it is cold this morning why am I so
excited about that one reason chill
hours why our chill hours so important
for fruit trees you're probably asking
that and I'm gonna tell you why what is
a chill hour a chill hour is something
that a deciduous fruit tree needs to
produce growth inhibitor hormones within
itself so that it does not get damaged
by freezing temperatures a chill hour
most commonly is defined as any hour a
fruit tree spends in a temperature of 45
degrees Fahrenheit or below are you just
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here permanently there's a bunch of
different models for calculating chill
hours like the Utah method or the
dynamic method but below 45 is really
the easiest to understand the tree is
going to produce those hormones that
inhibit the growth in the winter time
the best between 32 and 45 degrees
Fahrenheit anything below that and it
won't really produce those hormones very
well why is it so important to have
these chill hours for your fruit trees
well if they don't have the proper
number of chill hours per their variety
and they don't make those growth
inhibitor hormones they are going to
break dormancy it in correct times and
it is going to lead to improper foliage
and bloom development it's also going to
lead to poor fruit development and
ultimately terrible tasting fruit so
these chill hours are a big determining
factor in the flowering time of these
fruiting species of deciduous trees or
your fruit trees the dormancy that the
tree enters is incredibly important
especially for this first year growth
that was put on during the summer this
will freeze and be damaged if dormancy
is not properly put on by those chill
hours between 4
five and thirty two that happened in the
fall every year and of course damage can
lead to disease on trees so you want to
avoid any damage at all on your trees
now here's something really crazy if
your temperature hits above sixty in the
wintertime or when your tree is supposed
to beginning its proper number of chill
hours any temperature above sixty
degrees Fahrenheit will negate any chill
hours that are accumulated by your tree
and you'll need more during that winter
to accumulate the proper number of those
chill hours for each variety of tree
that is terrible here in Texas because
our temperatures fluctuate so much in
the in the zone which is own ap if you
live in an area with really mild winters
like we do that really can greatly
diminish your future fruit harvests a
lot of warm cold shifts in your winter
time can greatly harm your trees and
last but not least it is really
important in the wintertime when your
trees are dormant to do your pruning
this is the best time to do your pruning
now I did do a video on the fact that
you can prune in the summertime and
obviously in the fall but winter pruning
is the absolute best for your trees and
today we're out here and we're going to
be doing some pruning as well now we've
done a pruning video before but just as
a quick reminder we're gonna go over the
pruning basics for your fruit trees and
that are the three DS and the CAC don't
forget those when I say CAC that stands
for clustering acute and crossing
branches so you can see on our doors
that Golden Apple that we've got two
branches that are crossing here this is
new growth from last year and that is a
point where some damage can occur from
the rubbing and disease can enter into
that point of damage so we're gonna get
rid of one of these of course remove any
suckers that are growing up from the
bottom of the tree that can really be
done at any time but since there were
some here we're gonna remove them
of course you want to keep a face shape
to a tree that's one way of doing it and
that's how we do it and we've got some
growth that's coming back into the
center here and it's also crossing so
this one has got to go
now you can see a lot of growth in the
center of our Moorpark apricot here you
want to get rid of all that and clean
out the center to get light and air into
the center of the tree that's just the
way these apricots tend to grow but I
don't want you to forget those 3ds
that's dead diseased and damaged would
you want to always remove those from
your trees and don't forget between each
species of tree clean off your pruning
equipment with some alcohol hey girls
you want to help me cut and prune the
trees all right let's go what are you
what do you got onion grass and collard
green yummy all right let's go
it's great having these girls outside to
help they usually jump at the chance to
do anything even though they don't know
how to do it like pruning fruit trees
that's not grandma
that's YouTube people like I said I'm so
thankful for this cold weather because
it gives me the opportunity to do these
things it was 75 degrees the other day
here in Texas and that is just not good
for these fruit trees I don't know how
they're gonna fruit this year I'll show
you in a second now what I was talking
about before and that's one of our
peaches has already started to flower it
is so confused
it broke its dormancy and I don't know
if it's gonna do very well this year did
it kitty what do you see so you can see
with our peach tree here we've already
got some blooms it's already blooming
out on this wood from this growth from
last year that's actually not good
because it was 31 last night and it
broke in store maseeh these were here
actually last week and you know what
they don't look frozen they don't look
damaged so I don't know maybe they'll
survive I don't know what the
temperature is supposed to be like in
the near future I think it's supposed to
be warmer but these poor trees are so
confused of course the little ones
trying to follow the big one up the
cherry tree
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this tree worries me the most this
winter that it won't produce absolutely
anything this summer because it never
even dropped its leaves this is a Pink
Lady Apple and yeah I don't have high
hopes for it at all
think ladies have a low till our rating
but I guess we didn't achieve it up here
because unbelievably the leaves have
been here all winter long as always I
hope this video was helpful for you and
understanding how important chill hours
are for your fruit trees and for your
home setting orchard so get out in your
orchard right now and do your pruning
because that's really important and pray
that you've got enough chill hours to
set fruit this year I don't know if
we're gonna have that but hey there's
always a chance now I've got to go
finish the rest of the pruning in our
orchard here as always thank you we're
glad you're here don't forget to check
out our other videos on gardening and
pruning right here they'll help you out
a lot
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