does it change the taste or the toughness of the meat if the deers diet consists of alot of "sweet" fruits such as apples of peaches? i know that if a deer eats alot of juniper buttons the meat is alot tougher, and isnt quite as good. jmo...

Texas Pears. Better in our climate, adapt to many soil types and can product fruit in 3 years. Buy a larger sapling and get results in a year or so. Oak trees are good choise to but slow growers. I've read and believe variety is best.

Thats my plan anyways....

Climatically, pears are adapted to all areas of Texas north of a line from Corpus Christi to Laredo

Pears are self-unfruitful, so two varieties are necessary for good fruit production. Pollen transfer is primarily by insects, mainly bees, so plant trees of different varieties within 40 to 50 feet of each other

Select a healthy, two to four foot tree with at least a 1/2 inch trunk diameter. Large trees are often less desirable than smaller trees because larger trees usually lose a greater portion of the root system when dug from the nursery

Warren - Excellent dessert quality in both the flesh and peel with a smooth, buttery texture and small to medium size, red-blushed fruit. Ripens in August. Highly resistant to fire blight.

Ive seen saplings as low as $20

ive used apples alot, never had any rote on me, i usually step on and crush a few for the smell, seems simple enough, and works wonderfully, the deer eat em up

i cut apple in slices the deer love them

thanks for all the input. i think i am definately going to try the pear trees as they seem to grow much faster and produce fruit faster. but i still am going to plant these apple trees out there too.

does anyone know of a nursery in the houston area that sells pear trees?

Good for you. Sounds like a good idea to me. I don't know if they will grow, but I commend you for tying. My pen deer love apples and oranges. I wanted to plant some Pecan Trees when I was your age and I was told that they take too many years to produce. That was 22 years ago. Just think what they would be like now. Go for it

dont go to the local retail stores to buy your fruit trees. Go to nurseries in the area where you want to plant them. As mentioned in an earlier post, apple trees require a certain amount of chill hours. Some also require pollinators. Some are self-pollinators, but do better if they have a partner that help in the pollination. I planted 8 fruit tress and the problem I am having is bees. All my trees are self-pollinators, but to get a better quantity of fruit, it is always good to have bees to help in the pollination. Do your research. Dont do to HD and buy whatever trees they have. The retail stores dont always bring in fruit tress for that area. Research your trees you want to plant and go into nurseries with what you have learned and aks them questions to see if their answers macth up with your research. Good luck. What part of Houston do you live in?

As for your apple seeds you planted. Did you plant them in the ground, cups, pots? If you planted them in the ground, and if you are not there to take care of them, then there is a good chance that they will not make it. Plant them in pots. Take care of them for the first few years then plant them in the ground. They will have a better survival rate. Also mentioned in a previous post, fence them off. Rabbits will knaw the young fruit trees at the base and kill them immediatly and deer browse and rubbing will have a severe impact of the trees. All fruit trees require a round the season spraying schedule. I failed to do this my first year and lost 3 of my apple trees due to beetles eating the cambium layer of the tree. Its time consuming and can be expensive, but IMO the effort is well worth it. The deer will eventually get used to the apples. It may take a year or two, but start them off by cutting a few apples up and putting them under a feeder or trough. Good luck. There is plenty of great information on the internet on what trees to plant where and how to take care of them.

The bark on a young apple, peach or other fruit tree is very tender and they will kill the tree by full rubs. I have a peach tree that I had to wrap with wire to protect the final piece/strip of bark to keep that tree alive.

If you want trees - I would just buy a couple of trees from Home Depot - they will produce right away. Be sure to wrap the trunk

By the way, if you want to purchase a lot of seedling trees (bare root)- different variety and fairly cheap - Four Seasons nursery online. They have - apple, cherry, pear, peach, pecan, walnut you name it, they probably have it - for most fruit you should get at least two of each. The biggest issue I would see is that you would see deer eating them before they got anywhere the size to produce unless you protect them.