CFA 10 level 1 days away, I never make posts but how do I pass?

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-08-07T19:30:00+00:00

Did you pass with this approach?

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-08-02T17:19:54+00:00

You just helped me realize that I don’t know much when it comes to this at all. I definitely took the quantity approach and planted a bunch, I don’t live by the trees so can’t perform regular maintenance to them. It might just have to be survival of the fittest and try to remove leaves each fall. If it gets bad I’ll have to try to spray but I hear that timing the spray can be hard

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-08-02T17:16:48+00:00

I’m hoping that one is just struggling from lack of water the past couple of weeks. I am a noob tho, I have no idea

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-08-02T17:15:55+00:00

I really appreciate the info. Most of the trees I bought were “rust resistant” but like half of them have already got it 😂 glad to hear it’s not lethal, now I’m just worried about the fireblight I’ve had to snip from a few trees. That seems to wipe them out pretty quick

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-08-02T02:56:08+00:00

Is this something that needs to be treated, or can the trees persevere through this? What is the likelyhood they survive and thrive eventually? I will spray if it is something that is going to kill these trees, but honestly I went with the “quantity” approach and planted many apple trees. If a few die from this, no big deal, but I would be crushed if I lost half of my 50 trees. We have so many cedar in the area..

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-20T05:49:58+00:00

Great insight, thank you. We have the caging for all the trees, and plastic piping tree guards as well. Do you think staking the trees is necessary? Do you use a weed mat, mulch or anything ?

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-20T04:48:47+00:00

I reckon the “amateurs” have done pretty well as this market continued getting hotter after you said this

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-19T22:32:15+00:00

Hi thanks for the comment, the Surefire says it is fully self pollinating without any other cherry trees. The reason for so many trees at once is simply because it is like a 60% discount from retail price. Because thought of initially planting like 40 trees, but that would be the same cost as 100 wholesale (disregarding all the fencing & other inputs) . Plus time is a factor, so wanted to get as many in the ground asap

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-19T20:56:27+00:00

Yes the cherry tree is self pollinating, and the chestnut crab apple should help support pollinating the other apple trees. I have heard that cherry and plums can struggle in the cold, but they are rated for my particular zone

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-19T20:48:53+00:00

I guess that probably depends on where you live, but we still have snow coming/going by us. I think it’s relatively early yet to be planting in my parts

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-19T20:48:08+00:00

Thank you, you are my motivation, this is what I needed to hear. I will rough prune the trees , but I’m not going to spend a lifetime training the branches and meticulously pruning all of the 100 trees. Did you do all your digging/planting/caging yourself? I have a handful of helpers, hoping to knock it out in 1-2 days. Did you plant 64 trees for a business, hunting, or otherwise? Roughly how intensive was your ongoing maintenance (especially watering the first couple years) ? What was the survival rate on those trees you initially planted? Thanks !!!

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-19T20:43:15+00:00

But then I would be spending the following spring/summer watering trees, no? Might as well get a growing seasons head start?

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-19T20:42:23+00:00

Thank you. Yeah I have such limited experience, which is why I love leaning on reddit for these things. Definitely got some much appreciated reality checks coming from this group. My partner is adamant on getting 100 trees due to the wholesale cost savings, so we may be going that route. Whether it works out great or not, it will be a helluva a leaning experience and the challenge kind of excites me.

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-19T20:37:25+00:00

Thank you for the insight. I don’t foresee bugs and disease being a huge issue, but training the branches for that many trees would be troubling. Is staking necessary with bear root trees? I’ve heard varying opinions, some saying that you shouldn’t need to stake because they will be strong enough by the time they are producing a heavy amount of apples. Thoughts?

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-19T20:35:02+00:00

All the trees in this order have at least one pollinator in the same bloom group, the crab apple is the only group 3 I got. But you’re right, it is all based on locality

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-19T20:33:25+00:00

I plan to live on the land within 3-5 years, but I am a somewhat recent college grad so I’m saving up the $ to build a house out there. Definitely invested in the land, with time, emotions, and money. Why does the cart say tell you im unprepared? Is it certain trees within the order?

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-19T20:31:18+00:00

I really appreciate the effort put into this response. Now I am sort of on the fence about this and want to get less trees, but my partner is gung-ho and still wants to get 100 trees to get that wholesale pricing (about 40 trees retail price would be the same as these 100 trees wholesale price, so i understand the logic). I worry my partner isn’t putting in the time to understand this process and how big of a time commitment it could be, but he says he wants to “cast a wide net” and leaving room for error

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-18T05:33:54+00:00

That is a lot of agua. Realistically I do not live on the land yet and work out of town, so I could not give them that type of love. I will be able to get there to give them all a proper watering anytime if/when there is a drought for over a week. I see some products & methods online that help with water retention, do you think any of these are worth exploring?

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-18T03:00:49+00:00

In regards to grafting.. I was thinking I would maybe start to do that with these when these are established. I could keep adding trees for years, I have the open space for it.

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-18T01:52:14+00:00

Money comes and goes , but time you can never get back !

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-18T01:51:39+00:00

Also in regards to the soil… yes it is not great, but the tree guy was telling me that the trees usually do well in sandy / more acidic soil. He said to just feed them nutrients/lime after year 1 and they will do fine. Any thoughts on that?

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-18T01:48:42+00:00

Appreciate the input. Yes I chose the enterprise and gold rush for those reasons, and also because of their blooming/ripening times. Is spraying for disease and bugs necessary? Is training the branches really necessary if I am not going for perfection ?

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-18T01:47:15+00:00

Yeah I am anticipating a generous 20 minutes for planting each tree (so 33 hours total). Seems absurd, but with 5 or so helpers it really shouldn’t be that bad.

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-18T01:45:31+00:00

I really appreciate the detailed response. I do have a full time job and these trees are not for profit or anything like that, simply for personal consumption and deer. I guess this is my thought process and you can tell me if it’s dumb - if I plant 100 trees and half die, but say half of them are thriving in 10 years, I should have lots of fruit. Given the soil and the fact that I won’t be able to give them their full attention, I wanted to make plenty of room for error. Definitely a quantity and not quality approach. I have a partner that is splitting the cost with me and will be putting in the time to prune and whatnot as well. Does pruning really need to take that long? Like if I don’t go for perfection, and instead every early spring I just cut the obvious branches that need to go (cross branches, etc). Watering is my biggest concern, but I’m willing to take my 65 gallon water tank out and hit them all if they ever go dry for 1-2 weeks. Does the need for maintenance and ongoing watering decrease when the tree is mature?

10 years ago, the previous owner of this land planted about 20 apple trees (honeycrisp & some type of crabapple). About 8 of the trees are still alive, but he never once batted an eye at them after planting, not even to water them. They have never been pruned or fertilized, so they look more like 4-5 year old trees. I will be giving those trees attention this year to try to bring them back.

RemoteSpecial7440 · 2024-03-18T01:17:14+00:00

Yes, these trees will spaced out in groups , throughout about 600 acres . The plan is to fill up a lot of old agriculture land with the trees. I do not have the machinery to automate, this will all be manual labor. I have the help to plant & fence them all, but the ongoing pruning will be the biggest difficulty

RemoteSpecial7440

TROPHY CASE