Tuesday was a lovely sunny day following on from a bitterly cold start. Even in the sunshine the temperature only managed to reach 5.1°C (41.2°F). Our average temperature for the day was 0.6°C (33.1°F) the coldest in 2016 taking the place of 17 January 2016 that had a daily average of 0.8°C (33.4)°F.
It's not even winter yet!
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What gives?
ReplyDeleteIt's cold all over which is unusual. Mmmm ...maybe winter will make its mark this year. Maybe it will get cold enough for the fruit trees. The chill factor, you know. BTW cool for us is nights in the 40sF. Tee-hee. I love it.
Do you ever get any frosts? Maybe just one every now and again. I didn't know fruit trees needed a cold spell. It's a bit unusual if our trees don't get one cold spell through winter. Forecasters are suggesting we might get a colder winter than normal but they've been wrong before!
DeleteOh! Blogging across the ocean is so informative and such fun! I am learning about different kinds of fruits from you.
DeleteWe in southern California cannot grow deciduous fruit trees unless they are low chill types. It doesn't get cold enough to break dormancy and bloom, therefore no fruit sets. Chill hours are those measured below 45F. In coastal southern California, a deciduous tree that requires less than 300 hours below 45F is considered low-chill. However lately we haven't been getting frosts.
For example, an Anna apple require only 200 chill hours, whereas a Bramley's Seeding apple requires 800-1000 chill hours. Cherries are impossible here and peaches very difficult most requiring 600 chill hours.
You can see why I am delighted with nights in the 40s. Might get some fruit set this year! yay!
Most deciduous fruit trees require 800-1000 chill hours.
I've done a little bit of data checking and we are lucky enough to get enough chill hours through winter so that all our fruit trees will get plenty of chill hours. The downside for us, there is always a down side isn't there, is that we can get frosts when trees are in blossom or have just set fruit and we finish up with no fruit in that year.
DeleteThat very cold temperature!
ReplyDeleteIt's warmed up a bit now.
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