Golden Delicious in Zone 5A?

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by welham, Jul 7, 2009.

  1. welham

    welham Member

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    Location:
    Montreal
    I planted a golden delicious 2 years ago in my backyard, as well as a cortland. The first year the GD did not do well (minimal growth, leaves curling/turning yellow or brown). This year it was doing somewhat fine till a few weeks ago - it even had 2-3 apples - but in the course of around a week everything turned brown and most of the wood died. I do not know if this was due to the heavy rain we have been having or something else but I do know that the tree did not grow much in 2 years while the Cortland flourished.

    1. Has anyone had success growing this tree in Zone 4B/5A (Montreal) or is the weather too harsh?
    2. If not, I like the taste of the GD and would like suggestions of something hardy I could replace it with that would not fruit directly at the same time as the Cortland (or have a similar taste as Cortland).
    3. Do I need to worry about fire blight (if that is what it was) if I plant in the same spot?

    Thanks,
    Lakshmi
     
  2. glenn10

    glenn10 Member

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    Location:
    Salisbury NB Canada
    Hi welham, I live in zone 4b/5a New Brunswick and I have planted a golden delicious last year. It went down to a record low of -32 Celsius(-22F) last winter and this spring it budded out with no die back what so ever. It has about 12-14 inch new growth at present. There are lost of these growing in my area which is very similar to yours. Did you plant too deep? I hear if you plant the graft union too close to the ground the GD scion will root very easily and you will lose the vigor of the rootstock and it will grow on it's own roots as a "spur type" tree .
    It could be drowning in water as well, we have received a lot of rain in the east this year, how is the planting site? I lost a pear this year due to all the rain.
    I'm not sure about the fire blight though, I have never encountered it before.GD apples are supposed to be moderate to highly resistant to fire blight.Do you have pics you could post, maybe someone on the site could better identify the problem.
     
  3. pet

    pet Member

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    Location:
    richmond bc
    I don't the weather is too cold. If it were the weather, the apple tree would not have any leaves on at all,therefore it must be the soil.How deep is the water table?, and what type of soil did you plant the apple tree on? Apple tree's do not like acidic soil,otherwise their fruits will be scabby,they also like a well drained soil with a mixture of clay sand. The curled leaves is most probably caused by insect bite(bud worms ,ants,affets etc).And all these could also kill your plant. thanks, i do hope this will help you bye for now. Pet
     

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