It should produce fruit most years and be the envy of the neighbourhood. Protect Your Fruit Plants in the Fall Fruit trees on the prairies are particularly vulnerable to sunscald damage during early spring. Sunscald usually occurs during March while the roots of the trees are still solidly frozen. As a result the cells die and the bark becomes discolored. Damage occurs on the south and west sides of the trees.
Some trees die from their injury, others struggle along and do poorly.
You can help protect your tree from sunscald by using white plastic tree guards which reflect the heat of the sun, so that the tree remains inactive until the real spring weather comes. These devices are available from garden suppliers and are usually put on in late fall. Other measures against sunscald that may be taken in the fall include painting the south and west sides of the trunk with white latex, or leaning boards against the tree to help shade the trunk. The foil can be removed in the spring and reused next year. Mice often become very hungry when winter snow hides their food, and young tree bark offers a tasty alternative to grain or weed seeds.