What a GREAT bunch of photos…and more importantly, what a great harvest. You did well, for sure. I’m especially excited to see your Spice Zee Nectaplum since I planted one of my own last spring. And boy did that thing grow! It is definitely one of my most vigorous trees- at least it was last year. Those in your photo also have what @fruitnut affectionately calls “sugar spots” which is a good name for them since I do find that they appear on extremely sweet fruits. Were those especially sweet? BTW… is your actually tree red-leafed. Mine started that way and was red most of the summer, but in late summer most of it turned green except the tips where new growth was pushing and it was red.
Maybe the rootstock. Peaches or nectarines here on citation barely grow once they start fruiting. Have removed mine, except honey kist nectarine, and one arctic jay in a pot, which probably didn’t grow 2 inches this year. The kist which lost its crop grew enough fruiting wood to have decent potential for this spring. Bottom line is peaches and nectarines do horribly on citation here, and maybe that’s citymans problem, as I have no problem with lack of vigor on lovell.
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No peaches I didn’t take many photos of the pluots. Like Flavor Queen, beautiful looking fruit. And most do not like this fruit. I thought it was good, almost tropical in taste. never tasted a plum (pluot) like that before.
Dapple Dandy Pluots
Well the first two years it fruited, I thought it was super bland. i was ready to pull it, This year it didn’t flower well, the only tree. But produced about 30 fruit, and they were amazing! My wife said the best nectarine she ever had. They are low to medium acid. So it appears to be a year by year thing. I think though I’m going to thin to 40-50 in the future, the tree produces about 150. I thinned to 80 those first two years. The tree can only produce so much sugar. See what it does this spring?
The peaches did! Not a long shelf life. We ate all the pluots as they last 5-7 weeks in the fridge, amazing shelf life!
Dapple Dandy are huge for a plum, hey pluots are just glorified plums. Super good though!
Flavor King in the middle, DD around them I posted this before.
Well Fruitnut and on the west coast really become sweet. Most of those specs probably are not sugar spots.
No, compared to west coast examples. I still loved them all the same! I’m super happy with these results.
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I haven’t had a chance to read all the replies on this thread (I’m at work), so forgive me if I repeat what someone else has said.
As far as peaches, you can see my profile to see what I have. Personally, I haven’t had any more issues with the white peaches than the orange fleshed ones. You just need to have a spray program for brown rot and insects - especially early in the season.
Late frosts can be an issue. I know some recommend RedHaven, but it has been my worst for getting hit hard by late frosts as it blooms before my other peach trees.
As for blackberries, Triple Crown is by far my favorite. Sweeter than the others, and even so when picked early. For most blackberries, wait until the berry loses its gloss. The berry should also give a little when you squeeze it, and not be hard. The berries are usually ripe and sweet at this stage.
@drewk I live near the Rutherford/Cannon county border, so fairly close to you. For a local peach tree source, I recommend Cumberland Valley Nursery in McMinnville. Speak with Nick. He can answer any peach tree question you could possibly have.
@thecityman I dont feel that way. I think we can all easily get distracted by other fruits. I enjoy blackberries myself, but usually just pick the wild ones around me. I am in Williamson county between Thompson’s Station and Franklin.
I haven’t seen the list, thanks! Great info, I knew TyTy wasn’t a great source from other plants as well.
I am on a gentle slope so hopefully water saturation won’t be an issue. I planted a plum tree this spring and I think the trunk may have doubled in caliper! I did amend the huge hole I dug and may have used fertilizer once.
@Matt_in_Maryland You recommend the Madison is a better bet than the Elberta? Is that for late frost hardiness or flavor - or both?
@Drew51 Nice looking selection of tomatoes there, is that another ruit you really enjoy? I’m still trying to find a variety I really enjoy. I think Cherokee Purple has been the best one so far. Many seem mealy, bland, etc. Great harvest!
@RobThomas Which of your trees do the best? I lived in Murfreesboro until I moved out here a little over a year ago.
Thanks for the info! Is this a good time of year to plant the trees?
Both, based on what I’ve read and been told, though I will admit Elberta also has a rep as cold hardy too.
Rob,
Are you certain you have Redhaven? I have about 20 Redhaven’s and they are one of the later blooming varieties (and very reliable). Mine certainly bloomed later than White River (which was a very early bloomer for me). I can’t remember exactly where Redhaven blooms compared to Contender and Carolina Gold (two other peaches on your profile) but I think my Redhavens bloom very close. I’ll try to remember to watch those varieties a little closer this spring.
It’s possible that it isn’t RedHaven. It is the only peach tree that didn’t come from CVN. So it’s possible that it was mislabeled. It matches RedHaven’s other characteristics, though many other peaches are very similar.
@drewk They all do equally well - except for the one supposed RedHaven that blooms too early. China Pearl wants to severely over-produce, so it needs heavy thinning to get good sized fruits. Trying to remember, but it’s either Contender or Carolina Gold that is my absolute favorite.
I was waiting to see if anyone beside me thinks Carolina Gold is a fantastic flavored peach.
