Hi Rickbuddy, Sadly that was my suspicion, but growing your own almost certainly means grafting scions and that is a tricky skill. We have one apple tree but so far its harvest has been tiny and most of the fruit has been eaten by - I am not sure what - squirrels? - before they are fully ripened.
Hi Bernard!
I love these kind of forums because I can learn from people making their own cider. For example I just finished reading your five-year old post on overflowing foam out my airlock. Boy, did that happen fast! Thank you for your long-ago post on that.
However, as for growing apples, that I know something about.
Raccoons much more likely than squirrels. We have squirrels; they like the walnuts and acorns. Could be deer, or birds.
Regarding your current tree, production depends on a variety of factors, with the lack of a cross-pollinator the primary suspect: you need more trees.
Grafting on your current tree wouldn't give you enough production to make it worth your while. You do have enough room. If you don't think so, I can suggest some techniques.
I order my trees from nurseries on line. Most of my orchard has come from Grandpa's Orchard, up the road in Coloma, Michigan. It's the consumer-facing side of a large commercial nursery. Excellent quality trees, guaranteed. Good selection of traditional cider apples (order early, good cider varieties are in demand). Great site for learning the basics. Be sure to check out this page on
cross pollination.
Another place with a great rep is
Orange Pippen. They have an
excellent database of trees, rootstocks and orchards. A must visit.
One more on my list is
Albemarle CiderWorks.
Order early. Great apples go fast.
After a lot of research I went for the Tramlett's Geneva and the GoldRush.
This is my 3-year old Tramlett's Geneva. The apples were the size of softballs. I'd have like to had them smaller.
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An here are the shots from my two 3-year old GoldRush Apples. It's a highly recommended base apple juice that produces early and with gusto.
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Rick