Garden · Fruit growing

Chill Hour Requirements by Fruit Tree Variety

Reviewed against Dave Wilson Nursery's fruit tree chilling requirement guidance · Updated August 2026

Use our chill hours calculator to estimate how many chill hours your specific location delivers each winter, then check that number against the variety you're considering here. Planting a high-chill variety in a mild climate, or a low-chill variety somewhere with a long real winter, is one of the most common and avoidable mistakes in home fruit growing.

Apples

Typical range: 500-1,000+ hours (highest of the common fruit trees)

'Fuji' and 'Gala' need around 900 hours. Low-chill options like 'Dorsett Golden' and 'Anna' need as little as 100-300 hours, bred specifically for mild-winter climates.

Pears

Typical range: 300-800 hours

European pears like 'Bartlett' run toward the higher end, while some Asian pear varieties tolerate less chill.

Cherries

Typical range: 700-1,200+ hours (generally the highest chill requirement of common fruit trees)

Sweet cherries in particular need a long, real winter, which is why they're difficult to grow reliably in mild-winter regions regardless of variety.

Peaches & nectarines

Typical range: 150-1,000 hours, the widest range of any common fruit tree

'Desert Gold' needs only about 300 hours and is bred for low-chill regions. 'Red Haven' needs closer to 950 hours and needs a real winter to fruit well.

Plums

Typical range: 400-900 hours

Japanese plum varieties generally need less chill than European plum varieties.

Figs, pomegranates, persimmons

Typical range: Under 300 hours, often close to none

These are the go-to fruiting trees for mild-winter and warm climates where most other deciduous fruit struggles to get enough cold.

What to do if a variety doesn't match your climate

Nurseries breed low-chill cultivars of nearly every major fruit tree specifically for warm-winter regions, so a mismatch usually has a workaround: look for a lower-chill cultivar of the same fruit rather than assuming that fruit can't be grown in your climate at all. Dave Wilson Nursery and most fruit tree nurseries publish the exact chill hour number for each variety they sell, worth checking directly against your calculated chill hours before buying.

Pair this with our chill hours calculator and seed stratification calculator if you're also starting fruit trees or shrubs from seed, which often has its own separate cold requirement.