North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>]

Speaking mostly from reading and listening rather than experience:

Even hardy dwarfing rootstocks because of their lack of vigour may 
result in slow recovery from winter damage. If using a dwarfing 
rootstock both rootstock and scion should be ironclad hardy for your 
site. Avoid soggy soil which has a bad effect on coldhardiness.

Ottawa 3 has been used on the prairies to some extent but roots develop 
slowly so it is slow to establish. The Vineland series (crosses between 
M9 and Kerr applecrab if I recall rightly) may be hardy in zone 3; early 
reports were promising but I have not read final reports. They may not 
be available in the U.S.; little used in Canada yet.

The classical standard apple rootstock used on the Canadian prairies was 
seedlings of Columbia crab (Siberian crab x Broad Green, an old Russian 
apple). Ranetka crab seedlings have been satisfactory I understand, 
especially on lighter soils. Antonovka not totally satisfactory at 
Edmonton in cold winters with no snow. Siberian crab's compatibility is 
unreliable. I'd say the safe way is to get yourself a good tripod 
orchard ladder and use standard rootstocks in Zone 3.

I'd be wary of Antonovka seedlings; much depends on the pollen parent 
(father) and where they were wintered (selection) before grafting.

From conversations with the late Eddie Dugas of St. Leonard, New 
Brunswick (he said a cold 3b) in the 1980s, Sweet Sixteen and Keepsake 
are Zone 4 apples. He liked Carroll and Hazen as prospects for 
commercial growing there.

I recommend paying close attention to reported picking time of cultivars 
and season length in your area.

Some U.S. nurseries you can buy mailorder from which have plenty of 
selection and good descriptions are

http://www.edibleforestnursery.com

http://www.sln.potsdam.ny.us

http://maplevalleyorchards.com

Nurseries do tend sometimes to be a little optimistic about 
coldhardiness but the above are mostly pretty good. Maple Valley seems 
to have a little finger trouble sometimes in writing; occasional 
transpositions.

Check out the literature at

http://www.fruit.usask.com

http://www.apfga.org

Bear in mind that the latter is biased to short season cultivars, also 
ones that can handle their daylength and often cool summers, also 
Anchorage and especially the panhandle are not that cold.

There is some useful information at
http://www.dnagardens.com

If you search on "Bernie Nikolai" on Google you will come up with a lot 
of interesting stuff, including old messages from this list. Maybe 
"Bernie Nikolai apples" and "Bernie Nikolai rootstock" to narrow things 
down a bit.

The "Nor-" series were tested at Beaverlodge, Alberta (zone 2b) as I 
recall, and you should find them hardy and tolerably or quite early.
I read good things about Norkent for quality.

September Ruby and Carlos Queen should be fine to 2b; the latter should 
pick by mid September.

Goodland is well regarded for the warmer parts of the Canadian prairies, 
to warm half of 3a perhaps.

You can search on "Agriculture Canada plant hardiness zones" to get the 
maps.

If you find a hardy scion you like on a marginal rootstock and it is 
grafted low you could try planting with the union (if identifiable) a 
few inches below soil level; eventually you should get scion rooting. A 
good deal may depend on how fast.

Marginally hardy cultivars can be helped by topworking on a very hardy 
framework. Experience in New Brunswick showed a large increase in 
cumulative yield over several years due to much quicker recovery from 
winter damage.

For getting into propagating, R. J. Garner's book "The Grafter's 
Handbook" is a classic and very helpful. See
http://www.bookfinder.com

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada



Jim Hogan wrote:
>  I just joined a couple weeks ago so I wanted to say hi, and to ask a couple 
> questions about growing apples in the cold zones like northern Minnesota. 
> I've read all the literature form the U of MN which isn't bad, but there 
> seems to be conflicting information so here I am. Right now I have 2 haralson 
> and 1 crabapple tree which do well here. The only things I do is prune them a 
> little and collect apples. Not a lot of pests or insect damage so they've 
> been pretty easy. We bought them from a nursery long time ago so I'm assuming 
> a standard rootstock. I want to try some dwarfing rootstocks and some other 
> apple, but our nurseries around here don't sell them so I'd have to look 
> elsewhere.
> Basically I have 2 questions:
> What dwarfing rootstocks will grow well in the cold?We hit 40-50 below 0 
> frequently. I have about 18-24 inches of topsoil, with a softer clay pan 
> beneath it(meaning I can dig it out pretty easily) and we grow a lot of corn, 
> alfalfa and oats.
> Also from the U of MN info, doesn't look like a lot will actually grow for 
> apples, maybe sweet 16 and haralson. Do you have any others that you'd 
> recommend. I am mostly looking for eating and cider apples. The nursery had 
> beacon and chestnut crab, goodland and a couple others.
>
> thanks
> jim