Prairie Spy??  Beacon??

1997 - Prairie Spys. That's what we were told they were when we planted them more than 40 years ago. So that's what they were for all those years. Our large, standard, venerable, reliable (sort of) much appreciated PS apple trees, #'s 1, 2, and 3. They were the only apples we had other than wild ones for many years. Then not too long ago I discovered that our trees were not what is called a Prairie Spy. We had never seen nor tasted a Prairie Spy apple so had no reason up to then to question the variety name. I didn't know what ours were (since then decided they are Beacons) but they were, and are, the top bananas in my orchard, and not just because of their age. The photo above is of two of the trees in full bloom (2005); the top photo in the snow shows the three trees in 2004. They are no longer that large, the tree by the windmill is gone, and many other trees have joined in to provide our apples, but the two remaining originals are still my favorites.

2023

Beacon North - Continue with shaping, thinning for better air circulation, removing some low growers, making space around Goodland grafts on south. Did well in spite of the drought. Had scattered fireblight and tip blight strikes, cut out when noticed. It was a very good year for apples! A full crop pretty much all around the tree; did a lot of thinning. Started dropping about August 26, healthy beautiful fruit. Bumper crop. 8/31 had a full half-bushel from one day's drops. Picked the last half bushel Sept. 12.

Beacon South - Doing very well, splits on trunk and limbs healing. Did moderate pruning. Challenge to manage vigorous Starkey at top (which set fruit for first time this year), making room for both. Filled in some around roots/trunk to make it easier to manage. Had a number of mushrooms growing but no A.mellea. Even had a few Winecaps appear in the grass around the tree.

B.South set a moderate crop, healthy with just a small amount of watercore. Very nice harvest along with North. Together we ate a lot fresh, make sauce, dried slices, made a lot of cider (mixed with Dudley). South's apples were done Sept. 9, a few days before North's. The last of the apples went in the last batch of cider Sept. 25. Their season is short but it is prolific!

2022

Beacon North - Did a lot of shaping and cutting off uprights in April pruning, quite a bit cut out and it is looking better. End of May the north and east, older limbs side is full of blossoms; south area scattered and west just a few. Overall it looks possible for a good harvest this year. Had some blossom blight (in other trees, too, this year) - kept eye out for and pulled off as found.

August 19 - Ten years ago we had begun major cutting on our original Beacon trees bringing the over-grown trees down to a more manageable size. This went on for a number of years as we cut out large limbs and large trunks of the multi-trunked trees (see below). On the north-most tree we left one original large limb on the north side and for so long it really looked lopsided as the rest of the tree shot out new growth every which way to try to fill out the other sides and get itself back in balance. That original north limb (the right side in the photo) has been producing apples for some years now but it's been a wait for the new growth on the other three sides to get mature enough to fruit.

Now, after many years of challenging pruning, this wonderful tree is finally gaining some equilibrium and sense of self. There are many apples growing on the east and west sides now (including a full grafted branch of Goodlands). And the south side is reaching out nicely to balance that thicket of old growth on the north. Next year I'll start cutting back the north side to finish the reshaping. It's been a long-term renovation but well worth it. It shows just how adaptable and agreeable apple trees can be as they do their best to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of their humans. It gave a good crop of really nice apples this year

Beacon South - In April I cut out center (top was dead) down to the Starkey graft limb (which is nicely growing upwards). A lot of splits in the trunk but the branches look good, and the splits seem to be healing. Sprayed well with Neem Oil before leaf growth, and later with fermented comfrey/spinach. End of May it is full of blossoms. Leaves took good (better than Starkey which looks a bit rough). Added new Winecap spawn and mulch around base, but only a few Winecaps grew. Maybe spawn froze early, maybe too dry (I didn't think to water during drought), or possibly there just wasn't enough of the woody mulch that they like. We did have some other non-parasitic mushrooms growing around tree.

Unfortunately, the end of October I found a big clump of what I assumed, once again, was Honey Mushrooms on west side in mulch/grass area. Dug out, disposed of. But first did a spore test on gray paper, expecting the reported white spore. But it was a golden color. I searched online but couldn't find any ideas about that. The mushrooms sure look like A.mellea, and the tree certainly has signs of what appears to be that type of parasitic damage, but all descriptions say white spore print. They also say there is a ring around the stem. There was no ring around these stems. OK, what have we here? I don't know why I didn't think to do a spore print previous years, but then I have never before cared to ID a mushroom (just enjoyed admiring them). Trying to ID via photos online is as bad as trying to ID an apple by photos of the fruit. I did find Gallerina marginata to sound possibly close. The spore print is rusty gold. It's saprobic, and very poisonous (not an issue - I have no intention of eating it). They say it often grows closely with A.mellea, and is common. Maybe I'll find some knowledgeable person to help me figure this out someday. For now all I can do is help to keep the tree healthy and hope it can overcome whatever the issue is on its own. Overall it is looking much better.

