Let's talk about the Weather in the colder zones-2-3-4.
BillMN-z-2-3-4
4 months ago
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BillMN-z-2-3-4
2 months agoRelated Discussions
Best tasting plum or plumcot for colder zones 3-4
Comments (16)Folks, Gracious, Pembina, Toka (and Kaga are almost identical) and Kahinta are much better (in my opinion) than Lacresent, Underwood, and Waneta for the "superhardy" plums. Pembina cracks readily, but it is so prolific even if 80% crack you still get a good crop. We use the cracked ones to make "Smiling Plum Jam" which sells very well. Pipestone is much like Pembina (flavorwise) but larger and drops when ripe so you have to pick them before they are ready and let them sit a day or so. Underwood is the hardiest, but has a very sour skin and less flavor. Waneta can be wonderful, but is astringent until perfectly ripe then it drops, and the fruit ripens over a long period so most of the fruit drops. I pulled out all my Underwood, Lacresant, and Wanetas this fall as they were taking up space I could use for better fruit (and got a run of firewood out of them). Opal does well here but was affected by the freeze of 2012 (1/2 of my trees did not have fruit that year) so it is not as bud hardy as others. Ember has been a total disappointment, little fruit (but the fruit was a pretty yellow orange), lots of disease (for some reason lessor peach borers love them), and the fruit was not good enough to put up with the lack of productivity, so I pulled it out as well. Mt Royal (round blue European about 1") is a very hardy plum, tastes good and is prolific I would recommend it. Stanley is pretty tough as well but need heat in Sept to ripen. In colder climates date of ripening is important. Even if the temps get to 70 during the day in Sept, they are only there for a couple of hrs which can lead to the fruit not ripening and lack of sugar and flavor. There have been years here when the Stanleys and Empress plums have not ripened due to low temp in Sept. So it is best to pick varieties which ripen earlier if you are in the North. Eric...See MoreWhich Teas thrive in zone 7 and colder zones?
Comments (21)Like most folks on this thread, I'll have to echo that teas (something separate from Hybrid Teas of course) don't necessarily thrive the further you get from zone 7. It's like anything else - you have to pick and choose among teas, and even then it may depend on local conditions like catsrose says from zone 6. I have had Madame Alfred Carriere for many years, and have planted some other noisettes or tea-noisettes recently (Blush Noisette comes to mind), and so far they've survived fine but are not cane hardy. The problem is that these seem to only bloom on old wood, so while MAC has absolutely massive healthy canes trying to eat my house every year, I've only had one year of bloom out of them in the past 6 years (a very mild winter where most roses had surviving cane). The same goes for many of my Bourbons and Hybrid Perpetuals, including Mme. Isaac Periere. As for teas, I've got some 6-7 year old ones that do fine for me and a few new ones planted. Some teas have died a miserable death (Monsieur Tillier comes to mind) and all of these are in a virtual zone 6 side of my house. The longest surviving ones are Mme. Antoine Mari, Mrs. BR Cant, Maman Cochet, and Duchesse de Brabant. Georgetown Tea was also good until it succumbed to user error. I wouldn't say any of these thrive in the ways expected for warm zone teas, but they make nice modest sized blooming bushes and recover reasonably well from being pruned to the ground even after all the protection I can give them. Bottom line is that zones 7 and to some extent 6 are probably the limits of where teas are likely to survive long-term, but they do need summer heat (we have plenty of that), rather than murky summer gloom like some regions can experience. I'm a bit of an anomaly in zone 5 and I'm fully aware that I'm zone pushing the teas. Nothing like a challenge though. Cynthia...See MoreLet's talk about Dormancy with Mr. Charles Barnhoorn
Comments (55)Back to the topic... Sir Hans...Thanks for that info. You are right(as always). I have seen a pic of hippeastrums(for cut flower) with scapes and almost no leaves. I think it is in Ludwig's website. "defoliated for hygienical reasons"...How is this so? During winter time, I do not have enough growing area inside that can give my amaryllises enough sunlight. I wish I did. I do not have a greenhouse or indoor grow lights. Again, I wish I did. As much as I want my amaryllises to continously grow all year long, I can not do so. Putting them to dormancy is a MUST for me. This is my plan for this winter. Since the unheated garage is dark, I will have to let the leaves dry out and then cut them. Give them maybe a week or so to dry out a bit and then unpot, dip in fungicide, repot in fresh soil. Water a little bit and mulch to keep moisture in the roots. I have fed them well and given them as much right caring as I know this spring/summer. I think I will be getting a very good performance from them next spring....See MoreLets talk about Plum
Comments (831)Plums have been a continual disappointment to me. I'm about ready to chop them all down. I have Opal and Green Gage in the ground, but they don't seem to want to grow. I had a beautiful Toka tree, but it never bore fruit and just up and died a couple of springs back. Ptitsin #5 and Brookgold (I suspect was mislabeled and is really Brookred) will grow and survive the winters OK here -- but they either bloom too early or fruit too late, and are aphid magnets. Frankly, they're not worth the space they take up. I've tried Black Ice about five different times, because I heard it's hardy to zone 3b and fruits earlier in the season. But it always winter kills here. We are supposedly in zone 4 under the newest classification, but I have a hard time believing it. I grow a variety of apples, pears, and sour cherries ... even got a few apricots last year. But I've come to the conclusion that this is just a tough area to try to grow plums....See MoreBillMN-z-2-3-4
2 months ago41 North (Zone 7a/b, NE, coastal)
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2 months ago41 North (Zone 7a/b, NE, coastal)
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