Early peaches, cont

So, to review previous posts of premature peach evaluations, Rich May a real winner, Silver Gem also. Early Star and Desiree, so-so.

Gold dust has just begun ripening up and what the birds have left me are exceptionally high quality for an early peach. They turn dark red which really attracts the birds, or maybe it is just the quality of the flesh. On the best peaches in the tree the flesh is deep orange and richly flavored- outstanding for any season and surprising for such an early peach- meaty, juicy and fibrous with dark orange flesh. Maybe it can flavor up so early because it is so small- about have the size of peaches now on my Summer Serenade, an improved sport of Garnett Beauty, which I’m also beginning to harvest here now.

I didn’t have to do any thinning and a light set led to a moderate crop. I worry about bacterial spot here in NY when I grow CA peaches. My site is somewhat shaded from morning sun and excessively protected from wind (and helpful drying breezes). There are some BS shotholes in the leaves, but, given the wet early summer, it is not bad.

I was focusing on sizing up the tree as this is its third year in my orchard but now I can begin opening the tree up and training for best possible peaches. Hopefully, next year I can provide a more meaningful evaluation, but I’m already pretty sure that the quality of the fruit is the best I have here in its season. .

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Very useful information on a prescient topic. Thanks, Alan.

I ate some Glenglo this past week from a local orchard. The early ones were okay, but after more counter-ripening, the latter ones were excellent, becoming freestone with a melting tangy flavor.

I also had some kind of Redhaven variant. The orchard grows Redhaven and a number of its early variants/ sports. They listed the peaches sold as “Redhaven,” but I am skeptical because it is still early for Redhaven here. Probably either Garnet Beauty or Early Redhaven. Whatever they were, they were absolutely fabulous. True peachy flavor. Sizeable fruit. Readily freestone. Easy to cut and quarter. Juicy melting flesh. Early ones were a little dilluted but still refreshing. After more counter ripening, the latter ones were excellent. There’s a reason Redhaven has long been one of the standards. It and its variants do really well here, and are reported to be among the most adaptable and widely-grown peaches around.

I also had some White Lady this past week. I think they picked 'em early. They were quite fibrous and underripe, but got better after sitting around a few days. Last few I ate got very sweet, but still a little mealy or fibrous. I’ve had better White Lady in past years. Of course, it’s still a bit early for White Lady. Maybe I’ll get a chance to sample more this coming week…

Matt, I used to grow white lady here but the low acid varieties leave me cold. It is an easy peach to grow, though, and ripens hard on the trees to wait and wait to be picked. After it is picked it seems to ripen quickly at room temp so I wonder why a grower would need to pick them too green. They seem to have been bred for commercial handling.

The last of the Glenglos. Eating it now as I type this.

Really tangy; makes you pucker, in a good way, like a Meyer Lemon.

Not super sweet, but sweet enough to be good.

What I really like about these Glenglos is that they seem to have very good shelf-life. Many peaches are only great to eat for a period of 48 hrs. These were melting and luscious for a solid week, with little spotting or bruising. Smaller fruits, but they held up well.

I might just add these to my list of must-haves.

AC nursery is already sold out of Glenglo and Rich May. Their available selection is the worst I remember for so early. Anyone know another commercial source for Rich May?

In recent years, Vaughn has had Rich May available on Halford. They list it under its alternate name, “Flavorich.” According to Dr. Des Layne, they are one and the same.

Their website is out of date. You might request a hard copy of their catalog. Their 2016 catalog is due to be released in Sept 2015.

Here is another TN grower that offers Flavorich.

http://www.tnnursery.com/Turner&Son/bareroot_fruit.htm

Enjoyed my first Clayton peach a few weeks ago from my 3rd year tree, another excellent early peach with nice balance of sugar and acid.

Is that for this fall or next spring?

Matt that peach looks wonderful! I’d be eating one if I had one too!!! :blush:

@alan, glad to hear your Gold Dust are coming through so well. More people should be growing that one, its only in California that its grown widely. I found they size up better as the tree matures, this year I got normal-sized peaches on it. I also have problems with birds on them.

Thank you Matt and Chris. Those growers charge only per tree what Adams charges wholesale- of course the trees are tiny. but it will still be quicker than waiting a year.

Scott, I owe my current exploration of West Coast varieties to your enticing descriptions and knowing you were having some success with them on our side of the country. My next interesting early peach comes from wood you sent me. I think it is Clayton and it has sized up more than in the past this season.

The problem is that as I get excited about more varieties my job gets harder. I used to only offer custom grafted apples and pears and now peaches and plums in my nursery are as likely to be modified with extra, wonderful varieties. As if my job wasn’t complicated enough. Someone asked me for a list of inventory yesterday and I had to laugh.

As I type this I am eating a waffle over sauced apricots with a Gold Dust peach and Greek yogurt on top. Growing fruit is truly the ultimate gourmet experience. My oldest brother gets excited about $100 bottles of wine (preferably ones he bought for $10 a few years ago) but the difference between store bought fruit and what you pick off your trees is so much greater than the difference between a palatable wine and one that sells for 3 digits.

