Fruit trees in low chill areas

16 years ago

On reading the past postings in this forum, it became quite apparent that this last year was "different" weather-wise.

For a lot of my friends living a little bit inland, the cold weather was felt in less favorable terms than along the coastal areas. By that I mean, my trees weren't subjected to the extreme cold as elsewhere, but there was enough in my back yard to stimulate a lot of them into the best crop that I've had in many years.

So for what it's worth, the 2 apricots (Blenheim-Royals) are loaded (one was newly planted - and put on a growth spurt that I have rarely seen). Given any unforeseen weather problems, I should have a good harvest there.

Also my 2 almond trees - one was a dwarf All-in-One, the other a standard Hale (I believe)both trees are loaded with fruit this year.

A newly planted plum - Santa Rosa has a few fruit and seems to be progressing well. Another plum - Satsuma (35 or so years old) fell over from infestation of termites or carpenter ants, and refuses to die - also has fruit!

But - am a bit confused about the two apple trees - Dorsett Golden still has about 5 apples and have harvested several already - (only 2nd year), but was early to flower and fruit, whereas, the other apple, Anna, is just now beginning to fruit - it was extremely slow to come out of dormancy.

Bonanza peach was so loaded with fruit, that I had to cull most of them - extremely eager to flower and fruit - but only 2nd year. It also weathered very well, inspite of being low-chill.

We won't discuss 2 avocado trees - one a Zatano, the other Haas - but my past efforts weren't appreciated, they are alive, and perhaps they are doing better, now that they are being fed, watered and mulched more to their liking.

Even the persimmon tree seemed to enjoy the past winter chilling hours that it got.

One last tree - Bartlett pear - still dormant - or maybe dead - not enough chilling hours, even tho we had more this year.

This is a bit long, but my reason for writing was to give some words of wisdom concerning our recent "more chill hours" winter and the relation to our low-chill climate conditions.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

Sort by:Oldest

Comment (1)

applenut_gw
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Despite the freak frost that wiped out our avocado, banana, and guava trees, because of the hot weather before and after January our area still only tallied up 350 chilling hours, not nearly enough to justify the apples that are fruiting for me. Meanwhile, Im still waiting for my 5-year-old August Pride apricot to blossom or fruit (which is supposed to be low-chill). So I cannot totally credit a yearÂs crop to the meager cold we get, as there can be several factors, one of which is bi-annual tendencies of some cultivars. Anna and Dorsett Golden have been their usual maniac selves and will harvest early this year, in about a month, and we just made a cobbler from our Florida King peach.

On the other hand, many apples are fruiting in their second year that shouldnÂt fruit here at all. We have pea to golf-ball sized apples on Wickson Crab, Kerr Crab, Whitney Crab, Thornberry Crab, Terry Winter, Rome Beauty, Gala, AshmeadÂs Kernel, Queen Cox, WilliamÂs Pride, Ribston Pippin, Snow, Braeburn, Tarbutton, Hawaii, Pink Lady, Coop 37, Coop 40, Coop 41, Gordon, Gold Rush, Royal Limbertwig, Freyberg, Kandil Sinap, Scarlet Sentinel, Washington Strawberry, Yates, Fuji, Granny Smith, and Lord Lambourne.

Just starting to blossom are Yellow Newtown Pippin, Stellar, Yellow Transparent, Virginia Winesap, White Winter Pearmain, Court Pendu Plat, Cinnamon Spice, Maiden Blush, Rubinette, Sundowner, and Carolina Red June.

I will say that most are not happy here and show classic signs of inadequate chill. The blossoms and leaves come in onesies-twosies instead of a full flush, dragging out for a month (makes for great pollination however). Many trees have golf-ball sized apples and are still blossoming. Some have bare wood towards the trunk unless the branches are pulled almost horizontal.

We have some local 6000Â mountain orchards that allow me to compare their performance with a cold climate. YouÂd think that because of our warm winter they would be earlier to blossom, but itÂs just the opposite. They are at least a full month later than the same variety up in the mountains because of the lack of chill. Yellow Transparent should be fruiting at the end of this month, but itÂs just now blossoming.

We have no disease or pests, but I can see how this long blossom period would drive folks nuts trying to time sprays. The low-chill apples will crop and then continue to blossom all the way through Thanksgiving, often setting a smaller second crop.

But rest assured we eventually do get a full crop and it really doesnÂt matter how late they blossom, the later the better. Our season is never-ending and they can hang on the tree until February if they want. Two Fujis are our oldest trees and they have adapted well to our climate, blossoming a month earlier each year and doing so in a full flush. Because they ripen in our winter with 80-degree days and 39-degree nights, the quality and color is outstanding, as it is with other late varieties like Gold Rush and Pink Lady.

