Around here they bloom 2 months before last frost. They're not well adapted to high chill climates or where freezes and frost are issues.

I get about 650 chill hours and got a good crop this year because it was a consistently cold winter with no warm spells. The two years before we would have a warm week in January and it would bloom and get wiped out by cold. It loses all its leaves at Thanksgiving and starts leafing out middle of december and then blooms first warm spell. It is not a reliable apple in my area.

I am trying pristine as an early apple, it is supposed to be later blooming. I would also like to try lodi.

About mid to late summer last year the Dorsett lost all its leaves. I was thinking that it was a casualty. To my surprise it leafed back out before winter. The tree looks healthy but it did not have any spring blossoms. I'm trying to decide it I want to graft over to another variety.