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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Winter trees in pots

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  • From: "Amanda Emily" <amanda@wa-geek.net>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Winter trees in pots
  • Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:28:15 -0800

M27 I belive is rather cold tender, but I do have a few apples on M26 and Bud9 in oak half barrels at the head of the driveway as an experiment, and they come through just fine for the last three winters and have produced a crop this year. Nights here in the dead of winter in my microclimate up on Colville Mtn. can hit -25F without the windchill factored in and the barrels do freeze solid every winter. No winter protection is offered to them either asides from what is afforded by the barrel and its thick wood slats.
 
 
 
Amanda Emily
Colville, WA (z/5b)
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Alan Haigh
Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2007 4:08 PM
Subject: [NAFEX] Winter trees in pots

Those roots can be killed from temperatures not much lower than freezing, I'm sure another member can be more specific about the exact temperature range of that rootstock but I'm sure your winter is much too cold for its survival unprotected..  The ground is a great insulator and roots haven't developed the same hardening off strategies as the trunk and branches where the cells limit their concentration of water to prevent rupturing and death in extreme weather.  Actually I should probably leave that part of the explanation to one of the professional academics on our list.
 
Insulated bottomless pots topped with an airy mulch are the best way to get around this problem so the heat from the ground can modify extremes in the pot.  You could cut back the roots every spring to keep the roots from getting to far out of the pots.  If the pots are off the ground the insulation will probably be inadequate and heating coils would be necessary.





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