Thanks Laura,

I think this is probably the link you were looking for. I was hoping
they'd have a visual map, but the chart below works well enough.
I live in St. Petersburg, FL, which is right on the Gulf, a peninsula
surrounded by water, the Gulf of Mexico on one side, Tampa Bay
on the other. Sea Manatee roam the coast line and we're getting
a good amount of hurricane rain. Bradenton is just south of us. St.
Petersburg is urbanized for the most part, a lot of tar and asphalt.
:-)

http://fawn.ifas.ufl.edu/data/chart_historical.asp

As far as fruit trees, I think your statement might need to be
qualified a little further. Oranges, mangos, avocados grow
pretty good all over central and southern Florida. The chill
days, like you said, tend to be very low. If wind chill is counted,
that might help.

I don't think the chill days apply to oranges, lemons or grapefruits,
but I don't have a clue. Usually if there's a freeze the orange
groves complain about losses of fruit. But that tends to only
occur when it actually freezes for a week or more. It's been
a while since Florida has had one of those freezes. Please
correct me if I'm wrong about the oranges and grapefruit
and lemons and limes. :-) Please confirm if I'm correct. I
just don't have a clue and I'm basing what I'm saying upon
old news in the past (about 1979).

--
Jim Carlock
http://www.microcosmotalk.com/
Post replies to the newsgroup.

"Laura Stanley" wrote:
Florida has a much larger range of climates than most people
realize. About the only accurate generalizations you can make
about Florida climates a

(1) summers are hot and LONG, and (2) snow is VERY rare.

In answer to your question, fruit trees that get insufficient chill
hours bloom poorly (few blooms over an extended period instead
of lots of blooms all at once) or don't bloom at all. Leaf out will
also be late and/or sparse, and the tree's growth can be reduced.

It's my understanding that if a tree gets sufficient chill hours
*most* years but experiences an occasional winter that's too
warm, the tree will be OK, although it will bear little to no
fruit during the season following the warm winter.

However, if the tree receives insufficient chilling hours every
year, it will weaken and die within a few years.

Down in Tampa, you probably only get about 200 chilling
hours/year (less if you're very close to the bay/Gulf). So, a
cherry tree would be out of the question.

This link from the University of Florida's Institute of Food
and Agricultural Sciences (UF IFAS) will give you an idea
of what fruits you *can* reasonably expect to grow, if you're
interested in fruits other than cherries:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_MG248

IFAS also has a map showing average chill hours for each part
of the state, but I've lost my link to it, and I don't have time to
find it again now. If you search around on the IFAS website
you should be able to find it.

Good luck,
Laura

"Jim Carlock" typed:
Wow... I'm in Tampa. The average daily temp here is 72
to 78 degrees over the year.

I've never seen a cherry tree here. The cherry trees I've
seen were up in the states of Washington, Oregon and
Vancouver, Canada.

I've been reading that they won't bear fruit without a
freeze. Or will the whole tree just be stressed and die
off ?

Thanks for the reply.
--

"Christopher Green" wrote:
"Jim Carlock" wrote:
Does anyone know if it's possible to get cherry trees growing
in Florida ? I've been reading that they require a frost to
become fruitful so I don't think they will grow any fruit, but
I'm willing to try. I've got some seeds that have been sitting
in the fridge for about two months that were taken out of
some cherries that were eaten. They've been sitting in the
fridge for two months in a cup of moist peat moss.

Cherries won't thrive without substantial winter chill. Standard
cherries such as Bing need at least 600 to 800 hours below freezing
every winter. (I think Rainier needs the least, about 600 hours.) I
don't know where in Florida you'd find such a location.
--
Chris Green