North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Steve <sdw12986@aol.com>]

I could add one small thing to my original post....
I have one other apple tree with a few apples still out there. I grafted 
what was supposed to be Arlet (Swiss Gourmet) scion wood at the top of 
one of my trees. I'm not sure what it really is but it is solid red and 
medium size. It appears to ripen too late for my season. It stores well 
and is still hard, crisp, and tart 6 months later.
I picked most of those but left a few. Today I shook the tree to see 
what those tasted like after 15 degrees. They tasted like what I would 
have expected. Obviously frozen then thawed. Soft and watery with a very 
unpleasant texture and poor flavor. I couldn't begin to eat a whole one 
of those.
It may come down to sugar content or maybe some other factor but the 
Honeygold apples were getting about ripe and the unknown apple never 
gets very sweet here.
I'm still enjoying some of the Honeygolds right off the tree after the 
15 degree freeze. Also enjoying the bonus string of 60 degree days!

Steve


Steve wrote:
> Lucky Pittman inspired this comment when he asked what temperature would 
> damage his late apples. This isn't intended to be another answer for him 
> but more a story about what I just experienced.
>
> Honeygold is about the latest ripening apple I dare to grow here. Some 
> years, they aren't very good because the season wasn't long/warm enough. 
>   I mentioned some months ago about how I didn't spray a fungicide this 
> year due to rain, wind, or both just about every day in the early part 
> of the summer. The Honeygolds suffered greatly from this and were badly 
> spotted and scarred by scab. (The high speed hail storm in June didn't 
> help their looks either.) I wanted to thin them heavily to get rid of 
> the most damaged fruit but they were so bad that I lost interest and 
> never did thin them properly.
>
> I picked the best of them before we had a hard frost but left most of 
> them on the tree, thinking I would pick and discard the rest. (I still 
> hope to do that.)
>
> I walked out there today and noticed that there were still some decent 
> Honeygolds up in the tree. I tasted one and it was good so I picked a 
> dozen more of the better ones and took them inside. I have eaten two 
> more today. If someone had asked me the same question about how cold can 
> they go without damage, I would have answered upper to maybe mid 20s.
>
> Here's the point of all this. We had a prediction last weekend of 10 or 
> 11 degrees for the low. Today I checked my recording thermometer, which 
> is wired to a different apple tree near the Honeygold and my yard went 
> down to 15 degrees Saturday night. I do believe the texture of the 
> apples I picked today is slightly different but they are still good. If 
> you tell me they would now not store as well, I would believe it. I'm 
> just surprised they are still very edible after 15 degrees. Any comments?
>
> Steve in the Adirondacks (Zone 4a on the map, zone 3 by the thermometer)