Apple Tree winter Hardiness

[Bowsnbucks]

Glad to hear you have some good apples going on up there. If you mentioned the "Center Field" apple before - I must have missed it. If it works ……. it works. If they survive up there for you - they HAVE to be tough.

On a wine country tour last October with my wife in the Finger Lakes, I spotted 2 apple or crab trees holding smaller red apples out in overgrown fields. We'll probably head up there again this coming fall - and I'll be collecting a few apples from both trees for seed. They were both loaded …...….. and easy to find again !!

 

[chummer]

Glad to hear you have some good apples going on up there. If you mentioned the "Center Field" apple before - I must have missed it. If it works ……. it works. If they survive up there for you - they HAVE to be tough.

On a wine country tour last October with my wife in the Finger Lakes, I spotted 2 apple or crab trees holding smaller red apples out in overgrown fields. We'll probably head up there again this coming fall - and I'll be collecting a few apples from both trees for seed. They were both loaded …...….. and easy to find again !!

I have mentioned it in passing over the years. I named it when I started grafting it. It got its name because it is in the center of our field. It is the first tree the deer check for drops everyday. Before gun season starts they will be out two hours before dark trying to be the first one there. I put a camera on the tree last year and there are visitors to the tree all night as if they had reservations. I have had deer, Fox, coyote, coon, and fisher all visit the same night.
Start grafting and I can send you some unique scions.

 

[Peeps]

I closely examined all my trees yesterday and they all made it. I was a little worried as we dropped to -30+ on several occasions.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I still need to look mine over, but I have been overly busy this spring. They will probably be budding out before I get out to check to see if they are dead.

 

[PoorSand]

I had a few trees that greened up a couple weeks later than usual. I also noticed some trees with one branch at full pink while another branch was at half inch green and yet another branch had only swollen buds. This was not a consistent problem within trees of any one variety. I also could not correlate it to any particular rootstock. The only correlation I noticed was that my zone 4 hardy trees had more cold damage than my zone 5 hardy trees; so in other words, I don't really know why some of my trees came through winter better than others.

 

[Barndog56]

Slightly off topic, but my chestnuts are starting to leaf out. Looks like a lot of dieback on branch tips.

 

[Appleman]

Trees are just starting to bloom here in Northwestern Vermont. All varieties made it through a very cold winter with no dieback or mortality. Trees are loaded with fruit blossoms. Just need a few good days during bloom for pollination.

 

[PoorSand]

Yesterday I looked at some whips grafted onto M.111 that arrived from a nursery this past winter and were eventually potted. All the whips were put in plastic bags when they arrived from the nursery as bareroot. A few dozen went into a refrigerator set to around 40 degrees. Two dozen were accidentally stored for one night in a freezer set to around 18 degrees. Those roots were frozen stiff when the mistake was discovered. As of yesterday, all the whips (now growing outside in pots) had about 4-6" of new growth and I could not tell any difference between the row of whips that had been frozen and the rows of those that had not been.

I read once that the root hairs are the most sensitive to freezing temperatures. Then the fine roots die next as the temperature drops some more. And so on until the thickest part of the root dies as well at even colder temperatures. All I can figure is that perhaps a lot of the root hairs and fine roots were lost anyway in the bareroot digging process.

 

[PoorSand]

Three of my Antonovka whips growing in the field finally displayed their first quarter inch of green in the past day. Some of my bearing trees have already dropped all their petals.

 

[buckvelvet]

Novaspy I grafted in March of 2016 on B118 grew fine in the nursery. Transplanted the 2 year old graft last spring and it grew fine again. This winter it was killed, had green leaves like all my other trees before going dormant. The entire tree is now brown/grey and brittle. Could be damage under the ground, I have not dug it out yet to inspect but I did try to pull the tree out to see if voles snapped it off but it is still well locked into the ground.

I also lost the sinkhole crab from @greyphase I grafted in 2015 on Antonovka the whole tree is dead. It did have some questionable things forming around the graft union last year after growing fine for 2 years. I'm not sure what exactly happened but it's for sure 100% dead.

Our lowest recorded standing temp from this winter was -11, however there were quite a few -30 wind chill days Idk if that was a factor?

 

[buckvelvet]

I would like also to note that I got a Seckel Pear that I planted 2 years ago from @Turkey Creek along with a bunch of other stuff. The other ones I got to plant at the same time were Kieffer, Gourmet, Manning Miller, & Doc's Trophy. I'm not sure what the rating is for Seckel but it's been an absolute stinker so far here. The top is dead and it has a shoot about 2 feet down from that I'm going to cut it back to this year and let that be the new leader. I will then revisit this thread about this variety next year which would be 4th leaf for the tree. It hasn't put on more than a foot of growth since I planted it in 2017.

 

[chummer]

Novaspy I grafted in March of 2016 on B118 grew fine in the nursery. Transplanted the 2 year old graft last spring and it grew fine again. This winter it was killed, had green leaves like all my other trees before going dormant. The entire tree is now brown/grey and brittle. Could be damage under the ground, I have not dug it out yet to inspect but I did try to pull the tree out to see if voles snapped it off but it is still well locked into the ground.

I also lost the sinkhole crab from @greyphase I grafted in 2015 on Antonovka the whole tree is dead. It did have some questionable things forming around the graft union last year after growing fine for 2 years. I'm not sure what exactly happened but it's for sure 100% dead.

Our lowest recorded standing temp from this winter was -11, however there were quite a few -30 wind chill days Idk if that was a factor?

I have a novaspy struggling to live. It is on it third leaf but looks like it is not going to make it. I have no clue why trees make it through some winters then all of a sudden die. Last winter was no worse than any other winter it survived.

 

[greyphase]

Sorry to hear about the Sinkhole apple Dan. It's been a good grower and producer for me here in Pa. I had a 6 year old Enterprise on Antonovka die this winter. Haven't taken the time to pull if yet to see if I can tell what happened to it.

 

[buckvelvet]

Yeah it happens Rick no worries, Enterprise, wow that is surprising, one would think that would have to be some sort of critter factor there.

 

[sandbur]

Snowsweet I planted one year ago has lost limbs on south and southeast side.

Should I have used more white paint or it wouldn’t have mattered?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PoorSand]

The majority of my trees that had cold damage share something in common with SnowSweet. They are among those listed on this webpage: https://mnhardy.umn.edu/varieties/fruit/apples/all-apple-varieties

 

[PoorSand]

A few of my Dolgo seedling trees showed some cold damage, but as a group they pulled through really well and blossomed profusely.

 

[cavey]

The majority of my trees that had cold damage share something in common with SnowSweet. They are among those listed on this webpage: https://mnhardy.umn.edu/varieties/fruit/apples/all-apple-varieties

which sucks because I have most of those listed and trusted the UMN as a reputable source of cold proven trees for my area.

 

[Telemark]

Are you guys zone 3 or 4?

You've got me really worried now.

 

[Appleman]

I am located in micro zones 3b and 4a where I have witnessed upwards of about 50% winter damage and mortality of snowsweet. Various planting sites seem to fair better then others. Greatest losses found at higher elevations and less protected areas from the wind at about 50% loss. Lower and more protected areas zero percent loss. The facts are Snowsweet is not as winter hardy as other Minn varieties like Honeycrisp and frostbite. Franklin reigns in as most winter hardy for my location.