nice thing about currants is they come back quick from damage where as trees may take many years to recover.
I tore my bicep and rotator cuff Last summer Had surgery in the fall Right before the fig shuffle So I was unable to put them away for the winter. I think all 35 or 40 varieties are going to be dead Maybe a few will push up from the roots but I have very little hope of it. 6 years of hard work down the drain and my arm still isnāt working right.
2 Likes
Winter wasnāt so bad, maybe most of them will regrow from the root.
(Of course, that could be a problem if they were grafted to rootstocks.)
I saw several in 6b that are alive. In fact none of the limbs had died back even until that 23 degree night in late March.
sad
1 Like
My peach trees were finally at the stage where they would go from a handful of fruit to hundreds. Looks like the harsh winter killed all of the buds, though. The trees are leafing out nicely, but all flower buds are dead. Lost a few small limbs on sweet cherries, but no dead trees. Southern Michigan.
Iāll add another one. Flavor Supreme is toast. The rootstock is growing like crazy but FS is dead on top. Iām going to dig it (donāt need/want rootstock) and plant a seedling of mine in its place. Too bad because the tree grew like crazy during the summer last year. I had noticed dieback in the past ā¦much more then other trees. Funny thing is i have a seedling pluot (have no idea variety) right by it that is blooming this year and had no dieback. I still have FS on another container tree that is bloomingā¦so maybe iāll get a few fruits.
I thought my sweet cherry was going to bloom - but nope, buds were killed. A few opened, none set fruit.
Well, I was wrong about winter killing my Wolf River. I dug it up today and it clearly had some girdling/root damage. It did have a new shoot coming up from the roots, so I dug it up and relocated it to another location. It does appear that winter did indeed kill my Spitzenberg. The rootstock shows green cambium, but above the graft is dead. Spice Sweet is still showing a bit of green cambium, but no growth yet.
1 Like
Plenty for me!
Last winter 2017/2018, I lost an Alberta Peach, Mormon Apricot, 3-in-1 Plout.
This past winter, 2018/2019, I lost a Beauty Plum (with multiple grafts of many varieties), probably a Saturn Peach (mouse earās leaves size for this past 2 weeks) and a half-dead Hosui Asian Pear. On the winter-killed list also 2 of the fine leaf Japanese Maples that were established for about 8+ years. I also lost a Chicago Hardy Fig. But that was my fault for not water during winter storage in the garage.
So, I lost a bunch! Cry Me A River! 
1 Like
With double -38F record lows last winter I feared the worst for the 25 1 and 2 yr planted asst fruits tree in our new hobby orchard. Surprisingly almost all are showing some signs of life except both Contender peaches(Z4), both Evans Bali cherry(Z3) and one crabapple(crown girdled by mice as I forgot a trunk guard on it). I knew the peaches were a gamble(have replacement guaranty so will try again) but I thought the Evans B.'s should have been tougher. Anyone else having luck with them at Z3/Z4 border?
Sad to see trees were killed by the winter. I remembered there is gentleman named Konrad in GW grows Evans Bali cherry in zone4 or colder. It is pretty hardy cherry
1 Like
Just chopped the top third of my quince off, as it didnāt ever leaf out. The bottom is alive and greening up. Hoping next winter is easier on it, and thinking itās going to end up looking like a bush.
It appears Iām having some delayed winter damage. An Eastman Sweet that showed green cambium last month now does not. Iām hoping the base of the graft survived, but itās not looking good right now.
I lost a Jonathan and a Gala, both I suspect were suffering from Fire Blight last year. Iāve removed the trees and the root stocks are sprouting. I was able to bark graft a new variety to the Gala root stock (not sure what it is, itās a Soil and Water Conservation tree) and Iāll let the Jonathan grow out and graft it next year. Both varieties are FB susceptible and I wonāt replace either of them, but Iāll try to use the root stocks.
1 Like
Well, I donāt know if itās due to the hard winter we had, but somethingās amiss with my big three year old Winesap apple. Itās about 15ft tall, and itās the tallest of my 17 apples.
All the other apples have pretty much leafed out being that itās early June. But the Winesap has struggled to leaf out fully, and some of those have a yellow discoloration.
This was a potted tree that I got from Loweās 3 years ago, and the graft union was a bit close to the ground when I planted it. But, thatās the way it was in the pot, and I didnāt want to remove too much dirt from the rootball. I donāt know what rootstock it has, but judging by its root suckering, Iām inclined to think itās M7.
I had a corrugated plastic tube around its base to protect it from rodents after my Suncrisp was almost completely girdled in March. I was delayed in getting the tube off (May?) the WS, so that probably didnāt help. But I did notice what looked like some brown sawdusty type material at the base of the tree, so maybe itās borers?
At any rate, I was puzzled why it was taking so long for it to leaf out, and Iām just now connecting the dots.
Another factor is that the tree has been subjected to wet feet during some periods of heavy rain, but itās in good draining soil, so itās never really been standing in water. So, it could also be some type of root or collar rot, considering how close the graft union is to the ground. So Iām going to have to do a more thorough inspection of it soon. Like excavating away some of the dirt away from the base of the tree.
Anyway, Iāve either got a borer and/or root rot problem with this tree. If itās a borer problem, is there a way to get it under control without losing the tree?
Still no sign of life in my two Cornelian Cherries. Most of my Duke blueberry bushes died. Lapins sweet cherries arenāt doing well, but not sure that is a winter issue. How anything can survive such cold is a mystery to me. It didnāt hurt the wood ticks any.
Iām seeing lots of dead trees- mulberries, peaches, plums, an apricot- particularly in heavier soils. Itās hard for plants to harden properly for winter when the soil is excessively wet in fall. Temperatures were not in themselves an issue and we had the least frost-threatening spring in memory and a mild winter. Too bad the blooms didnāt lead to full crop-load anyways.
Things are finally starting to dry out here for the first time in over a year. Iām hoping the monsoon has passed and Iām complaining about drought in a month.
Complaining needs variety to stay fresh.
2 Likes
Didnāt get very cold here, but my four young Kristin sweet cherries took a big hit - one dead, three died way back. This is often billed as a cold-hardy cherry. My Rainier, Lambert, Van, Compact Stella, and Lapins cherry trees skated through the winter basically unscathed.
The previous winter I lost my two Montmorency cherry trees and one Meteor, while the sweet cherries did fine. ???
I lost a good deal of stuff in 2017-2018, including potted apples on M111 and numerous seedling pawpaws. But, 2018-2019, I could wish every winter were like it. Not enough snow to delay any plans, 3 degree low which pushes us to zone 7 at least for this year.
I have lost a couple grafted trees in containers this spring. Just wilted and died. I guess I need to do a little statistical research and see if theyāre on the same rootstock, or might have gotten too dry, or have had poor potting soilā¦
Duane, can you get the romance series sour cherries from the U. of sask.? they are cold hardy to sz2 and drought tolerant. seems they would do better for you there.