_He contends that the trunk is the part of the tree most susceptible to cold damage, and found that by using hardy interstems (perhaps your yellow transparent), or a hardy rootstock grown out more can increase winter survival.
I think Bernie Nikolai has something in this observation. I top work some of my varieties on hardy crab apple trees and maybe that is why those cultivars seem to be doing fairly well and have fruited earlier than those grafted directly on the Baccata roots.
In this cold region I am advising relatives to buy a lovely shaped hardy crab apple tree and then graft over the branches to varieties they would like to try. This method has been more successful for me than trying to grow a marginal variety on rootstock you can’t identify.
I too have issues with the ratings on these Alaska hardy apples and this could be attributed to situation and climate. I find that some of the varieties they highly rated I have been grafting over.
Both my Beacon and Dudley drop damaged fruit early but mostly drop their fruit when ripe. But neither of these are keepers, except for a short time (I just finished my Dudleys and they are getting soft)(but my storage is root cellar, not frig.). Black Oxford appears to hold on to its fruit here. I pick these not quite ripe for storage. I did leave some small ones on the tree to see how they’d be later and they’re still hanging, not dropping. But our cold came early this year and we’re in low 20’s/highs 30’s now so I doubt they’ll ripen any more. I’ve only had one harvest from my Haralson a few years ago and my notes say a few dropped early October and I harvested them then so I don’t know if they would have hung on later. But they were a nice flavored keeper, more tart than Black Oxford.
Ursula, when do your Discovery and Wynoochee Ripen? I’ve been considering Discovery, and Wynoochee sounds interesting. If you can grow them there I certainly should be able to. Sue
I keep track of bloom time and ripening time. Maybe it is overkill but I find that standard ripening dates do not work well for me because our bloom time is much later than most of the areas where apples are grown.
Discovery bloom date was May 17, picking date was Sept. 10 and they were ripe. That was 116 days.
Wynoochee Early bloom date was May 17, picking date was Sept 1st, they were ripe. That was 107 days.
Both of these are grafted up higher in a large existing crab apple (variety unknown) and they produced on their third leaf. The other ones which I bench grafted onto hardy Siberian rootstock have yet to flower and they are on their 4th leaf.
I loved both, but we have a very small number of really good apples for this area so my standards could be skewed a little in favour of anything that is better than the norm.
You’re right about local influence; terroir has a marked effect on apple flavor and I’ve noted spectacular differences between the same cultivar from one of my trees vs. others grown just a few miles up the road. As far as optimistic descriptions, I believe that there will be a notable contrast between apples ripened down in South Central Alaska and those from here in the Interior. We get way more sun and heat units in the summer, and that is a significant factor. So while many cultivars grown down there won’t survive our far more brutal winters, we can ripen apples that would still be green at the end of the season down there, and the ones hardy enough for us that you can ripen will ripen better here.
in favour of anything that is better than the norm.