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Chris

The site shows all the peaches are sold out! Would you guess the site is out or date and it is not talking about spring 2016?

Matt

The peach looks great and hits at the perfect time for my area. Can you compare its flavor to another peach? I have to decide if it’s worth waiting another year to buy this variety or choose something else that ripens at the same time.

Blueberry, I have never ordered from these folks before, I would give them a call, seems like some of these wholesale growers do not keep their websites up to date.

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Today I found a few ripe Glenglo peaches on a tree in my nursery and another in my experimental orchard. I understand Olpea’s enthusiasm for it, the first one I ate was almost as good as Gold Dust- in a full sized peach. Deep rich orange flesh, sweet and juicy, the way I like it, but not freestone off the tree. Neither was Gold Dust.

I found a tree ripe Silver Gem Nect and it was just amazing- probably small fruit, though.

As far as commercial growers and their web sites, I think some of them begin taking orders based on estimated harvest, but they are never sure of their inventory until trees are dug in the early fall. If you go to ACN’s site they are not taking orders there but are already sold out of many varieties which I assume went to volume commercial buyers. Home orchard sales are just a side show for them and can get second class service. Up here it was a tough winter for peaches so I suspect supplies are going to be tight.

B.B.Thrill,

Glenglo reminds me of the peach variety named “Harmony” aka “Canadian Harmony.” Same small size. Same shelf-life staying-power. Similar tangy flavor. Both of them can counter-ripen into a perfectly melting freestone texture. Glengo is not quite as sweet as Harmony, which ripens much later in the season, but Glenglo is sweet enough to be good.

That’s the closest comparison I can make.

If you can’t wait and need to buy a peach soon, alternates you might consider are Garnet Beauty and GaLa. They are supposed to ripen around the same time.

Happy hunting,

Canadian Harmony as grown here maybe doesn’t get the deep orange flesh, more a light yellow as I recall. But I haven’t seen that variety in years. I tend to compare varieties within their season, anyway. There are so many great peaches once you get to Redhaven’s time and after.

Actually, my key interest is about to turn to nectarines. I only have a few on the little Silver Gem tree but I’ve got an Eastern Glo just loaded with beautiful fruit. The weather has been almost perfect to develop full sugar for the last month so I expect wonderful flavor. Most of those will likely go into my freezer, most of my peaches will be given away.

You know I had heard people say some fruits get bigger as the tree matures, but I never really noticed it with peaches until this year. I suppose I never noticed it because I didn’t have a direct to direct comparison of a small peach tree and a big peach tree of the same variety in the same year.

This year I’ve seen a difference. I have trees here at the house which are the same variety as those at the farm. It’s not true for all varieties, but for some, the older trees do seem to have larger fruit.

I’ve no idea if this is true for other fruits. I picked some Lodi apples off a young tree and the fruits were absolutely huge. I can’t imagine them being able to grow any bigger.

Nice to hear your report about Glenglo Matt. It’s just the first year here, but those fruits really left an impression on me. This year here, they were much better than Early Redhaven or Garnet Beauty.

I agree with you that what the orchard labeled as Redhaven, really wasn’t. Redhaven is such a well recognized peach some people call all kinds of peaches Redhaven which really aren’t. I know of one person who thought they were buying Redhavens all summer long from a farmer’s market vendor.

The same thing happens with Belle of Georgia for white peaches. It’s a well known name, and we all know any peach from “Georgia” has to taste great :wink: so a lot of random white peaches are sold as Belle of Georgia.

Alan, it’s interesting you Gold Dust is dark red. Mine is also a double red peach. Scott and I had a discussion about this several years back, because at that time his was more a lighter blushed red peach (more like a Redhaven). At the time I was curious about it and wrote the owner of the nursery where I got the peach from, in order to inquire about it. We never were able to come to a definitive conclusion. Some of the photos seem to show Gold dust as a lighter blushed red peach. What is really confusing is that the name implies a golder colored peach (like Carolina Gold, but my Gold Dust is deep red with lots of red in the flesh. Bob sent me some wood of his Gold Dust and I grafted it on my Gold Dust to see if it matches.

Olpea, the thing is that whatever I have is extraordinarily high quality (high brix) for an early peach. It is as good as anything I grow during the entire season, so I’m pretty sure it would be very well known if it was of another variety. I ate one yesterday that had full sun exposure, which most won’t have until about the 4th year on trees I train, and it was just so good that I put it up still another notch.

I can’t remember the name of the nursery I got it from but I think it’s the same place you got yours. It’s the largest source for DW varieties available to the home grower. Because GD is so highly regarded and ripens when this one does I expect we both have the correct peach. I can find a wide range of coloration on various fruit on my tree.

Oh no Alan is turning into a brix junkie!! How about a number?