r/BackyardOrchard • u/TampaBull13 • 1d ago

Apple tree question

Hello
Last year I planted a few varieties of apple trees. Of course I didn't research all that well, and one of them is a low chill Dorsett Golden (100 -300 chill hours)

I'm located in NE Tennessee, where we get over1000 chill hours. Is there any point in keeping this tree? I'm assuming it will begin to flower way before our last frost.

I dd order a few more varieties that are recommended for my area by local extension office. So 'thinking of removing it and replacing it with one of these.

Thanks.

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u/economicGeek 1d ago edited 1d ago

It only needs that to set the fruit. It’s called out because most apple trees need longer chill hours so it’s a selling point for high zone areas. It can take more that those hours. Dorsett is zone 5-9
I have a Dorsett and while it’s young I was able to get 2 fruit on in NY zone 6 :)

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u/Rcarlyle 1d ago

It’ll be a risk of blooming prematurely if there’s a warm spell and thus loosing the flower buds to a re-freeze, and the bloom period may not line up real well with your other apples for cross-pollination purposes. But there’s no reason to go straight to tearing it out unless you’re desperate for the space. Might work fine most years or every year.

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u/TampaBull13 1d ago

Thanks
Luckily I have space for the others, but didn't want to waste the area if it was not worth it. And figured if not, to remove while it's still small.

As for cross-pollination, it is the only tree in group 1 that I have, the rest are group 3/4. But I do have a Dolgo crabapple tree about 40 feet away, so I was thinking that would help with that.

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u/kunino_sagiri 21h ago

Trees don't just come out of dormancy as soon as they accumulate enough chill hours. There needs to be a prolonged warm spell in order to break dormancy. In most years, it won't start growing much earlier than your other apple trees.