Saturday, April 17, 2010


Last Saturday (4/10/2010) me and 38 or so MassAggie attendees planted an apple 'fruiting wall' at Brooksby Farm in Peabody. After a morning indoor primer, and when the sky was just clearing we went out and dug a trench, planted 25 apple trees -- 5 Novaspy, 5 Novamac, 5 Liberty, 5 Topaz, and 5 Autumn Rose Fuji at between-tree spacings that ranged from 2 to 4 feet. All the trees were on the dwarf apple rootstock Budagovsky 9 (B.9. ) and were supplied by Adams County Nursery. Just before lunch we limed and fertilized the trees, and just after lunch built a support system consisting of end- and line-posts, and conduit. I should say here that trees planted 2-ft. apart are going to be trained to the super-spindle, 3-ft. apart tall spindle, and 4-ft. apart to a hybrid tall-spindle/vertical axis. So much was all explained to the MassAggie attendees with the hope that they would plant their own 'fruiting wall' and benefit from home-grown apples. Indeed, I had some extra trees available and they were all asked for by the end of the session! And thanks to the Brooksby Farm staff -- Pat, Joann, and Brian(?) -- for their help during the planting. I hope to repeat this successful MassAggie Seminar next spring in western Massachusetts. For more information on this kind of hi-density home orchard planting, see this publication by Duane Greene of UMass. JC