Fruit tree die back over winter

General Fruit Growing
1

This last winter was a tough one in the orchard. Not terribly cold (down to -13F a couple of times) but much cloudier than usual and we had several (like 3) false starts to spring, when it got warm for a week or so then turned cold again. Anyway it was hard on the fruit trees, one died outright (a european plum) and several others had the outer branches die back. A couple that I though were goners eventually started sending out shoots from close in to the main trunk. These are mostly apples and a couple of pears and plums and cherries.

I am trying to figure out what the real cause of these die backs was and if there is anything I could do to prevent future occurrences. Early in the spring, it seemed all these trees were healthy, buds started growing and things looked fine, then on the affected trees the bud growth just stopped, eventually these twigs/branches got dried out and died. No signs of disease or critter damage.

I should mention that about 1/2 the trees came through the winter just fine, no die back, although all were somewhat late to start growing. The smaller trees seem to be the ones with the most losses.

Any thoughts as to what went on here and how to prevent it in the future?

2

Move downhill, way down then turn south. Trees with winter/cold injury often start to grow in spring and then die when water demand increases. I don’t know of much you can do about cold injury.

3

You may be right fruitnut. Unfortunately the climate I prefer and the one my tree and garden prefer are not the same. No doubt if I moved to a warmer locale, my plants would be happier, but I wouldn’t.

I was hoping that there might be something I could do (or not do) which would help the trees getting through these crazy springs.

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4

We have plenty of issues with fruit trees down here. But most of the cold damage is to the blossoms/fruit and not to the trees. The front range of the Rockies is well known as a fruit tree killer. I even recall reports of cold damage to apples one of the hardiest fruit trees. And that was in the best microclimates not the worst.

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