Frostbite Apple Zone 7 or 8?

General Fruit Growing
#1

Anyone growing Frostbite apple in zone 7 or 8? Interested in its taste/texture in these warmer zones as some descriptions say it’s not good in heat.

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#2

I grow it in 10a, and it’s healthy, productive, and very good. Same is true of its progeny, Sweet Sixteen.

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#3

Thanks for your report. I’ve got keepsake and Sw 16, should get first fruit this year. Have fingers crossed on Sw 16 as a video from Indiana calls it a fireblight magnet.

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#4

I have it on dwarf rootstock…I think if I add a limb to a multi-graft tree I may be ahead.
So, far, have had to pick before ripe to keep squirrels from getting them,
so
the
jury
is
still
out
here. (z. 6b)

Other than fruits cracking and squirrels liking…I think
I’ll like it if I ever get to eat a ripe one.

No significant CAR or fireblight or scab so far in 4 years for me.

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#5

But what temperature range do you see in the summer? Hardiness zone doesn’t tell us the full picture.

#6

I’m not the one being asked, but 97 is the high here past 6 years. KY.

#7

Pretty variable these days. Typical summer temperatures are high sixties to low eighties, with an occasional brief venture into the nineties. September is usually our warmest month. The Pacific marine influence keeps us relatively cool unless we’re getting offshore winds heated up by the Central Valley. When that happens, we bake.

You can see our historical weather data here, if you wish.

#8

Heat and the zone you’re in are different animals. The zones are based on minimums, not heat. Never got over 97 again …7th year consecutively…here.
My Frostbite didn’t bloom…it’s a potted tree. Hope to add it to a multi-graft tree this coming spring. (I also have Keepsake, but it has never done anything on B-118…six seasons and still not 5 feet tall and no side limbs.)

But, the updated zone map says I moved to zone 7a…so there’s that. (Cold as it is this early a.m. it may not be long till they have to adjust me back to zone 6, lol!)

#9

I talked with the Minnesota breeder back in 2008 about growing Keepsake apples in Southeast Virginia. He said they would probably be ok in the mountains where the cooler nights would develop the flavor but did not recommend them for me. May or may not be the same situation for Frostbite.

I planted one tree anyway. It was on mm106 and grew slowly for two years and then got crown rot and died.

Continuing off topic, there is an orchard in Mt.Airy Maryland not too far west of Baltimore that has 50 trees of Keepsake. They started selling them PYO around September 24 this year. Owner said they were earlier this year like all other apples they had. I did not get there to get any.

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