I hope someone can provide some good info on this. We would love to have an apple tree or two on our Baker county farm. (Baker county is on the FL/GA border). cora

Hi All,

Silvia and I use to have a successful apple tree that grew in Phoenix, AZ. As you can guess Phoenix, AZ has a very low chill factor. So the speciecs we grew in Phoenix, AZ that would probably do well here is an Anna Apple. However, when Silvia and I went on a trip up to Crawfordville, FL to a nursey called "Just Fruits and Exotics" we found that they had a few different variety of apples that would do well in Central Florida.

Silvia and I went there to buy some Blueberry bushes, thornless Bosenberry bushes, a fig tree, and two Persimmons trees. On the way back to Oakland we did not see any orchards. However, we did see many horse ranches.

Best,
Willy

Here is a link that might be useful: Just Fruits and Exotics

I don't think there are any apple orchards anywhere in the state. Most of the larger orchards are in northern Ga., and in upper SC and North Carolina.

There are low-chill apple varieties that grow here. This site has a list of low chill apples that would work, but keep in mind that low chill apples aren't crispy, by and large.

Here is a link that might be useful: Low chill apples

there's a great you-pik-'em in seville, fl (south of ocala). the pears he grows there are low-grit asian pears that are VERY VERY crispy and long-lasting (three weeks on my counter and as crisp and white as the day i bought them.) you can use them exactly as you would apples... heck, they even look like apples.

knock around this site & maybe you can find something closer. the place i've been and recommend highly is keene's on the northern edge of volusia county.

Here is a link that might be useful: pick your own

Ache, I've been to that website before, but never thought of pears! Fabulous!
I'm a native Floridian, and didn't know what I was missing until we took my 2 year old to an apple orchard/corn maze/pumpkin patch in Michigan last fall.
Thanks for the heads up!

Stephanie

yeah, at the end of august i was up in new hampshire hanging with friends and doing some biznes... my friends live on the border of a huge orchard there, and every evening we'd sneak in and steal perfect peaches and early apples and eat until we felt ill... (i stuck $10 in the owner's mailbox.) when my mum lived in michigan, we'd go up every june and i'd eat apricots and currants until i couldn't stand them any longer. and, let me tell you, i can eat a LOT of apricots. a perfectly ripe, freshly picked apricot may be better than anything else on god's green earth.

i miss more temperate climes sometimes, but then again, we can pick citrus six months of the year. we get peaches in MAY (and all summer from just a hundred miles north of here).

and i've been eating persimmons (thanks, christine!) and pears for weeks now.

there are reasons to love fla.

I miss stone fruits myself, coming from a large peach producing state. I miss Keifer pears. They are so crunchy and sweet.

I like crispy apples, so low chill varieties aren't really good for me.

Stephanie, why not grow your own? There are quite a few good low-chill Apple varieties, and they are crispy and juicy unless left too long on the trees.

See the description on the Just Fruits page. I can vouch for its accuracy, since I have 12 Apple trees in zone 10.

http://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/Apples.htm

I have Dorsett Golden, Anna, Tropic Sweet, Pettingill, and Ein Shemer. Mine are on dwarfing rootstocks, and I keep them 5-8' tall. They are easy to grow.

Bay Laurel Nursery in California has terrific low-chill fruit trees, and you have a choice of rootstocks. Now is the perfect time to order.

Here is fruit on one of my young trees.

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Tropic Sweet Apple tree

Soo... Lisa

Im in JAX and I just bought an Ein Shemer Apple Tree "instant orchard size" from willis orchard. what should I expect form the taste and quality of the fruit and can you give me the same details on the Tropic Sweet Apple tree ?

Are your apples dwarf or semi-dwarf? How big are the fruits?