I assumed Jake Samascott had heard everything, at least everything related to apples, when I reported to his family’s sprawling Kinderhook, NY orchard last Saturday morning. The reason was a workshop on apple tree care sponsored by the Columbia Land Conservancy.
A few years back my son-in-law and I planted a few apple saplings at the top of our hill. If that sounds bucolic it wasn’t. Our property doesn’t have soil. It has shale. Lowering the tree ball into the ground required renting an augur to bully the rock. Even with the heavy-duty equipment we hardly made a dent.
There wasn’t any energy left after our face-off to fence off the area; the metal poles I planned to employ would have faced the same hardships gaining any purchase that the trees had.
Instead, I wrapped deer fencing around the individual specimens. Or should I say I did the following fall after I neglected to apply one dose of deer repellant during the summer and they denuded the trees.
All seemed well until this winter, or as well as trees that still haven’t produced a single piece of fruit and appear totally disfigured can be. I noticed that one of the metal poles that I’d tied to a tree to keep it upright – I figured hammering it to a depth of a few inches was better than nothing -- was now flush with the ground. I went to investigate and discovered why. The tree, or what was left of it, and the pole were lying side by side, like doomed lovers.
Apparently unable to access the tender leaves and branches our obnoxious deer had taken out their frustration by uprooting the entire tree, whose roots were obviously shallow enough to submit without a struggle.
When I mentioned my plight to Mr. Samascott he made some comment that the deer must have been pretty hungry to commit such vandalism. It was apparent that he hadn’t encountered a similar problem at his orchard, most likely because an eight-foot woven wire fence runs around two hundred of its acres. On the one recent occasion when someone neglected to shut the fence door Jake discovered several deer devouring the profits when he arrived at work the next morning.
I joined a couple of dozen other intrepid souls that attended the workshop on a blustery weekend morning, even though I knew in advance that my personal deer and apple growing problems defied easy solution.
Actually, that wasn’t true. Perhaps the most helpful and applicable advice I received over the course of the two plus-hour event came from Will Yandik, a member of the Columbia Land Conservancy board and a fourth generation apple farmer.
Will confessed that his family’s orchard, Green Acres in the town of Livingston, also suffers from an abundance of shale. But unlike me his grandfather refused to be pushed around by sedimentary rock. “My grandfather literally used TNT,” Will remembered. “Whatever it takes.”
I doubt I’ll end up resorting to such extreme measures. What could possibly go wrong? The workshop was helpful, nonetheless. Among the useful information I learned is that fungal issues are more threatening to trees than insects. “Any time it gets wet you’re at risk for a fungal disease,” Jake explained.
Also, while it might be nice to prune while trees are dormant, with one thousand trees per acre Samascott prunes whenever its workers can get around to it. You heard that right. Employing a high density trellising strategy allows for more trees, greater yield because sunlight reaches every apple, and easier access to the branches for both picking and pruning.
I didn’t say anything because my fellow workshop participants -- who have apparently discovered how to keep the deer at bay on their property -- had so many pertinent, focused questions. But I wondered, if only to myself, whether any of the orchard’s autumn U-Pick customers had expressed disappointment with this new method of growing trees?
On my frequent apple picking visits to the farm I’m attracted to their old-fashioned freestanding trees. My idea of an apple trees, or any fruit tree for that matter, is one that sits in majestic individuality, with full spreading branches. Though it was noted that two different apple varieties are required for apple trees to pollinate.
Of course, that’s easy for me to say since I can’t get an apple tree to survive beyond the twig stage. Had Vincent Van Gogh landed in the 21st Century Hudson Valley rather than 19th Century Arles in southern France I find it hard to believe that he’d have found any delight painting trellis-grown trees that more closely resemble vineyards than orchards.
The workshop concluded with Columbia Land Conservancy president Troy Weldy announcing a collaboration between the CLC and Nine Pin Cider. People with apple trees were invited to contribute their apples to the production.
Of course, that doesn’t apply to me because my trees haven’t yielded a single apple, and now that the deer have uprooted them they never will. If I sound bitter, I’m not. I’ve decided the deer have been trying to send me a helpful message. My psychological health and my wallet will suffer far less damage if I pick my apples at a thriving commercial orchard where people know what they’re doing.
Ralph Gardner, Jr. is a journalist who divides his time between New York City and Columbia County. More of his work can be found be found on Substack.
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