AKApples

09/03/2026

Time to protect the apple trees against voles in the winter. I use either DeWitt white fabric tree wrap or hardware cloth.

09/03/2026

Time to start preparing the trees for winter. Most people know about moose, but there are other things that can affect trees during winter. Voles are a big menace and deadly. They tunnel under the snow and chew the bark all the way around and the tree will die.

Two things I use to protect against this are DeWitt white fabric tree wrap, and hardware cloth. They’ve never chewed through the wrap on any tree I’ve had, and of course can’t chew through hardware cloth mesh. We have voles but I’ve never lost a tree to them in 25 years of growing apple trees.

Hardware cloth is pretty much full proof, you can’t chew through metal. The fabric wrap has an added bonus in that it protects young trees against sun scald (late winter the warm sun draws sap up the trunk, but the night temperatures are still well below freezing so the sap is trapped and splits the trunk).

09/02/2026

I hand pollinated Rescue and Trailman apple blossoms this spring with specific pollen so I know both seed and pollen parents. Apples are marked now just in case they drop.

09/02/2026

This spring I did not hand pollinate a lot of apples but concentrated primarily on Rescue and Trailman as seed parents. Most are growing well, and since apples are starting to drop it’s time to mark the apples. If I find one on the ground I need to know if I pollinated it, or a bee did. Looking forward to harvesting the seeds later this month.

And…..I should have some open pollinated seeds to send out to those who want to grow, just like the past few years.

08/29/2026

Apple seedling Rescue OP25-1 getting ready for winter

08/29/2026

This is encouraging to see. One of my seedlings staged to be planted this year already has its leaves changing, preparing to drop them and get ready for winter. A good sign that this seedling knows it needs to prepare early, and won’t be growing too late into fall. I hope this translates into an early ripening apple that tastes good. Time will tell. Apple seedling currently called Rescue OP 25-1 grafted on to G890 rootstock.

08/24/2026

8 grafted seedlings have made it into the ground over the past few days. So far they have all been open pollinated seedlings, but a few of my crosses will soon be added. Nice to finally see the seedling trial rows taking shape. Hoping these take off and maybe in 2-3 years we’ll have some new apples showing up!

08/23/2026

Trailman apples still a few weeks away from being ripe. Crunchy, very juicy, extremely flavorful. You’ll never find an apple like this in a grocery store.

08/23/2026

Trailman is one of my favorite eating apples being grown here (the other being Viking). They taste unlike any grocery store apple I’ve ever had. Crunchy, very juicy (runs down your chin), extremely flavorful (I call it concentrated fruit punch).

They are very hardy and reliable (I’ve never had a year they didn’t produce anything). They will actually keep for awhile once picked (about a month if refrigerated).

They usually ripen mid September here in Wasilla although everything is late this year so they may be a little later. They can be prone to splitting with excessive rain (like tomatoes and cherries) but that one drawback is minimal compared to the taste these little apples pack.

They do produce lots of seeds so a very good choice to grow from seed in trying to breed new cold hardy apples.

08/20/2026

https://youtu.be/80dkYKwJPv4?si=BIg9nKXoUJHc5Tbd

A pretty neat video…..

Every apple you've ever eaten: every Pink Lady, Fuji, Granny Smith,...