I had a similar topic a few years ago but I wanted to maybe use this as a resource for all those fruit growers in southern California or other really low chill areas. Obviously we get very few chill hours here, I think we’ve been below 150 hours for at least the past 3 or 4 years in a row and maybe above 200 only once in the past 8 or 9 years. I’ve just taken out a Flavor Grenade and an Emerald Drop pluot because, although they are big, beautiful trees, they simply do not produce a decent amount of fruit (less than 5 per year, sometimes zero) on a consistent basis. I would love to start a list of those who have real experience with fruit production in really low chill areas (less than 200 hours consistently). I know pollination is a factor with some fruit, but I’m not taking that into account here because these trees don’t really even flower enough for that to be a factor.
At this point, I would definitely sacrifice taste for production. I’m not a huge fan of Anna Apples but my tree pumps out 100-150 apples every year. I’d rather have that, than an apple tree of superior eating quality that only produces 5 apples every year. Heck, I’d even take a tree that produces 20 pieces of fruit. There is no in-between with my trees, they either produce a massive amount or very little. Please add onto the list below if you can, thanks!
Here is what I have that I have personally witnessed producing fruit consistently and in more than decent numbers at my house or in my neighborhood:
My friends have grown more than your selections after we used the techniques for olive trees in the tropics.
You should have consulted me before taking out your flavor grenade and other higher chill crops.
The idea is to install a misting setup within the branches of your trees so it hits many of the fruiting or blooming spurs.
Have an electric pump that has enough pressure to operate the misters and that pump is fed by a plastic barrel.
Come during the coldest weeks of the year and then the lows is going to get warmer than 45F, dump some ice into the plastic barrels and turn your misting setup for 8-12 hours each night. One full week should give you an additional 56-84 chilling hours. Even without the ice, just using the evaporative effects of cold water can bring temperatures down below 45F during the evening hours.
It isn’t very complicated to install for a few trees but not practical for large areas, but hey, it’s been done for hectares of olive plantations in the tropics.
Apples: Braeburn is precocious and produces early. Has some problems with diseases and sunburn and fruit rot
Apricots: Blenheim does better than expected, if you summer prune early (bears more at tips, forms next years buds in later summer)
Nectarines: double delight, panamint are very reiliable
Peaches: santa barbara
Plums: Santa Rosa
Losers:
Katy apricot
Goldmine was inconsistent but wonderful when it bore
Moorpark apricot will not grow or bear (as expected, very high chill)
I have to update this. My Moorparks on peach rootstock bought at a big box store all died. I bought 2 from Bay Laurel around 2017, one on Citation and one on Myrobalan. Myrobalan was considered “standard” but paradoxically did not grow as high or as vigorously as citation. I have had light production on Myrobalan, a couple apricots the last couple years on young trees. Citation made about 20 last year. This year I have pretty good fruit set. Myrobalan probably has around 50-100 small fruitlets, many of which will probably drop. Citation has a full crop, some of which are farther along. I suspect I will end up getting a reasonably full crop on Moorpark on citation.
I did not want to falsely convey that Moorpark is a lost cause in Inland Southern California. I was pretty determined to try different things and eventually got it to work reasonably well, though I certainly don’t expect that to last.
Also, I am fairly confident that the Goldmine I bought at a big box store (grown by Pacific Groves) was mislabeled. I have been able to determine that 3 trees over the years I bought from them were mislabeled (including Red Baron peach, which is pretty easy to identify, from the flowers). What I thought was Goldmine seems to be Snow Queen. I only buy from reliable nurseries now. Either way, I abused that tree with excessive pruning and then it got peeling sunscald so whether it is Goldmine or Snow Queen it is worth a better try.
Our Donut Peach and Desert Delight nectarine are absolutely loaded right now. Our Eva’s and August Pride have a lot of fruit for their small tree size (planted last year).
Update on the Moorpark in low chill San Diego:
Although the citation tree was loaded with fruit, it leafed out at the base only and then slowly marched upward, a sign of inadequate chill for the cultivar. The April fruit drop was massive. I am left with perhaps 30 fruit on a younger tree. I am happy to have any fruit at all since this cultivar was not expected to produce here.
Our Tropic Gold apricot only has about 6 fruit on it right now. Last year was about the same. Was hoping it would be different this year. But it is still a relatively young tree, 3 years in the ground.
Hello,
I’ve been trying to figure out how to get more chill hrs here in SoCal and been trying to prepare now on what I should do…can you explain this misting process once more and how’s it still work ?
Welcome John, happy to have you here. Joe hasn’t posted in four years but maybe I can help some. I use evaporative cooling in my greenhouse to increase chill hours 3x over outside. How effective it is depends on air temperature but mainly dew point. Low dew points make for very effective evaporative cooling. A dew point below freezing is effective. Above 40 becomes limiting. One needs at least some periods of low dew points in winter to make this work. In southern CA, my impression is that dew points are usually too high.
Joe’s idea of using ice to cool water and then misting that on a tree might help on a small scale but isn’t very practical for more than one or two trees.
I use the Utah model for calculating chill hours. I can accumulate an average of 16 hours a day inside my greenhouse during Nov thru January. So, 45 days gives roughly 700 hours. That’s usually way more than outside the whole winter. I do that with shade and by running my exhaust fans and a wet wall as needed.
Trees outside could be misted or sprayed with water to wet the branches and buds. Overhead shade would help.
I might be more help if I knew your winter dew point and temperatures.
Hey
Thanks for getting back to me on that… I’m not sure what my dew point is but I live in the Fullerton area of CA with the zip code 92833 if that helps you calculate it… my plan this winter was to wait till it starts being a a constant low temperature,make sure my trees leaves are stripped of leaves and have a misting set up on my four stone fruit trees hooked up to a 100 gallon on ice cold water misting them though the night… do you think that would work?
I’m not sure that ice cold water will really help. Probably not as much as you think. And doing that sounds expensive to me. It can’t hurt compared to tap water, but resources might be better directed elsewhere.
Shade would help and misting during the day would also help. Possible issues would be soggy soil if your soil doesn’t drain well.
During the day the sun heats up the limbs and buds. Leaf buds need chilling just as much as fruit buds. Bud temperatures above 60F during the day negates some of the chilling you get at night. Shade lowers bud temperture on sunny days. Misting does the same.
It’s pretty good drainage on the soil they are in modified raised beds cause my soil has a lot of clay in it… so you think just misting them and keeping them shaded during the day is the best bet?