North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[anne bianca <atbianca@yahoo.com>]

Hello,

 

        First I would like to welcome you to Zone 9!  This can be a very tricky, frustrating zone to live in at times, but if you are creative you can grow some really beautiful plants/trees.

        Next, I would like to address the "chill cheating" issue.  I am glad that you brought it up.  One of the first jobs I had was working in a nursery-I literally never saw my paycheck-I bought plants with it. 

        I was in heaven when I came across Concord Grapes they had for sale.  I knew in my heart and swirling around my head, that the Sunset Western Garden book strictly listed this plant for other zones. 

I bought that Concord Grape and painfully prepared the soil for it to live happily in a 24 inch pot.

I protected it from the sun for as long as I could on a patio in an almost completely shaded spot.

And, one day, I did pour buckets of ice into that pot.  My family will never forget it and occasionally bring it up during dinner conversations.  I truly do believe that it did help.  I don't know if anyone has ever devoted time to research this method - I have never googled it myself.  That grape did survive through 2 summers in Arizona!  The only real downfall was when I had to move it to a hotter area of the yard.

       The only downfall I could see with your apple is if the "chill cheating" works with the tree, maybe it could get it off to a good start - acclimation wise--how would you continue to care for it if it does take off?

Could you really imagine going out there every so often and pouring buckets and buckets of ice at its base?

I would say that if you had the room ---devote some space to Backbone Trees to provide reliable shade and see if you can provide protection and cooler temps that way.  By backbone tree, I mean mainly an evergreen that can provide shelter for this tree from not only the sun, but don't forget about hot winds as well.  You don't have to go for heavy shade, just reliable protection to provide your own microclimate for the apple.  Even light shade is a wonderful thing in this climate and can lower temps considerably.  Another good thing is that I doubt that, even though we are in the same zone, you are less likely to experience the highs we see here in Phoenix or Surprise - Good luck with the apple tree - I say baby it any way you can right now and providing it a microclimate would be the best way to go in my opinion and w/my experience! 

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From: Spidra Webster <spidra@gmail.com>
To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Mon, September 20, 2010 2:14:20 AM
Subject: [NAFEX] Can Low-Chill Rootstock Affect Grafted Bits?

Howdy,

I rather stupidly bought 'Gravenstein' (a favorite) before checking into how many chill hours it requires. As I have moved from Berkeley to South Pasadena, CA, I fear this area won't get enough chill to set fruit most years. My favorite apples are Yellow Newton Pippin and Gravenstein. I like a lot of tart with my sweet. I'm assuming apples like 'Anna' and 'Dorsett Golden' don't really have this taste. However, if I grafted scions onto a low-chill apple rootstock, would they set fruit?

I guess another question would regard chill cheating. Does the tree depend on the air chill being that cold or is it enough to put a bunch of ice on the ground near the trunk and try to give it a little local chill that way?

Megan Lynch

http://www.meganlynch.net

South Pasadena, CA USDA Zone 9