Picking the Perfect Fruit Trees for North Florida

Choosing fruit trees to grow with your child in your educational garden really isn't that difficult. When choosing them, you'll both learn about concepts like "chill hours" and "hardiness" in order to pick a tree that will produce the best and tastiest fruit in your area.

If you are a SUFS-EO, SUFS-PEP, or SUFS-UA recipient, check out this article about Submitting Fruit Trees to Step Up.

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Find Leah's book on MyScholarShop or on the shop here! From popular children’s gardening expert Leah Brooks, Let’s Plan! A Student’s Guide to Growing Fruit Trees (Florida Edition) is a hands-on, interactive workbook that introduces students to the exciting world of fruit trees through engaging activities and real-world observation.

Let's look at some common fruit trees and the cultivars you can grow in North Florida

• Citrus

• Mulberry

• Persimmon

• Peaches

• Blueberry

  
  
  

  

  

  
  
  

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Citrus Types/Cultivars

Citrus plants for northern Florida have to be cold hardy because they don't require a high amount of chill hours and are sensitive to the cold.

• Satsuma

• Kumquat

• Calamondin

• Sugar Belle

  
  

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Mulberry Cultivars

Mulberries are a wonderful tree that are grown both ornamentally and for the fruit. With three main species Morus rubra, Morus nigra, Morus alba, along with a couple others, these plants can grow pretty easily in Northern Florida.

• 'Dwarf Everbearing'

• 'Illinois Everbearing'

• 'Pakistan' Mulberry

• Boysenberry Black Mulberry

• 'Callie's Delight' Contorted Mulberry

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Persimmon Cultivars

Persimmons are a common fruit tree up in North Florida with multiple cultivars to pick from.

• 'Fuyu'

• 'Izu'

• 'Hachiya'

• 'Tanenashi'

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Peach Cultivars

Peach cultivars are pretty diverse in where they can be grown in Florida, and there are a wide range of cultivars for each zone based on chill hours.

• 'Flordabest' 250 chill hours

• 'UFO' 250 chill hours

• 'Gulfking' 350 chill hours

• 'Gulfsnow' 400 chill hours

• 'Gulfcrimson' 400 chill hours

• 'UFGlo' 400 chill hours

• 'GulfAtlas' 400 chill hours

• Gulfcrest' 525 chill hours

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Blueberry Cultivars

Blueberries are a great addition to any Florida garden - for North Florida, cultivars don't need to be "low chill" (requiring a low chill hour amount).

• 'Emerald'

• 'Jewel'

• 'Star'

• 'Springhigh'

• 'Sweetcrisp'

Plum cultivars:

Plum flowers are beautiful!

Choose low chill cultivars recommended by the University of Florida:

• 'Gulfblaze'

• ‘Gulfrose’

• 'Red’

• 'Gulfruby'

• 'Gulf Gold'

Remember to check the chill hours of each variety and compare to the number of chill hours you get in your garden.

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If you want to learn more about fruit trees for your area, take a look at these articles!

• https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/edibles/fruits/cold-hardy-citrus/#:~:text=While%20North%20Florida%20gardeners%20can,enough%20to%20withstand%20chilly%20winters.

• https://www.growables.org/information/TropicalFruit/MulberryJustFruit.htm#:~:text=Mulberry%20Varieties%20for%20Florida&text=The%20Dwarf%20Everbearing%20mulberry%20is,with%20a%20rich%20sweet%20flavor.

• https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/MG374

• https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/MG242

• https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/sarasota-docs/ag/OrganicVegetableGardening_FruitTrees.pdf

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Thank you for reading!

Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns by clicking here!

Have a wonderful day!

-Leah Brooks