Has Chill Requirement been met yet?

Ugh Muddy! Thats awful! I cant imagine having to watch all that unfold and seeing most of your fruit season go down the toilet so to speak. Is it pretty much inevitable that you will see a cold snap before winter is over that will kill any blooms/set fruit?

Even on our worst low chill year we dont have those issues.

My greenhouse went to spring today. About 1300 Utah hrs since Oct 24. Temperatures were mostly 38-58 during that period. Iā€™m setting the controls on 34 for heater and 72 for first cooling stage starting today.

Thanks, Eric. Watching the trees ā€˜come to lifeā€™, especially the fruit trees bursting forth with blooms, mixed with the floral explosion of the bulb gardens and azaleas, has always been my favorite time of year. Not just because everything is at a colorful peak and beautiful, but mostly because of the promise and potential in those blooms before contending with curculios, potential late frosts, hail, rots, birds, drought, or furry marauders. I have had years where one thing after another did eventually lead to total loss of everything except blueberries and figs, but have always had the joy of anticipation in the spring. This past year I finally learned how to overcome the most damaging recurrent problems. So, I had much much better success; therefore, I had high hopes for the coming year.

Your comment meant a lot to me because it means that someone understands that what is normally observed with happy anticipation feels like a gut punch. I hadnā€™t been posting much for awhile because Iā€™ve been trying to suck it up for the time being and focus on what I may be able to accomplish this fruiting year even if a freeze wipes out this yearā€™s possibilities. Itā€™s highly likely to happen, but canā€™t know for sure. Maybe weā€™ll make it through the next month and a half with minimal harm. My near term plan is to focus on pruning, grafting, planting, and improving the veggie gardens. Iā€™ll still be on edge every time the temperature drops, and likely still feel devastated when/if they get wiped out, but Iā€™m thankful that Iā€™m not a commercial grower and neither does the family food supply balance on the extremes Nature has been providing us the last couple of years. As stressful as itā€™s been, weā€™ve had a very interesting opportunity to observe the responses of vegetation, insect and animal activity to an unlikely series of weather conditions. After all, chances are slim that weā€™ll have a thousand year flood again this year!

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Muddy:

Iā€™ve spent 45 yrs in west Texas hoping for cold weather this time of yr. Not for chilling but to hold back bloom. Thereā€™s only been a few yrs when my wishes came true. I can still remember 1984 as the yr it stayed cold thru February and once it warmed up there were no damaging freezes. Even last yr which was a very good yr here after two yrs of total freeze outs, there was still freeze damage on early blooming trees. So Iā€™ve seen freeze damage at least 35 yrs out of 45. Thatā€™s 90% of the reason Iā€™ve got a greenhouse. The other 10% is an average of 5 hails per yr, critter damage, high winds, etc. All issues solved via a greenhouse. In other climates lesser protection might solve most issues.

Hopefully your weather will turn cold and hold things back so you can slide by.

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We spend a fair amount of time looking around at places we want to homestead at once we retire. We wouldnt mind staying put here near Phoenix but want more land than our 1.5 acres we have currently. Problem is that irrigated land is fetching ridiculous prices in Phoenix. Some more than $30.000 a acre! Many a hour we have swooned over low priced farmsteads in the southeast. 40 acres of good land with a decent house and outbuildings can be had for less than $100,000 in many cases. But two things give me great pause about the southeast, #1 the winter cold and #2 the frequency of reports of lost fruit years due to unpredictable winters. I feel for you dear. There actually is a #3 but its kinda off topic. The south has been historically hostile to people of my faith. Heck Missouri even had a extermination order that made killing of people of my faith legal at one point. lol :confused:

If farmers market season this coming year doesnt drive me totally insane im going to remember to send you out a big box of fruit for your family in June. We have so many trees that have just come into production this year that we are going to have a glut of fruit, more than we can sell im sure.

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What would give me pause about growing fruit in SE would be the humidity and resulting diseases of fruit and tree. I donā€™t like the humidity and neither do many fruits.

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Muddy, how many trees do you have? I wish you a very mild winter, so all is not a loss that would be devastating. On a positive note, some frost just might take care of your thinning and will relieve you of that chore! Hang in.

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My chill hours were coming along nicely in late December in Berkeley, but recently the constant rain has been boosting temps. Might not be a good year for my pears. Iā€™m at 236 hours below 45 degrees and 459 Utah model units.

I wish weā€™d just have some big downpours in between normal cold weather rather than a little bit of rain every day. Doesnā€™t get cold enough where I live when it rains.