How to Use the Fruitfool Website:
Your Complete Guide to Choosing the Right Fruit Varieties
New Zealand's premier fruit tree and plant variety selection resource
We aim to help you get the most from your urban garden or small orchard by helping you choose the right fruit tree varieties, nut trees, and berry plants for your specific New Zealand location. Fruit trees and shrubs are expensive investments, not just in initial purchase, but also in terms of garden space, maintenance and time until maturity. You want to be getting it right first time!
Understanding New Zealand Growing Zones and Climate
Before diving into variety selection, it's crucial to understand your growing zone and climate conditions. New Zealand spans multiple hardiness zones from Zone 8a in cooler southern regions to Zone 10b in warmer northern areas like Auckland and Northland.
What are Growing Zones? Growing zones (also called hardiness zones or climate zones) indicate the average minimum winter temperatures in your area. Each fruit variety has specific zone requirements - planting outside these ranges often leads to poor performance or tree failure.
Climate vs Growing Zones:
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Growing Zones: Focus on minimum winter temperatures and frost tolerance
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Climate: Includes rainfall, humidity, wind, and seasonal patterns
Use our Climate Zone Information page to find your specific zone and understand what varieties will thrive in your location.
Searching the Site: Three Powerful Methods
1. WIDEST SEARCH: Selector Tools (Fruit, Nuts, Berries & Vines)
Best for: Comprehensive variety comparison and discovering new options
Our Fruit Tree Selector, Nut Tree Selector, and Berry & Vines Selector are your most powerful discovery tools. These allow you to:
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Filter by Harvest Months: Find varieties that fruit when you have gaps in your harvest calendar
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Filter by Growing Zone/Climate: See only varieties suited to your specific New Zealand location
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Compare across fruit types: Compare apples with citrus, or nuts with berries for space planning
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View key characteristics: Self-fertility, preservation suitability, storage life, and more
Limitations: Can return hundreds of results, requiring additional filtering to narrow down choices.
2. NARROWED SEARCH: Fruit-Specific Variety Pages
Best for: Deep-diving into specific fruit types
Use our dedicated variety pages for individual fruit types:
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Tree Fruits: Apple, Apricot, Avocado, Banana, Cherimoya, Cherry, Feijoa, Fig, Guava, Grapefruit, Hybrid stonefruit, Lemon, Lime, Mandarin, Nectarine, Orange, Other citrus, Other fruit, Peach, Pear, Plum, Quince
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Nut Trees: Almond, Walnut, Hazelnut, Other Nuts
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Berries & Vines: Blueberry, Strawberry, Raspberry, Currants, Grapes, Other berries.
Additional filtering options:
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Harvest timing: Find early, mid, or late season varieties
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Climate zones: See varieties suited to your specific zone
3. SITEWIDE SEARCH: Instant Variety Lookup
Best for: Finding specific varieties or targeted information
Use the magnifying glass icon (🔍) at the top right of any page to search across:
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All variety information
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Growing guides and tips
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Rootstock compatibility
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Climate zone data
Perfect when you know exactly what you're looking for or need to quickly verify if we have information on a specific variety.
Membership Options: Choose Your Growing Journey
Blueberry Basic (FREE)
Perfect for: Beginning gardeners and casual growers
Features:
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Access to all variety information and filtering tools
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Basic wishlist functionality (up to 6 saved varieties)
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Climate zone information
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General growing guides
Ideal for: Those starting their fruit growing journey or with smaller gardens
Peach Premium ($4/month)
Perfect for: Serious gardeners and orchard planners
Features:
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Save unlimited varieties to your personal list
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Advanced planning tools: Track existing plants and plan future purchases
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Priority access: First access to new features
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Detailed variety notes: Add personal notes and observations
Ideal for: Experienced nome growers, small commercial operations, or anyone serious about optimising their fruit production
Elderberry Elite ($12/month)
Perfect for: Serious growers, data enthusiasts and those who want to mitigate and maximise weather patterns.
Features:
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Everything in Peach Premium: Save unlimited varieties to your personal list, planning tools, save detailed notes, and filtering capabilities
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Comprehensive Weather Dashboard: Real-time weather data with location detection for precise local conditions
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Frost Protection System: Advanced frost risk calculations, alerts, and historical frost season data for your specific location
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Growing Intelligence: Soil temperature monitoring, growing degree days, chill hours tracking, and evapotranspiration data
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Spray Window Optimisation: Weather-based recommendations for optimal spraying conditions to maximize effectiveness
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Seasonal Planning: Long-range forecasts and historical climate data to inform planting and harvest decisions
Ideal for: Small commercial growers, community orchardists, market gardeners, or serious hobbyists who want precise weather data to protect crops, maximise harvests, and make informed growing decisions based on local microclimates.
Save Varieties You're Considering: Never Forget a Good Find Again
The Problem We Solve: You spend hours researching the perfect apple variety, find detailed information about pollination requirements, harvest timing, and storage qualities... then three months later when you're ready to buy, you've completely forgotten which variety it was!
Our Solution: Save varieties to your personal wishlist as you research. Whether you're:
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Comparing pollination partners
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Planning purchases from multiple nurseries
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Making quick decisions during nursery sales
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Building a multi-year planting plan
Your saved varieties are always accessible on your phone or computer, with all the key information you need to make informed decisions.
Track Your Existing Garden
Beyond Planning: Use your wishlist to record varieties you've already planted. This creates a powerful garden management tool:
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Harvest Calendar: See when each variety will be ready
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Gap Analysis: Identify harvest gaps and plan new plantings accordingly
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Variety Performance: Track which varieties work best in your specific conditions
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Future Planning: Make informed decisions about additional varieties based on your existing collection
Using Your Fruit tree list: Privacy and Functionality
Your Data, Your Privacy
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Free to use for Blueberry Basic members
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Your information stays private - we never share or sell your data
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No spam - we respect your inbox
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New Zealand privacy compliant - we follow all applicable NZ privacy laws
Anonymous Insights
The only way we use data is for anonymous insights like:
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"Most popular apple varieties in New Zealand"
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"Trending berry varieties this season"
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Regional preference patterns
This helps us improve our variety recommendations and identify what New Zealand gardeners are most interested in growing.
Account Benefits
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Secure login: Your wishlist is protected and private
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Cross-device access: Access your saved varieties from any device
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Backup and sync: Never lose your carefully curated variety list
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Easy sharing: Share specific varieties with family or friends (Premium feature)
Getting Started: Your Fruit Growing Journey
New to Fruit Growing?
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Find your growing zone using our Climate Zone Information
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Start with our Selector Tools to explore what grows well in your area
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Create a free Blueberry Basic account to save interesting varieties
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Begin with 2-3 well-chosen varieties rather than trying to grow everything
Experienced Grower?
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Use variety-specific pages for detailed comparisons
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Consider Peach Premium membership for unlimited wishlist and advanced features
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Explore rare and heritage varieties to expand your collection
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Use our tools for succession planning and gap analysis
Ready to Plant?
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Check rootstock compatibility on our Rootstock Information page
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Verify pollination requirements for cross-pollinating varieties
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Plan your garden layout considering mature tree sizes
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Time your purchases for optimal planting seasons
Start exploring today - use our powerful tools to discover the perfect varieties for your New Zealand garden!