# Zone 3 fruit trees?



## Morning Owl (Oct 13, 2005)

Does any one here live in zone 3 and have any kind of fruit trees? If you do would you be willing to sell me some seed?

Nature Hills Nursery has an apple tree called Honeycrisp that will grow in zone 3-6 but the're $30.


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## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

It might be too late for this year because they have ordering deadlines, but check the Fedco catalog on-line. They have a lot of fruit trees that will grow in zones 3 and 4, and their prices aren't that high. They also sell rootstock and scionwood so you can graft your own trees -- that would be a lot faster than planting seeds, and you would know what you were getting.

Kathleen


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## LisaBug (Oct 13, 2002)

St. Lawrence Nursery
http://www.sln.potsdam.ny.us/


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## Phantomfyre (Jul 1, 2004)

Honeycrisp is available elsewhere for less, but shipping will figure in, too... IIRC, Honeycrisp was developed in Minnesota, so yes, is cold hardy. Actually, I've read that HC doesn't like it much warmer than zone 4, maybe 5 - truly a cold-climate apple. And the flavor and texture is, in my opinion, OUT OF THIS WORLD. Simply the best eating apple I've ever had. But I love very crisp apples with a bit of zip, but sweet and juicy, too. I am going to be getting some HC apple trees for here in the future for sure - even if zone 5 is a little warm for them. I'll put them on a north slope or something. 

I've seen plums doing well in MN, so you might consider a cold-hardy plum, too.


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## LisaBug (Oct 13, 2002)

Let's see, pie cherries, plums, apples and pears along with red and black currants, blueberries, black and red raspberries, grapes and strawberries all will do well for us (we're right on the line between 3 and 4). Check out St. Lawrence's website and see what their ordering deadline is. 

We're starting to experiment to see what else we can get to fruit with late frosts. Kolomitka kiwis, honeyberries, aronias and seaberries are planted but haven't been in long enough to fruit.


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## Mare Owner (Feb 20, 2008)

We're zone 3 here and have two apple trees and a few ancient plum trees. I have no idea what variety any of them are, they were planted over 50 years ago by previous owners. I can't seem to find plums or apples that look just like them in the catalogs, but the more catalogs I get the more varieties I find for this zone.

I don't think you can just plant the seeds from the apples or plums and expect them to grow true? They are not cheap trees to buy, but they are all grafted I thought (were they back in the 50's too?)?


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## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

Mare Owner said:


> We're zone 3 here and have two apple trees and a few ancient plum trees. I have no idea what variety any of them are, they were planted over 50 years ago by previous owners. I can't seem to find plums or apples that look just like them in the catalogs, but the more catalogs I get the more varieties I find for this zone.
> 
> I don't think you can just plant the seeds from the apples or plums and expect them to grow true? They are not cheap trees to buy, but they are all grafted I thought (were they back in the 50's too?)?


Yes, they would have been grafted then, too, almost certainly. A lot of old varieties are rare or extinct now -- you may have some of those. If yours have good fruit on them, you might want to contact (I think it's) North American Fruit Explorers (?), or contact Fedco, and see if either of them would like scionwood to get some more trees going. I know Fedco actively looks for good varieties for the far north.

Kathleen


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## JasoninMN (Feb 24, 2006)

I got my honey crisp apple trees at wal mart last year, 17.50 a tree. I am zone 3 also. I have Haralson, harlareds, honey crisp and prairie spy apples. I also planted nanking cherries and blueberries. This year I will add a couple plume trees, which will be Toka, Superior and Pipestone. You do need different varieties for cross pollination.


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## MN Gardener (Jan 23, 2008)

I have a couple Haralsons, a Honey Crisp and Duchess of Oldenburg. We also have a couple of very old apple trees that are great but we can't figure out what they are! The Haralsons are the $17.50 walmart specials and they are actually bigger and better then the other ones I purchase online. I have also heard that there are a few pear trees for zone 3/4 that might work too.

Jason, where did you get your Plum trees? Do you like your cherry trees or are the fruit too small.


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## Labrat407 (Aug 24, 2007)

I have posted some links here on earlier threads, my user name shoud bring up some.

