Useful Horticultural Information
Links and Other Apple Information
What We Offer
Custom-Grafted Apple Trees
At Big Horse Creek Farm we
offer custom-grafted antique and heirloom apple trees. With just a simple click of the
mouse, you can select from hundreds of wonderful old apple varieties. We will graft your
selection on your choice of dwarf or semi-dwarf rootstock, raise it in our nursery
through
the summer, and ship it to you in the
fall as a strong, healthy one-year-old tree. (Note:
All requests must be received by March 1st in order to receive your trees the following
fall. See How To Order)
(Fig. 1) Rootstock (bottom left)
and Scion (top left) before grafting.
Completed Graft (right).
We
currently maintain a collection of more than 350 different varieties of apple trees
on our farm and nursery. With our ongoing searches, our collection of apples increases
every year, so should you be looking for a variety not on our list, please contact us. In addition,
we can graft apple trees from cuttings you provide to us - from a backyard favorite to a
homestead heirloom. We can advise you as to the procedures for obtaining cuttings, or
scions, from your tree.
For detailed
information on collecting and shipping scionwood to us for custom-grafting see
Useful Horticultural Information.
(Fig. 2) One-year-old Whips
prior to shipping
When you receive your trees,
they will be one-year-old unbranched whips approximately two to three feet tall. (See
photo above) They are shipped bare-rooted in a dormant state, ready for immediate
transplanting. (Notice the well-developed root systems).
The following spring after transplanting, the trees will develop luxuriant
foliage and start to acquire their first set of lateral, or scaffold, branches. With
proper care, by summer's end your trees will be four to five feet tall with a fully
developed set of three to five scaffold branches. Fertilize and lime
your trees (if necessary) according
to the enclosed planting guide and you can expect to harvest your first apples in about
three to five years. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.