momoese

While we have this thread back up again I have a question for you Joe. You say that for your zone ideally you would get a bloom in early Spring. From my experiance with the killer frost last year I wonder how your plants look at the beginning of spring after a normal winter? My plants were totally thrashed after last winter and I would imagine your normal winter would be a little more like the killer frosty weather we had down here in So Cal. right? All of my plants that flowered in early spring either died/fell over or won't plump the fruit bunches and I believe it's due to a lack of leaves to power the bunch. All the plants that had fruit hanging when the frost hit had serious trouble ripening even after cutting down the bunches. Also flavor and texture was not up to par. So for me in my locale it's ideal for the plants to flower in late Spring after growing some new healthy leaves and hope for no frost come winter.