Last year I contacted the extension office in Bellville in orderto choose the right fruit trees for some property there. In Houston, the number of chill hours is published in gardening articles in the Chronicle. No one, and I spoke to several people in Bellville and Brenham, had any idea what I was talking about.
I know it is slightly colder there than in Houston. Is it cold enough to make difrferent choices?
Does anyone know what I am talking about or how to find out?
SCM
Chill hours for fruit trees in Austin County?
The county extension agent for that county should know about chill hours.
There really isn't much difference in the number of chill hours between Harris County and Austin County. You are in the 400 hour zone. When I contacted our county agent regarding our average number and fruit trees, he suggested staying with trees that need about 100 hours less. For me that would be staying with trees that require less than 500 chill hours since I'm in the 600 chill hour zone. The reason he gave was that the number is just an average. If you choose trees that require 400 chill hours, you won't get fruit in years when the number of chill hours is less than 400. With fruit trees, it is important their requirements be met. Otherwise, the trees will strees out and fall prey to diseases. You may however not be in the same plant hardiness zone as Houston so be carefull in selecting citrus trees or tropical trees.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/peach/fig1.html
http://www.urbanharvest.org/advice/fruitgardening.html
http://www.southeasttexasgardening.info/treercmd.htm
http://jpbarnett.com/FruitTreeList.html
bettydee,
Thank you. I contacted the county extension agent last year (now Agrilife) in Austin County as well as Washington County and several other offices that were not connected with TAMU. None of them knew what I was talking about.
I ended up doing as you suggest and bought trees appropriate for Houston, figuring more chill hours would be better than fewer. But it is slightly colder there and I thought I might have a wider choice of varieties.
When AgriLife's county web sites are functionin again I will contact them.
It really doesn't matter how much colder it gets. Chill hours are calculated based on the number of hours the temperature stays between 32ºF and 45ºF. There are a number of ways chill hours are calculated so the numbers may vary slightly, but probably not enough to make a difference.
I'm surprised no one at the extension office know what what you were talking about although I must admit that our former agent couldn't answer many of my questions either. I ended up having to look it up on the web. I was really surprised how much agricultural information is available on the web.
I sell fruit trees where I work at Discount Trees of Brenham. I've learned a lot in the 2+ years I've been there. The owner has been in business for 20 years and is extremely knowledgeable. We only sell trees that work in the Austin/Washington (and surrounding) counties. If you have any questions, send me a dmail.
Soapbox: It is frustrating about the county agents. Probably has to do with bureaucracy in the county government.....Back in the day, the county agent knew everything from agriculture and home gardening to canning peaches!