Apple
Can I Grow Pink Lady (Cripps)?
Pink Lady offers a sophisticated sweet-tart balance with a distinctive blush and effervescent crunch. It's a trademarked variety that requires warm days and cool nights to develop its signature color.
Growing Requirements
Chill Hours
400
Hardiness Zones
5-6-7-8-9
Harvest
Late October to November
Results
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Pruning dates, harvests, spray schedules, what worked. The gardeners who get the most from their trees are the ones who kept records.
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About Pink Lady (Cripps)
Pink Lady offers a sophisticated sweet-tart balance with a distinctive blush and effervescent crunch. It's a trademarked variety that requires warm days and cool nights to develop its signature color.
Pink Lady (Cripps) requires 400 chill hours — the number of hours between 32°F and 45°F during winter dormancy. Without enough chill, the tree may fail to flower properly or produce poor fruit.
⚠️ Common Challenges
Needs 200+ days to mature — unsuitable for regions with short growing seasons or early autumn frosts.
❌ Common Misconception
Will Pink Lady (Cripps) produce more fruit in colder climates?
Not necessarily. Pink Lady (Cripps) only needs 400 chill hours. Planting in very cold zones (4 or colder) risks winter damage without improving fruit production. The ideal zones are 5-9 where the tree gets enough chill without excessive cold stress.
If you plant it, write it down.
Variety, rootstock, planting date — and every pruning and harvest after that. Future you will thank you.
Free for up to 30 plants. No card needed.
Other Apple Varieties
Chill hour data from Open-Meteo Historical Weather API. Variety information compiled from university extension services.