Thanks for taking the time to research links and post. You gave us some really important info.
I will do that next spring. probably all strains here are from DWN.
I did, Irene, after my mother… As far as it being a possible marketable cultivar, many other factors need to be considered, some you would not think of. How well it comes off, length of stem, and fruiting laterals for machine harvest. Chances of developing a worthy cultivar in my setting are zero in my opinion, I’m not really a breeder I just play one in my backyard.
My only goal with peaches is to developed a red fleshed fruit that ripens earlier than Indian Free. Arctic Glo ripens the first week of August here. Trying for the first week in September for the seedlings of the two. All i want. I like these two, and just want a steady flow of red fleshed fruit. So I would have a fresh crop the first of August, September and October. I may cross the seedlings with the Nectaplum just to increase size. Probably the next round i will do for fun.
I have only used the ovaries of Indian Free, which seem to work fine, glad the trait of sterile pollen is recessive, as if it were dominant Indian Free would be a terrible choice.I have no plans to use Indian Free again unless my seedlings are a total wash. I will know for sure in 2 years as they should fruit then considering how fast they are growing.
My raspberry efforts were mostly done to develop my stratification and scarification skills along with emasculation and isolation techniques. I learned ton’s doing bramble crosses and in 2 years you get results. Stone fruit flowers are ginormous compared to brambles, so even easier to work with. Now that I know my techniques are sound I shall continue on to other challenges.
does it being pollen sterile mean that it doesn’t help other trees form fruit, or does it simply mean the fruit it does help form doesn’t have a viable seed?
I think that if you tried to use two pollen sterile peach trees (like J.H. Hale or Indian Free) and had no other peach trees around for miles and miles. I don’t think you’d get any flowers to set fruit (except perhaps the few fruit from some of the flowers which might have viable pollen). But for most of the flowers, the pollen would either be absent or if not absent, then unable to fertilize the flowers. Unfertilized flowers don’t form a seed and abort.
It’s my understanding that the peach seed itself regulates various hormones which allow the peach to grow (auxins, gibberellins, etc.) Without the seed, the tree aborts the flowers. I have seen some peach fruits which seemed to sustain ovule damage during flowering (from cold) and stay on the trees for a while, till they get maybe golf ball size, and then drop.
I’m not sure how Luther Burbank was able to make a seedless plum variety, but I imagine it has something to do with the “remnants” of seed still found in the pit area. Probably just enough to keep the fruit growing. But I really don’t know very much about parthenocarpy.
There are some peaches which regularly produce fruit with non-viable seeds. I’ve read some donut peaches don’t produce viable seeds.
Still relevant for sure. Yeah I may work with Carmine Jewel at some point. I think the Romance bushes are awesome. I love to cook with fruit, and it has to have a bite. Like old school raspberries are very acidic, dark, and are perfect for cooking. The sweeter yellows and reds do not taste anywhere near as good cooked, for fresh eating only. I mix them in cooking so end result is decent. I can’t eat all I get daily. I do have raspberries daily all summer though.
I leave them to normalize by themselves. During Winter, I bring them indoors, then I take them out around late-March. Most of them stop growing once the temperatures reach above 90F. Then the following year, they start developing as normal seedlings.
Mine will continue to grow into the Winter (beginning today), Spring, Summer and Fall, then it will go dormant. That is the plan. It is growing in a greenhouse right now.