Later on a hike we found some nice Turkey Tails on a small limb fallen on the path. Brought it back, sawed in pieces and stuck here and there around stump and tree. Maybe they will take to the tree and crowd out any parasitic mushrooms, whatever they may, or may not, be. It is my hope.

HARVEST - Both trees tarted dropping good apples first of September. I picked up apples daily then mid Sept. picked a hb of ripe ones off each tree (wanting them to store better without dropped bruises). Still some left. 9/20 harvest was about done. I figured about 12 bushels total off the two trees, for cider, sauce, fresh eating. To say we appreciate these old friends and what they've given to us is an understatement!

2021

Beacon North - April pruning continues to be significant, thinning and shaping and removing uprights. But the growth is slowing somewhat now and the tree is developing a shape, unique to itself but looking more like a fruit tree than an out-of-control porcupine. The north and east sides were full of bloom end of May, as were the older Goodland graft south-east. Looking good. Then came the end of May freezes. But in spite of that major setback and a major hot summer we got about a peck of nice fruit September 9-12 with just a small amount of watercore.

Beacon South - April 8 - Phase 2 of my help-the-tree-recover (ideas based mainly on the California research article: Non-chemical control of Armillaria mellea infection of Prunus persica - and my guess that we had Armillaria mellea.) First part - inside the dug-out area (left open all winter) I tossed in pruning “twigs” (thinner pieces cut to short lengths) plus some soil from under a healthy wild apple. I’ll add some more pruning pieces later.

Second part is a Winecap Mushroom “bed” around the tree, mulching the sod. Will add purchased spawn when freezes are likely over. Using what I have, from the bottom: cardboard - old rotting hardwood branches (to hold the cardboard down since it was windy but figure they might be useful) - pruning twigs/small branches - buckwheat straw/hay from last season - some wood chips from last year - hardwood rough sawdust from fall sawing. I’m pretty sure I can get some this-year’s roadside chips so I’ll add that and more pruning stuff later. Basically a make-do hodge-podge of ingredients that I hope the Winecaps will “make-do” with.

I also pruned the tree to make sure it has plenty of air circulation. Third part - yet to be done - is to entice some wild TurkeyTail mushrooms onto the dead part of the stump. I happen to have some growing on a low ground level apple stump. Haven’t figured out just how to “move” it but that’s next. I’m thinking to scrape off all I can into a bucket, mash it up maybe with some sawdust, mush it into available crevises. We’re into a rainy spell now which I figure is good time to do it.

It turned out that the poles and large sticks were not a good idea. The mushrooms (and yes, I did get mushrooms! See below) would get "stuck" under or against them and mature under the mulch (where I wouldn't see them) or be damaged. Late summer, when the harvest had calmed down I pulled out much of the large pieces and put on more mulch. that was much better.

Unfortunately, I discovered a big clump of Honey Mushrooms along the south side of the pit, under the cardboard that I had bent down. I realized that by leaving that area around the stump open there was no Winecap growth to out-compete the Honey Mushroom in that area. I scraped out all of the HMs that I could then pulled Winecap mycellium filled mulch in toward the stump, adding some fresh dirt and mulch. Though late summer there should still be time for the mycellium to spread. Added more mulch in the fall. I remain hopeful.

I pruned quite a bit on the tree, opening it up for better air circulation. It had a moderate bloom and even managed a few apples. Overall the tree looked good with just a bit of sparse branches in the top which I'll take out late winter.

July 24, 2021 -- Mushrooms!         

I'd read that Winecap was a generous producer of fruit but having not grown mushrooms before and really wanting it to "take over" the area I put plenty of spawn in the bed the end of May, breaking off pieces of spawn (from Field and Forest in Wisconsin), pushing it down under and in the mulch, all around the tree. I didn't expect to see mushrooms until fall but the instruction sheet did say to keep an eye out for the fruit when there's a temperature drop and rain, which is common here in the summer. Though rain had been sparse this year we did get 2 inches last week (and another inch last night with more coming!) (I guess we're done with the drought). But it was a surprise to suddenly see some small and medium mushrooms yesterday. A couple were older but that was good because I wanted to do a spore print just to make sure they were indeed Winecaps since we have wild mushrooms around. Thankfully Winecaps are fairly easy to ID and what was growing looked very true to the pictures. And the spores were indeed dark purplish-black as they should be. So we had our first home-grown Winecap mushrooms in dinner last night. Most reports I read suggested they are best at button stage not later and that's what I harvested - all three of them. The flavor was there though mostly they were lost in the dish. I hoped we'd get a few more.

