Stone fruit: chill hours and pollination partners
Use this chart to compare the cultivars in our catalog. Self-fruitful means a tree can set fruit with its own pollen; bees and suitable flowering weather still matter. A cultivar marked partner required needs a genetically compatible pollenizer flowering at the same time in your garden. A different tree of the same cultivar does not resolve incompatibility.
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Readable cultivar details
Tap a cultivar below for its estimate and partner options.
Desert Gold — Peach: 200 or fewer chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required
Galaxy — Peach: 450–600 chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required
Elberta — Peach: 600 chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required
Q-1-8 — Peach: 700–800 chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required
Snow Queen — Nectarine: 250–300 chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required
Double Delight — Nectarine: 300 chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required
Goldmine — Nectarine: 400 chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required
Flavor Delight — Aprium: Under 300 chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: Another apricot can improve crops; match flowering time locally
Blenheim (Royal) — Apricot: 400 or fewer chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required
Moorpark — Apricot: 600 chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required
Mariposa — Japanese plum: 250 chill hours
Self-fruitful: No; plant a compatible pollenizer.
Partner / note: Santa Rosa, Catalina or Nubiana
Santa Rosa — Japanese plum: 300 chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required
Satsuma — Japanese plum: 300 chill hours
Self-fruitful: No; plant a compatible pollenizer.
Partner / note: Santa Rosa or Beauty
Elephant Heart — Japanese plum: 500 or fewer chill hours
Self-fruitful: No; plant a compatible pollenizer.
Partner / note: Santa Rosa or Beauty
Flavor King — Pluot: 400 or fewer chill hours
Self-fruitful: No; plant a compatible pollenizer.
Partner / note: Dapple Dandy, Flavor Supreme, Santa Rosa or Late Santa Rosa
Dapple Dandy — Pluot: 400–500 chill hours
Self-fruitful: No; plant a compatible pollenizer.
Partner / note: Flavor King, Flavor Supreme, Santa Rosa, Catalina or Burgundy
Stella — Sweet cherry: 400 chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required; unreliable for Bing in mild winters
Lapins — Sweet cherry: 500 or fewer chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required
Bing — Sweet cherry: 700 chill hours
Self-fruitful: No; plant a compatible pollenizer.
Partner / note: Black Tartarian, Van, Rainier or Lapins; avoid relying on Stella near the coast
Black Tartarian — Sweet cherry: 700 chill hours
Self-fruitful: No; plant a compatible pollenizer.
Partner / note: Bing or another compatible sweet cherry with overlapping bloom
English Morello — Sour cherry: 500 or fewer chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required
All-in-One — Almond: 300–400 chill hours
Self-fruitful: Yes; can fruit alone.
Partner / note: No partner required; needs summer heat to ripen nuts
Galaxy has differing published ratings: 450 hours in the home-garden reference and 500–600 in the grower reference. Flavor King is listed at 400 or fewer in the home-garden reference and 400–500 in the grower reference. Plan conservatively. Blenheim also has a 500-hour grower estimate alongside the home-garden rating of 400 or fewer. These ratings are guidance, not a guarantee of local production.
South Orange County note: High-chill cherries such as Bing and Black Tartarian, and higher-chill peaches such as Q-1-8, deserve a site-specific winter-record review. Stella is self-fruitful, but is not a reliable choice to pollinate Bing in mild-winter climates. For trees needing a partner, confirm bloom overlap locally before ordering.
Ask us to review your garden and a compatible fruit-tree pairing
Winter chill helps deciduous fruit trees resume growth after dormancy. Choosing the right cultivar matters in South Orange County, where a beach garden and an inland valley can experience very different winter nights.
What is a chill hour?
Many fruit-tree descriptions use hours below 45°F as a practical winter-chill estimate. These hours accumulate across cool winter periods; they do not need to occur consecutively. Chilling helps dormant buds progress toward normal spring growth. Too little can mean delayed or uneven leafing, fewer flowers and poor fruit set.
The temperature model matters. Some calculators report hours between 32°F and 45°F, while others count all hours below 45°F. The Dynamic Model reports chill portions, a different unit. Compare a cultivar requirement with weather data using the same model and seasonal window; do not convert portions directly into hours.
South Orange County microclimate guide
UC Master Gardeners report approximately 300–1,000 winter chill hours across Orange County, with coastal locations generally receiving less than inland locations. This broad county range is not a measured average for every South County city. We do not assign invented annual totals to individual neighborhoods.
| Microclimate | Local examples | Winter-chill guidance | How to choose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean-influenced coastal gardens | Beach-facing Laguna Beach, Dana Point and San Clemente | Generally lower accumulation; ocean influence moderates nighttime cold. | Prioritize proven low-chill cultivars and review recent local records. |
| Coastal canyons and inland transitions | Laguna canyons, inland Dana Point, Laguna Niguel and San Juan Capistrano | Highly site-dependent. A sheltered low spot can differ from an exposed slope. | Compare the nearest representative station and measure the planting site. |
| Inland valleys and foothill gardens | Mission Viejo, Lake Forest, Rancho Santa Margarita and inland San Clemente | Often more cool-night accumulation than the immediate coast; elevation, drainage and winter weather still matter. | Use several winters of records before choosing moderate- or high-chill cultivars. |
Why there is no city-average heat map here: Reliable numerical bands require several complete winters of hourly temperature data, one consistent model and representative stations. A county-wide estimate cannot support precise figures for Laguna Beach or a particular hillside. Coastal versus inland guidance above is a regional interpretation, not a station-derived climatology.
Match the tree to your garden
Our product pages list estimated cultivar requirements where a credible cultivar reference is available. For example, common fig cultivars are rated around 100 hours, Anna apple around 200, Snow Queen nectarine around 300, and Honeycrisp apple around 800–1,000. These are growing requirements, not predictions of the chill your yard receives.
Higher-chill choices such as Honeycrisp, Bing cherry and Q-1-8 peach deserve particular review in mild coastal gardens. Pollination, rootstock, spring weather, summer warmth, irrigation and pruning also affect the crop. Enough chill alone does not guarantee fruit.
Check your actual winter
- Open the UC Davis Chill Calculator and choose a nearby station with a similar setting.
- Review several complete winters using one temperature model and the same start/end dates. UC's county guidance refers to November 1 through the end of February; other tools may use a different window.
- Consider the lower-chill winters when selecting a reliable crop, rather than using only the coldest year.
- For unusual sites, use a shaded, ventilated outdoor temperature logger at the orchard location. A regional airport or inland station may not represent a beachfront garden.
Shop deciduous fruit trees or ask us to help match fruit trees to your microclimate. Include your neighborhood, sun exposure and whether the planting area is a canyon floor, slope or coastal site.
References
- UC Master Gardeners of Orange County: Backyard Orchard
- UC Master Gardeners: What Are Chill Hours?
- UC Davis: Chill Calculator
- Cultivar chill estimates, checked against current individual cultivar pages where estimates differ.
Reviewed October 2026. Cultivar ratings are estimates; local winter totals vary from year to year.