Apple Corps Site Selection
Upper Valley Apple Corps currently stewards nearly eighty fruit and nut trees planted across the Upper Valley (check out our planting sites map to learn more!). Though that equates to quite a lot of plantings to tend to, we’re always open to suggestions for additional sites – more trees translates to more delicious fruit shared to our community!
If you’ve got your eye on a potential location for an Apple Corps tree or two, please read on to learn more about considerations we prioritize. If your goals are in alignment, please reach out to uppervalleyapplecorpsvt@gmail.com.
Harvest sharing for solidarity economies
One of the most central aspects of Apple Corps’ work is solidarity economies – that is, freely distributing our fruit, grown by the community, for the community. Below are some examples of harvest sharing plans we recommend for Apple Corps plantings.
Full public access: the site owner or manager is comfortable allowing people to visit the tree(s) as they wish. These sites will be given priority.
Public access by invitation: the site owner will communicate with the wider community when fruit is ready to harvest, specifying dates and times that the site is available for harvesting visits. This communication may include notifying Apple Corps via so the information can be posted on our website.
School community: the trees are planted on school property. The school will control and coordinate the harvesting process for the benefit of the students and staff.
Neighbor access: the site owner has granted access to one or more specified neighbors.
Produce sharing: the site owner will pick the fruit or nuts themselves and give a generous portion of the produce to specified friends, neighbors, and/or community organization(s).
The above plans are just examples – we are open to other ideas for distributing fruit to communities.
Site Selection
Fruit trees need deep, well-drained sandy loam soil with good moisture and nutrient-holding capacity. Full sunlight nearly all day long is essential with a minimum of six to eight hours to ensure maximum health. Trees that do not receive at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight each day will be “leggy” and will produce few flowers and fruits.
We also encourage utilizing the University of Vermont’s soil test services. The small fee is well worth the investment to ensure the site will be favorable to trees. An ideal site will be sandy and not rocky.
Further steps for success include care and maintenance of the fruit trees. See this blogpost to learn more about tree care, and plan to attend our educational workshops.
Species Selection
Common species that we plant include:
Apples: Mutsu, Cortland, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Macoun
Pears: Luscious, Parker, Bartlett
Peaches: Reliance, Contender
Nuts: American chestnuts, Chinese chestnuts, hazelnuts (Filberts), Buartnuts
Apples, pears, and plums (except European plums, many of which are generally self-fruiting) require cross-pollination to set fruit. For cross-pollination to occur, two different varieties of the same fruit must be grown (i.e. McIntosh and Delicious apples).