Moving to zone 8b

[D-Grower]

Hello all! In a few short months I will be moving to zone 8b. The average low temps are projected at 15-20°F in the winter months. I'm super excited to start a new food forest asap but its sad leaving my zone 9b-10 food forest that's 4 years into establishment. Wasn't aware I was gonna have to move but it is what it is as they say. Saying goodbye to my easy tropical growing...

The reason for the thread is to get ideas of what all I can grow. I want to grow citrus of sorts but not anything I'll have to protect with massive effort. I also want to grow avocado, banana, and stuff on the exotic side. I heard there are possibly cold hardy avocado that may survive those temps. Is that at all true? I know there are some bananas for sure but are there any tolerant enough not to protect at all? I would also like multiple varieties of banana too if possible. I know pineapple guava should be hardy enough but what other exotics might do well? Jujube?

Any help would be awesome! I surely am gonna do all the convectional stuff. Blueberries, apples, etc.

DG

[D-Grower]

Maybe I shoulda mentioned where exactly in zone 8b...I'll be a little east of Panama City, FL.

[countryboy1981]

You should be able to stick with the more cold hardy citrus such as satsumas, meyer lemons, kumquats, kumquat hybrids, etc.  Also, there are three avocado varieties that are reported to be hardy to the mid teens once established (lila, fantastic, and joey).  A nursery close to you that you should be able to find what works in the area is just fruits and exotics (http://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/JFE/).

[Tropheus76]

Fuyu lemons supposedly are teen hardy as well. Persimmons and apples should grow excellently there. You have all sorts of apple options we dont have even here in 9b.

[D-Grower]

Thanks for the replies! Very glad to here lemons, kumquats, and avocado will grow there.

I have an american persimmon in a pot I'm surly taking with as well as chokeberry and goumi berry. I'm gonna have to find a pineapple guava since my Thai and strawberry guavas can't go.

Very excited to grow apples! My buddy has an apple here in Sarasota that actually produces! I figure up there would be way better though.

Thanks again! Any other suggestions still welcome!

DG

[coyote]

Other options include pawpaws, maypops, plums, pluots, cherries, peaches, apricots, pomegranate, pecans, asian pears, kiwis and figs..strawberry guava to my knowledge should still be fine in that zone

[D-Grower]

Definitely gonna plant most of that stuff in due time. I have a pomegranate in a pot to go with. Had some pawpaws in pots but I think they're dead. Never came back this spring but they've been in pots for a few years and I know that's not ideal for them. Might as well bring a strawberry guava and try it out since I have like 30 in pots here. Never hurts to experiment! I will sell off the rest though.

Once I get a greenhouse erected I'll regrow some tropicals I can keep small like pickering mango. Doubt there's a cold hardy enough one to be planted abroad up there. Not sure about dragon fruit. I'm gonna take one of each either way and keep them protected until said greenhouse is up. Probably won't be up until my second year though.

I will look into getting a che fruit tree once I get there. Probably should find one graft on Osage orange stock.

Its gonna be exciting!

[FloridaFruitGeek]

I'm a little south of Gainesville, and I've been trialling cold-hardy avocados. The most cold-tolerant is 'Del Rio', which can handle temps in the mid to upper teens without much problem. Sometimes if warm weather has preceded that kind of extreme cold, it might have flower buds emerging that you'll lose, but it often pushes out more after losing the first batch. Fruit is small, with about a third to half the flesh volume of a Hass, but it's got absolutely outstanding flavor, with a high oil content. Plus, you can eat the skin like an apple. I think it's my favorite flavored avo. That one should grow fine for you up in the panhandle. Other cold hardy types I've tried are Wilma, May, and Opal, and they're almost as cold hardy as Del Rio, so they're good candidates also for that area.
One thing about the cold-hardy avos: they need shade when young. Planted in full sun, they often sulk. With shade from mid-day sun the first few years, they make steady progress, rapidly getting larger each year, and once they get about 10-15 feet tall, they can handle full sun.

[Pancrazio]

I have been able to overwinter a Dwarf namwah outside, unprotected, this year (minimum temperature around 20°F).
If you average temperature stay around 20°F or maybe something more you can grow still a lot of interesting things but things will ask you some effort.

[shaneatwell]

FloridaFruitGeek, Does 'Del Rio' have another name? I cant find it online. Sounds good.

[D-Grower]

Thank y'all for the replies! I'm up here right now trying to figure out accommodation for our move.

I'm really interested in some of those avos! I'll see what I can find when the time comes. I really don't care about fruit volume if they produce many and taste good. I eat the heck out of them and will settle for whatever will grow here.

I have ice cream, orhinho, and gold finger bananas but I may leave them down south. There are tons of bananas up here that I see. Makes me feel good!

[D-Grower]

I should mention that the apple, fig, and citrus trees up here look fantastic and are loaded crazy right now! Makes it all the more exciting! When I'm reaping harvests on that scale self sustainment will be most possible.

I saw a fruit nursery on highway 98 along the gulf coast. I'm totally gonna hit them up when I'm ready to go.

There's some natural blueberry plants on my property already. Small super dark almost black ones the locals call sparkle berries. They are absolutely superb! The best I've ever eaten and have flavor cultivated varieties long for. They are not the astringent flavored sparkle berry in the blueberry family as I've tried those too in the wild. Sometimes called farkle berry. I'm pretty sure these are a true blueberry its just what the locals call them and not the one most people call sparkle berry.

The wild plums that grow wild here are absolutely superb too! Almost as good if not better than cultivated varieties. There are some on the property next to us but none that I know of on mine. But there soon will be!

There's a native paw paw here that has really skinny leaves blooming here now. Very excited to try those someday. Not sure of the exact species but they are different looking entirely than the ones down in Sarasota that are wild. I only know they are because of the flowers.

[Delvi83]

With Satsuma and Kumquat you'll not have any problem, but i think you could grow also less cold-hardy citrus.
Then all temperate fruit trees as Fig, Pomegranate, Kiwi, Persimon, Mulberry, Peach.....

[akanonui]

The hardy rare or exotic fruits I know of are; Yanagi and Janatsi Ichigo(Debregeasia longifolia or edulis), maypop, may apple, magnolia vine/five flavors berry, kousa dogwood, che, jujube, guomi and other relatives, goji and relatives, kiwi and kiwi relatives, haskap, Kaphal(Myrica nagi),Yumberry(Myrica rubra) Kazinoki(broussonetia kazinoki, Himalayan honeysuckle, possibly Trianaea speciosa, Paper mulberry(broussonetia papyfera), banana yucca, sunchoke, akebi(Akebia trifoliata), buckthorn berry, fuschia flowered gooseberry, a lot of opuntia, plum yew, texas persimmon, serviceberries, cloudberry. salmonberry, thimbleberry, strawberry raspberry(rubus illecebrosus), elderberry, mayhaw, figs and wild fig relatives like Ficus palmata, medlar, non tropical guava, ugni, babaco, possibly any rare South African, Himalayan, and Andean fruits can also be grown in 8b.