Please excuse another California-centric post, but if you’re in the Golden State and like to geek out on keeping track of your chill hours here’s a handy tool bought to you by UC Davis: Cumulative Chilling Hours. Each year this page keeps track of chill hours between November 1 through end of February. If you know of a similar resource for other states/countries leave a link in the comments.
As cool (so to speak) as this tool is, what constitutes a chill hour and what kinds of fruit will grow in a particular climate is a complex question. For more on this debate see a provocative article on the Dave Wilson Nursery website, “Chill Out“.
Thanks for sharing this! I was just searching online yesterday for this exact sort of thing!
Down the page in this link is a US map of chill hours. It may not be precise as a person would need, but a county agent could provide a better view of chill hours for areas of the state.
http://www.tcpermaculture.com/2011/07/chilling-requirement-for-plants.html
This is great, thanks. My county is the first one on the list.
Is there a book you’d recommend for pruning fruit trees? All I can find are books that discuss pruning from a landscaping perspective with maybe 20 pages set aside for fruit trees. Thank you.
Hey Joss, I’d recommend taking a class or making friends with someone with fruit trees. It’s a skill that’s difficult to learn from a book. Where are you? If you’re here in California I might be able to find something for you.
Fallbrook CA actually. Thank you! Also, what do you use to maintain your bike? I ordered some Orontas to try because it’s plant based instead of petro based and the 4 oz tub of “waterproof grease” looks so much like a balm I was wondering if bike stuff is possible to DIY.
You’re actually in the best place in the known world to learn fruit tree pruining as Fallbrook is a hotbed of the California Rare Fruit Growers–crfg.org. I would go to one of their meetings–they have a very active chapter in North San Diego county. I’m sure you’ll meet someone who can advise you on pruning.
Good question with the bike grease. I just have some petro based gunk. Will have to research that.
Thank you! On another note:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/04/nyregion/number-of-female-cyclists-lags-in-new-york-with-safety-as-a-concern.html?_r=2
even microclimates can make a difference in the success of some varieties to certain areas