low chill nectarines or plums

Hi, I live in zone 21 in San Diego and would like to know what kinds of low chill nectarines and plums would be good here. Also should I plant them now or wait until the fall? Thanks, Nancita

We planted nectarine 'Desert Delight' last January because it was recommended for me by several experts. I live Tierrasanta,(I'm not sure which zone it's)where it gets pretty hot in the summer. It has 20+ fruits and they should be ready to pick in mid.June. Hope this helps a little.

Hi Nancita,

I live in zone 24 along the coast and in general I try to make sure all of my fruit trees are the ones which need about 300 chill hours, that seems to work fine for me. I even have one which is 500 which does great. I'm not sure, but I'm sure you get way more chill hours in zone 21. I get most of my fruit tree information from Kurt at walter andersens nursery in San Diego. He really knows his stuff. I grow Santa Rosa and Green Gage plums and both do great. Another really good resource for information is www.davewilson.com , they grow and sell a lot of low chill varieties.
I hope this helps!

I didn't see the "nectarine" part of your question. We grow 'panamint' which does great and 'Snow Queen' which out of all of my fruit trees (about 25) is my absolute favorite. I hope this helps!

One more thing:) my recommendation is to take your time and pick the right tree, often Dave Wilson Nursery has fruit tastings around So Cal during the summer - so you can pick the best kind. and I think the best time to buy is in winter when a lot of the better nurseries have a large variety of bare root trees. So you can really choose the perfect tree.

Hi Nancita,
Like Mitch said, probably to be most reliable, look for trees with a chill to about 300 hours or so. Nectarines might include Arctic Star White, Desert Delight, Double Delight, Panamint, Snow Queen.
For Plums look for Beauty, Green Gage (my favorite), Miraposa, Methly, Santa Rosa.
Those all should do well for you. If you can find them in five gallon or larger now that would be fine. If not look for them the first part of January 2009 as 'bare root' trees. The selection is usually better then, becasue more trees are usually available. If you plant now, you gain a year on growth.