Favorite DWN peaches?

No, drought conditions. I never seen it so dry. Yes no doubt that helped!

Thanks Drew, those look great. I’m looking forward to getting some nectarine varieties in the scion exchange for next grafting season.

That make a big difference. Its just a swamp over here. I’ve never mowed this much in one growing season.

I ordered Sweet Dream peach from ACN… FN rated it highly.

1 Like

Elegant Lady

A local U-Pick orchard growth Elegant Lady peaches; all looked beautiful from outside, but almost half of those that I collected had a rot inside (spreading from the pit cavity outwards). If you touch the beak, and it’s soft, the peach is rotten inside. I never have seen such a problem with any other peach variety (including several other varieties at the same orchard).

The peach I want to try the most is Indian Free. My spring grafts all failed and didn’t have any budwood for summer. I might have to buy one along with Glenglo.

I’m looking forward to trying Indian free as well. I had a few grafts that were successful this year but got very little growth. The understock was not very vigorous so I’m thinking that was the issue. I may try to get fresh scions next year and graft to some more vigorous rootstocks I have growing now.

1 Like

My Indian Free harvest should be October 12th. Since it’s fairly cold by then here, the peaches are quite acid. And I love them! I should get around 30. Some fruit buds died in the late freezes this year, and some were damaged by animals. It’s netted now.
A few from last year’s harvest October 12th 2015.


A mere 6 1/2 weeks after harvest my Indian Free tree looked like this, November 22nd.

3 Likes

It certainly is an odd looking peach compared to most other varieties that are more vibrant yellows and reds. They have a sort of muted unripe look to them. But based on the description of the fruit being on the high acid side I think it would be right up my alley.

Yes, and photo presents them in the best light, most look worse. My tree has 40 peaches but 10 or so are damaged from an animal. I left them on, I want all the seed. I could have some bizarre crosses in there.

You folks should grow Sanguine Tardeva, its nearly identical to Indian Free but shows up in August. It takes a few years to produce good fruit but once it kicks in its every bit as good as IF.

I need to spray IF for rot and there is nothing else I need to spray for rot then so I hardly ever do - and it usually rots badly.

1 Like

Never heard of that one but I’ll certainly look into it. Thanks.

Are the fruits well exposed to sun? I don’t spray them more than other peaches either (at least 2 months without fungicide before harvest), and they’ve been fine, but I have less experience with them than you. If I end up needing to spray them an extra time, it will be well worth it, because I like the peach much better than White Heath Cling or whatever the name of the late white you used to recommend in IF.s season. Not that I don’t appreciate any Oct. peach here and IF is not yet the proven winner in that contest. Heath is a workhorse.

Not really - the tree only gets sun til 1PM or so. I’m sure that is a factor. The tree is also in decline. Eventually I will find a new good spot for it as its one of my favorites.

I have decided Heath is not really a fresh eating peach, but its really good cooked as it has a unique flavor. They way I eat them is to cut up and microwave for a minute or two to cook it. Or, use in a recipe. That tree is also in decline and I may not replace it.

Now that you mention it, that was how your originally recommended it to me and that is also how I use it. However, I think IF may be superior in all aspects of use. I love that peach.

Silver Gem nectarine shares some of IF’s attributes and ripens so early here (in S. NY state) seems to only need one fungicide spray.

Yes, but hard to get, so hoping to make my own by crossing with Arctic Glo. Also I discovered Autumn Rose which appears to be a red flesh type that ripens in August too. Of course August ripened in the Northeast is September ripened here.
If you like Indian Free you will like Arctic Glo, a nectarine. I think it is superior to Indian Free in some ways. It’s sweeter for one, yet has acid. It’s bigger too. This year though fruit was small. Not a typical year. Ripens August 8th here, so in the Northeast should ripen even earlier.