Fruit What fruit trees are you able to grow in Zone 8?

[ShadowMan]

We live at just around 5,500 ft, Zone 8A, give or take, in the San Bernardino mountains of Southern California. As a firm believer in the idea of Permaculture I've been looking around the web for anything and everything that I can add to our landscape here on the mountain. Right now most of our acre of land is covered in pines, cedars, oaks, and manzanita trees and native currants.

I see a lot of nurseries advertising fruit & nut trees as well as various perennials, brambles and the like that supposedly should grow in our micro-climate, including some citrus trees? So I'm very interested in what folks here in a similar climate zone (7-8-9) have successfully grown.

 

[dioptase]

I'm in zone 9, not zone 8, but if you do a little online searching, you can probably figure this out on your own.

There were (and still are) apple trees grown in Yosemite Valley (about 4000 ft), so you'd be able to grow those. In that same vein, probably also other "stone" fruit trees such as pears, Asian pears, cherries, I'd think plums, peaches, who knows what all else.

I wouldn't have thought citrus, but one site says that you can grow them zone 8-11, so it might be worth a shot to try a tree or two, but not grapefruit. We had a grapefruit tree here at an old house, and the weather here just never got hot enough for the fruit to ripen properly. Lemons or oranges or mandarins or tangelos might be worth a try, though. (My gut sense is probably not lime, at least not in the ground. Container growing is always a possibility, if you have room to wheel potted plants indoors into a sunny space.)

Can You Grow Citrus In Zone 8 - Learn About Citrus Trees For Zone 8 Gardens

Semihardy citrus would be perfect citrus trees for zone 8. Containers are also excellent options for growing citrus in zone 8. So whether you want sweet fruits or acidtype fruits, there are selections available that can thrive in zone 8. Learn more here.

www.gardeningknowhow.com

I wouldn't have thought bananas, but I did a Google search, and it appears that there are even cold hardy cultivars that supposedly can grow in zone 7.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Check your local microclimate and varieties. Our BOL is zone 8 but it is zone 8/north Florida and what I can grow there is not going to be the same as your Zone 8.

I have had to drastically reduce my dependence on the "Zones" because frankly most of them are whooey in my experience. Local garden clubs and gardening forums specific to your area will net you much better information.

 

[LibertyMom]

You might contact your local county extension office or other local garden resources to see what fruits and nuts are native to your area. They should be easy to grow.

 

[ShadowMan]

...if you do a little online searching, you can probably figure this out on your own.

True, however.....comma, what the nursery's say will grow in a specific zone is not what necessarily true in every case. That's why I'm asking for actual first hand experience. Totally aware of the micro-climate zones. We're probably somewhere between zone 7 - 8 - 9 on our property. Have an exposed southern slope on our property that's protected from all but the worst wind storms.

I know many varieties of Apples, Pears, Cherry, Apricots, and even some hardy varieties of Peaches will grow up here on the mountain. I'm building a greenhouse this summer, but after last winter I have to rethink the build and make sure it's a seriously bomb proof unit. Nine feet of snow in one storm (100 year snow event) was a major wake up call. Flattened a lot of aluminum framed greenhouses up here. Even some stout wood and glass units were crushed, not to mention wood decks and even some cabin roofs.

 

[dioptase]

Well, first-hand, for sure don't bother with grapefruit. We are Zone 9 South SF Bay Area, and while that tree reliably produced, the fruit was also reliably super sour, never sweet (as sweet as a grapefruit can get). I suspect our cool nights had something to do with that. Being up on a mountain, I'm guessing that your nights are cool too, even in the summer.

If you are thinking of a southern slope, I think you also need to be aware of microclimates, as in, cold air flows downwards. So you might want to plant ON the slope (which makes maintenance and harvesting more difficult, especially as you age and develop mobility problems), as opposed to at the bottom (where the cool air would collect).

I was surprised to read that the aluminum framed greenhouses in your AO got done in by your snowpocalypse. That's actually a bit disturbing.

 

[ShadowMan]

dioptase, it was a VERY HEAVY WET snow and hit in two big dumps of four to five feet plus in just a matter of days. Now this was NOT normal for our area. Usually we'll get a foot or two at a time. A big storm will dump three to four feet over a couple of days. But this last winter between the end of February and the first week of March we got seriously hammered in what was called a 100 year snow event....or Snowmageddon!

We were actually snowed in hard....as in had to dig out which took over a week of shoveling. All our streets were totally impassable for over two to three weeks. Being preppers we faired just fine. OK, ran low on wine, but other than that we were good. However many folks were seriously hurting. One local lady's husband had a heart attack and died because EMT's couldn't get to him and his body laid in the garage for nine days before anyone could come and pick it up! One of our major supermarkets entire roof pancaked....the WHOLE ROOF!! That was Snowmageddon here on the mountain....in SoCal no less.

 

[dioptase]

Yes, ShadowMan, I recall your situation; I was following your epic thread.

I had just never realized (nor had ever really thought about it) that snow could do in a greenhouse, because, after all, there are greenhouses all over cold areas of the country.

 

[Donna_in_OK]

Can you look around at the various locally grown farmers markets to see what types of fruits and nuts they are growing?