These are experimental .i think they will do fine as this corner doesn't thaw till June when it gets full sun. Snow piles last well into spring in this corner but during summer it gets about 6 hours of intense heat and sun . It's taken me 6 years to figure out where to put a tree like this after many failed years of dead ones.

I I still have a super hardy Chinese peach grafted to my plum tree and to my westcot apricots on branches that are about 20" off the ground . These spots get a lot of winter sun exposure. I'm not sure how to protect the grafts at least for this winter so I'm guaranteed them next year. It should be fine as I found this parent tree growing in Calgary and it never dies back. This is one I want for pollen to breed .Any suggestions on how to protect grafted branches over winter ?

I always wondered if a coating of Vaseline or wax would help. I'm not sure these branches will support any weight . I painted them bright white already.

Some of you might wonder why I say Vaseline or wax. I used to work in the Arctic in a town and Eskimos will put Vaseline or something like that on there faces so when they use skido it prevents there skin from burning. Creates a barrier for frost . This peach already grows here I just want to guarantee its survival so spring comes I can try and breed it with something hardy and have a hybrid fruit

lovely job matt, let us know if it works.

I was considering wrapping some of my grafts with that foam like wrap they use for sprains etc. My daughter is an athletic therapist and I have rolls of it. It sticks to itself but only thru friction, there is no glue. In fact, as I think about it, it might be an easy way to wrap some of my apple trunks agains sun scald.

Can of white spray paint for apples is easiest

Wonder if wrapping them in parafilm over winter is ok? Somebody told me to never wrap my trees in plastic in the winter. He told me I could use anything else except plastic.

Yup Matt, the spray is easiest, I was looking for a way to use up the rolls of foam wrap :). The grandkids maybe have the best idea for it, they use it to play doctor with the dog.

Is parafilm considered a plastic, or does is breath?

I use white interior latex paint watered down with 50% water

Well the grafted branches did not survive exposure and it was due to my two German shepherds breaking them off :(

i have one graft way higher up on a Brookgold plum that is still very good all I did was paint it white. The buds and branch still looks very well alive . Hopefully it pushes something out in a few months who knows last year I had trees opening in early March this year is warmer and we got more snow I was able to cover the pf-24c peach almost entirely with snow after I wrapped it up.

Good to hear mattpf, that is hopeful news.

In regards to your graft high up on the brook gold, I was reading a paper put out by the U of S on the effects of tip grafting apples, cherries, etc. on cold hardiness.

Their conclusion, if I am not mistaken, seems to be that when the grafts are done higher up in the tree there is increased cold hardiness to a greater extent than they expected, for the scion. They suggest using this as a basis for saving varieties marginal for our area that are to be used for breeding.

Thus my "nurse" trees, which carry all the different types of fruit trees that I have grafted onto rootstock.

keep us updated on your peach.

The wood in a sense is not hardier by tip or top grafting, ...it's just, the higher the better because cold air settles close to the ground and is always colder. Plus hardening off higher up will be better too. I have zone 5 Anjou pear high up which I need to pick with ladder.

well, a ladder it is then :) I am not fond of heights but for a few good quality fruit I will overlook that.

The peach is not nearly as hardy as what they try in sask. I don't think any peach will survive here too high off the ground .

well I won't try one, I am sure it would not survive, I think I will wait for science to come up with a prairie hardy peach.

Let us know how the peach and nectarine did. I tried overwintering an Empress peach in my garage close to an interior wall but it still did not make it. I should have built an insulated area and put a light bulb next to it but thought I would try it anyways.

Well my peaches buds are popping out now the pf-24c is a trooper not an inch of die back. It appears they won't shoot out flowers for a few weeks still they are behind like the Italian plums I have. We will see I think peaches maybe easier to get fruit set on here than apricots. My potted nectarines look good a bit of moisture damage to some of the tips as I buried them and didn't think much of that. The Chinese peach the super hardy one is much hardier than westcot apricot not a tad of die back in full sun exposure. I had some huge branches lower the dogs broke off I will graft soon but what I have left up way higher on a brook gold is just starting to have buds swell and it had full southwest sun all winter

Pf-24c peach not a tad of die back planted in ground last July starting to shoot out and a few blossoms

Blooms later than plums too and just as or hardier than my apricots

The owner called it a Chinese peach from northern China or Manchuria. This type is what they use to breed hardy type of peaches like pf-24c . No die back on my peaches at all the tips are greener and more plump than my hardy manchurian apricots. I had some beautiful branches last year my stupid dogs broke in winter but I was able to harvest all that wood and regrafted onto many more branches so I will next year hopefully have a bunch of this stuff. I did a bit of pf-24c grafts too

Nectarines all survived shooting out green . The three 3 year old seedlings in pots in my picture all survived just simply covered in mulch on ground. the one in picture that went into winter with leaves is the hardiest. the larger potted tree I may plant in the ground this year if it doesn't bloom in pot. They are a very late bloomer and fruiting tree even in warmest climates fruit isn't ready till september later. I hope to graft some of this tree onto apricot seedlings I have maybe it will increase hardiness a tad.

I'm not sure that manchurian apricot is much harder than the two variety of peach I have though ,if it even is!

A pic from today. Peach blossoms are huge

Wow... this is all super great. Please, I am a bit lost in this thread. Is that the PF24C in ground? So you just wraped it in a blanket? How did the nectarine on ground did? I wanna copy you... !!

-Pf-24c is planted in ground and I just covered with blanket

-genetic dwarf nectarine I just layed on ground and covered with mulch and did well no blossoms though it did have a lot of fruit on it last year.

-few year old seedlings from the dwarf nectarine I just layed on ground also.

-Chinese peach had no protection fully exposed to winter sun. Not a bit of die back.

tonight is cold here and there is a few little peaches. We are also starting to get heavy aphid damage did not fertilize at all this year aphids are so bad here I have no idea on how to prevent this year.

Lovely pics, now if I can only find a source for Pf-24c peach I would love to try one, what rootstock is it on?