Cold Damage?

[BluffCountry]

I walked thru my trees the other night and all but one looks pretty good. My Zestar tree even had buds breaking. The tree I'm worried about is a Galarina on m111 all the new growth from last year looks like it maybe dead. This will be the trees 3rd leaf and I don't recall it being a slow starter in the past. I have a Braeburn which is always much later budding out than the rest and it seems to be coming along much better than the Galarina. The Galarina was the last tree I was worried about, I have two Arkansas Blacks that I thought might have issues but they look like their just fine. My question is did the harder winter just slow the tree down or could it be permanent damage? I know time will tell, but I'd like hear what somebody with more experience than I have thinks.

 

[BluffCountry]

Yes, all my trees are on the south side of the bluff on the same elevation about a 1/3 the way up in the open. The Braeburn and Ark. Blacks are in the same row, these are the trees I was concerned the most with because there a zone 5 tree and I'm pushing the limit with those. They are on m111 as well, how much does rootstock play into this? A lot, little, doesn't matter?

 

[Spur]

I lost 3 sweet cherry, 1 plum, 1 liberty apple, and over 100 Douglas fir. It was a harsh winter and I hope I never live through another one like this.

I told my wife I was tempted to go get aerosol containers and just start spraying. That was when it was -20 out for months and have since calmed down since it is in the 40s now during the day and 21 at night.

 

[Spur]

Haven't been to the farm yet. They were grown in Rootmakers with big roots. They are in a wood type setting surrounded by mature pines and timber so I don't think any were lost but time will tell. All the trees I lost are in an open 10 acre field on top of a hill, friends call it a mountain.

 

[Spur]

I lost over 50 6" Dunstan seedlings I started in March because the weatherman said it was going to be 41 that night. It got down to 21 that night and all died. I just started over with those.

 

[Spur]

I'm not worried. Chestnuts had been here for thousands of years thriving in our climate before the blight.

 

[Spur]

Where are you located?

 

[BluffCountry]

Varying rootstocks could certainly have an impact, I'm not sure how much. Did you bend back one of the branch tips and see if it was limber or brittle?

I bent a limb back and it felt pretty brittle so I peaedl a bud off at the tip and no green, moved down the branch past last years new growth and it was green at a bud there. Went and did the same test on about 20 trees all were turning green at the buds at the tips of the branches except this tree. I think it will survive I'm just not sure if the tree has damage or not yet. I planted the Galarina because they were supposed be cold tolerate? It just goes to show you never know. If I lose this tree it will be my first so I'm pretty fortunate overall.

 

[sandbur]

-20ish is brutally cold????

 

[sandbur]

spur-what zone are you in?

I have planted some zone 4 apple trees. I am wondering if that is a mistake. I have a Liberty to be planted tomorrow. Years back, I heard of die back in Liberty that were south of the Twin Cities.

 

[aerospacefarmer]

I am in zone 5 and the coldest we got this year was -10 I believe and so far all my trees see, to be waking fine. Lots of fruit buds :) and some moving to half inch green while some still silver tip and green tip. I am praying for no late frost to have another good year

 

[Spur]

I am at the top of zone 5. We had -27 before wind chill with no snow cover so I am surprised I only lost those trees.

 

[BluffCountry]

Sounds like the tree may have experienced tip die back BC. It's possible that it had nothing to do with variety and rootstock. Did you have snow cover before it got brutally cold? I've seen a few reports of guys losing trees on mm111 in northern states when it gets cold (-20ish) and there's no snow to insulate the roots.

We had snow, but nothing like the snow cover you guys get. There may have been a foot on the ground at the start and it may not have been enough to protect the roots like you said. The good thing is I'm pretty sure the tree survived. I guess mulch could help, but then you have rodent issues. Good thing I switched to b118 on my newest trees. Thanks for the Help!

 

[CrazyEd]

I guess mulch could help, but then you have rodent issues.

Don't overlook pea gravel or crushed limestone for mulch. You wont have rodents with those kinds of mulch.

The rock will hold moisture, provide insulation and keep your tree well anchored.

 

[BluffCountry]

Don't overlook pea gravel or crushed limestone for mulch. You wont have rodents with those kinds of mulch.

The rock will hold moisture, provide insulation and keep your tree well anchored.

I think I'll give it a shot, a load of pea gravel is cheap compared to all the time I have into those trees.

 

[CrazyEd]

I think I'll give it a shot, a load of pea gravel is cheap compared to all the time I have into those trees.

One other benefit I forgot to mention is gravel doesn't rot/decay like traditional mulch does either. Do it once and you're done for life!

Of course some of us might want a mulch that will rot and decay and help feed our tree.

 

[Maya]

Bluff, without question, Galarina is always the latest to break bud in my orchard, with the possible exception of Honeycrisp. If you are seeing Zestar! at green tip though, you should at least be seeing the buds swelled on your Galarina. Their buds are normally quite large. Right now here my Zestar are at between 1/4 to 1/2" green, and Galarina are just breaking silver tip.

That being said, you may have some die back, but I've had some ends die back but the trees are fine. Kinda like hypothermia, fingers and toes would be the first to die back before the body shuts down. I'm not so sure rock would be much of an insulator.

 

[Maya]

A couple other things regarding cold. Trees should be planted in warmer areas, on hillsides, not at the bottom of hills. Also more clay soil/ wet soils with low oxygen conditions in the root zone or poor condition nutritionally will be less likely to withstand cold temps in winter and spring. Avoiding these areas are your best guards against winter/ cold problems. At a seminar I was at they talked about firm black soils being the best guard against cold spring temps and frost damage. So they recommended keeping weed/ grass competition down w/ the use of herbicides, which will leave that black firm soils to aid in cold spring conditions.

 

[BluffCountry]

A couple other things regarding cold. Trees should be planted in warmer areas, on hillsides, not at the bottom of hills. Also more clay soil/ wet soils with low oxygen conditions in the root zone or poor condition nutritionally will be less likely to withstand cold temps in winter and spring. Avoiding these areas are your best guards against winter/ cold problems. At a seminar I was at they talked about firm black soils being the best guard against cold spring temps and frost damage. So they recommended keeping weed/ grass competition down w/ the use of herbicides, which will leave that black firm soils to aid in cold spring conditions.

That's great to know Maya, my trees are on a south facing hillside (the temps at my house are about 5 degrees warmer in winter than the bottom of the valley)and I have good blacktop soil. Where I built my house it was 15 feet deep! The trees are another 100 yards up the hill from the house. I keep the weeds mowed around my trees I'll get some pea gravel around them. I do have to say I'm not crazy about spraying the ground around the trees. What did they recommend? Roundup?

 

[LessRice]

Gly will have no effect on the tree, just spray the weeds around the base.