Planting early blooming fruit trees in Zone 3.

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by sgbotsford, Dec 22, 2012.

  1. sgbotsford

    sgbotsford Active Member 10 Years

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    Rural Edmonton Alberta area, Canada
    Apricots have a tendency to bloom early, then either finish blooming before the bees discover them, or freeze. Things that may help. Note that I've not tried any of these yet, but I've got 10 apricots coming this spring to experiment with.

    1. Plant male willow or poplar nearby. This is a source of very early pollen for bees.

    2. You want to fool the apricot into thinking that it is still winter.

    * North facing slopes will do this. Sure the branches warm up, the but the key is to keep the roots cool.

    * Tarp the ground before winter with white tarps. This will slow down the earth warming in spring.

    * Mulch heavily in spring as soon as the snow melts. Or earlier. This will slow down the thawing of the ground.

    * Water *really* well after leaf drop in the fall. (4-6" of water over the entire root area. Trunk to a meter beyond drip line. Water has a high specific heat. Wet soil takes far longer to warm up than dry soil. (Hence clay soils tend to be cold further into spring.)

    3. Another trick is to plant it where the ground will be shaded until mid May. (Or a week after bud week.)

    THIS year go out on the 15th of May, and mark the shadow line of either your house, fence, or an east/west row of trees. Plant your tree 1/2 spread to the south of this line. (1/2 spread? If the tree has a nominal spread of 16 feet, plant it 8 feet south of this line.) The idea here is that the ground is shaded and will warm later in spring. But the top will be in full sun as soon as the leaves break bud.

    4. You can also try burying the tree, or rather the roots with your snowblower. Put 3 feet of snow over the entire root disk. This will buy you a week to week and a half in spring while the snow melts. Ideally do this late in the year, so the ground can get cold to a reasonable depth first.

    If we get early snow, then pack the snow lightly under the tree. Snowshoes, snowmobiles. Kids playing. This reduces the insulation value of the snow so the frost penetrates deeper.
     

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