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The chill hour map is a result of research done at the University of Maryland. Use the map to estimate the chill hours for your area. Chill hours are roughly the number of hours between the temperatures of 32-45 degrees fahrenheit. Winter hours above 60 degrees are subtracted from the totals. The idea
is that a deciduous plant goes dormant in the cold winter to protect
itself from the cold. The plant needs to stay dormant while the weather
is freezing and then know how soon after it gets above freezing it can
safely start growing. It must do it late enough so it doesn't get frozen
back by a late frost but early enough so it can get a full season of
growth and fruiting in before it must go dormant for the next year.
The plant has a process, refined over millenia of evolution that tells
it when to start growing in the spring and that process accounts for
the amount of above freezing temperature (chilling hours) it needs.
The following is an estimated list of chill hours needed by most of the varieties offered by Raintree Nursery. Most chill hour lists give such a broad range for each fruit as to not be of much use. At the risk of being sometimes incorrect, we have summarized the data to give an estimate that will be useful. Unless you wish to experiment, we recommend making sure you have several hundred more chilling hours than are listed to increase your odds of success. Many low chill varieties take less chill hours than listed below. For instance our low chill apples Anna and Dorset Golden need only 100-200 chill hours. Our low chill blueberries Sunshine Blue needs 150 and Misty 300. While there are low chill kiwi, raspberry, peach, apricot and almond varieties, these varieties are not offered by Raintree Nursery. These estimates are taken from the books "Temperate Zone Pomology", "Your Edible Landscape Naturally", "Growing Fruits and Nuts in the South," and from the Dave Wilson fruit guide. For instance Temperate Zone Pomology states that the chilling hours for apples is 700-1800. While this may be true, chill hours for most of the varieties Raintree offers are listed as between 800-1000 hours. CHILL
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