[Arid_gardener] Apple

[Dick Gross]

Debra, I favor warm climate fruits, but Golden Dorset and Anna are in my son's landscape and both seen to bave endured the frigid weather.  I have no decidious but if I did, I would wait until the spring flush has pushed new growth and prune only quite dead wood back to green. Apples are decidious and are supposed to go dormant in the winter although in milder climates the dormancy may not be complete and some foliage may hang on.

Apple growers may disagree but this may "flush" some of them out of the woodwork. As far as I know, no one has yet responded to your question. This is a public forum and responses, if any, should go to every one on the list.

After the ambient temperature has reached the mid eighties and the soil has warmed up to like about now or in the 70s, there should be a vigorous flush of new growth. If some of the wood is dead above the grafts, I don't think it will hurt to let it hang for a while until the damage is obvious. 

Dick Gross, Master Gardener Volunteer
UofA Maricopa County Cooperative Extension



 ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Debora moritz" <deboramoritz at hotmail.com>
To: <arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu>
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 6:08 PM
Subject: [Arid_gardener] Apple 


>I have a young grafted apple - main trunk about 2 inches in diameter - in 
> ground two years.  It has Golden Dorsett, Anna and Ein Sheimer varieties.  
> It is in a very cold section of my yard.  It has leafed out but no blooms - 
> and the leaves are smaller and much more curled than my other two apples 
> which did not endure our frosts.
> 
> I have read that young apple trees subjected to frost may live on their 
> stored nutrients even after their cambium layer is dead.  I have not had the 
> strength to cut in and see what the cambium looks like......
> 
> I fear it is dying a slow death as it uses its stored nutrients.  Any 
> ideas??  Cut now and see what it looks like?  Nurse it along until it is 
> clearly dead and then replace??
> 
> I have a long history of trying to "rescue" trees and shrubs - ultimately 
> spending way more time and energy on a struggling plant then a new 
> replacement would require.
> 
> Debora
> 85260
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Arid_gardener mailing list
> Arid_gardener at CALS.arizona.edu
> http://CALS.arizona.edu/mailman2/listinfo/arid_gardener
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://CALS.arizona.edu/pipermail/arid_gardener/attachments/20070417/991f71ec/attachment.html