Author Topic: rate the cold hardiness of these fruit trees  (Read 2844 times)

Vincent

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rate the cold hardiness of these fruit trees
« on: March 21, 2017, 07:31:52 PM »
Below are some popular fruit trees I'm considering to plant. Based on your own experiences, rank them with 10 as most cold hardy and 1 for least, if you would. For example, a mango might be a 7 and a lychee a 9. If you want to, include the name of the hardiest of the type- for example mamey sapote 6 viejo (takes the most cold).

Sugar apple
Atemoya
Mango
Mamey Sapote
Sapodilla
Jackfruit
Lychee
Rollinia

greenman62

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Re: rate the cold hardiness of these fruit trees
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2017, 03:51:30 PM »
Below are some popular fruit trees I'm considering to plant. Based on your own experiences, rank them with 10 as most cold hardy and 1 for least, if you would. For example, a mango might be a 7 and a lychee a 9. If you want to, include the name of the hardiest of the type- for example mamey sapote 6 viejo (takes the most cold).

Sugar apple
Atemoya
Mango
Mamey Sapote
Sapodilla
Jackfruit
Lychee
Rollinia

i wont rate them with numbers, because i dont know all of them
but, i can tell you this winter we had 1 very cold night
coldest ive seen in 10yrs
i lost about 8 mango trees, 2 black sapote, 2 jackfruit (one was 8ft tall in ground)
and a Mamey in a 20gal pot. and a 6ft mango that had already fruited.

even though all of these were at least 3 yrs old (a couple of the mango were 1.5 or 2yrs)
and had received 28 or 29F temps in the past.
This year i think it hit 27F (when i woke up)
its possible it really was 26F.

My 10gal Lychee lost a couple of small twigs (new growth)
otherwise not affected.

i can say the difference in those 2 or 3 degrees was major.
its also possible that the rain had something to do with it.
it had rained for 2 days straight prior
and i think that is what killed the roots, at least on the potted plants.

I will say that Mango seems hardier than jackfruit
The Jackfruit had seen 29F before and froze almost to the roots
but this time it isnt coming back.

I read Green Sapote is hardier than Mamey by at least 2 degrees
so, i just bought one :)

TonyinCC

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Re: rate the cold hardiness of these fruit trees
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2017, 10:48:24 PM »
If you are pushing things on cold hardiness and are expecting a catastrophic freeze, temporarily mulching several feet deep around each tree can be a huge help. I have seen people get bananas to fruit in the Charleston, SC area with that trick. They built a cage with wire fencing several feet in diameter around the plant and mulched a foot above where the leaves come out of the trunk. That way only the top of plants gets frozen back. Lift the cage and spread the mulch after the immediate danger is past. Trees will die if buried for weeks, so cages have to be removed. It would be a fair amount of work doing this 10 times a Winter, once or twice is well worth it to save the plant. Foam pipe insulation around smaller scaffold limbs can help too if the trees are still small. Pruning back to main scaffolds just before the freeze might help too.
  If you had a rural property with a tractor and loader, you could bury trees to save grafts and main scaffolds and dig them out carefully after the freeze.
 Get a couple big bales of hay or a pile of wood chips to keep on hand during the winter months, it probably would have saved all the trees lost in New Orleans. A big enough pile of wood chips that has been sitting a while and kick started with some compost starter and water will actually generate its own heat from starting to decompose. If the warm pile is a few feet from the trees, that can help too... Carambola/Starfruit would seem a good candidate for zone pushing since the tree fruits heavily at a small size. Bell is my favorite variety. You might need to bury the whole tree with mulch during freezes for a winter crop of fruit though.
 These tips might make a difference of a few degrees to hopefully save some trees... Same basic principles people use to protect tea roses and small ornamentals in REALLY cold areas....

Mike T

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Re: rate the cold hardiness of these fruit trees
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2017, 05:39:12 AM »
Ok Ill have shot at the sequence of deaths due to cold with increasing exposure.Rollinia is first to go,then mamey sapote,sugar apple,jackfruit,mango,lychee,sapodilla and atemoya.

greenman62

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Re: rate the cold hardiness of these fruit trees
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2017, 09:27:58 AM »
Ok Ill have shot at the sequence of deaths due to cold with increasing exposure.Rollinia is first to go,then mamey sapote,sugar apple,jackfruit,mango,lychee,sapodilla and atemoya.

Mike
You are saying Sapodilla and Atemoya handle frost/freezing temps
better than Lychee ?

ive never had either, though i did have 2 small cherimoya which i lost

greenman62

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Re: rate the cold hardiness of these fruit trees
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2017, 09:40:17 AM »
If you are pushing things on cold hardiness and are expecting a catastrophic freeze, temporarily mulching several feet deep around each tree can be a huge help. I have seen people get bananas to fruit in the Charleston, SC area with that trick. They built a cage with wire fencing several feet in diameter around the plant and mulched a foot above where the leaves come out of the trunk. That way only the top of plants gets frozen back. Lift the cage and spread the mulch after the immediate danger is past. Trees will die if buried for weeks, so cages have to be removed. It would be a fair amount of work doing this 10 times a Winter, once or twice is well worth it to save the plant. Foam pipe insulation around smaller scaffold limbs can help too if the trees are still small. Pruning back to main scaffolds just before the freeze might help too.
  If you had a rural property with a tractor and loader, you could bury trees to save grafts and main scaffolds and dig them out carefully after the freeze.
 Get a couple big bales of hay or a pile of wood chips to keep on hand during the winter months, it probably would have saved all the trees lost in New Orleans. A big enough pile of wood chips that has been sitting a while and kick started with some compost starter and water will actually generate its own heat from starting to decompose. If the warm pile is a few feet from the trees, that can help too... Carambola/Starfruit would seem a good candidate for zone pushing since the tree fruits heavily at a small size. Bell is my favorite variety. You might need to bury the whole tree with mulch during freezes for a winter crop of fruit though.
 These tips might make a difference of a few degrees to hopefully save some trees... Same basic principles people use to protect tea roses and small ornamentals in REALLY cold areas....

actually, it was more a problem of me being distracted by family matters
being lazy, and bad weather reports.
they kept changing the low temp, and when it hit
it was 5 degrees lower then the weather report.

I am in the suburbs and bails of hay are not easy to find
 Foam pipe insulation sounds like a winner. i hope i remember that next year.

i knew there would be losses. i knew that going in...
its a learning process.
I found out i love Jujube and they are very hardy.
i have white sapote, Fiejoa, starfruit, acerola, Java plum, several guava,
and several others that did make it.
My starfruit lost leaves like usual, but its leafing out now, no worse for wear.
no complaints.
i have a reason to buy new fruit trees now :)


snowjunky

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Re: rate the cold hardiness of these fruit trees
« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2019, 02:56:13 AM »
Ok Ill have shot at the sequence of deaths due to cold with increasing exposure.Rollinia is first to go,then mamey sapote,sugar apple,jackfruit,mango,lychee,sapodilla and atemoya.

Mike
You are saying Sapodilla and Atemoya handle frost/freezing temps
better than Lychee ?

ive never had either, though i did have 2 small cherimoya which i lost

Here in Phoenix AZ my Alano is about as hardy as my Kohala longan.
According to some people Alano is a bit more cold hardy than other sapodillas.  This is probably true. 
I had similar small sized Alano and Hasya airlayers planted next to each other. 
The Hasya died to the ground in a freeze, but the Alano grew back strong from a 6 inch stub off the ground.
According everyone and my own experience Kohala is hardier than other longans.
So I guess sapodillas and longans are similar in cold hardiness here in Phoenix.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2019, 12:08:38 PM by snowjunky »