A key to protecting apples from climate change might be hiding in Michigan’s forests
In the quest to make apple trees more resilient in a warming climate, some Michigan researchers are looking for a late bloomer. A native Michigan apple tree, the Malus coronaria, learned to fight frost by blooming two or three weeks later than the trees that produce cultivated varieties of apples like Honeycrisp or Red Delicious. “That doesn’t sound like a lot, but almost always that’s enough for the flowers to escape the killing spring frost,” said Steve van Nocker, a Michigan State University professor and plant geneticist. Van Nocker’s project is one of many ways researchers and growers are trying to make apples more resilient as climate change makes weather less predictable. That’s why, on a chilly day in December, van Nocker and graduate assistant Lily “Kaz” Christian hiked through a public park near Michigan State to check on a handful of Malus coronaria trees they had found there.
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