera and start seeing what's around. Definitely a dual-purpose apple that is clean and dependable. You will be dropping soft mast first in your area with this tree here in PA; it will drop the last week in June. bluehillwildlifenursery.com/product/striped-june-apple/
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A planting from DCNR on top of the mountain in Potter County, Pennsylvania, aka God's country, State Forest, and the poorest soil in our state. I said before that I was pleased, or hats off to the effort that Susquehannock State Forest puts into their plantings from Blue Hill Wildlife Nursery, and these pics show just that! Great Job! I appreciate the business and, most of all, your efforts so that this orchard will feed wildlife for generations.
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A few pictures of Turning Point that I needed to remove fruit from the central leader. I'm sure many have noticed that Turning Point is in a flowering group all of its own, as it is later than late, and even here in June, I could still go cut dormant scion wood from trees that have been in the ground for some years. Turning Point checks all the boxes for planting North of the 40, great drop time, fantastic production, and is in the upper echelon for disease resistance.
Late Season Apple - Turning Point™ Crab - Blue Hill Wildlife Nursery
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