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Old 09-11-2007, 09:30 PM   #18 (permalink)
JoeReal
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Location: Davis, California USDA zone 9
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Default Re: Blooming at the right time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by momoese View Post
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.
After a normal winter, some of them would have retained portions of the leaves intact and still green, especially the dwarf brazilians. They learned to adapt here. Our normal winters would be in the lows of 24 deg F for about 14 days total, nipping very briefly down to 22 deg F for a couple of minutes. Mostly about 2 months of nights below freezing. But when it is El Niņo years, we would have mild winters.

As to the quality of how they perform after winter, it would depend on cultivar. Mine have the same quality so far, even when having blooms in early to late spring, even into mid-summer.

This year, it will be my first time to have something so late in the season and am excited to try out my new technique to a new problem in the yard.
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