Pushing zonal limits
splaker
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
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ShadyWillowFarm
5 years agodbarron
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Pushing the Limits of Apples in Central Florida
Comments (91)"Amazing garden Juan, looks really awesome." I am glad you like it Linval. Sadly I have a feeling the citrus trees will eventually succumb to the yellow dragon disease. You can see one of the tangelos is kind of struggling. In one of incredible ironies I have found it easier to grow apples in Central Florida rather than citrus. All you need to do is make sure the apple tree is grafted onto M-111 root stock and that it can tolerate the high heat in your USDA zone. As it turns out most apples don't really require a whole lot of chill hours and many can adapt to our climate. I have found the varieties that were developed in Australia and New Zealand to be good choices for us here because they can tolerate the heat. Apart from fireblight which is always a concern for any tree on the rose family you also have to worry about fungus and diseases because of our humidity. So picking a russetted apple that is resistant to fungal diseases and scab is a good choice. The Arkansas Black and King David apple trees derived from it supposedly generate their own natural waxy coating that protects the apples from fungal diseases. Cheers....See MorePushing the limits.
Comments (3)There are microclimates in a yard, places where there's that bit of shelter that can grow a more tender plant. If you're in or near a city, you might be a few degrees warmer. You need to think about the plants aversion to wetness in winter. Often it's winter wet that's the killer. You just have to try things out, see what works. For example, against a house or other wall, especially if on the south side is often warm enough to support a zone-more-tender plant. A bushel of leaves around the crown will also help. Sometimes if you take extra trouble-- eg wrapping the plant, or building a wire structure around it to fill with leaves for insulation. However, you can make it thru one winter and lose it the next. My own preference is to stick to hardy plants. Trying to force a plant to live in conditions that aren't favorable is just a lot of work and frustration. There are a lot of beautiful hummingbird plants hardy in zone 6. Good luck whatever you decide to do....See MorePushing the limits of your growing area
Comments (72)Some great information on this thread. I am in the SF Bay Area, USDA zone 10a (according to the maps) or Sunset zone 16. Recently I've become interested in tropical and subtropical plants, and which species I might be able to grow in my yard. I do have some questions about the USDA zones though, I know they go by average low temperatures instead of extreme lows, so by that definition my zone should be 11, not 10a, because all the climate information I can find says that the lowest average temperature here is 40 degrees (December 28th through January 1st are statistically the coldest days of the year). Yet zone 10a is for average low temperatures between 30-35 degrees - which zone am I in? Temperatures in the mid- to upper-30s aren't uncommon at all here in the winter when cooler systems pass through, but drops into the 20s happen maybe 1-3 times a year. The lowest temperature I have recorded at my house is 27 degrees, and we have had snow once (about an inch or less) on one occasion in the past decade, that was sort of a freak incident. This is all pretty typical for Sunset zone 16, which I feel is a much better description of my area than USDA zone 10a. Using the Sunset zones is difficult though, because none of the nurseries here use them, and because they mainly describe where a plant grows best, not where it just grows. So now I'm left wondering what I can get away with in my area... As mentioned above, mature Strelitzia reginae is not an uncommon sight here in the Bay Area. Maybe it's not as common as in LA, but it's definitely here. I actually just planted one in my yard today, and I'm anxious to see how it does. I fully expect it to get a bit of frost damage in the winter, but that doesn't bother me at all as long as the plant itself lives. I was also considering putting a Dwarf Cavendish Banana in the same spot, but decided against it because they are apparently not as cold hardy, and that particular location can get a bit windy. I am interested in planting more subtropicals/hardy tropicals in my yard if I can. I know there are some particularly cold hardy bananas, so I'm going to look into those. Has anyone had success growing Passionfruit in the Bay Area? I love vines and particularly the flowers of Passiflora. I am also considering putting a Pineapple Guava if I can find a good place, since it would be nice to have something that bears fruit (I have a couple nectarine trees, but none of their fruits mature because of peach leaf curl that I can't get rid of)....See MorePushing the limits of winter veggies :)
Comments (25)Last winter, an unusually warm one here since I don't think it got to -10F at the coldest, I had one Winterbor kale that the voles didn't eat which overwintered totally unprotected. Right now I am still eating kale from the garden, with Winterbor less battered than Redbor which isn't as hardy. Our temperatures are into the 20's at night now, with Lone Jack's colder weather arriving today. I often have leeks overwinter when well-mulched, and though I don't harvest them outdoors in winter, they do provide fresh veggies through the fall and in early spring. Unfortunately, last winter the voles ate them, something I didn't think they would do, so this season's are in a cold cellar. I've also had fall sown, sprouted spinach overwinter unprotected to sprout again in really early spring, far earlier that I want to be out working in the garden. There are small-scale farmers in my area who follow Elliot Coleman's guidance and do winter greens and root crops in high tunnels as Laceyvail describes, growing them to size before the days get too short, and then harvesting them through the winter. During particularly cold spells, low row cover gets used in the high tunnels as well, so the ground never freezes and root crops can be harvested if there aren't issues with voles....See Moremazerolm_3a
5 years agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
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5 years agolast modified: 5 years agochristacharlene
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5 years agoNHBabs z4b-5a NH
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoFrozeBudd_z3/4
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5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoNHBabs z4b-5a NH
5 years agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
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5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoUser
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agosplaker
5 years agoNHBabs z4b-5a NH
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5 years agolast modified: 5 years agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
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5 years agoSara Malone Zone 9b
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5 years agowantonamara Z8 CenTex
5 years agoNHBabs z4b-5a NH
5 years agocyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
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5 years agoForm and Foliage
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5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoSuzanne Zone 10b
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