Apple Tree winter Hardiness
- Thread starter sandbur
- Start date
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
You guys are getting plastered in the upper Midwest. Good test case as Bur said. Not quite as bad here for sure. I wouldn't even want to go outside in the temps. you guys get.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
I guess I will find out this spring how bad the winter kill was on my trees. I have a few that were pushing the lower limits of my zone 3b, which I expect to not make this winter. In my area, we didnt have much snow cover when we were getting -35 for a few nights. I think the lowest I saw was -39, but at that point we ended up with about 18 inches on the ground when that came. We will see, I am hoping it wont be a complete kill off. As of right now, I have about 30+ inches on the ground, with more coming tomorrow. The 10 day forecast has 6 days below zero, with 4 of them double digits, and one at -20. This crap has to break soon I hope!
I thought there would be a really good guide to recognizing winter injury to apple trees, along with photos, somewhere on the internet, but I haven't been able to find one. Maybe someone else knows of one to post a link to. Going from memory, some things to look for are:
- Branches that leaf out and then die
- Branches that never leaf out
- Trees that are slow to leaf out compared to others
- Branches that were under snow leaf out before the others
- Cracked bark on limbs and trunks
- Dark streaking on last year’s new growth
- Tree killed, but suckers come up from the root
- Tree totally dead
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
I have only lost 3 prior to this year, all 3 were 2 years old, and were purchased at a Lowe's store. They never woke from winter, not a leaf grew on them. As for other signs, I will let others comment on that, because I havent seen any other signs to go off of.
sandbur
5 year old buck +
They started calling me zone 4 and I have quite a few of those trees planted. An old thermometer said -41 for a short period. -35 for hours for sure.
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All the maps peg me just barely into 5a, but we hit -31 one morning. I'm sure I'll have a handful of varieties that don't survive, especially those grafted last spring.
I have recently noticed just how well snow insulates. We had an inch of rain Saturday night which switched over to snow and nasty winds. Temps have been down at or below zero each night. Still had slush from Sat night underneath the couple feet of snow yesterday. After running the snowblower across it, the slush was frozen solid in 15 minutes.
I have recently noticed just how well snow insulates. We had an inch of rain Saturday night which switched over to snow and nasty winds. Temps have been down at or below zero each night. Still had slush from Sat night underneath the couple feet of snow yesterday. After running the snowblower across it, the slush was frozen solid in 15 minutes.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
Ya, my zone went from being Zone 3, to 3b, to saying it could be changed to 4a. I planted some trees that were listed as zone 4, and reaching into zone 3b, I assume they will be dead upon spring.
cavey
5 year old buck +
We hit -38, ( an hour straight east of the twin cities). Went from a 4a to a 4b and I too have pushed some zone 5 trees into my plantings. The last coldest stretch a few years ago was -25 for a low. My trees all survived that but this year will be a good test (or a horrible one 
). My one fear is the local scion Im collecting, I hope that it is all going to be viable.
). My one fear is the local scion Im collecting, I hope that it is all going to be viable.We had -29. My Fujis on EMLA 7 will be the first ones I check, after the snow melts down a couple feet or so.
Maybe I should just be growing trees from Red Delicious seeds for the deer. I gave a guy ten such seedlings eighteen years ago and he planted them in current zone 3b. Eight of the ten were still live this fall and all bore heavily. He had six winters there with lows of -35 to -39 since planting them.
Maybe I should just be growing trees from Red Delicious seeds for the deer. I gave a guy ten such seedlings eighteen years ago and he planted them in current zone 3b. Eight of the ten were still live this fall and all bore heavily. He had six winters there with lows of -35 to -39 since planting them.
cavey
5 year old buck +
My goal this spring is to graft out a bunch of locally sourced wild seedlings that are late hangers that have fruit still hanging for a late winter food source... Many are crab sized, some are apple sized. The hope is that they have proven themselves by growing on their own. The problem is the cold spell and the horribly deep snows. I have located a bunch just have to figure out how to get to them.
chummer
5 year old buck +
I have been at this for 5 years now. I have had some -40’s over that time. I have planted many varieties everyone mentions on here and it is much easier for me to list the ones that have not suffered winter issues.
Dolgo
Kerr
Frostbite
Franklin
Redfield
Wolf river
Biggest disappointments are chestnut, liberty, and enterprise. Those have been total failures with the exception of 1 liberty and 1 enterprise that are planted at the bottom of a hill in the woods. I suspect they are covered up by 5’ of snow most of winter and are hanging on. Apparently I am the only one with chestnut failure so I am guessing Cummins sent the wrong rootstock but who knows.
Dolgo
Kerr
Frostbite
Franklin
Redfield
Wolf river
Biggest disappointments are chestnut, liberty, and enterprise. Those have been total failures with the exception of 1 liberty and 1 enterprise that are planted at the bottom of a hill in the woods. I suspect they are covered up by 5’ of snow most of winter and are hanging on. Apparently I am the only one with chestnut failure so I am guessing Cummins sent the wrong rootstock but who knows.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
That is a little disappointing Chummer, because I have a few chestnuts, and a few libertys, and a couple enterprises, those have been my best producers as of late. Although, I am rather diverse, for many reasons. I have planted cold, and semi cold hardiness, late and middle late bloomers, and early, to late drop times.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Chummer - St. Lawrence Nursery has Chestnut crabs on Antonovka rootstocks. Antonovka is an extremely winter-hardy rootstock from Russia. If you really want to have a chestnut crab, maybe give SLN's a try ?? Just a thought, FWIW.
My one son is up there in your neighborhood as I type this riding snowmobiles around Salmon R. / Tug Hill area with a bunch of college pals.
My one son is up there in your neighborhood as I type this riding snowmobiles around Salmon R. / Tug Hill area with a bunch of college pals.
chummer
5 year old buck +
Beautiful weather for ridding today.
The ones that failed were on B.118. I ordered a couple from SLN last year and they came very smal like a pencil. I may have planted them at camp or they may be in a root trapper bag in my garden. Not sure which ones went where. Either way they will be planted this spring if they are not already.
sandbur
5 year old buck +
You belong in a group with our former forum buddy, Stuart, and I.
There are some gems out there. Ask Appleman.
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sandbur
5 year old buck +
Dolgo rootstock is common in the trees purchased in local nurseries in Minnesota.
I wonder why it is not commonly used out east? Very few even talk about it.
It will be interesting to see how my B118 grafts and non grafted B118 came through this last winter.
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