Help with choosing fruit trees for my small BY garden (CA. Zone 7)

[ninnymary]

dinnertym, where do you live? what city?

Mary

 

[Kassaundra]

Sorry Kassaundra, I had to go back and edit for a link. Dinnertyme will have to check on the USDA zone, but as we know there's zone 7 (or 4, or 5, etc ) and then there's zone 7.
USDA doesn't really allow for micro climates, and a lot of other variables.
As far as the Sunset zones not being referenced in seed catalogs it could be because Sunset set their zone system up for west of the Rockies in the 11 contiguous western states, and the book is a reference with the named varieties and what zones they grow in.
I know there is a national Sunset reference book that I've seen at nurseries, but I don't know how fine tuned it is for the rest of the states.

Am I making sense? I'm having trouble explaining things....I think I stayed up too late last night...

eta umm... I looked up what S. had to say about kumquats, and they state they can withstand temperatures in the high teens, but why couldn't you put it in a pot and move it indoors? I love kumquats too, and now you got me thinking!

My big issue w/ bringing any plant in for overwinter is light / windows. Right now I have no window that gets anywhere near enough light. We gave up all our western windows when we built the apt addition for my FIL, now that he has moved out we are redoing it, so I will eventually get my windows back, but it may be another yearish before we get the time and money.

 

[dinnertym]

Calaveras County (Gold Country). 2000' elevation. I have always been under the assumption we are Z7 here. That is what the local nurseries say.
I hear that I may not get enough cold hours for the apple tree, but may be to cold for citrus. Will look into some of the multi graft trees that have two or three varietals on on tree.

What is the advantage of bare root vs. those in pots?

Again, what would be the most hardy lemon or lime trees if I try to plant?


Thx

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are a lot of different zone maps. They are based on different things for different reasons. Some more for trees than for vegetables. Some are based on frost dates, freeze dates, lower annual average temperature, or maybe cold hours. The Arbor Day planting zone map is good for trees but I don't know how good it is for fruit trees specifically.

http://www.arborday.org/treeinfo/zonelookup.cfm

I thought mine was bad when I plug my zip code into different zone finders for trees and get 6, 7, or 7A. So I get trees that are good for zones 5, 6, 7, and 8.

I plugged 95249 into a few different ones and got 7A, 8, and 9. All over the place. I think 95249 is yours. I would not be that surprised if you have several different microclimates in your zip code.

I suggest you talk to your county extension agent about your specific location. I'm too confused to say anything that might help you. I'll tell you something wrong.

 

[digitS']

Calaveras County (Gold Country). 2000' elevation. I have always been under the assumption we are Z7 here. . .

Where is our murphysranch . . ?

She is in "Gold Country" and is probably not too far from you. She also said zone 7. You could do a search on TEG and ask her your questions.

Murphysranch told us last year that she had snow in early April !

Steve

 

[dinnertym]

Oh well, went with a multi graft apple tree for the garden. Hopefully it will help pollinate the transplanted apple. Have not done anything with lemon yet. Not a fan of moving citrus in and out. May look at other options on this. Are lime trees any more hardy than lemon's? If so, has anyone in the Z7 successfully grown citrus in the ground and not in moveable barrels? Oh well, letting the vegetable garden rest right now and will plant tomatoes in the spring after the last frost. Thx