Recommendations for Cider Cultivars for Zone 4?

[Evan Dvorsak]

Hello.

Any northern growers have any recommendations for cider apple cultivars that THRIVE in the upper Midwest? We are in Hardiness Zone 4, and most of the classic English/French cultivars would freeze out here. The bittersweets and bittersharps seem to be the toughest ones to find....

Thanks much!

Evan Dvorsak

Amery, Wisconsin 

[Claude Jolicoeur]

Bulmer's Norman, Muscadet de Dieppe, Brown's Apple, Yarlington Mill, Coat Jersey, Kermerrien are all hardy in my zone 4 location in Quebec...
But Chisel Jersey, Michelin, Dabinett, Medaille d'or don't seem to be able to handle the climate.
More in the book!
Claude

[Carl]

Claude,

How does Stoke Red do in your region?

Carl

[Claude Jolicoeur]

Le vendredi 28 juin 2013 06:14:42 UTC-4, Carl a écrit :

How does Stoke Red do in your region?

Not well! Stoke Red lives and grows in this one 4 climate, wood seems hardy, has been there for 20 years now, and I harvested a handful of apples a couple of times. It simply doesn't bloom!
Claude

[Dick Dunn]

On Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at 06:24:34AM -0700, Claude Jolicoeur wrote:
> Le vendredi 28 juin 2013 06:14:42 UTC-4, Carl a �crit :

> >
> > How does Stoke Red do in your region?
> >
>
> Not well! Stoke Red lives and grows in this one 4 climate, wood seems
> hardy, has been there for 20 years now, and I harvested a handful of apples
> a couple of times. It simply doesn't bloom!
> Claude

Even here (Zone 5a, fwiw) Stoke Red grows OK but blooms so late it's hard
to get a useful crop. Also may not have other trees in bloom to pollinate
it. Typical bloom is early-mid June.
--
Dick Dunn rc...@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA

[Carl]

Dick Writes:

"Even here (Zone 5a, fwiw) Stoke Red grows OK but blooms so late it's hard
to get a useful crop.  Also may not have other trees in bloom to pollinate
it.  Typical bloom is early-mid June. "
--
Dick Dunn          rc...@talisman.com          Hygiene, Colorado  USA

 

I have had somewhat similar experience here in zone 6a-6b.
I however had thought (mistakenly) from old zone maps I was located in zone 5a /b?
I have found a more recent map showing more detail...See Here if interested:
My location is just lower than Rochester and East of same.
 http://files.campus.edublogs.org/blogs.cornell.edu/dist/9/92/files/2012/01/ny_hardiness_zone_mapx3300-23gw8tb.jpg

This has been my first year of limited cropping with Stoke Red, as last year we had a total failure due to late frost conditions.
This year I again had some late frost issues during blossom period for the Stoke Reds...last week of May, and a bit of damage
to the upper leaves, which may reflect the over abundance of pollination / cropping on the lower limbs of these trees.
I felt that I had a good abundance of local honey bees to pollinate these blossoms, but I felt they may have pollinated 50%-60%
of the blossoms available at the time of all trees I have planted? I assumed that there may have been to many opportunities for
their attention and that was the possible reason for the level of pollination I received? I would agree that with Stoke Reds being
one of the latest if not the latest to blossom that this may hamper the success for pollination from other trees I have.

Sorry Evan, this may be off topic for your zone.

Regards,

Carl

[greg l.]

50% fruit set is pretty good.

Greg

[Wes Cherry]

Here in zone 8a, stoke red is by far the latest tree I have, early June bloom. It is near some brown snouts so they may have provided pollen for them.

I got a fair fruit set this year. This is the first year I let them fruit.

Firelight is practically unheard of here, but it hit a couple of my stoke reds - the late bloom being the cause. some brown snouts got hit too.

The tree sure is stick like - lots of thin straight branches. We call it Stick Red.

