Tropical Winter Apple (Spring 2027)

Yes. Tropical Winter Apple needs pollen from a different variety that blooms at about the same time. Not self-fertile. Plant a different apple or crabapple variety nearby that blooms at about the same time (bloom groups 3 to 5 on our chart). Partners we carry include Otterson Crabapple, Trail Crabapple, Alexander Apple.

We rate Tropical Winter Apple hardy to zone 3, which means winters down to about -40°F. Our ratings come from real winters at our two Montana sites and from trusted growers across the North, not from a catalog average.

About 1,000 hours of winter chill (we count hours at or below 45°F), likely somewhere between 800 and 1,200. Nobody has published a chill figure for it, so that's our estimate from its relatives and origin. A long-standing Missoula tree, so it's proven in our winters. Chill need is estimated at about 1,000 hours. Our chill hours guide has a calculator for your winters, and our research page lists the sources.

About Oct 2 to Oct 12 in Missoula, Montana (picked and dated off our own trees). Warmer places run earlier and cooler places later; our ripening map converts the date to your town.

We graft Tropical Winter Apple onto Bud 118 (semi-dwarf in our dry Montana soils, semi-standard on paper), which makes a tree roughly 12 to 18 ft tall if you never prune it.

Our top use scores for Tropical Winter Apple are fresh eating (8/10). Anything scored 8 or higher makes our Best Of lists.

We don't know yet. Nobody has published solid disease data on Tropical Winter Apple for apple scab, cedar-apple rust, fire blight and powdery mildew, so we list it as unknown instead of guessing. That doesn't mean it's weak. Plenty of the plants we grow have never been through formal disease trials. Our apple disease resistance chart has every rating, the notes and the sources.

Yes, deer love it. Protect Tropical Winter Apple with a fence or a cage, especially while it is young.