Grandmotherbear opened her post in 'Apples Anyone' June 14 with:
"Hello to all apple lovers, especially you fellow Floridians. I am just northwest of Lake Okeechobee and I wanted to share with you a wonderful website I discovered about 6-7 years ago.
www.kuffelcreek.com He grows apples in the tropics - he himself started out growing them in California, and for years he had a picture of his backyard full of fruiting apple trees and the thermometer at 113. You read his explanation of chill hours and it turns out that what chill hours do is synchronize bloom, fruit set and harvest. Important if you're a commercial grower, less important if you just want apples whenever the tree provides them. He says in the hot zones you can have bloom, ripe fruit, and green fruit all on the tree at the same time..."
I have always wanted to grow apples but, living in a sub-tropical climate I have always thought that this was out of reach. Whilst I knew that there were some apple varieties that may be grown in warmer climates, I had my eyes opened by the Kuffelcreek website.
I invested in the book 'Growing Apples in the Tropics' and ordered two low chill varieties, Anna and Tropical Sweet. I was so encouraged by my success when these two trees that I planted two varieties that require more chill, Granny Smith and Royal Gala. All my trees are on dwarfing rootstock.
My first two trees presented me with a small harvest this year but big enough for me to be encouraged and I am looking forward to seeing how the two new trees fare.
So I wonder if there are others living in a similar climate have tried the same process as outlined in the book and how it worked for them.
Mick