Apple Tree winter Hardiness

[chummer]

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.

I have a couple Franklins where the last four inches of the branches died this winter. Is that just a factor of them pushing growth to late into the fall. The trees have rebounded nicely.

 

[Barndog56]

Here is a pear tree with some dieback, either Bartlett or Kieffer, don't know which is which.

 

[Appleman]

I have a couple Franklins where the last four inches of the branches died this winter. Is that just a factor of them pushing growth to late into the fall. The trees have rebounded nicely.

I have 30 Franklins growing on my property and 1 of 30 Had the same thing happen. We had extremely dry weather last growing season and thought maybe that was the problem. The one tree has since recovered nicely. All other Franklin trees are very healthy with vigorous growth.

 

[PoorSand]

4b and 5a. I grow my apples trees in ground not well suited to the species though, so winter is just one more stress factor on top of the other adverse conditions they face.

 

[sandbur]

Burgundy did not come through the winter very well. I see no bark damage on this tree.

It had CAR/ scab problems early last summer, but I thought I had it under control with spray.
It all adds up... exposed location for disease control, but more exposed for winter stress... after stress the year before.

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[Bowsnbucks]

After mowing at camp this Tuesday, I discovered we lost 1 Trailman crab - and it was our oldest at 5 years. No buds or green at all. I didn't see any obvious damage, so I'll have to pull it this weekend and see what the story is. It looked fine last summer. That's the only tree we've lost of all the 75 newer trees we've planted.

 

[sandbur]

After mowing at camp this Tuesday, I discovered we lost 1 Trailman crab - and it was our oldest at 5 years. No buds or green at all. I didn't see any obvious damage, so I'll have to pull it this weekend and see what the story is. It looked fine last summer. That's the only tree we've lost of all the 75 newer trees we've planted.

My Trailman is doing fine and is full of tiny apples. It is probably about five years old.


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[chummer]

My Trailman is doing fine and is full of tiny apples. It is probably about five years old.


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My Trailman is about five years old and looks great every year until July/August when most of the leaves fall off. It acts like a few of the native trees that do this as well. Doesn’t seem to hurt the tree, it is one of my biggest trees.

 

[Buffalohunter1]

Here’s a picture taken a couple days ago of one of my second leaf Trailman crabs. It has a cluster of six baby crabs already. It was one of the first to green up this spring. I plan on removing all but one to see what kind of fruit to expect.

 

[BuckSnort]

The one Galarina I got to take last year had some top dieback over the winter but seems to be recovering.

 

[PoorSand]

I've noticed differences in the advertised zone hardiness rating for a given apple cultivar on different nursery websites. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture posts the ratings they think are right for at least some cultivars at this website: https://www.mda.state.mn.us/plants-insects/cold-hardiness-list#fruit . It looks like they periodically update the ratings as they receive new data.

 

[CrazyEd]

I did a walk through my orchard on sunday and noticed over winter I lost the following 3 year old trees.

Black Oxford - this tree was pretty small - probably a runt of a 3 year old
Enterprise - this was a very healthy 3-4 year old
Galarina - this tree was also a very healthy 3-4 year old
Goldrush - this tree is probably 8 years old - not totally dead but it looks really bad.

 

[sandbur]

I've noticed differences in the advertised zone hardiness rating for a given apple cultivar on different nursery websites. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture posts the ratings they think are right for at least some cultivars at this website: https://www.mda.state.mn.us/plants-insects/cold-hardiness-list#fruit . It looks like they periodically update the ratings as they receive new data.

From different nurseries, they might be concerned about rootstock hardiness as well as the topwork hardiness.

They might choose a less hardy rootstock for a specific market in southern areas.


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[Appleman]

Just completed a second post petal fall cover spray with Sevin 4L (2 qts per acre) to thin Honeycrisp. Added to the mix 8% CA, micro nutrient, and captan. Had a chance now that the leaves are fully developed to check for any dieback from the very cold winter. Galarina, frostbite,Liberty, Honeycrisp, Franklin, Cortland, snowsweet, Enterprise, Goldrush, Sweet Sixteen, Honeygold, empire, all good. Found moderate dieback on a couple of Fortune. I was lucky.

 

[sandbur]

Just completed a second post petal fall cover spray with Sevin 4L (2 qts per acre) to thin Honeycrisp. Added to the mix 8% CA, micro nutrient, and captan. Had a chance now that the leaves are fully developed to check for any dieback from the very cold winter. Galarina, frostbite,Liberty, Honeycrisp, Franklin, Cortland, snowsweet, Enterprise, Goldrush, Sweet Sixteen, Honeygold, empire, all good. Found moderate dieback on a couple of Fortune. I was lucky.

How cold did you get?


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[cavey]

My prior year 2017 grin grafts took a beating,,, I dont have an inventory but a solid 50 percent had die back or just plain die die died DEAD with the root stock coming back but the scion is crispy, some even leafed out and looked awesome only to cack off this spring for what ever reason. I was hand weeding around them today and was pretty disappointed to see what Mr. Winter did to my nursery. I didnt even want to look at the tags today.

I think I will go out with a brandy old fashion and sip and cry as I take count.

 

[sandbur]

My prior year 2017 grin grafts took a beating,,, I dont have an inventory but a solid 50 percent had die back or just plain die die died DEAD with the root stock coming back but the scion is crispy, some even leafed out and looked awesome only to cack off this spring for what ever reason. I was hand weeding around them today and was pretty disappointed to see what Mr. Winter did to my nursery. I didnt even want to look at the tags today.

I think I will go out with a brandy old fashion and sip and cry as I take count.

I think some of our scion collected from northern areas was cold damaged and did not take this spring for that reason.


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[cavey]

I think some of our scion collected from northern areas was cold damaged and did not take this spring for that reason.
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I concur, I expected more of my scion to not take but so far im doing ok.. I have some doa's but I still need to do a final head count. I had 3 mail order scion sections leaf out really nice and push a far amount of new growth and just a couple days ago they folded over and or now on their way to scion heaven :-( but I was able to get 2-3 per stick so when I do my final count I hope I get at least one per variety.

 

[Appleman]

How cold did you get?

We had a week of -20 to -25 and a couple of nights at -30 to -32.
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[FarmerNick]

I live in Maine. Supposedly zone 5 but got down to -37F this past winter. My Liberty/mm111, Baker's Delight/mm111, Galarina/seedling trees died. Severe tip dieback on most of my b118 trees. Most of my remaining otherwise healthy apple varieties decided not to bloom this year. However, the ungrafted mm111's and several of the wild seedlings (even a few very young ones) bloomed profusely this past spring.