My honeycrisp apple is out of sync with the other apples. It’s just now starting to push out it’s first leaf while all the others are winding down from blooming. I don’t expect it’s first flowers to open until the rest of the apples are finished blooming.
Now I have one apple, Double Red Delicious, that’s way ahead (by almost 3 months this year) of the rest, and the Honeycrisp that is dawdling behind the pack. I used to suspect that the location of the early bloomer might be part of the reason for its early bloom, but these two are right next to one another. So, they are getting the same sun, warmth, and chill.
Is Honeycrisp a late bloomer for everyone? If it is, what pollinators bloom at the same time? This one is young. It’s only second leaf. Could that have anything to do with the timing? I do have other varieties the same age that leafed out and bloomed within the time frame of the older trees. Also, we had a very warm December following a bit of chill in the fall. The Honeycrisp did not go dormant until cold weather arrived in January. The Double Red was already waking up enough to start blooming before then. The HC was slow to go fully dormant and very slow to come out. Is a more normal season likely to hasten its awakening, or would that be entirely based on accumulation of Growing Degree Hours after chill?
Hey Muddy, way different zone of course - but I happen to have a Honeycrisp and it has not been the easiest tree for me. But right now I have Earlitreat, Red Del,Yellow Del (partial), Mac, Empire and State Fair in bloom, with Haralson just now showing pink and still silver tip on Honeycrisp. I think the closest I have that overlaps are Yellow Del & Haralson. I also have a couple Goldrush that may bloom this year, both are in their third leaf and if they plan on it they’re not giving any telltale signs…
So yes, it’s a late bloomer for me but well worth it even with the issues I’ve had it is a very tasty treat to me.
Its my very last apple to bloom and, like yours, is just now starting to leaf out while most of my other apples are blooming. So its not just you or its location.
Muddy. My Honeycrisp are on the same schedule as yours. They are just starting to leaf. I have been watching them carefully and had just about decided that they didn’t get enough chill hours. If they consistently leaf out this late I’m not sure if I have another pollen source to overlap the bloom period. My Arkansas Black is blooming but they are a steril triploid. Right not my best shot is with the Red Rome Beauty which is blooming now. Bill
Muddy,
My HC are dropping petal now and they bloomed with haralson and prairie spy. Great apples but they do take awhile to produce. I have 4 honeycrisp trees.
I’ll second that. My HC was 7 or 8 years before making apples. I remember whining about this awhile back and at the time Alan had even wondered if it was the location it was in, not getting enough sun etc., but it’s in the same proximity as all the others that made apples on a regular schedule. So mine took awhile to produce, and I had a bout of the “yellows” but unless it starts acting up again I still think it was worth the wait.
My Honeycrisp finished blooming last week, it bloomed with Wickson, Ashmeads Kernal, and Golden Russet. It was late to break dormancy then very quick to bloom.
Thanks, guys. All that you said is helpful. @IowaJer has the most winter cold and his still late, but at least has silver tip before Haralson opens blossoms. That means some of us might be searching for some Haralson or Prairie Spy next winter. ( @clarkinks was typing while I am.) That post leads to the thought that maybe it is an increased chill requirement, since his is blooming before the more Southern ones. Jer’s are late, too. So, maybe it’s a combo of chill hours and growing degree hours. Kansas has seemed to have more warm weather so far than Iowa. Age isn’t ruled out either. Could be that it’s still a child that stayed up too late to wake on time.
@Auburn - My Arkansas Black of the same age has already completed blooming. It was right along with the crowd on that. You’re farther south than I am, but I believe you are at a higher elevation and slightly cooler than here. @thecityman I know you had more chill than here; you had cherry blossoms! I definitely have some chill issues this year. It was most obvious on cherries - no blooms at all on sweet or wild flowering cherries, and only an unfruitful handful on Montmorency.
Thanks, @ChrisL You also have a mild winter in the PNW, but I think fewer heat spikes and fewer major temperature dips during winter, and a very wet spring this year. Is that right? You also added varieties to the list of possible overlapping blooms. It’s interesting when cooler areas bloom earlier.
Muddy,
HC is a mid season apple. Your double RD is probably very early season.
My early season William’s Pride overlaps a bit with HC. We have a lot of crabapples within a mile radius. Even if no other apple in my yard bloom with my HC, I am confident it will get pollinated.
Do you think your neighbors have mid season apples or crabpples (long blooming time) around?
That’s very interesting to me- I’d have thought our climates were more similar than that, though I know you are zone 8 and I’m 7. Especially this year- it just seemed like we had no winter at all here- none of my figs were frozen to ground and that’s a first. But as you may have seen, I have my first sweet cherries ever this year. My Montmorency’s are in full bloom right now, and the bees are going wild on them! Wish I had my own hives set up like you…just 2 more weeks until I’m officially in the bee keeping world!
I know my immediate neighbors do not, but there is a subdivision across the way behind my field. I have no idea what any of the owners over there might have in their backyards. It’s the type of subdivision where most people consider a fruit tree as something ‘messy’, and would rather have uniformly trimmed foundation bushes with a small splash of colorful, easy care annual flowers, and a Bradford pear.
It was an early spring here, HC was so slow to break dormancy I wondered if it was dead. We get up to 110 here in the summer and down to 0 in winter, not the Washington state forests that come to mind. Sagebrush, tumbleweeds and about 8 inches of rain annually here.
Oh! You’re on the eastern side of the state? I should have looked at your profile page. Sorry, I was just going by memory of where everyone lived. I think it must be those crabs in your hands that led me astray.
What’s strange is Arkansas Black is my late bloomer which buds are not open yet. This is its first year for me. They will be open in the next few days which will overlap some of my other stragler flowers from other trees including hc. Prairie spy and haralson were both years to come into bloom their first time like HC. I have 2 seedlings that overlap HC that came into bloom in half the time of PS and haralson.
It is good to see all the HC reports on bloom time. I’m feeling more confident now that I will have adequate overlap of blooming. Now I just need to bend those limbs a little more and get it to fruiting. I’m still a little concerned if my location has enough chill hours but that is basically out of my control. The good news is that the HC blooms so late that it would be unlikely to be damaged by late cold snaps in my area. Bill
Honeycrisp was the latest tree in our orchard to break dormancy this year. They are young trees, and only had a few blooms. I was susrprised. It was even later then Northern Spy, but not as late as the Rome Beauty.
I’m happy to have late blooming trees, as the cold snaps can be an issue here too, in fact, I just grafted some others that are supposed to be very late, like Court Pendu Platt, and Rall’s Janet.
This is good news to me.
