The Honeycrisp apple trees began life a cross between Macoun and Honeygold...or did it?

The University was looking to grow winter hardy cultivars with high fruit quality. The seedling was planted in 1962 at the University of Minnesota Horticultural Research Center. But the original parentage posted at the University appears to be in doubt!

DNA tests have identified that their own records were defective and the parentage is at this point in time unknown. Some authorities believe Keepsake is one of the parents. Extremely embarrassing for the university!!

Anyway. in 1974 it was approved as a possible new and exciting variety.  Honeycrisp then known as MN 1711 was tested at locations Minnesota, Michigan and New York at the Cornell Research Station in Geneva.

In 1988 the plant patent was applied for and in 1991 the apple we know as Honeycrisp was released for commercial propagation by the nurseries around the Country.  Now Honeycrisp apples are known around the World.

Honeycrisp apple trees are not self-fruitful. Trees grown from the seeds of Honeycrisp apples will be hybrids of Honeycrisp and the pollinator. In 2006, the Andersen Elementary school in Bayport petitioned for the Minnesota state legislature to make the Honeycrisp apple the state fruit; the bill was passed in May 2006.

As a result of the Honeycrisp apple's growing popularity and recognition, the government of Nova Scotia has encouraged its local orchards to significantly increase their supplies through the Honeycrisp Orchard Renewal Program. From 2005 until 2010, apple producers in Nova Scotia can substitute older apple trees with Honeycrisp trees at a subsidized rate.

A good many of the orchards in the Annapolis Valley on the Bay of Fundy have mature trees and plentiful supplies of Honeycrisps during the harvest season.

Apple growers in New Zealand's South Island are aiming to start growing Honeycrisp to supply consumers during the US off season.

Honeycrisp is an appreciably vigorous tree with a rather spreading growth habit. It seems to be well suited to a central leader training system, though the leader may need staking or some fruit removal due to early bearing.

The tree is a dependable annual bearer and has shown good precocity on dwarf rootstock.

Honeycrisp fruit is defined by an astonishingly crisp and juicy texture. Its flesh is cream colored and coarse. The flavor is sub-acid and ranges from mild and well-balanced to strongly aromatic, depending on the degree of maturity. It has consistently ranked as one of the highest quality apples in the University of Minnesota sensory evaluations.

Honeycrisp fruit has also shown excellent storage characteristics and can be kept for at least six months in refrigerated storage without atmosphere modification.

Honeycrisp apples ripen evenly and hold well on the tree. They can be harvested over an extended period or in a single picking. Honeycrisp blooms in the early to middle part of the apple flowering period. It produces viable pollen that has successfully fertilized numerous other cultivars in experimental hand pollinations.

One thing that you must not get confused with, is buying a cherry tree that does not bear fruit...????......come again??

Yep!......there are cherry trees that are 'ornamental'. They have no fruit!....they look absolutely gorgeous but will not give you a single fruit that you can eat. Don't worry though. This is a well known confusion. If you thought that a Cherry tree was a tree that had cherries, well, you're not alone...and that goes for apples as well as other fruits......but that's getting ahead of ourselves.

You just need to be aware that when you order a cherry tree, you want something that will have cherries on it!!!

And like so many of the fruits on this site, you gotta decide if you want fruits that you just pop in your mouth and munch...Oh my god!... I was there this summer...I'm drooling already!......I think I harvested 10lb if memory serves me right.....or you can do what I did, and ordered a tree that was both an eater and a cooker.

Or you want a cooking variety

Or both??

write here

Write here

Here is a great article about the origins of the Granny Smith apple from a lady by the name of Susan VanHecke. I have no idea if it's true or not but it makes really good reading.

When deciding on your dwarf fruit tree you should find a number on the description tag that comes with it. This is the hardiness zone number that is given to a plant to show to what extent the plant can withstand the cold.This number is an indicator of how cold an area will be during a winter spell. This is a major determining factor in whether a plant species can be grown and cultivated outdoors at a particular location. Think about it for a minute....you decide that you want to plant your tree in the ground and not in a container and then you realise that your tree isn't as hardy as you thought. What are you going to do, dig it up and bring it inside for the winter and plant it back in spring?
Much better if you do a bit of research into your chosen fruit tree and get one that will grow in the right situation and conditions that will bring about the optimum growth and fruit production. Probably the easiest way to find out would be to look on the internet (and sites like this one!!), but what if want to order your tree online? The next best thing to do will be to go to your local garden centre and look at the tags on their fruit trees and make a note of the hardiness zone.

