Posco I would love to go back up your way. I used to hunt in Oxbow . Takes about 10 hours to drive. I have two wild pear trees already and I have planted five white oak and 11 hickory. Plus 6 blueberry bushes. I don't have much land 2 acres. But I like seeing wildlife from the camp window throughout the year. Thanks for all the info. I will check into the Russian root stock. My soil is clay and wet .

Plant pears and late apple varieties. Cage them or don’t bother planting them.

If
you want to have some real fun, plant peaches and watch the new fawns eat them when they drop.

Most of the tree tubes I see are 2-3 footers. Fleet Farm has some 6-7 foot trees for only $20 each and they're marked A and B so you know you're getting good cross pollinators if you get some of each. Would you guys that have grown trees where yhey would get nipped off recommend a tube on the bottom to protect from rodents and wire fencing around the tree up to the top to protect it?

I'd love to get some started by my deer stand up in northern Wisconsin.

We have to put a wire fence around our new Apple trees or the deer will mow them off.

https://www.forestry-suppliers.com/product_pages/products.php?mi=16231&itemnum=17142&title=Protex® Pro/Gro Solid Tube Tree Protectors
these are what I got.

https://www.forestry-suppliers.com/product_pages/products.php?mi=16231&itemnum=17142&title=Protex® Pro/Gro Solid Tube Tree Protectors
forestry suppliers

Thanks minklessinpa, I imagine a guy would still need to fence it off to protect the top from being eaten by deer. I had a small area fenced off in my food plot this year to measure the growth against what was being browsed, and even that fence got knocked over so they could eat what was inside. Grated, that was only 3' high chicken wire and it was only held in with a few small bamboo stakes.

I fence mine also.it'll deter the deer, I just gotta figure out how to deter them bears!

Do the bears go after the young trees, or is it only an issue once they have fruit? A guy would almost need to set up an electric fence to keep bears out I would think.

had one decide to use a blue tube as a back scratcher. didn't do my pear tree and good.!

https://www.wildlifegroup.com

This is where I buy mine. Not far from where I live. They have different species that drop at different times. I've bought pears, apples, and crab apples from them. In my opinion, you are better off buying old time pear or apple trees. I've found that a lot of these hybrids don't drop their fruit unless you shake the tree. Had some pear trees slap full of pears and they all rotted on the tree without dropping. Crab apples did the same thing.

Would the pear trees do well in northern MN. Or is to cold of weather hard on them?

We have a few here in west centeral part of the state but don't know how they would fair farther north. Suggest you do some research to see if they have anything for up nort.

Fence out away from the trees branches all the way around. I use 4 T posts ane2x3" wire 5' high, tube around base from fall till spring.

Don't forget the coyotes either! Some of my most productive places to catch yotes have been in orchards!

Fruit tree management is very different from hardwood tree management. With fruit trees you want to encourage lateral branching. If you are planting whips, tree tubes might work for a very short while.

Tree tubes are for hardwood trees where you want the tree to grow out of the tube before branching. Tubes work great for that use.

For fruit trees planted for wildlife the best method is to wrap the trunks with a white spiral tree guard from the soil level up to the first lateral branch. Then construct a cage around the tree using fence material that is 2” x 3” at least 60” tall. Use four steel T posts to support the wire. When windy, no part of the tree should rub against the wire.

I have planted more than 1,000 fruit trees and many more hardwoods and conifers. I recommend doing it right or don’t bother.

Thanks Willy Firewood for the advice.

These guys grow great trees that withstand harsh winters .... They have a new owner now and did not offer the wildlife apple tree package this year ..... I was told it will be available next year ....

Haraldson for your climate and weather. They take a licking and keep on living! You can purchase them about at any nursery. And its one of the few trees that can breed true so you can plant their apple seeds in your garden and some (not all) will have genes like their parent(s). You can transplant your own seedlings 2 years later and should have apples 4 years after that. Hardy wildlife apple tree.

Thanks, Wife.