-'//es

Sent using the 4S

On Jun 28, 2013, at 7:48 AM, Dick Dunn <rc...@talisman.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at 06:24:34AM -0700, Claude Jolicoeur wrote:

>> Le vendredi 28 juin 2013 06:14:42 UTC-4, Carl a écrit :
>>>
>>> How does Stoke Red do in your region?
>>
>> Not well! Stoke Red lives and grows in this one 4 climate, wood seems
>> hardy, has been there for 20 years now, and I harvested a handful of apples
>> a couple of times. It simply doesn't bloom!
>> Claude
>
> Even here (Zone 5a, fwiw) Stoke Red grows OK but blooms so late it's hard
> to get a useful crop. Also may not have other trees in bloom to pollinate
> it. Typical bloom is early-mid June.
> --
> Dick Dunn rc...@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
>

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[Dick Dunn]

On Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at 07:52:50PM -0700, Wes Cherry wrote:
> Here in zone 8a...
...

> Firelight is practically unheard of here, but it hit a couple of my stoke reds - the late bloom being the cause. some brown snouts got hit too.

We have substantial fireblight pressure here, and I've had to give up on
Brown Snout for that reason. Stoke Red has less of a problem than Brown
Snout did (note past tense).

> The tree sure is stick like - lots of thin straight branches. We call it Stick Red.

Well...that's diagnostic that you've got the real thing. Mine, on
semi-dwarf, are twiggy as can be. But, saw some older ones in the UK as
full standards, mid-springtime, and twiggy doesn't begin to describe it.
Looked like nests for some monster bird-like creature.
>
> -'//es

[Kevin]

Hi Evan,

I'm a good 15 minutes south of you (Deer Park)!!!  I'm just starting to get apples on a few of the cider trees that were planted 4 years ago, so I can't tell you which do best here for cider, but I can tell you which have survived.  These have survived and are doing well:  Hewes Crab, Golden Russet, Yarlington Mill, MN 1734, Harrison.  These are fair:  Kingston Black, Esopus Spitzenburg, Ashmead's Kernel.  Roxbury Russet failed for me twice.  Dabinett is struggling and may fail, Baldwin is failing.  I have one of the fake foxwhelps that is doing ok, but I've heard recently that they aren't very good for cider.  I might graft over that one. 

 

M111 seems to survive well here, but some trees are leaning a bit from summer storms.

[canuck...@gmail.com]

I hope this is not bad form reviving an old post but this is the highest ranked zone 4 cider post on google so thought it would be good to keep it in one place.

I’m in zone 4b eastern Canada.

I’m a backyard grower with a large selection of eating apples and am now branching into cider apples.

I have some acres outside of town and plan on slowly planting a cider orchard. I would like to do as organic and low/no spray as possible and without irrigation. I am therefore planing on using Bud118 rootstock and working to keep them around 12’ tall.

I plan on keeping this as only me with some seasonal labor for harvest, pressing and bottling. Probably no more than 6000 litres per year. So was planning on low density of perhaps 20-25 feet between trees and 20 feet between rows although I am considering 12-15 feet between trees and pruning heavily. I’m considering the larger distance between trees so as I get older and if no one takes over they will not overthrow into each other and future generations might still enjoy them.

I want as cold hardy and disease resistant as possible. My cider grafts have not fruited yet but I have:

Banane Amère
Bilodeau
Douce de Charlevoix
Yarlington Mill
Frequen Rouge
Muscadette de dieppe
Golden russet
Chisel Jersey
Calville blanc d’hiver
Ashmead kernel
Porters perfection
Northern Spy
Winesap
Liberty
Wickson
Chestnut

I’ve previously made cider with winesap and golden russet and like it. The tip bearing golden russet is a bit of a pain though.

I recognize I don’t need dozens of different varieties and would rather not waste time on non-hardy varieties or disease magnets.

I’d love to hear what is working for you and your favorites and which to avoid at all costs.

Thanks!