Well, as I mentioned, we had rain last night/morning. When I walked by the tree today I was amazed to see the results. There were mushrooms all over the bed! Folks had mentioned that once they get going one can get tired of picking them but I hadn't taken that seriously. I think I see what they mean now if this keeps up. Clothespin in the photos for size reference. These all came up just overnight. This was indeed great news for the tree. The mulch was full of mycellium.

 And there were more. So I decided to dry some. I think I'll be doing a lot of that since they go beyond button eating stage fast.

So plenty of mushrooms for homestead meals! And, most important, plenty of mycellium to push out the Honey Mushrooms.

2020

Beacon North - End April shape pruned & reduce crossing/close branches. Still rather a tangle. Going toward Goodland on S qtr of tree. Looking healthy though. Had light blossom set. Had a rare terrible FB year and found several strikes during/late summer, mostly upright shoots. Pruned off the ones I could reach. Late fall saw there was more. Took off a cpl large upward growing branches. Will clear more when prune late winter.

Beacon South - April - cut off large lower south limb and top down to ladder height. Some crossing, etc. branches.

Mid June noticed top leaves still not fully open and blooms barely - bottom and others fully open. Wondered if connection to ground not enough to sustain the tree? Decided to cut off additional top tier. Maybe that would help - somewhat smaller amount to maintain.

Fruit! End August start dropping some ripe, some not ripe, apples. Highly varied ripening. Good apples. Fresh eating med-lg, smalls in sauce. Sept.7 dropping several (plus) a day, look very good. Sept. 17 freeze forecast [was 24 deg] so picked rest, exc a few smalls, Connie basket full. More than I thought. really nice apples. Total harvest about 45#! Mid Oct. sauced the remaining stored apples. Pretty firm and not and not bad eating, but not crisp or as flavorful. Just a few rot spots.

For some years there have been plentiful pretty clumps of orange mushrooms growing at base of tree, around the dead stump (about 2/3) (north side where new tree is growing has live bark to ground). I hadn't paid much attention except to admire them. Then in fall someone on the GrowingFruit forum mentioned Honey Mushrooms, and that you certainly didn't want them in your orchard. Oh?? I looked them up. The mushrooms were gone now, except for some dried/frozen ones (photo) but based on photos and description that sure looked like what we had here - Armillaria mellea - Honey Fungus, root rot fungus. Mycellium feeds on dead wood, then on into live wood, eventually killing the tree. No known cure. Oh great. I didn't have to look far to see that the area around the stump was full of it.

Almost all report were gloom & doom type - it's common all over. But one good trial in California gave some ideas - and hope. I picked up what I could from it and came up with my plan. I would dig around, removing sod and dirt down to main roots. Then Steve would carve out with the chainsaw all the dead wood he could. Come spring, surround tree with fresh prunings and stuff from under healthy woods apple tree, hoping to get a competing mycellium going. Encourage the tree all I can. It was a chance. When I looked carefully at the tree it definitely showing signs of stress - small splits in the bark and woodpecker holes.

Early Dec. continued dry and mild - no snow. With shovel and trowel I set to clearing the sod from around the stump/tree. Not so easy with the thick grass and clumps of suckers, trying not to nick or damage live wood or live roots. I found some dried up mushrooms. Where no suckers it wasn't too bad, down and out about a shovel's worth. Then to remove clumps of suckers, without damaging live roots. Trowel, loppers, an old hatchet and mallet, folding saw, whisk broom. Slow work but eventually got down to main live stump and major live roots. Moved all I dug out to the field away from trees. Down about 5" I found gravel and stones I'd put around the base of the tree so many years ago. The root flair and some large live roots emerged. Amazing how much the surrounding soil had built up. Being within, then at the edge, of the garden it was in the richest, probably dampest, soil of any tree in the orchard, with thick sod over decades of growth.

Steve then went at it with the chainsaw, 2 sessions, lopping of large chunks of the dead stump (beautiful stained wood!), then carefully carving out, and down, all he could up to (and over) live wood, smoothing all so there were no "rain catchers". I think the ants are not going to be happy about this! We found what appeared like the white mycelial strands, and black rhizomorphs I'd read about, but my knowledge is scant and it's all just a guess. Whatever the cause, I hope this helps. It looks good (relatively speaking). I cleared up all debris (dumping it in the middle of the field). That's all we can do, leaving it open to the dry air (until it gets buried in snow) for the winter. Hopefully the cold will help knock down the fungus (if that is what we have).