There are maps that show the hardiness areas of the world and they tend to be divided up into respective countries or continents.
The USA has 10 such zones numbered from 1 to 10. Zone 1 is to the far north and zone 10 in the south. Here are all the major zones....

Imagine the scene, you have bought your tree and you have placed it where everyone can see it so that you can show your friends how 'green' you intend to be.

You say "I want to eat fruit that hasn't been sprayed with pesticides, so I decided to grow my own!. And I can grow it in such a way that the whole tree will be within easy reach, no stools or ladders for me!".

Your mate says "Wow, how will you manage to do that?"

You "Easy, this is a Dwarf type tree. They grow from 3 to 15 feet high"

Your mate "So how big will your tree grow?"

You "This tree will grow about 10 feet"

Your mate "How do you know?"

You "Erm....it said so on the label!!!!"

End of conversation.......and boy, dont you feel an idiot.

What you should have said was "See that knobbly bit on the tree just above the soil?. Well the bit above that is the actual tree and the bit below it is called the rootstock and that is the part that keeps it dwarfy".

You can buy rootstocks from reputable suppliers and 'graft' them to your tree. But this is beyond the scope of this site (although I may just write a piece on how to do this at a later date). Rather, I prefer to keep things simpler and explain how rootstocks work, what types are available, and what rootstock you should ask for when ordering your tree, so that when your tree arrives you will know the answers to most questions and be comfortable in you own mind how you can expect your tree to perform........good eh?.

The first thing you need to understand is that there is no 'magic rootstock' that can be used for all fruits. There does not exist a rootstock that you can use for all your trees. Apples use different rootstocks than cherries for example. When you call your supplier to order your tree, he will know what the best rootstock is for your needs...as long as you have an idea of the height you want (at maturity) and you understand some of the requirements needed to keep your tree happy, you wont go far wrong.

roortstock 2

Pruning!!...it is a word that brings out the dread in people and gets you thinking that you are about to destroy that lovely fruit tree you bought.
Well, take a deep breath, get yourself a coffee and relax. Pruning is just another skill that you will acquire like any other. Once you know what your doing your friends and neighbours will be asking for your advice. You will be the expert!

First things first...WHY do we need to prune?
As with many living things a bit of Tender Loving Care (TLC) will bring out the best of any relationship and as you are going to be nurturing your tree for many years to come TLC should be top of your list. Pruning helps to keep your tree in top condition and looks because you will need to remove any parts of the fruit tree that are dead.

What!!............. Dead????....

When frost gets at the branches it kills the ends of the branch for a few inches, this is called "die back", one major cause of this is cutting the branch at the wrong angle...or squashing the cut.......huh?....I can hear you say!

I'll say it again.....it's worth repeating....one major cause of this is cutting the branch at the wrong angle....or squashing the cut.....read on..

Rain water can collect at the branch end and if there is a frost...well, as we know, water expands when it freezes and this has the effect of destroying the tip of the cut therefore creating die-back....don't worry, there will be plenty more branches for you to kill...oops..I mean, hone your technique on and the more you do it the easier it will get....and of course, like all living things, they are susceptible to colds and flu...in our case diseases, pests and careless handling....like someone kicking a ball near the tree and snapping a branch off. As well, you must make sure that the pruning cut is a sharp one. Think of it like cutting a piece of paper. You either cut it with a sharp knife or you tear it! If you tear your tree with blunt secateurs you are in effect squashing the branch. Not good!

Pruning also encourages greater fruit production (yields to those of us in the know). When starting a pruning regime you will optimize the growing potential of your tree. This means pruning any branches that obstruct the light getting to the fruits, also cutting out any that rub close to the fruits. Did you know that if you have too many fruits on the tree you can cause problems such as stunted growth and bruised fruit? Stunted growth because the fruits are competing with each other and if you have a cluster of fruits together they rub against each other. This causes distress to the tree.

And of course you use pruning to create the shape of your tree. Will it be an upright cordon?, or maybe you want it at a 45 degree angle?, or growing as a cup shape to be viewed from all angles? Then again, maybe the espalier shape is more your style?

