Calling all our apple experts

[Feral007]

I know we are in different countries, different climates. But most Aussie sites are for year round hot climates.

And besides I trust you lot to tell me the worst. Don't hold back now

We've had some of these discussions before - but I can't seem to find them and those M's and MM's keep getting mixed up in my head.

I'm putting up two links to a Tassie website for buying bareroot grafted fruit trees.
They only graft on semi-dwarfing and dwarfing stock.
The semi dwarfing is M26.

I have asked them if I can buy some ungrafted seedling trees. I'm a bit - going back in nature rather than forwards. But I am planning to buy a couple of grafted trees.

For those who don't already know. We have a short but very cold winter.
Thin top soil, altho we are improving it all the time.
Long hot summer............very hot/very cold............and very little rain.

I do have two cox's orange pippin's who seem to have done well in growing thru the last summer. No fruit or blossom, but the leaves looked good and it held well considering conditions.
I also have a Granny Smith which is not dwarfed, and a dwarfed pink lady. These are approx 5 years old.

Initially the granny smith did better, but the dwarfed on seems to have done really well this last year. Can't tell you what root stock they actually are (neither was meant to be dwarfed)

The nursery is saying woolly aphid and drought resistant, and dwarfed means you can fit more into a small space.........90 acres? I've got room for whatever would be best.

I'm currently burying apple and pear cores around the farm in a show of optimism, and budgetry constraint.

The nursery is going to call and chat to me - I really feel I should refer them to my experts!

If you have a minute, have a look at the site, and tell me what you think are the most relevant things for me.
Thanks.

semi dwarfing apple trees - Woodbridge Fruit Trees

Rootstocks explained - Woodbridge Fruit Trees

Woolly Aphid and Rootstocks - Woodbridge Fruit Trees

I should add that Tassie is a cold climate as well so I'd rather buy from there, and it's known as the Apple Isle.

[orangepippin]

I have corresponded from time to time with the guys at Woodbridge and they seem very knowledgeable. Being based in Tasmania and supplying trees for many years, their experience of the best rootstocks for your climate is likely to be more relevant than someone based in the UK. Also, M26 has a reputation for performing very differently in different climates, so advice from the UK or USA may not be applicable in Tasmania.

[FB.]

In my experience, M26 is neither drought-resistant nor woolly aphid resistant, nor likes hot conditions - it also often develops a one-sided root system of the same type which got criticism for Northern Spy.
It is, however, one of the hardiest of the Malling rootstocks.

MM106 is also a poor performer in dry climates.

I would suggest getting trees on MM111 (actually they'll probably be bushes in a dry climate with poor soil). Also consider M16 or MM109.

I think M26 will be a waste of money - but I'm on the other side of the world and haven't experienced your climate, but if anything less than MM111 does badly for me, I'd be stunned if it does better for you with your even more difficult conditions.

[FB.]

Of course; if you're prepared to water and feed them regularly and make sure woolly aphids are dealt with promptly, you'll have no problems with any rootstock.

[Feral007]

We're meant to be trying to have easy care plants eventually. Don't mind fiddling about with them initially but it's not worth it to have to mollycoddle them forever.

Orangepippin, part of the problem is that there is such a large area that they are supplying to, and also that ours is a really odd little microclimate within australia. I'm sure that they will have some interesting information. But I did want to get a potted version of what we've all been talking about on here.

I saw that the rootstock they were selling if you wanted to graft your own was one sided roots, but didn't think it thru to them being one side din the ground. Will ask them about that.

Thanks, it's good just to get your head around some of these things. I'll have a look around and see if I can find any other cold climate fruit farms.

[orangepippin]

What are your winter average minimum and summer average maximum temperatures?

[FB.]

My local climate:

Spring
Average daily peak temperature: 14'C
Average daily low temperature: 5'C
Average spring rainfall: 13cm
Average sunshine hours: 475hrs

Summer
Average daily peak temperature: 22'C
Average daily low temperature: 12'C
Average summer rainfall: 15cm
Average sunshine hours: 575hrs

Autumn
Average daily peak temperature: 16'C
Average daily low temperature: 7'C
Average autumn rainfall: 15cm
Average sunshine hours: 325hrs

Winter
Average daily peak temperature: 7'C
Average daily low temperature: 1'C
Average winter rainfall: 12cm
Average sunshine hours: 175hrs

Total annual rainfall: 55cm.

Soil:
Sandy-gravelley-slightly chalky-slightly-silty loam, pH 7.25, about 1ft deep, varying from six inches to eighteen inches in depth; sitting on six inches of sand, sitting on top of several feet of gravel, sitting on top of chalk.
Basically I'm on what would once have been the beach adjacent to a chalk coastline.

Altitude varies from about sea level to about 30ft above sea level.

In this climate, in ten "average" years, MM106 with a vigorous scion variety (Laxton's Superb in this case) gets to look like this - about 4-5ft in size (fence is 6ft tall), and produces "children-sized" fruits most years:

[Feral007]

According to records minimum o/night in winter -11.4C and daytime max in summer 39C. Minimum yearly rainfall 291 mm.

Very windy tho.

[Feral007]

I will look out some of my photos of existing trees tomorrow FB.

[FB.]

According to records minimum o/night in winter -11.4C and daytime max in summer 39C. Minimum yearly rainfall 291 mm.

Very windy tho.

We went down into the -14'C range in both of the last two winters. Those are the extreme lows.
Our maximum temperatures go to about 37'C on the warmest few days of the warmest years. Warmest I think was 38-39'C in August 2003.

Our lowest annual rainfall in the last couple of decades was 38cm in 2011 and 39cm in 1996. Heaviest rainfall in the last couple of decades was 81cm in 2012 and 71cm in 2001.

We are breezy here, being a mostly open, flat landscape. Lots of old windmills remain in this area and into some of the neighbouring counties such as Norfolk.