2019 - The Beacons are Back! What a treat this year to have apples too numerous to count on our venerable old trees. Mostly Beacon-north, which makes sense considering it is older wood. But newer-tree Beacon-south made a significant contribution. It has been 12 years since we had a reasonable harvest from these trees. It was well worth the wait. I'm so glad our renovation worked. We ate our fill of fresh Beacons, made a lot of tasty, wonderfully pink, applesauce, and, along with Dudley, two delicious batches of cider. The trees were happy and healthy as well, finally redeveloping their individual shapes.

Like last year, Beacon-north's fruit was mainly on the older north side with the original scaffold limb but there was some fruit on the newer wood on the rest of the tree as well. It was a very good harvest of 76#! Almost all over 5 days the third week of September. Beautiful fruit, clean, with no skin issues. Interestingly, the fruit on the newer wood was a full two weeks or so later in ripening than the main harvest from the older wood.

Young Beacon-south did well, too, considering its age. I didn't think it had that much fruit until I picked it - a very respectable (and appreciated!) 31#! They were ready about ten days later than Beacon-north's fruit and almost all had significant watercore. I was rather bummed by this and figured I'd just have to throw them all in the compost, which I did the first drops when I discovered this. A little watercore is fine, except that it makes the fruit not store well which isn't much of an issue with Beacon as they are not long storing apples anyway. It makes a rather translucent area around the core but it also gives the fruit additional sweetness. But this fruit had what I'd call advanced watercore with brown areas spreading out and noticeable discoloration on the skin. I figured this was rot. All those apples. But it was usually on just half the apple so I thought I'd cut them in half and use the "good" half for cider, getting something from the harvest. So I started cutting then actually tried eating one. To my surprise they did not have any kind of "rot" taste, they were actually quite good! I wouldn't choose them over a clean Beacon apple for fresh eating but for sauce or cider they would work just fine. I'd read about watercore being sought after in some circles but didn't really think it would be an asset. Well, it was just fine as it turned out. They all went into cider, and very good sweet cider they made, too!

2018 late August  -  20 apples! From the old-wood tree (Beacon north). This is the one that still has an original trunk, though severely cut back, and one original scaffold. Everything else is new growth from the last few years. With judicious pruning the tree is starting to gain a semblance of order, and it repaid us by giving a small crop of beautiful, healthy apples, all from the old scaffold branches. I was surprised to have red ripe fruit cheek to cheek with unripe fruit (you can see in the photo the ripe apples behind the greener not-ripe fruit). Then I remembered that this was how this variety does it - ripening over a many week period, which works out great for us. For fresh eating the fruit is best ripe from the tree and doesn't store in that condition for very long (though it certainly is still eatable later; it's just not as crispy juicy). Once it gets going it is a generous producer so there are plenty ripe at one time for processing. I'm sure that time will come. But for this year we thoroughly enjoyed our 20 apples one-by-one as they ripened.

The now young tree (Beacon south) didn't give us any apples but that's OK, as it's still maturing. It had a good year though and is looking handsome and healthy, building up to the time when it will be back in production. I didn't do much pruning, and won't until it is in full production.

2017 September 17  -  Hurray! We once again have apples from our two old/young Beacon trees. It wasn't a big harvest, two apples from each tree, but these are the first we've had after we had cut back the trees to rejuvenate and bring them down in size. Now I know there will be more in future years and we're very happy about that. The trees are looking good, and so were the apples.

1978 - 2016  --  Prairie Spy??  Beacon??

Prairie Spys. That's what we were told they were when we planted them almost 40 years ago. So that's what they were for all those years. Our large, standard, venerable, reliable (sort of) much appreciated PS apple trees, #'s 1, 2, and 3. They were the only apples we had other than wild ones for many years. Then a few years ago, through the miracle of the internet, I discovered that our trees were not what is called a Prairie Spy. We had never seen nor tasted a Prairie Spy apple so had no reason up to then to question the variety name. I didn't know what ours were, but they were, and are, the top bananas in my orchard, and not just because of their age. The photo at left is of two of the trees in full bloom (2005), above in the snow shows the three trees in 2004.

