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Post by castanea on Feb 13, 2012 1:16:59 GMT -5
I think I'm going to focus on ordering Perry pears from Wagon Wheel. They're rarer than most of the apples and very interesting trees on top of that. The Perry trees that grow to 80 feet tall and live more than 300 years are intriguing.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 13, 2012 1:26:55 GMT -5
Can somebody make a post on doing cider? I know I saw one from Dan, but can't find it. I was scanning the equipment and some of it looks very pricey. I paid for my college by running the cider press at a 200 tree orchard. We also did custom pressing. I still have hearing loss from it. Can you be more specific about what you'd like to know? Our press was a huge commercial press. The apples were carried by a conveyor belt into a rotating drum with knife blades on it. Then the pulp was pumped onto sheets of heavy fabric that was folded into a bag shape. Then about 8 bags at a time were pressed with a hydraulic press. If you put rotten apples into the cutter you got rotten juice out. If you put mushy apples into the press the pulp was slick/slimy and didn't press well. I preferred a mix of sweet apples and tart apples. |
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Post by oxbowfarm on Feb 13, 2012 5:46:37 GMT -5
Can somebody make a post on doing cider? I know I saw one from Dan, but can't find it. I was scanning the equipment and some of it looks very pricey. There is this homesteader/entrepreneur guy north of me here in NY that has done some interesting things in the homemade cider line. He's most famous for his DIY chicken plucker book but he's got some other "Whizbang" products. He's been doing a lot with cider lately. From what I can tell his plans teach you how to use a garbage disposal unit as your grinder which has been mentioned at many other places on the web, especially NAFEX. He's also worked out a fairly simple homemade press setup. He sells a lot of parts for his Whizbang designs, up to fairly complete kits. I'm not 100% in love with the guy, but overall he seems to sell quality products. Certainly the chicken plucker design has been widely adopted by pastured poultry folks all over the Northeast in any case. www.whizbangcider.com/ |
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Post by MikeH on Feb 13, 2012 7:11:06 GMT -5
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Post by olddog on Feb 13, 2012 14:01:58 GMT -5
I was just using a juicer to make apple cider, but it did not have the flavor of the good apple cider that I had tasted from commercial orchards.
A lady that started one of the first, if not the first, organic apple orchard in California, told me that the flavor just did not even compare. She said that the "pillow press", is this what you mentioned, Joseph? made great tasting cider, and the juicer-made cider was not that great at all. Too bad, she retired, and her old apple press, is now a living room ornament in her children's house.
I think the Mutsu and the Wickson apples have really great flavor.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 13, 2012 14:59:43 GMT -5
Yup. Way different flavor between pillow pressed apple cider and pureed apple fruit juice. Here's a photo of what a Pillow Press looks like. First time I've heard that term, but it describes the process accurately. |
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Post by steev on Feb 13, 2012 15:23:24 GMT -5
In a video I saw, a researcher was investigating bovine digestion by means of a porthole installed into a cow's stomach. I don't know which of the four stomachs that was, but if it was more storage than digestion, perhaps that could be adapted for pumping out, so as to have an occasional source of ground pomace for pressing.
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Post by 12540dumont on Feb 13, 2012 16:44:04 GMT -5
The Wagon Wheel Orchard is grafting onto M7 and M111. When you send your order, make sure you tell Rick which you want.
It was a hard choice. I wanted standards, so they'd live for hundreds of years, which I couldn't get, so I went with the M111.
I'm trying to think ahead to the planting and can't decide whether to plant them as a hedgerow or standard orchard style. A hedgerow has some things going for it. By planting a wind break and pruning tighter, there's very little limb breakage from high winds. (Which I seem to be getting more and more of.) I've lost the doors off the barn and the roof off a chicken house. However, the pruning can be more work.
It'll be a few years till I can make Perry and Cider and I can hardly wait. I've wanted an apple orchard my whole life!
Can you see how this plays out? First I get the trees, then I get to make cider and perry, and there's all those prunings so I'll have to have a smoke house so I'll finally get to make salume. And then of course, I'll need that still to turn the cider into Eau-de-vie and Aqua vitae. So much to do, so little time left.
Leo thinks it's a plot. I think it's just beginning to thicken. Oh boy new books! New skills to learn! New equipment to play with!
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Post by 12540dumont on Feb 13, 2012 17:05:01 GMT -5
Wow was that Kevin TV? I love his show about applejack! That's just about my size! Thanks, can't wait to show the spouse, a man who knows about garbage disposals and car jacks. I think the only things I would do differently is to get a stainless steel disk and rod (instead of the wood). Seems like it would be easier to clean. The used metal shop is just a hop and skip from my house. I know, it's years before I can use the press, but no, I can buy apples from a farmer and practice! Here's the list of what I finally decided on, and it was really really hard. I tried to get a mix of early, middle, late, storage, fresh, cider and canning. I just hope they all live happily ever after here. Anyone bought tree tubes/protectors before? Any recommendations? Attachments:
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Post by MikeH on Feb 13, 2012 17:15:26 GMT -5
It was a hard choice. I wanted standards, so they'd live for hundreds of years, which I couldn't get, so I went with the M111. Assuming that you have the space, start with the M111s, then get some Antanovka rootstock. When you prune you trees, save the cuttings and graft on to the Antanovka and you'll have standards. If you stool some of the Antanovka rootstock, you'll have a unlimited supply. I think that I would have gone with the smallest rootstock they have available in order to have fruit earlier while taking scion wood from the trees to graft onto Antanovka. That way you have the best of both - early fruit and longevity. And then you can lay off under your trees buzzed on cider munching on smoked treats as you watch the clouds scud by while listening to the bees. |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 13, 2012 17:23:56 GMT -5
I'm trying to think ahead to the planting and can't decide whether to plant them as a hedgerow or standard orchard style. The orchard I pruned while going to college had been planted in a hedgerow style, with the thinking being that every other tree would be removed as they got older. The every other removal never happened, so we had a mixed bag, with alternating trees: Heavily pruned. Not pruned very much. The heavily pruned trees were easier to pick. |
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Post by benboo on Feb 13, 2012 17:59:46 GMT -5
I have so many nice wild apples. Way too many to eat. I would be interested in making a small cider press.
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Post by 12540dumont on Feb 13, 2012 18:31:40 GMT -5
Mike, i wish I had read all your old threads before! I would have started the standards while waiting for my orchard! I'm still tempted to order some rootstock so that I can do more trees. The California Rare Fruit Growers I chose the 111, because I get both drought and heavy wet soil. But it was an orchard before, and I have hopes it will rise again! Sigh, so much to learn. So many mistakes to be made. Leo's a great grafter. I've seen him band-aid a tree together and have it live. He's got the touch. www.homeorchardsociety.org/growfruit/apples/ So much to read everywhere! |
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Post by MikeH on Feb 13, 2012 20:04:45 GMT -5
I'm still tempted to order some rootstock so that I can do more trees. So order dwarf or semi-dwarf and graft from your M111s on to them. You still end up in the same place despite taking a different path. I think that having rootstock in a stooling bed is great. If you taste something that you like or some raves about a variety, you can graft scion immediately (assuming you are in the dormant period) without having to order in rootstock. I'd imagine that, over time, the rootstock would acclimatize to your location making for more robust grafts. Kuffelcreek has some good videos on rootstocks. That sounds about perfect to me. You place the order and he does the work. ;D Regards, Mike |
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Post by steev on Feb 14, 2012 1:26:16 GMT -5
Electrical tape is very good for mending broken branches. Sometimes drywall screws with washers are good to use before taping.
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