About Gulf Grower

Gulf Grower is a homestead site written by a Louisiana homesteader with a working home orchard. Its first feature is a fruit tree finder for the Gulf South, because the number-one way people here get burned is planting a tree that never gets enough winter chill to fruit.

What's here

• Chill hours by zip for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, the Florida panhandle and the Texas Gulf coast.
• Variety pages with chill hours, zones, pollination needs and the extension publication behind each number.
• Daily nursery price and stock checks at online nurseries. Coming soon: restock alerts by email, and notes on what's fruited for us.

Where the data comes from

Variety recommendations and chill requirements come from LSU AgCenter (The Louisiana Home Orchard, Pub. 1884), UF/IFAS, Texas A&M AgriLife, University of Georgia, Mississippi State, Auburn and Clemson extension publications, and the USDA RMA peach list. Each variety page links its sources and says whether the chill number was confirmed. Chill-hour estimates by zip are modeled from NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals and calibrated to extension-published values.

We're not affiliated with any university or nursery. Extension offices are the best local resource; call your parish or county agent.