Sam- You ask about apple tree size. My feeling is this: plant the
smallest tree which works for your situation. You need something which
can grow above the sheep- surely a semi-dwarf(even an M26) could be
trained to do this. Are you willing/financially able to stake a tree
for the first years of it's life? Many smaller trees require a little
help staying up, at least for a few years. But, spraying and pruning
bigger trees is a lot harder, it takes more time, it's more difficult
to get sunlight and air in to your fruit(important since you intend to
be marketing dessert fruit), and the time until you start to pay back
your investment(and start being able to learn the intricacies of
growing fruit as opposed to trees) is much greater. When I first began
to wonder about tree size I asked an orchardist neighbor of mine, who
has done everything from restore old standard orchards to plant 600
tree per acre dwarf plantings, what size tree he recommended. He
thought for a moment and asked, "Well, are you a farmer or a hippie?"
I cannot recommend enough seeking out local orchardists and talking to
them about rootstocks which work in your area. They will know the
answers to your cold hardiness questions. Good luck!
Jason MacArthur
Marlboro, Vt.
Zone 4b
[NAFEX] Re: Apple Tree size,
Jason MacArthur, 11/05/2003