Zone 4 yes. Zone 3 the growing season is too short.
A grafted tree on Northern rootstock such as native Missouri or Illinois root systems are completely hardy in zone 4. You’d need find a cultivar with the least amount of days to mature their nuts. Somewhere on here we’ve talked about which two cultivars should mature in zone 4. I’m sure it’s on the pecan thread if you were to search and do some reading. ‘Warren 346’ was one, but, I forget the other.
Barkslip, Thanks. I have seen several recommendations by various nurseries and by posters here for hardy pecans, but what I want to know is if anyone up here near Minneapolis has ever actually harvested any nuts from them.
I think Dax is spot on about bare root, but the problem is the inconsistency in the quality of root systems with many nurseries. I like to always add the caveat, “in my climate and soil,” a plant that is potted and not root bound will always outperform bare root. My soil is extremely heavy clay, and my winters go directly to summer with wild swings in between. If you plant too early a late frost kills the small leaves and zaps the life out of the newly grafted plant. If you plant too late the brutal summer temperatures and unrelenting sun can fry your plant to a crisp, despite adequate water and proper pruning. For me, my favorite time to plant is during the fall. Apples and pears are another story, they can be planted just about anytime for me. However, my potted apples and pears will be four times the size of the bare root in three years time. This is just my experience, I’m sure people in different climates have totally different results.
Albemarle Ciderworks just reopened its tree sales division today after a long hiatus from disease quarantine.
They are not doing peaches this year.
They have apples, pears, plums, and a cherry. Website has beautiful photos of the fruit as grown at their Virginia site, with interesting descriptions.
well, i received my 3ft. juliet cherry last week, when i was supposed to only get it next spring. grounds not frozen hard yet but i decided to plant it in a good sized pot till’ spring. i sure hope it makes it. i hate planting anything this late in the season.
Yes-- Water it about once a month over the winter.
No-- Don’t leave the pot outside in Zone 3. That’s too chilly willy. Those Seskatchewan cherries are very cold hardy, but that’s when the roots are planted and protected in-ground. Unknown to me whether they would survive in a pot unprotected outdoors in northern Maine. I wouldn’t chance it. The cold winds might desicate the exposed roots.
ok . thats what i thought also. i have the top of soil mulched with wet newspaper to help retain moisture. we get deep snow most winters but ill still err on the side of caution.
I added a Liberty on G.30 and Harrow Sweet pear on OHxF 87, so my updated order:
Apples
Ashmead’s Kernel - G.935
CrimsonCrisp (Co-op 39) - G.30
CrimsonTopaz - G.30
Golden Russet - G.222
Newtown Pippin - G.30
Winecrisp (Co-op 31) - G.30
Liberty - G.30
Pears
Harrow Sweet - OHxF 87
I have 5 year old GoldRush and Sundance trees right now. Am I missing anything for Zone 6b, upstate NY? I considered the following:
Pristine - not available on a semi-dwarf rootstock, or I’d probably choose it over Newtown Pippin
Arkansas Black
Pixie Crunch
Suncrisp - thinking I already have a lot of green/yellow apples, and Ashmead’s Kernel and Golden Russet seem like better additions to my current GoldRush and Sundance trees
Zestar - wasn’t wowed by this from our farmer’s market, not a super firm apple and didn’t keep well
NY 35 (Bonkers) - seems Liberty is probably a better choice, not many reviews of this apple
King David
Chestnut Crab
These are probably the last 8 trees I have space for. I’ve tasted Crimson Crisp, Topaz, and Zestar, but none of the others. I’m most on the fence over Newtown Pippin and Winecrisp. I’ve mostly prioritized disease resistance (hoping to spray mainly for bugs) and keeping qualities. I might still swap the Newtown Pippin for Pristine if it becomes available, since it seems to be one of the best and earliest of the summer apples. I’m thinking Newtown Pippin is similar and not as great as GoldRush, which I already have. I’m open to suggestions.
So far → Coe’s Transparent cherry and Parkhill cherry from Arboreum. I’ve been wanting to try some guigne cherries and these are about the only two I’ve found available. I’ll probably order some plum and cherry rootstock from Raintree. The Raritan Rose peach I planted late last year didn’t make it so I might try to find one of those (sometimes Grandpa’s has them) or I’ll try to get some scion wood. I really need to curtail planting new stuff and focus more on grafting. Even so, I might add a cold hardy muscat grape if it is feasible. Also, I might add some black raspberries and rip out blackberries since they are prone to SWD damage due to ripening later.
All my apples in my little orchard haven’t beared yet, so my opinions on tastes come from samples from an orchard west of us in central KY. All are just my opinions, others on here will differ.
Zestar IMO is a good early apple, don’t know if it’s better than Pristine, because I haven’t tasted it yet. I have both trees. Zestar keeps a good while compared to other early apples, and has a good acid/sweet balance.
Arkie Black is a very late maturing apple, so it may not ripen in time for your location? But so does Gold Rush, so that kinda kills that argument… But, I’ve had AB’s and they just don’t cut it for me. It is a very hard apple off the tree, and its flavor didn’t really improve in storage.
Suncrisp is a very good apple, both off the tree, and in storage. Winecrisp is a decent firm apple, but it’s flavor is just OK to me. I also have both of these varieties as well as a King David, but no taste of it yet.
Golden Russet is one of my favorites, and Liberty is a good tasting disease-resistant apple. Those are good choices.
I’d probably swap out Winecrisp with Suncrisp. I’ve had both several years from a local grower and Winecrisp can have some savory off flavors that I don’t like. Good, as in no off flavor, Winecrisp apples just never had much going on, to me. I had my first crop of Suncrisp this year, and it matches the professionally-grown product. Another yellow apple in that late-season storage window from PRI with disease resistance is Sundance. I haven’t had Sundance.
I got some Newtown Pippin at the grocery store this year. (yay!) I’d say it moved to a high position on the list of my “to graft” varieties. But since stone fruit aren’t an every-year sort of crop here, those Pristine in late July are good. But Pristine can’t hold a candle to main-crop and late-season varieties.
If you bought Pristine, you’d still have a decent gap in apple ripening. Some potential apples for that gap would be Sweet Sixteen and Honeycrisp. Sweet Sixteen can be amazing. This year for me Sweet Sixteen had big-time anise flavor, but other times it is a mix of apple and cherry candy. Sweet Sixteen gets high praise all around. But the anise can be a detractor, if you don’t love licorice flavor (I do).
If you want to pick from those three I would pick Suncrisp and one of the other two. Ashmead’s Kernel and GR are both high-sugar russets without a lot of aromatics; Suncrisp is not a russet and is highly aromatic. Suncrisp is a much easier grower, at least for me on my minimal spray program. GR in my orchard is “Great Rotter”
Great input. I love this place. I will definitely add Suncrisp, probably replacing Winecrisp. Are Ashmead’s Kernel and Golden Russet similar? I was under the impression GR was nearly all sweet and Ashmead’s was intensely sweet and tart, but you have me rethinking this. I’m hoping rotting won’t be a problem in zone 6. If Ashmead’s and GR are similar maybe I have room for another tree.
Thanks for the input on Zestar. We only tried them once and it may not have been the best sample. Then again, my wife really enjoyed them and detected some unique qualities. I think I’m probably just more impressed at the moment by firm apples like GoldRush and CrimsonCrisp, having grown up with Mac style apples. I would like to try Pristine and Zestar together and compare.
