03-09-2007, 01:05 AM
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
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
Allen
Finally in HPP
Finally in HPP