Other trees have joined them in giving us much appreciated fruit but these were our first and will always be first in my heart. The fruit is wonderful--sweet and juicy--delicious as sauce, for fresh eating, for fresh cider. They are a late summer apple, red, ripening in September, keeping only a month or two, susceptible to scab. A real Prairie Spy is a sweet-tart winter apple, prized for its keeping qualities and its resistance to scab. One thing they both have in common is their hardiness--ours certainly have proven their ability to survive in our zone 3 climate and with minimal care in their early years. We are grafting a real (we hope!) PS this summer so someday we'll find out what they are like.

Our Non-Prairie Spy's (NPS's) grew to be of great size, beautiful but not very practical from a management standpoint. At some point I decided I did want to manage our orchard, for better fruit and healthier trees. I started the long education in the skill of pruning, by reading, guessing, and doing. New trees are all kept about 12 feet tall--what I can reach with my loppers from the top of my 8 ft ladder. But it was too late for the NPS's,  though I did what I could. Most of the fruit was high in the top, less in quantity and quality than in earlier years, the top thick with branches out of reach that really needed thinning. When they did have a good year we had plenty for the compost pile and the wild creatures but also a good deal for us. But I knew they could do better. Two of the trees were still healthy, the third maybe not so. I decided it was time to bring them down and create, I hoped, a rejuvenated, strong, bearing tree.

All three trees had multiple large trunks thanks to the nursery cutting the central leader out of the young saplings, and no further shaping by me. So over the last six years Steve cut out one large trunk a year. The largest tree originally, which was just south of the garden and the best of the trio, had a real nice young shoot growing fairly low in the tree that I encouraged into shape to be the replacement tree. The last large trunk was removed this past spring (2016) so the new young tree now stands clear and ready to begin its bearing life, maybe next summer or soon after. I'm anxiously watching for fruiting spurs. It is in essence a young tree now though on 40 yr old roots.

The second tree, by the north fence, had its multi-trunks cut way back to secondary (and third) branches, not as severe as the 'new-tree' above but still a significant and large reduction in wood. It responded, understandably, by shooting out very many suckers to be thinned and pruned to some semblance of a broad, low shape that I hope will agree with it. It's in the midst of that shaping and the last old limb cutback will be done this coming spring. I'm hoping for some fruit this year -- we so miss these apples! The third tree near the windmill was the least thriving of the three and didn't come out of the major cutback very well at all. It already had a lot of dead sides on its trunks and may not make it. I had planned to cut it down completely this year but then one strong shoot, low on the good side of one of the trunks, showed up to give it a possible reprieve. We'll see how it does but I'm cheering it on and give it a high-five every time I go by. [later update: It didn't survive so that tree is no more, but it served us well all those years it gave fruit. Now it sort of lives on as a nearby relative, a root sucker that I've let grow to graft onto in a year or two.]

But just what variety was our NPS's? I searched now and then on the internet but hadn't come up with a good match. I had this one photo of baskets of the apples in the root cellar so I posted it along with a description on the GrowingFruit forum and asked if anyone had an idea. And someone did! BEACON, introduced by the Univ. of Minnesota in 1937. (Prairie Spy was also an introduction by the Univ. of Minn.).

I had run across Beacon before and considered it. But the Univ. of Minn. photo really didn’t look like ours, nor was their description real close. But with that suggestion I did some more searching and found several sites with photos and descriptions that fit our apples right on. With an apple that has been around as long as this one there is sure to be quite a bit of variety. And all apples have their own innate variety, growing and showing up differently in different parts of the country and different orchards. But all the accounts I could find does point to our apples being Beacons. 

In the most important of ways the name doesn’t matter. I couldn’t have asked for a better apple for us for all these years, since about 1987. We have a great deal of appreciation for these three trees.  The years they produced they fed us well. We are going to be so happy when we they give us fruit once again. They are indeed Beacons in so many ways. But it will take awhile to change the name in my mind. To us I think they will be Prairie Spys for a good many years yet. At least until our new real Prairie Spy graft starts bearing!    2016

2016

#1s - Cut final old trunk off. New tree growing well. Cut out some branches. Little pruning otherwise, just what necessary. Looking great. Need to cut off that very large west branch next year. Mid Aug. cut back some small branches to 3-4 leaves, mostly ups & downs (to hopefully encourage fruiting). Looks really nice.

1987 - 2015

Rich fully red when ripe, skin can be a bit tough. Good sauce due to red staining in flesh, up to 50% when ripe. Slightly cream color flesh. Juice is pink. Flavor good sweet-tart balance, about medium intensity. Medium texture ripe, not a long keeper. Flesh oxidizes readily. Good size medium. Good cropper, ripens mid August over long period. Tree vigorous, strong, well formed. Extremely cold hardy.