I feel bewildered and a bit cheated that weÂve been told all these years that apples wonÂt grow in a warm climate, and think of all the people that have missed out on some wonderful apples because of this myth. The myth is universal also, with even our own University of California system saying that apples need so much cold to break dormancy and zone 8 is marginal for growing them. If this is true, then why do Granny Smith and Pink Lady never lose their leaves here in zone 10 over winter, and yet still blossom and set a full crop of fruit with the new leaves pushing out the old?

Yes, the habits are different and the color may not be quite up to snuff, but the result is a full crop of high-quality apples that blow the doors off anything in the supermarket, including all the popular varieties like Pink Lady, Gala, Fuji, Braeburn, Delicious, Granny Smith, and Golden Delicious (Pink Lady even does well out in the low desert of Palm Springs and Las Vegas, graveyards to other apple varieties).

So when it comes to apples, ignore the chilling hours and plant what you want. DonÂt be so quick to attribute lack of fruit to inadequate chilling hours, as there may be other reasons like lack of pollination, multi-grafts (a bad idea here), late-bearing varieties (Fuji takes 5 years to really fruit), bi-annualism, or too much fertilizer.

I wish I could say the same for other stone fruit like peaches, apricots and cherries- traditional chilling theory seems to be all too true for them.

Applenut
Related Discussions
grafting low chill apricot onto high chill stock. Bad idea?
Q
Comments (8)
I'm close to the same area. Generally only two kinds of apricots are sold in the southern part of the state: Blenheim (also called 'Royal Apricot') and Goldkist. (Katy is another ultra-low chill variety that has recently started becoming available) Blenheim is by far the popular commercial variety in California, but it is not truly a low-chill variety. It might be able to do okay in Santa Cruz but south of that it is not going to be able to produce fruit consistently, not unless it is up at a higher elevation that gets more winter chill. I have heard of people in certain parts of Orange County being able to get somewhat satisfactory crops from Blenheim, but in San Diego you would be out of luck! Maybe in Vista. So my guess would be that your "high-chill" apricots that were planted are probably Blenheim. Blenheim is more of a 'low to medium' chill apricot. It grows best with 400 chill hours, can produce with less under ideal conditions, if there are no warm winter days, and at 200 chill hours it will have substantially diminished fruit yield and might only produce fruit every other year. I'm almost sure your apricots are Blenheim, Blenheim was the popular apricot variety in Southern California, it was just never ideally adapted to the climate, and certainly not all the way down south in San Diego.
...See More
Low Chill Blueberries and Fruit Trees
Q
Comments (6)
fruitgirl, Thank you for the link. That's a really good one, and I've bookmarked it. farmerdilla, The reason I was concerned about low chill fruit trees is because I had seen so many of them requiring 1000-1200 chill hours, and I know we don't get that much. I checked the weather for the last 10 years. This area used to get that many chill hours, but not for quite a while. However, that nursery has good recommendations and explains the cultivars very well for the south. Thank you for the link. I've bookmarked that one, too. I want to get several fruit trees and some blueberry plants next Spring. The previous owner planted two bearing peaches and two flowering peaches. We are going to remove the flowering ones. What are they good for, anyway? Removal of two additional ugly bushes will leave room for about six trees. Thank you both for the advice on the trees and the low chill question. I really appreciate the response. Karen
...See More
Will high chill blue berries fruit in Bay Area (Zone 8)?
Q
Comments (10)
I agree with applenut. Just try it out. There are so many microclimates. I'm really surprised to see on that website that Napa locations like Oakville have fewer chill hours than a lot of Central Valley locations, or even Concord. It always seems a lot colder up in the valley in the winter, and I see much more freeze damage. It's also interesting that there are such wide ranges of microclimates in a small area. In Santa Barbara county, chill hours range between 150 and 1500! And in San Diego county, they range from 60 to 800! Your 850 in Union City is not that much, actually. You're borderline for a lot of apple varieties, and you might have some trouble with those northern blueberries. I figure, it's generally better to get low chill varieties so you don't have to worry about whether or not it's going to be cold enough, since it won't matter.
...See More
help with chill hours! (for growing fruit trees)
Q
Comments (6)
Ocala is in the 310 to 420 range of chill hours by the map you refer to on just fruits & exotics. Many chill hour maps differ so I averaged a few of them for you and come up with 365 to 485 as the average chill hours for Ocala. Keep in mind the actual location will make a big difference (like proximity to a lake, or elevation, open pastures, heavily wooded, in the city or out in the country, etc.) I hope this helps, Lou This post was edited by loufloralcityz9 on Sat, Jan 4, 14 at 21:19
...See More

Fruit trees in low chill areas

Comment (1)

applenut_gw

Related Discussions

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US