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Post by ottawagardener on Feb 24, 2010 15:13:11 GMT -5
I heard an urban ledgend on a popular nursery website that you could grow almonds as far north as Zone 4 US. I take it they mean that the plant will live but the fruit will get bitten again and again by spring frosts.
Please tell me I'm wrong and this fabled tree really will grow in my yard. ;D
Oh and yes I"d love to hear tall tales of sweet kernelled apricots too.
Thanks!
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Post by plantsnobin on Feb 24, 2010 15:47:26 GMT -5
Sorry I can't be of any help here. I will say that last year when we went to Clifford Englands nursery, he gave us almonds of the most delicious taste you can imagine. My husband doesn't eat nuts of any kind, but when I tasted that one, I told him he absolutely had to try just one. He did, and he liked it! Just like the old commercial, 'he likes it, hey Mikey'. It was just like Amaretto, not like other almonds, with just so much flavor. Sadly, I don't think we will ever be able to get our hands on the trees, but he did give me a few nuts that I planted. It was really hard to do without eating them though. So far I don't have any germination on them, and I almost wish that I had eaten them. Almost
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Post by trixtrax on Mar 2, 2010 21:32:50 GMT -5
There is a almond tree that fruits near my house, which is a big rarity for this area. There are some around but they usually don't set nuts, and if they do, they don't ripen. We just don't have enough heat units. But, there close relative apricots do sometimes work. There are also edible seeded apricots... essentially almonds. Here is Burntridge's listing for almonds, which might be of some use to you ottawagardener: www.burntridgenursery.com/products.asp?dept=62 |
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Post by blueadzuki on Mar 3, 2010 18:54:14 GMT -5
Actually, if you willing to start from seed (and be real patient), sweet pit apricot seeds are quite easy to obtain. You know those Hunza apricots (very small, very sweet sort of an off tan color) that are so popular in dried form in a lot of the "raw food lines", those are sweet pitted (which is why they sell the kernels as well) Simply go down to your local source (I can find them at Whole foods, but I am sure they are avaible at a lot of other "heath food stores" pict up a bag of the whole, unpitted fruits (the kernels are a little delicate, so you likey to be better off buying whole fruits rather than pre shelled kernels) and save the pits (the stuff is just dried, no heat treaments, no seed killing additives) , voila you have you edible apricot starter seed.
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Post by spacecase0 on Mar 3, 2010 19:48:14 GMT -5
neat,
they are added to my shopping list.
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Post by ottawagardener on Mar 3, 2010 20:26:17 GMT -5
Blue thank you for that seriously useful tip. I might try that for the heck of it.
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Post by plantsnobin on Mar 4, 2010 9:37:23 GMT -5
Telsing, I talked to Clifford England yesterday about the Iranian Almond. Sadly, he doesn't have it available this year, as he didn't graft any, but I am going to be making a trip to his nursery soon and will see about getting something going for next year. I don't know if it will do well in my area or not, but the taste of this particular almond will be worth trying anything. But I think that in your zone, almonds are not going to produce anyway. If you can grow some from seeds though, you wouldn't be out anything but time so it would be worth a shot. Gardeners are nothing if not optimistic.
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Post by canadamike on Mar 4, 2010 16:30:48 GMT -5
telsing, I should get some sweet pit apricots this year, so we will see.
ken Taylor has hardened mullberries, both black and white, to zone three by grafting surviving branches over and over, relying i suppose on somatic mutations/modifications. Might be worth a try here too.
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Post by ottawagardener on Mar 4, 2010 17:25:56 GMT -5
Well you can't know till you try right and besides it sounds like the kind of half baked idea that just might be cookable... thanks Michel, I'll take you up on the offer.
Telsing
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Post by sandbar on Mar 4, 2010 22:34:08 GMT -5
Telsing ... so, the almond trees listed as compatible with z5 may not produce fruit?
Or, are you just stuck because you are in z4?
I was hoping to grow almonds on our z5 farm in the near future ...
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Post by Alan on Mar 7, 2010 21:26:42 GMT -5
Karen and Telsing,
There is, believe it or not, a mall almond grove down the road from me in Bordon Indiana, I have no clue what variety, nor have I tasted them. They do produce here in zone 5, but not every year. I meant to collect some last fall and it just didn't happen.
This year I will collect some if there are any and I'll get enough to send to all of you.
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Post by ottawagardener on Mar 8, 2010 7:53:42 GMT -5
Sandbar, don't let me put you off, I just have a hard time believing in hardy cultivars of 'fruit' bearing trees because of blossom kill which can be a problem around here with erratic springs.
That's pretty cool! I might be moving to a US z3 farm though but it does have some features that might prevent freeze/thaw/early blooming so we'll see.
I like the idea of trying somatic adjustment by grafting like Michel says.
Darn, the local health food store doens't have sweet kernelled apricots. In fact, they looked at me like I was an oddball.
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Post by qahtan on Mar 18, 2010 13:52:51 GMT -5
chit chat about almonds/almond. we had an amond tree in our front garden in Angmering in Sussex, UK, it only had one nut on it, so we cut it into 3 and shared the wealth '''' ;-)))). Mum, Gerry and myself... qahtan, PS, this wa back in 1964. wonder if it ever had any more?  ? |
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Post by MikeH on Sept 23, 2012 21:35:44 GMT -5
I heard an urban ledgend on a popular nursery website that you could grow almonds as far north as Zone 4 US. I take it they mean that the plant will live but the fruit will get bitten again and again by spring frosts. Please tell me I'm wrong and this fabled tree really will grow in my yard. ;D Oh and yes I"d love to hear tall tales of sweet kernelled apricots too. Thanks! Maybe, sort of - www.nuttrees.com/specials.htmI've got a couple of these. I was able to detach a small sucker with the tiniest of hair roots. It hasn't died but it hasn't done anything either. I'll winter it indoors. If it makes it through, you're more than welcome to it if it does. Attachments:
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Post by ilex on Sept 25, 2012 3:05:32 GMT -5
Almond trees are fairly hardy, but very prone to spring frost. There are some new hybrids with peaches that seem to be more hardy.
Sweet kernelled apricots are fairly common. A few Spanish varieties are sweet, and some US are also sweet as they were commonly sold in the US as almonds. We already have many almonds, so don't give much atention to apricot seed.
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