So as you can see, pruning isn't just a case of cutting off branches any old way. You need to know the basics before you even begin to attempt it, and you need to have an image of what you want your tree to look like....And that's the difference between pruning and training. You prune to keep your tree healthy, but you train to get the shape you want.

Before we go any further lets look at the tools of the trade.......

To begin with you need a good pair of secateurs.....pruning scissors to the uninitiated!!

I would suggest that you buy a decent pair. You will want to use them for many years to come so you may as well get the best you can afford. You can of course buy a cheap pair but you will find that they lose their edge quite easily and will be a false economy in the long run. As I said...you don't want to crush the branch when you should be cutting.

On this page you will find a link to Amazon.com, so if you buy the pair of secateurs that I recommend through the link I will get paid a small fee for your custom.....what the heck...you dont have to...but will need a pair somewhere down the line!!

Lets look at a pruning cut and discuss what you should be aiming for......

1) The first stem has been cut too close to the bud. Should the stem suffer dieback, you will lose this bud.

2) Here, the pruning cut is the wrong angle. Any rain could cause rot to the bud.

3) This picture shows the pruning cut to be too far away from the bud. The tree doesn't know what it wants to do.....keep growing or grow fruit?

4) Just right!!...the pruning cut is at the right angle and just above the bud...perfect!

So far, so good, now we know how to cut, next, we need to know where to cut. This means knowing the difference between pruning and training!!

Tell you what though.....dont I use the exclamation mark a lot!!!!!!

Knowing how to prune properly is the key to getting the most out of your fruit tree. I can't emphasize this enough. Should you make a wrong cut it isn't the end of the world! Your tree will keep growing and you can correct your mistakes, it just means that you will have to wait until next year to shape/train your tree from the new growth to the way you want it.

Dwarf fruit trees....Why on earth would anyone want to grow small trees when they could just as easily grow something that would be 10 times the size with 10 times the yield?
Well, the reason is very obvious. Large fruit trees mean getting a ladder to reach the topmost fruit. It also means getting on the ladder to prune the trees to get the optimum yield. Then there is the excessive 'drop' that occurs when trees naturally thin themselves out to keep themselves producing. And what about trees that need a pollinating partner?
If I want to grow more than one variety.....are we talking about an orchard here?

No... No... And no again!!!

You Can Easily Grow Dwarf Fruit Trees In Small Spaces

Dwarf fruit trees are ideal if you only have a limited amount of open space in your yard. They take up as little as only as eight-foot diameter plot of land. Dwarf fruit trees are trees that have a naturally restricted growth to enable their growers to grow the fruits they want in a very small space either in the ground or in containers. And although they are smaller than the others, their fruit is just the same size and the lack of height makes them easier to prune and harvest.
Have you ever seen slender columns of pears 8' high clinging to the stems like water balloons of colour? Have you ever seen an orchard of apples, 6 varieties grown in an area of just 10’?
Have you ever seen 'stepover' trees surrounding the lawn like a living fence?
Do you want a tree that’s easy to care for with the least hassle?

What Dwarf fruit trees are available?

Well these small trees are the answer: Apples, Pears, Figs, Cherries, Plums, Peaches, Nectarines...the list goes on! The fruits are of normal size as well, because having a dwarf fruit tree doesn't mean that the fruits are small. Take a look at two photos showing you what they look like in pots or in the ground...

Have you noticed recently how many times we are being told to take a good look at our current lifestyles? The amount of information appearing in the media which is aimed at getting us to lead a more healthy life is absolutely incredible. All kinds of diets and exercise plans are constantly being developed to entice us to eat healthier and take more exercise on a regular basis. As we are continually being told to eat more fresh fruit it would make sense to grow our own fruit trees in our backyard.

When I started out growing these trees I began reading as much on the subject as I could. With the advent of the internet this has become so much easier. With one click of a button I can buy fruit trees online without any hassle...and you can begin a great hobby too.

And when you pick the fruit..what then? Well you have the choice of creating something to eat or dare I say drink!!

So come on in and have a look around and discover the wonderful world of Dwarf Fruit Trees in your own backgarden or backyard and be the envy of your family, friends and neighbours.