Court Pendu Plat

You could hand pollinate. With few blooms I think it would be worth it.

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Yes, I could. However, if my CPPs will never produce without me hand pollinating them they serve me no purpose.

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Well if you like the apples you could graft some scions of the crab apples to the CPP trees.

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I’m curious to know if CPP had worked out any better for you. Did it set any fruit last year. How’s it looking for this year?

My two trees had a handful of blossoms last year. Zero fruit were set. That may be due to our drought. Not sure. Both trees appear to be alive at this point, I just pruned them a week ago or so.

I’ll let my two trees live for as long as they choose, but I sure won’t be grafting any more until/if they actually set some fruit. The trees look like they’re full of fruit spurs right now, but of course they’ve looked like that for a good number of years now with zero fruit so far.

I missed this thread last year… I grew CPP for ten years. It was not super prolific but I did get quite a few apples. It is very similar to the yellow flesh heirlooms in taste: Roxbury Russet, Pitmaston Pineapple, etc. The problem for me was the flat tops collected moisture and rotted too much. So I removed it several years ago. Other than the rotting it was a great apple and probably would be great in locations less hot and humid.

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Looks like last year my CPP trees bloomed on/about June 1. Spring last year was much earlier than it is (so far) this year.

I’m not sure CPP will ever produce much here. With the late spring this year, if my CPP trees bloom it will almost certainly be mid-June

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Consider collecting some pollen…and doing a manual fertilization.

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Ya, I’ve considered that. If that’s what it takes to get fruit, CPP probably isn’t my kind of tree.

I do have a late blooming crab (mentioned earlier on this thread somewhere) that is the only other apple/crab blooming at the same time as my CPP trees. I’ll graft a stick or two to each CPP this spring. That said, I’m not sold on CPP being able to produce fruit here. Oftentimes our springs will go straight to full a$$ summer and drought along with summer temps.

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Br. Snout
Medaille d’ Or

are a couple cider apples that supposedly bloom at time of Court Pendu Plat.

One resource lists a couple dozen even later than CPP.

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How many can survive -38 temps?

I’ll be honest, I never figured CPP would survive here. The trees survive, but like Hudson’s Golden Gem I think the fruit buds get zapped most winters.

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I’m really starting to question hardiness zones on some apples. My approach from now on is to just graft it and try it for myself. Have you tried anything that’s surprised you?

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CPP surprised me.

Most of the varieties I’ve grafted/purchased I’ve researched quite a bit in advance. Back when I lived in USDA zone 5a I was interested in zone stretching. Once I got to 4a/3b I was more interested in not wasting time (largely because I wasn’t getting any younger). Grafting varieties and figuring what works in a specific location is likely the best practice.

I’d think what works here would work for you as well, but that’s just a guess. I think you’re probably 90ish minutes NW of me, but winter temps don’t vary that much from here to there. My daughter and SIL live near Moorhead and their winter lows aren’t any different than ours. They do get more wind than we do though.

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I have CPP and it flowered first leaf on M106 (2-3yo plant I think). I have it grouped with my M26 trees as it’s semi dwarfing and should end up same size.

I’m planning to breed it as late frosts are becoming much more of a problem here. Id love to create some really robust acclimatized bulletproof garden strains that would be locally useful.

Breeding partners I added last year:

Crawley Beauty - One of the latest to flower, may even be too late for CPP. High disease resistance. Cooker maturing into eater in storage.

Reinette D’Amboulne - Very late flower. High disease resistance. Very long storage. Eater.

Reinette Amorique - Very late flower. Disease and wind/exposure resistant. Very long storage even in straw lined pit. Eater.

Belle Fille de Salins - Very late flower. Frost and disease resistant. Long storage. Eater.

Amour - Very late flower. Pest and disease resistant. Long storage. Eater.

Notice a theme? Should be some wonderful aromatic tastes and yellow flesh in there.

I’ll try some crosses with Malus Trilobata too, the Lebanese wild apple with maple leaves and small edible fruit. Supposed to be pretty bulletproof and a super late flower. I also have Malus Sieversii but will probably need to hand pollinate if using that. (Would also be curious to see sieversii x trilobata or trilobata x sylvestris).

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Nice to know it produces quickly for somebody

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(He did specify M106 root and a nice ‘feathered’ tree…so I can see that. Malling root isn’t going to do it for you. B 118 might.)

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I’ve got two grafted to Dolgo seedling rootstock. B118 is no longer on my list of preferable rootstocks. They do survive winters here (assuming we have snow cover before it hits -30 anyway), but a bunch of my trees on b118 are “leaners”. Not ideal for wildlife trees. M106 gets zapped here in bad winters. M111 survives (again, with snow cover) and they don’t lean like B118. To be honest, seedling (Dolgo, Ranetka, Baccata, Antonovka) do the best overall. They certainly aren’t precocious however.

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I’ll find out in due time about all that ‘lean’. M7 is acceptable to me…none ever fell over in 31 years. B118 have had no fruit yet, but may get a handfull of blossoms on one this year.

I have several G202 that are going to crop in their 4th leaf this year. In pots.
I hoped they didn’t have to be staked…but that may not be the case, especially if I don’t thin them if they set a bunch of fruit. G30 seems not to be precocious as advertised…but I grafted 5 more to it this year.

I’d like to eat a Court Pendu Plat before deciding if I desire to graft it.

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I would like to eat one someday too. I grafted CPP because of the history. Having a variety that ancient cultures ate seems pretty cool. I had my doubts that it would survive winters here, but it does…at least the tree does. Time will tell if it ever fruits.

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I’ll be looking for a couple fruits on my Cornish Aromatic this year…it’s on B-9 and has several bloom buds. It’s one I’ll be using to do some hand-pollination later this month.

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