Gardening question

[jade]

I saw peach,apple,pear,nectarine and plum trees for sale. It said on the label requires 45 degree temp. for a certain number of hours. I guess they do well in CA. I noticed in a past topic someone said they grow peach trees here. Will they produce fruit? I live in HPP and 60 degress is the low in the winter. I just want to know if it is a waste of time. I sure they would do well in higher elevation.

Mahalo in advance!

Jade

[Momi]

I believe they will do better in higher elevations like oceanview. Interestingly, enough my Hawaiian Uncle (grandmother's brother) who lived in Nanakuli near the ocean, had a bartlet pear tree that would go off with fruit. Near the ocean. My cousin who bacame a well known plant propagator on Maui had a customer who asked her what fruit trees they could grow in Ha`iku which was by the ocean. She told them bartlet pears from remembering my uncle's tree. She saw them about ten years later and they said they had to cut it down because it bore too much fruit. lol! I think that's nuts. I mean pears are really expensive in the stores. I'm trying to get my sister to by a grafted tree she found in a catalog from the mainland that has all those fruits grafted on one tree. I think that is amazing and exciting.

[Andy]

Hi Jade,
Fruit trees like the one's you mention need a certain number of chill hours in order to produce fruit...however there are many low chill varieties that might work....one variety if you can find it is Anna Apple. It was developed in Israel and fruits year round in mild coastal areas of Southern California. The tree has no internal clock so to speak and doesn't seem to go dormant. Off the top of my head I can't recall named low-chill varieties of the others you mention. I am a bit of a crazy gardener and like to push the limits of what can and can't be grown...there is always a risk in gardening of what will and won't be a success.If you can get me the names of the varieties you are interested in, I can do a little research for you.

Take-care, Andy

[jade]

They are the low chill varieties but even with that it says that the temp. needs to go down to 45 degrees. I was just wondering if there were success stories like Momi's pear tree. Thank you.
Jade

[allensylves]

Jade,

If you want a particular fruit enough, there are often ways around the chilling hour requirement, on a home garden scale.

In some areas in the tropics, at least some varieties of grapes, apples, (etc.?) will bloom and bear fruit if all the leaves are removed. This is usually done by hand stripping, but has been done by spraying concentrated fertilizer solutions, such as ammonium nitrate, to 'burn off' the leaves without damaging the plant permanently.

Plums, peaches and nectarines may be more of a problem because they tend to have other problems with rain, humidity, insects pests, etc. in warm climates. They would also probably be good hosts for fruit flies, i.e., damaged a lot.

Allen
Baton Rouge, LA & HPP

[Hotzcatz]

Aloha Jade,

Some of the varieties of peaches which will flower and fruit here are Florida Prince and Eva's Pride. I have both cultivars and the Florida Prince has fruited for the past three years. It is about three quarters the size of a grocery store peach, has great flavor, seems to have extra fuzz and is a clingstone. The tree bears pretty heavily, too. Eva's Pride is a new variety just planted last year, so it hasn't had time to fruit yet.

You can check for low chill fruit trees at: http://www.davewilson.com/
They only sell wholesale, but they do list who they sell each variety to so you can then get them from the secondary nurseries.

This website http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MG368 has more information about low chill apples than you probably want to know. It is done by the University of Florida.

Last year I also got a low chill lilac and it has bloomed once. It seems a bit delicate though and prone to mildew. If it is planted out where mildew isn't a problem, then wind and sun thrash it. If it is in a moist and protected spot, then it mildews. Sigh! I'm still looking for just the right spot for it.

Florida Prince should produce peaches for you in HPP since we are at 400 foot elevation. Doesn't it get below 60 at night during the winter in HPP? It sure has seemed awfully cold lately.

A hui hou,
Cathy

[Hotzcatz]

http://www.baylaurelnursery.com/catalog/...eties.html

Here's an online mailorder nursery that will mail them to you. How much easier can it get?

[jade]

Mahalo for all of you help! I checked out all of the websites thanks. I am going to give them a try. Hopefully we will have plenty of fruit to share in the near future.
Jade