Winter Kill 2012-2013
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(Mark Weaver) Severe in my Wasilla orchard, none in my Anchorage trees. Patterns suggest the principle problem was a mild September/early October, and trees still being green and not having time to harden of before precipitous temperature drop. Many extremely hardy varieties not very hardy under these conditions!
This topic needs to be out front, rather than hidden behind Wine-making. Don’t know how to get it there . . .
Quite a bit of die back here in Wasilla as well. Some trees have put out new growth but most of the blossoms and fruit spurs were desiccated. Trailman I thought was dead but it has now just begun to break bud and leaf out on 29 June! Cherries actually faired better believe it or not, Crimson Passion was in full bloom on the 12th of June. Haskaps all did fine except some of the pure Japanese varieties some of which have put out new growth but a couple still have no sign of life.
Kevin
My 6 year old Trailman in Wasilla is 3/4 dead. Ditto Lee 27, Lee 31, Norlove, and many other hardies. An Oriole, on the other hand, looks great, though most of its fruit buds froze out. It was a little bit faster to shut down in the fall, which apparently was enough to save all the sapwood.
Most of my Evans cherries were 3/4 dead, both 2 and 3 year old trees. All my apples (Norland, State Fair, Prairie Magic) did fine. I’m up on the mountainside here in Chugiak, so both water and cold air tends to drain away fairly well.
Lots of dieback here in Fairbanks. It wasn’t the coldest winter, and we had good snow cover too, but we did have an unusually warm spell (with rain, even) in Dec-Jan, and then it plunged to -50, so I think that was a factor. Trailman, September Ruby, Altai Mountain, Red Star, Prairie Sun, Rosthern 18, and Kerr took it the best. Full crop on Trailman, Kerr, and Altai Mountain; others affected to one degree or another, many with no bloom. Lee 21, Noret, PF12, Norland, and even Heyer 12 fared worst. Plums mostly barren, but they made it OK. Main trunk on Evans cherry killed outright (it’s never been too impressive for hardiness here, but I’ve topworked a pincherry to see if that helps). Even Hinnomaki Red gooseberries were killed to the ground. Greenup didn’t happen until the beginning of June; lots of snow fell in May and it was cold forever. But then we had a smoking hot June, with temps up in the high 80s and 90s, so that pretty much caught us up. Other than the damage, everything’s doing great, and at least I’ll get a bunch of Trailmans!
Vic Johanson
Here in East Anchorage, we lost a Montmorency cherry that the fall wind storm partially blew over, but all the Evans cherries were fine. Had some die back on one Carmine Jewel. Lost a Zestar, Mantet, and Silken that were in the ground for two years. Prairie Magic, Altiaski Sweet, and a Whitney on Bacatta did fine. A Williams Pride had some die back, and a Whitney on unknown root stock I thought was gone, but later leafed out, but all flower buds were gone. Lost a number of apples in pots that were grafted last year, and it seems that most of my scion wood was bad. We lost one Northblue blueberry, but all honey berries are doing great. (Why do I bother with blueberries?) Our Hinnomaki gooseberry was also killed back to the ground as were all the second year canes of Fall Gold raspberries.
I’m in South Anchorage. We lost a big toka plum, stacey pear, evans cherry, kay gray grape, and all the other grapes besides valiant died to the ground (but are all coming back from roots now). Also lost pretty much all the apple flowers. The currants, gooseberries, alaska blueberry, latham raspberries, and a haven peach came back with no damage. Everything in pots first got frozen and then baked, an awful combination. The only peach in a pot, a reliance, lost all but 1 bud. I should have had it in the ground but that’s life. On the bright side the lack of fruit is helping them grow past the spring damage very quickly.
Gee, I wish I had that many things available to die (or live as the case may be), but here in our little Rogers Park lot (Anchorage mid-town-ish), we lost about the upper half of our 6 year old Meteor cherry (which has never produced more than a half-dozen cherries in its life…grrr). Our 11 year old Parkland apple was not damaged at all, nor were the Red Lake currants.
Veteran perennial planters— can mulch be one of the better protectors of the trees/ bushes? Is it variety specific or age specific?
Did most of your die offs occur during cold snap winters or the melt freezeathons?
Best,
Thomas
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