Cheers


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## JasoninMN (Feb 24, 2006)

MN Gardener, I haven't gotten any plum trees yet. I will be adding them this year and I will just by from a local nursery, most likely Northern Landcapes near Hibbing. They have a lot of things other nursies do not carry but a higher priced then most. Otherwise, the Plant Place, which leases parking lot space in a few different areas around the state carries those varieties. I know I will probably pay more then if I just ordered some online. I planted those varieties at my parents house, and now want to add some to my own property. Lowes even had a few pipestone plums last year. I heard that Sam's club in Duluth had fruit trees for 8.00 last year so I am going to check that out as well. I have found as long as you can get to the trees before wal mart or Sam's forgets to water them or puts them out in the sunny parking lot they do real well. They are also guaranteed for a year so if they do die they will be replaced. I bought a yellow transparent apple from Wal mart for $10.00 but it wasn't for this zone so I am curious to see if it lives. 

My nankings haven't produced yet, I know the cherries will be small with large pits. I work with someone who said theirs tasted good, a little on the tart side, but they bought theirs where I got mine., at Byrns Greenhouse in Zim. I got them for 6 bucks a bush. I also have a Mesabi cherry at my parents house I planted and its gets a nice sized cherry for this area. It has not produced very many though but is starting to pick up. Maybe is need a pollinator. The problem with cherries is the birds will beat you to them unless you have netting up before they even turn a hint of red. 

There are some pears for this zone that do well. I have seen them growing up here but I don't like pears so never paid attention to the varieties. If I remember right though, barlett and Keifer may be to that are hardy enough for the area. 

I think my next adventure might be grape vines or artic kiwi.


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## leroym (Apr 25, 2008)

BlueJuniperFarm said:


> Yes, they would have been grafted then, too, almost certainly. A lot of old varieties are rare or extinct now -- you may have some of those. If yours have good fruit on them, you might want to contact (I think it's) North American Fruit Explorers (?), or contact Fedco, and see if either of them would like scionwood to get some more trees going. I know Fedco actively looks for good varieties for the far north.
> 
> Kathleen


Hi Kathleen, I have a very old apple tree that has great tasting but small apples on it. This tree is on it's last legs and I would like to start a new tree if possible. Can you post the fedco website address as I had no luck finding it?

Thank you,

LeRoy


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## MN Gardener (Jan 23, 2008)

We have a really old apple tree too, the previous owners used the layer method to propogade it. You take and slice a branch and bury it in the ground and mulch it really well. The following spring you dig around it a replant it. You could possible try to do that.


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## Pamela (May 10, 2002)

We also have apple trees we planted about 10 years ago. Haralson, Prairie Spy and a Wealthy. They are all doing great. We also planted 3 crab apple trees. The chestnut Crab is great. Really nice sized apples and a good taste. The other two are pretty, but have very small fruit. They are a Whitney and a Thunderchild. I have planted Apricot and plum and after 2-3 years they died. I have 2 pear I planted 3 years ago and got a few pears last summer. All of these trees are rated for zone 3. I have to put a plug in for Nanking cherries. 12 years ago at a give away we got 20 nanking cherry plants. We planted them as a hedge in the yard. I keep them pruned back and they were over my head. We get a lot of good sized tart pie type cherries from them. Excellent.


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## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

leroym said:


> Hi Kathleen, I have a very old apple tree that has great tasting but small apples on it. This tree is on it's last legs and I would like to start a new tree if possible. Can you post the fedco website address as I had no luck finding it?
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> LeRoy


http://www.fedcoseeds.com/

That's the main site -- click on the 'trees' link in the upper right. They are closed for the season (past the order deadlines), but you can still download their catalog, and probably could get ahold of someone to talk to, if necessary.

Kathleen


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Hold it, hold it. Whil e Honey Crisp variety may be able to stand Zone 3, I seriously doubt that the dwarfing rootstock (or semi-dwarf) will stand the cold. I started out with semi-dwarf tres in Zone 4, open windy area. After 1q5 years of care, not one blossom and they finally died. It matters little what the fruit variety is when the rootstock can't take the weather your zone hands out. Since most folks don't have room for a full sized tree and most commercial orchards pland dwarf trees in warmer climates, the selection of apple trees on standard size rootstock is very limited. As mentioned earlier, St Lawrence is a good source, though a bit pricy. Lawwer Nursery in MT has both grafted standard size apple trees and several varieties of standard rootstock.


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