During our recent small fruit plant sale, we successfully sold a variety of apple trees, offering at least five distinct cultivars: Wolf River, Liberty, Freedom, Crimson Crisp, and Honeycrisp. We recommend that you plant your trees as soon as possible. In the packet accompanying your order, you will find essential plant care information tailored to the specific varieties you purchased.

As I personally spent time planting my own apple trees over the past few days, I was inspired to write an informative article on best practices for planting apple trees. Stay tuned for helpful tips and guidance on ensuring your trees thrive.

You should have purchased two varieties as apples require at least two different varieties as they are not self-fertile. In order to achieve the highest quality fruit, cross-pollination needs to occur. All of the varieties sold should bloom at the same time to increase your chances of cross pollination. If you are looking for more information, refer to our Small Fruit Plant Sale page.

The first step with any planting, no matter what you plant, is site selection. Fruiting plants require full sun, meaning 8 plus hours at a minimum. They also need good drainage, very few plants like wet feet (oversaturated roots). Apples like a pH of around 6.0 to 7.0. This allows for the maximum nutrient uptake. Apple trees can be planted from late fall to early spring. The most important thing to remember when planting apple trees is to dig the hole approximately twice the diameter of the root system and at least 2 feet deep. That’s a big hole to dig, but it’s worth it. With our clay soils we need to break up the compaction and allow for the roots to grow deep and out from the root ball. As the saying goes: “Don’t dig a $2 hole for a $5 dollar plant”. Once your hole is dug and ready, put some soil back in to be able to get your roots in. You should create a sort of loose mound to place and splay your roots on. Cover the roots and lightly tamp down to remove any air pockets.The goal here is to put enough soil in to have your graft union at least 2 inches above the soil line. This is to ensure no roots emerge from the scion. All apple trees sold are grafted onto Crabapple rootstock. This is done to give Apples a number of resistances and hardiness for our area. Any roots coming from the scion would not be as strong as the rootstock. Refer to the image below. I probably could have gone higher myself. After planting, be sure to water thoroughly and Do Not add fertilizer at the time of planting as the tender roots can burn. Be sure to take a soil test and use that to determine fertilizer rates. We also have some information on fertilizer in the packet you got with your order.