100 years ago they grew apples differently

Apple orchards a century ago were quite different from modern apple orchards. Today we get to look at a modern apple orchard and compare it to an almost 100-year-old orchard that was planted less than a mile away.

Join the #foodforest challenge here: www.skool.com/the-survival-gardener

In that group I'm helping almost 40 people plant their first food forest before Halloween. We filmed a five-part food forest course that will help you start today! There's also an active community, weekly teaching Zoom calls covering homesteading and gardening, and a lot more exclusive content. Come and join us! I'll answer all your questions and get you started, saving you lots of money as you learn to grow your own food.

Planting an Apple Orchard: Then and Now

We got to visit two apple orchards in Grand Rapids Michigan. There we got to see the difference between an almost century-old system and how apples are currently grown commercially. The modern system was filmed at the beautiful Wells Orchard.

Planting an apple orchard can be done in a variety of ways.

If you have smaller space, want a quick harvest, and are willing to do every irrigation, staking, and care, it's easy to plant dwarf apple trees and grow them as a "hedge," like modern orchards do.

However, if you want a big, beautiful apple tree for shade and tons of apples, that needs little care and will live a hundred years or more, plant standard apples and give them lots of space to grow.

Wells Orchard in Grand Rapids, Michigan, started out with wide spacing a century ago. Apples were planted in a 40' x 40' grid pattern. Over the years, apple growing changed immensely, with spacing getting closer and closer as new techniques were discovered. Now, they plant apple trees on dwarfing rootstock at only 30" spacing inside each row, with rows a mere 12' apart!

You can grow apples too, and we hope this video gives you a good start.