Fruitnut is exactly right. Generally speaking these are some of the best places in the world for growing peaches (and many other fruits).
Some of the characteristics which make them the best:
Long growing seasons.
Mild winters, so no chance of winter kill for peaches.
Very little risk of frost damage to blooms.
Dry during the growing season, which generally means irrigation, but the dry weather also means substantially less insect pests, and fungal/bacterial pests, so very little spraying generally required.
Generally not too hot in the summer. Peaches can take a lot of heat, but anything much above 95F and a few varieties start to suffer consequences of the heat. Most varieties can take considerably more heat though.
Chill hours can be a big deal with peaches. Some places and the don’t get enough chill for many peach varieties, but you sound like you live in a part of the Mediterranean which gets plenty of chill. For the USA, there are chill hour maps available online.
There are also lots of low chill hour peaches available (these require less than 300 hours of chill). The University of Florida developed a whole line of low chill peaches (which start with the prefix “Florda”.) Some with as little as 100 hours of chill requirement. So they could be grown in even the southern parts of Florida. For these varieties, it only needs to get below 45F for 100 hours during the “winter” season (ignoring reverse chill).
I think the Stark donut peaches only need something like 100 something hours of chill too. That has been the issue I had with my donut peaches. They like to flower in March where I live.
@clarkinks this winter was a weird one. Dec and Jan way warmer than normal and Feb the coldest, which is backwards. I’m concerned the new normal will be detrimental to fruit trees in Europe as we are the fastest warming area due to climate change.
There are different views but some say that one day above 45 F starts over the chill hours to zero. If that’s true, several days in Dec and Jan could have reset my chill hours
@olpea I was in Sicily for 4 months during the summer about 15 years ago and we literally didn’t get a single drop of rain the whole time. Where I live in the NE, I think the Alps protect us from frigid temps, but the summer is not dry and Leaf Curl is endemic here
Actually Starks Saturn is a bit of a mystery to me on the chill spectrum. I see a lot of nurseries listing it as 200-300 chill hours. But the academic publications list it as 700 chill hours.
I agree it acts like a reasonably low chill variety here. It is one of the first to bloom. But it generally sets fruit even in problem years because it has such a profuse bloom.
One day above 45 doesn’t reset chill hours. Look up the Utah chill hour model. I think that’s a good model for stone fruit. 37-48F is best chilling temperature. Below 34 is no chilling. Above 60F starts to give negative chilling, ie it negates recent positive chill.
What are your average high and low temperatures Nov thru Febr? I’m thinking you get lots of hours between 34 and 48.
I wouldn’t worry too much about your chill hours. It’s true temps above 60F can cause reverse/negative chill, but you likely get so much chill it makes little difference.
Chill can be difficult to calculate. There are many models, including dynamic models which account for two stage chill. I wouldn’t worry about getting caught up in the weeds though, because it really doesn’t sound like your in a low chill area.
If you are interested in some different chill models and how they are calculated, here is a link which discusses them in more detail.
In a normal year, almost every day would be between those temps, but the nights would be below 34. I would say average 32F during night and 40F during the day. Today was freaking 57F but it’s only temporary
Yes it is counterintuitive that below 34 is no chilling. But chilling is a process that involves chemical and hormonal changes in the fruit and leaf buds. Those processes are shut down below freezing.
A low of 32 and high of 40 is massive chilling. Four months of that is enough for anything.
That’s a very unique and special place. To average a low of 32 and still seldom or never go below 20 is a very very protected climate. Not many places on earth like that. And it indicates a very long period of chilling.
We whiplash around from too cold to too warm often on a daily basis. Constant near to just above freezing is much better for fruit trees.
Lake or ocean effect fall under the microclimate case absolutely. We know part of California is perfect. Even my pond and an addition of a hill on part of the north side of the pond helps my trees like pawpaw grow on the south side of the pond here.
If you look at the bottom of that hill you will see persimmon. On the opposite side are pawpaw. Pears are growing on other parts that will serve as wind breaks to further warm the small area. Water, lack of wind , warmth, a little shade are all good for the American pawpaw. Winds tatter leaves of some plants like that if they are grown in the open. Most people wont go to that extreme to create a micro climate. Pawpaw in Kansas - it's a lot of work but can be done!
This confusion comes up a lot because USDA growing zones use a metric that is kind of counter-intuitive, so some people think it describes average winter lows (it does not), while other people think it describes the coldest minimum temperature over 30 years (also wrong).
Growing zones are calculated by taking the lowest temperature each year for the 30 years prior to that map being made, and then finding the average of those 30 numbers. If that average falls between 20°F and 25°F, you are in zone 9a (your zone?).
However, there might be years with colder temperatures than that range, or that never get that cold, and the average winter low over any given winter is almost certainly above that range.
@swincher "some people think it describes average winter lows (it does not)
Growing zones are calculated by taking the lowest temperature each year for the 30 years prior to that map being made, and then finding the average of those 30 numbers."
Those 2 things sound the same to me except maybe to say “average yearly winter lows” instead of “average winter lows”
Yes, this is correct, but when it is stated in this (correct but concise) way, some people read that as the average winter lows (an average of all the lows over the winter), so I find giving a more detailed explanation of the methodology can help it “click” for people trying to get their heads around it.
