Apples and frost

[chummer]

Hoping someone has an answer to this. I lost 99.9% of my apples to the cold this year. The one exception is a goldrush tree I planted this year. It is in the same area as every other tree. It has three apples on it, (only had a few blossoms). It was in bloom the same time as all the others. Does variety matter when it comes to cold hardiness of blossoms? Seems strange this tree has more apples than all the other trees combined.

 

[chummer]

Even my late bloomers have nothing this year. We had at least 3 days below 30 during bloom and a few more days of frost. I have enough variety in the ground now I will only be planting zone 3 late bloomers from now on.

 

[chummer]

Thanks for the list. Sadly most of my apples are early. I may never see a Liberty Apple. Goldrush is late maybe that made a difference and a couple blossoms snuck in after the cold. We had a northern spy orchard when I was a kid, may have to give them a try.

 

[Maya]

Yes, variety can be a factor Chummer, but also location and timing. Same here, I had a lot wiped out but some varieties did better and ones higher up in the orchard fared better. The apples that started, got hit by the frost fared better if they had a lot of overhead canopy right above them. I had a real nice crop of Grimes Golden get hammered! I was looking forward to them.

I had no effect at all with cold or frost on these Pristine. They set fruit about 5 days earlier than most.

 

[sandbur]

George- can we prune trees to make them less frost prone?

I have had years where blossoms on the outside of the tree froze, but still had some apples tucked inside of the tree. These were mostly non-pruned crab apples with dense foliage.

 

[Maya]

George- can we prune trees to make them less frost prone?

I have had years where blossoms on the outside of the tree froze, but still had some apples tucked inside of the tree. These were mostly non-pruned crab apples with dense foliage.

Maybe a lack of pruning may help some in that respect, but I think you just end up with other problems. Less light. less airflow leads to more disease, pests and poorer bud development. That will not effect temps at all. Temps are more of a problem than frost.

Some things you can do to help warm things up a tiny bit and create better airflow is keep things weed free under trees. Black earth is slightly warmer than weeds. If you have a hedgerow on the down hill side of your trees cut a break in the hedgerow to allow colder air to move more freely down hill. And of course plant higher on hills if possible and not in low spots. All that being said, sometimes you just get screwed!!!

 

[Natureboy]

Chummer,
Just to let you know that I also had a bad late frost this spring resulting in near 95% frost kill on most of my apples at camp. All of my trees with only a couple of apples per tree. The only exception is Goldrush which is loaded. I haven't been to camp in over a week so I may still have some fruit drop but presently it looks like my Goldrush trees have weathered the frost better than any of the other varieties.

 

[chummer]

Chummer,
Just to let you know that I also had a bad late frost this spring resulting in near 95% frost kill on most of my apples at camp. All of my trees with only a couple of apples per tree. The only exception is Goldrush which is loaded. I haven't been to camp in over a week so I may still have some fruit drop but presently it looks like my Goldrush trees have weathered the frost better than any of the other varieties.

Great to know. Maybe we stumbled on a good tree for us late frost guys.

 

[chummer]

Yes, variety can be a factor Chummer, but also location and timing. Same here, I had a lot wiped out but some varieties did better and ones higher up in the orchard fared better. The apples that started, got hit by the frost fared better if they had a lot of overhead canopy right above them. I had a real nice crop of Grimes Golden get hammered! I was looking forward to them.

I had no effect at all with cold or frost on these Pristine. They set fruit about 5 days earlier than most. View attachment 5529

Maya, what would be your best five deer apples for people that have late frost most years.

 

[chummer]

I'd take a drive in your area. Find trees with apples this year and get scions from those trees next March. Then graft them.

I have never grafted, I may have to learn how. The problem is the only trees that have apples every year are the ones that over hang the road. I think that is the reason they have apples every year. Maybe I will just start planting all my apples on the side of the road.

 

[Maya]

Maya, what would be your best five deer apples for people that have late frost most years.

That's hard to say Chummer, because there can be good and bad with some. Liberty, Enterprise, Wolf River, Snow Sweet, Pristine, Zestar! and Macs are all pretty good against frost. For deer though I'd stick with the disease resistant varieties. I wouldn't plant Macs for instance, but they are pretty winter hardy and have done well against frost, but they require a ton of spraying, very disease susceptible to scab.

 

[Maya]

I got up to that clients camp that I said had MM111 Liberty's on a north facing slope. They have a good crop w/ no frost damage. This orchard I helped them plant, screened the bases and block fenced for two years. That's all that was done. They had me prune it once after 3 years and now they are on their 6th leaf I think. So all in all very little care and they are doing great. They don't get a ton of light either.

 

[Maya]

I'd add Freedom for reliable DR deer apples. They've been my most consistent producer so far. None have shown signs of winter damage yet either.

Yup I've heard good things about them, but I don't grow any. Goldrush too, but I don't grow them either. I wish I could but they won't mature up here. I'll tell you, one of the best trees imo is Zestar!. Other than they don't have great disease resistance(they are somewhat though), they do ok against cold and frost, they fruit yearly like mad, and they are a snap to grow. Mine just spit out big juicy apples year after year. They will drop fairly early though, September 1 into Early October.

 

[chummer]

I have 5 Liberty in but I was concerned because they are listed as the first to bloom. If only hawthorns grew apples.

 

[chummer]

You can graft pears to hawthorns :)

I agree though, hawthorn blossoms always miss the late frosts here

Now I really need to learn to graft. I have hawthorns growing everywhere. I have spared most of them. Grafting to them could be painful.

 

[buckvelvet]

You can graft pears to hawthorns :)

I agree though, hawthorn blossoms always miss the late frosts here

Hmm, I didn't know that. Bonus!

 

[chickenlittle]

I have read some on pear/hawthorn grafting. The pear tends to grow faster so you can end up with a big tree on a smaller diameter trunk. That could set it up to break at the graft union someday. I found some oregon state u. reports on grafting pear onto hawthorn and mountain ash. They reported better compatibility with an Old Home pear interstem for most European pears on hawthorn. I'm not sure how practical the idea is but could be fun to experiment.

Along the same lines, I have a bunch of pig nut hickories. I plan to graft some with the cold hardiest pecans I get scions for. But fruit and chestnuts orchards are a higher priority so it might be 2 to 3 years before I play with pecans.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Amen, Chummer. I wish apple trees were as headache-free as hawthorns, too. Year-in, year-out great performance with the haws.

 

[Maya]

Just talked to Appleman last night. We had a bad winter last year but he's literally right on the border of Canada and had several back to back -30 nights. He said he lost a couple HC's but had no problems w/ Snowsweet or Liberty at his home orchard. He is real high on Snowsweet. Lucky him, he is about a week or ten days behind me bud development wise and missed all the real bad cold and frost this spring. He has a real good crop up there.

 

[aerospacefarmer]

Just talked to Appleman last night. We had a bad winter last year but he's literally right on the border of Canada and had several back to back -30 nights. He said he lost a couple HC's but had no problems w/ Snowsweet or Liberty at his home orchard. He is real high on Snowsweet. Lucky him, he is about a week or ten days behind me bud development wise and missed all the real bad cold and frost this spring. He has a real good crop up there.

George

Maybe you will move north then not south lol!!!!