Dont know what kind deer preferes

Apples that is I want to try to grow some apple trees. Dont know what kind the deer like the best if anyone knows it would help me out. I'm also not sure if they could handle the summer heat down here in Louisiana. If anyone has any idea I would appreciate any advice. Thanks

I have had better luck with pears down here. Deer love pears and they are native to the south .

Thanks Tim, We already have pear trees just wanted to try a few apple trees.

I'd try to get in contact with your county forester. They should be able to offer up some ideas as to what kinds of apple trees would grow best in your area. There's so many different species and cross-breeds that there's got to be something that would do well in your type of soil, terrain etc.... They'd also be able to point you in the right direction as to where to find your trees to purchase. You could also check with the forestry division of the DNR. A lot of times the DNR has tree sales in the spring and the prices are pretty reasonable on trees, especially if you've got some connections and know the right people.

As someone who's a certified landscape specialist, I'd definetly go with an apple tree that's a B & B (balled and burlapped) as opposed to one that's a bare root tree. The B & B's are going to be bigger, weigh more / be tougher to move around and will be more expensive though. A B & B apple tree will probably be in the 7-8' foot range (depending on what species you get) as far as height goes and the trunk of it will be about the diameter of a pop can- maybe a little smaller. It'll come with a large root ball full of dirt roughly the size of a beach ball which will be wrapped in burlap and there should be a wire cage around all that to help hold everything together. A skid steer or small tractor with a bucket would be beneficial for moving it as would a dolly of some sort, but if you don't have to move it far, 2 guys should be able to easily wrestle it into place by rolling it or carrying it. At work we dig most of our holes for B & B trees with a 36" auger on a skid steer, but will dig by hand if we need to. You want the ground level to be about 1" or so below where the tree trunk meets up with the root system when it's all said and done so meausre accordingly and make your hole deep enough. There should be twine / rope around the base of the trunk where it meets with the roots and a lot times you'll be able to see where the trunk / roots have been fused / grown together (different root systems are often used because they are stronger / withstand drought better etc....). If the 2 pieces have been fused together you'll notice a horizontal ring around the tree where they meet up. Once you've got your tree in the ground, cut the rope / twine that wraps around the base of the tree trunk. Sometimes this can act similar to a noose around someone's neck. If your root ball is too high, just undo the burlap on top and shave some of the dirt off of the root ball. The wire cage around the burlap usually wraps around / curves up from the sides to the top. Try to take the wire that's on the top of the root ball and bend it out / away from the tree if you can- you'll probably have to cut some of the twine / rope to do this but the twine isn't needed any more at this point. Then just back fill around the tree and try to pack pack the dirt in there pretty tight. The extra dirt you've got should be used to make a ring around the tree about 6" high or so. The ring should be about as wide as the root ball or slightly larger in diameter. This will hold the water in when you water it. We water all of our trees within 4 hrs of planting and you want to make sure you soak them (the roots) down good. In the summer we usually water them 2-3 times a week unless there's rain in the forecast. Water it so that the water fills up the ring and is about to overflow it. Let it soak in for a couple minutes and add some more water. Repeat this 2-3 times and you're good to go. It definetly wouldn't hurt to throw some mulch on top of the root ball as well as this will help to hold moisture.

A bare root apple tree will probably be about 4-5 feet tall and it's diamter will be about thumb size (again this depends on which species you get). They are a lot cheaper, easier to move and faster to plant. If you can't get them in the ground the day you buy them, store them in a cool dark place with wet mulch or straw piled on thier roots (same with B & B's). Before planting them, soak the roots in a bucket or tub of water for an hour or so. The reason I don't like bare root apple trees as much is because you've got no dirt what so ever on the roots and they tend to dry out and die faster as a result. But if you take care of them they'll be fine. You should be able to see a horizontal line / ring around the tree where the roots meet up with the trunk on bare root trees. Again you want this ring to be about ground level or slightly above. Also make sure your roots are pointing down in the hole before you begin to backfill your hole. I know this is pretty obvious but you'd be surprised how many dead trees I find with roots pointing upward because someone was to lazy to dig a big enough hole. Tightly pack the dirt in the hole as you back fill. The extra dirt you have should be used to make a ring around the tree to help hold water in. You probably won't have a lot of dirt left over for this because of the smaller size of bare root trees, but scare up some dirt from the area if you need to in order to make your ring. Your ring will probably be in the 2-3 ft diameter range. Again water it soon after planting it and water it a couple times a week, especially for the first couple weeks / months making sure to soak down the roots good. Like the B & B's, mulch would be a pretty good idea.

I'd definetly put some kind of chicken wire / fence around the trees to keep wildlife from eating them, or rubbing their antlers on them, especially the bare root trees. Bare root trees are smaller and not as developed so they can't withstand as much damage from wildlife. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to put some tightly woven (as in 1/2" to 1" sqaures) mesh fence around the bottom of your other fence and into the ground a couple inches to keep rodents away and prevent them from chewing up the root systems and killing your trees.

Hope this helps you out.

Sounds like you know what you are talking about thanks for all the info.

Wow W 24 that is some very helpful info- really thanks for sharing it

Chad years ago we had apple trees on our old farm- we planted around 6 different varities - The deer really did not show any more preference on one verse's the other that we could tell