For my Northern brethren enduring the chill of winter here are a few pics I took of our Florida peaches oncoming bloom....We are actually experiencing the coldest December in the history of Florida but my hybrid peaches don't seem to care...
Beautiful pictures Ralph! BTW is "hybrid peaches" code for genetically engineered Franken Peaches that will take over the world!!
Grin No in this case hybrid means it took 45 years of crossbreeding for the UF scientist to cross pollinate a cold weather fruit such as the peach to grow in Florida. They have only been in production for a few years and I was told it would never work on a commercial setting. Never tell me "Never" :twisted:
How many Chill hours do they require...that's an issue in the Houston area with a lot of fruit like Peaches.
Terry the chill hours required are between 100 - 150 hours. I am pretty sure Houston gets colder than my area in Florida most years. There are a few tricks you can do to achieve the required amount even if the weather does not cooperate. By the way one of the varieties I grow was in cooperation with Texas A&M working with UF scientist. If you planted one would that make it unpalatable to a Longhorn? They are risky as hell because they do bloom in the coldest time of the year "but" if you can make it through the cold you have the only peach available on the market worldwide for about 6 weeks.