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Fruit & Orchards

Old Apple Tree

9 years ago

This is an old apple tree in a very old section of my neighborhood. The homes here are small and very old, with rock foundations and constructed of whatever was available. There was a book written by a (then) little boy who served as a drummer boy in the civil war. He and his regiment were captured at a small battle 35 miles from here and he, along with his regiment were sent to Andersonville prison. That little boy was one of the few survivors and later wrote a book. Cannot remember the title but it had "drummer boy" in it. That little boy's homeplace was one of these old tiny houses where this tree is. There are no markers or anything of that sort. I just always knew it was right around this yard.

Anyway, after having loaded the pics into the computer the photos do not do this old tree justice as to size or the old burly agedness of this tree. Again, only 1/2 of the original tree remains, the other half having been cut away. Probably broke in a storm or died. It seems to have been pruned to a "V" shape originally, something I've seen before in old photos of early orchards using standard rootstock like is done with peaches often. I would guess this tree is probably around 60 (min.)-100 years old, but I suppose could be older. I'm going to ask permission to obtain some scion wood to graft just for the fun of it. It is completely neglected but is still producing apples. Maybe the owner or neighbor will have some idea of it's age or variety.
Could anybody with experience guesstimate the age of this tree from the photos?

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Comments (9)

appleseed70
Original Author
9 years ago
I love the looks of a very old crooked apple tree. Reminds me of that image on the Angry Orchard Hard Cider bottles. Sometimes I feel like the dwarf and semi-dwarf trees are something of a cheat. Don't get me wrong, I don't have any apples on standard stock, but sometimes I think I should. I'm drawn to the big old standard trees and their tough, robust and long lived nature.
appleseed70
Original Author
9 years ago
Apples on the ground
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Untended fruit trees can be sources of pests and diseases for others growing nearby. Wounds on main trunk and secondary set of branches, broken down appearance of these latter makes it look like the tree has been run over by a vehicle - maybe it has been hurt by the attentions of bears or deer. Otherwise when apple trees not of standard size fall over it can be due to them having dwarfed - as in dwarfing root-stocks - roots that are not strong enough to hold the top up, without additional support. If you are out in the foothills rain belt suitable variety selection will probably be even more important than here closer to the water, where it is less rainy. If this tree is not a locally adapted cultivar there is not much point in continuing with it, just for that reason alone. Recommended Fruit Trees for the Puget Sound http://nwfruit.org/recommended-fruit-trees/
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Scott F Smith
9 years ago
Thats a beautiful old tree -- a survivor. I don't know much better than you do how old it was. When I was growing up we had trees of similar trunk size in our yard and our house was about 100 years old so thats how old I assumed our trees were. You can't exactly tell by trunk size because vigor in these old trees varies widely; this one probably hasn't added much trunk girth in the last 30 years.

Scott
greyphase
9 years ago
I too have been fascinated by apple trees since I was a kid playing in an old overgrown pasture with a scattering of old mostly hollow apple trees. Their all gone now replaced by seedlings from their fruit with my house sitting in that old pasture.
Good for you Appleseed for wanting to try to keep the genetics of that old tree alive.
bggrows
9 years ago
Can you count any rings on the half that is cut off? Love the tree. Good luck!
appleseed70
Original Author
9 years ago
I too have been fascinated by apple trees since I was a kid playing in an old overgrown pasture with a scattering of old mostly hollow apple trees. Their all gone now replaced by seedlings from their fruit with my house sitting in that old pasture.
Good for you Appleseed for wanting to try to keep the genetics of that old tree alive.

Me too...I used to play army as a little kid in a pasture that was probably just like you describe. I remember old hollowed out apple trees there as a kid too. A few weeks ago I was alone and took a drive to that place...it is all different now with a new subdivision built and all those old trees are gone. I'm hoping the owner knows something of it. I was too busy to stop today and to be honest judging by the place I'm a bit intimidated of these folks.

Can you count any rings on the half that is cut off? Love the tree. Good luck

I thought about that, but the cut is old and I'm guessing dark and deteriorated enough to make counting rings difficult. Seems to me I tried that as a kid and it always came out way younger than the tree could possibly be. I guess I wasn't doing it right or something. I didn't want to go up in their yard without knocking first either and today I was short on time.
You can just tell by the place that this isn't a where you are welcome to freely roam around.
clarkinks
9 years ago
Great looking apple tree!
clarkinks
9 years ago
Great looking apple tree!
insteng
9 years ago
I have an old fig tree like that. It is at least 50 years old. The grandson of the people that planted it came by oneday and asked if he could get some cuttings from it. He said it was older than him and he was fifty. I like old trees like that. I also have two pecans trees that are 75.

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