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All about apples, pears, plums, and cherries - and orchards where they are grown

Sweet Sixteen Apple tree

Owner: David

Location:  Two Rivers, WI, United States

Age:Planted in about 2010
Age of this tree:16 years
Soil:sandy with a little clay 
Climate at this location:Zone 5b - cool, within 1 mile of Lake Michigan
Pruning:trained and minimally pruned just to maintain balance
Tree form:Central leader (widest at bottom)
Height:Between 6ft / 2m and 15ft / 4m
Cropping:Light crops
Growth:This tree grows fairly well here
Herbicides:Manual treatment (hoeing and weeding)
Pesticides:Chemical treatments
Local pests:squirrels, rose chafers, apple maggots, my dog

Owner's comments

Planted as a whip in April 2010. Doing okay in spite of my dog uprooting it and biting it in half the first year. Four scions of Kingston Black grafted onto this tree in April 2012. Sadly all the grafts died. Fortunately the Sweet Sixteens are good apples on their own. Tree is fully recovered now, but suffers yearly from attacks by rose chafers and squirrels who all love to steal most of them before full ripeness! Note: Take care not to remove too many flowers or baby apples in spring and early summer, we actually need to keep extra to compensate for the inevitable losses later in the season. In 2024, no chafers arrived for whatever reason, but dog and a possum were brutal in ripping down many (most?!) of the apples; ended up with only 2 beautiful specimens from the highest branch 6 feet up. In 2025, possum is gone, got a peck (10 lb).

Season records for this tree

  • 2025

    Spring blossom: 29 May
    Harvest: 1st week October  5kg / 11lbs
    Size: 2.5m / 8.3ft high   2.0m / 6.7ft wide
    Birds ate many of the flowers! Last year too. Thinned blossoms to 2-3 per bud. With very few rose chafers and pests this year, got a decent crop of about a peck (10 lb).

  • 2024

    Spring blossom: 16 May
    Harvest: 4th week September  1kg / 2lbs
    Size: 2.5m / 8.3ft high   2.0m / 6.7ft wide
    Producing plenty of blossom and apples. Chafers not real bad. I got 2 apples that were not stolen yet by dogs, squirrels, and possums. Dog stole anything reachable (bottom 4.5 feet). Decent fruit but not my favorite.

  • 2023

    Spring blossom: 29 May
    Size: 2.5m / 8.3ft high   1.5m / 5.0ft wide
    Great bloom as usual, thinned to 2-3 flowers each as usual. Rose chafers killed a bunch but not as bad as years previous. I had about 40 small apples, until squirrels stole ALL OF THEM early in July and August.

  • 2022

    Spring blossom: 30 May
    Harvest: 1st week October  1kg / 2lbs
    Size: 2.5m / 8.3ft high   1.5m / 5.0ft wide
    Heavy bloom, thinned to 2-3 flowers per cluster. Pruned out a third of all spurs in March to help balance fruit vs vegetation. Sprayed before and after June vacation (evil rose chafers), which saved a few, got 6 before the squirrels.

  • 2021

    Spring blossom: 23 May
    Harvest: 4th week September
    Size: 2.5m / 8.3ft high   1.5m / 5.0ft wide
    Heavy bloom as normal. Pruned out half of all spurs in March to help balance fruit vs vegetation. Removed flowers to 2 per cluster. Apples were bagged, which did NOT stop the squirrels who stole ~50 apples, I ended up with just 1!

  • 2020

    Spring blossom: 29 May
    Harvest: 4th week September  1kg / 2lbs
    Size: 2.5m / 8.3ft high   1.5m / 5.0ft wide
    Typical heavy bloom. Thinned to one flower per cluster. Rose chafers arrived 6/14. Squirrels and dogs stole most, only 4 left.

  • 2019

    Spring blossom: 31 May
    Harvest: 1st week October  1kg / 2lbs
    Size: 2.5m / 8.3ft high   1.5m / 5.0ft wide
    Cluster of blooms on almost every bud! Thinned to 1 each. Had ~50 apples early season, rose chafers and dogs ate most of them, only harvested 2 which had insect damage and were not great.

  • 2018

    Spring blossom: 29 May
    Size: 2.5m / 8.3ft high   1.5m / 5.0ft wide

  • 2017

    Spring blossom: 28 May
    Harvest: 1st week October  2kg / 4lbs
    Size: 2.5m / 8.3ft high   1.5m / 5.0ft wide
    Major bloom on every point of the tree, removed half the blossoms to avoid overset. Lost about half to chafer beetle and apple maggot damage.

  • 2016

    Spring blossom: 27 May
    Harvest: 1st week October  1kg / 2lbs
    Size: 2.5m / 8.3ft high   1.5m / 5.0ft wide
    VERY heavy bloom this year, but only ~6 apples survived, and the dog ate every one!

  • 2015

    Spring blossom: 30 May
    Harvest: 3rd week September  1kg / 2lbs
    Size: 2.5m / 8.3ft high   1.5m / 5.0ft wide
    Canker: Not present
    Scab: Not present
    Fireblight: Not present
    Cedar-apple rust: Not present
    Woolly aphid: Not present
    Pruned heavily on one side to balance. Allowed 9 fruits, 2 survived puppy attack.

  • 2014

    Spring blossom: 6 June
    Harvest: 2nd week October  1kg / 2lbs
    Size: 2.0m / 6.7ft high   1.0m / 3.3ft wide
    Woolly aphid: Not present
    Doing very well, lots of blossom, thinned to 5 of nice size and color.

  • 2013

    Spring blossom: 8 June
    Size: 2.0m / 6.7ft high   1.0m / 3.3ft wide
    Bloomed this year! Unfortunately no fruit set. Birds ate flowers.