That is one I would like to add too. No room, if I ever find a spot, it’s going to be that one. I say that, and I can think of 10 other great peaches too. I have a few I would like to try if I had room, Ernie’s Choice is another, also not sure it would do well here, still I really want to try June Pride. On the west coast it reaches a high brix, it’s a late bloomer and needs 900 chill hours. it should work very well here. It is a red fleshed peach, unlike all the others i know of, it is not a white but a yellow red fleshed peach. Man I have to find a spot for that!
I have access to these, any to stay away from or that should do great?
I am definitely doing a Red Haven and an Elberta, I’m just not having luck finding contender around here and really want a 3rd tree.
Halehaven
Indian blood
Sam Houston
Belle of Georgia
Flordaprince
Floridagold
Floridaking
May gold
Floridahome
Swanee
Most of the Florida varieties are low chill - are they appropriate for TN? I have a nice Halehaven tree that blooms every year but never sets fruit. I have a Belle of Georgia that had fruit on it when I planted it (it was a potted tree) and they were delicious. The Belle of Georgia has grown well. I have an Indian Blood that I planted this year so no feedback.
I wouldn’t think the Florida peaches would do as well here, but can’t really give an opinion without trying them. I don’t think low chill hours is the priority when choosing my trees, I would think I need to focus more on last frost resistance and fruit productivity/taste as chill hours should never be an issue for me with peaches.
Where did you source your Belle of GA? Was is outside for the frosts this year and where are you located?
Hi Drew - My Georgia Belle did not produce this year. It bloomed but frost got the blooms. Frost did not get all of the blooms on my Contender and Elberta. It is not a one to one comparison as the Georgia Belle was on its second year in the ground and the Elberta and Contender 3rd year. The Georgia Belle came from Sams Club and the tag had http://simpsonnurseries.com on the tag which is the same company that owns plantmegreen.com.
So far (and I am just starting) I have not found a tree that blooms outside the frost in my area (but this is only for 3 years) - so frost bloom hardiness is important to me. I have changed my orders multiple times for Spring 2018 to try and get trees that I think are bloom frost hardy. Now my order for Spring 2018 looks like Madison, Redskin, TruGold, Veteran, Early Red Haven, GloHaven, etc where I trying to find frost hardy varieties. I ams still trying to find Surecrop Peach on Lovell for Spring 2018.
I would think low chill hours would likely do poorly in TN but from what I can read low chill hours does not always equal early bloom but it usually does - someone correct if I am wrong.
Best of luck in your peach tree search! 
Spud Daddy aka Richard
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Well they are connected in some cases. Once chill is met many cultivars will bolt at the first hint of spring. So low chills are more susceptible to late and more so, not that late freezes. Often way ahead in bud formation compared to higher chill types. I have a few low chill blueberries that start growing so early (chill hours long ago met) they catch the last normal frosts and lose fruit buds. Having said that some low chills seem to adapt fine. I never have less than 800 chill hours here, more like 1200. The Spice Zee Nectaplum which requires 200-300 chills hours does great here. It is high chill adaptable.
So it would be cool for you to at least grow one of the Florida cultivars to see how it does? Positive or negative, good info for all of us to know,
Resistance is also important and it does vary some on peaches. Mostly unknown in the low chill cultivars.
It was ironic here two years ago when my Paul Friday peach, developed in this state had it’s fruit buds wiped by a late freeze with low temps, and my Zaiger trees from California, the Nectaplum and Arctic Glo kept their fruit buds and produced. Arctic Glo does not do well in the south, and parts of the Northeast. It does better in the west and Midwest. What I got out of all the reported info to this site.
Artic Glo does very well for me, in the deep south.
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Spud, not trying to get you to change your order again, but there are a few peaches I prefer in the Early Red Haven window.
Early Red Haven is not a bad peach at all. It’s very comparable to Garnet Beauty (which ripens at the same time) but I prefer Early Redhaven slightly over Garnet Beauty because I think former is a tad better eating quality (very subtle difference though).
I prefer Risingstar to both. Risingstar has also been very frost tolerant.
For overall quality, Glenglo is king in this window. It’s thought to be a seedling of Loring. Like Loring it produces huge tasty peaches. It isn’t quite as sweet as Risingstar but the difference is so subtle most people wouldn’t notice. It’s so close in sweetness, on a given tree, one could pick some Glenglo peaches sweeter than Risingstar, and vice versa. However, on average Risingstar is a tad sweeter (but a lot smaller).
Glenglo is not as productive as Risingstar in adverse weather conditions. I budded more Glenglo and Risingstar this fall. I have 17 Glenglo and 8 Risingstar in the orchard, which reflects my current overall opinion of these two varieties from a commercial perspective. I may change my mind in the future, if Risingstar continues to sail through adverse weather and Glenglo falters.
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Good to know some have done well with it. Great news.
Hi Olpea,
I ordered from Vanwell, Cummins (pears only) and ACN and one tree from Burchell this year. Vanwell shows Risingstar in stock but when I called to order they said it was not available. My first pick would have been Rising Star. So early Red Haven was my next pick. I have a GlenGlo (based on taste recommendations) on order from ACN along with a PF Eight Ball that I think are all in the same window.
Rising Star will have to wait until next year unless I can find an inexpensive way to order it. I think you mentioned Garnet Beauty as being frost hardy previously - along the same lines as Rising Star but not as tasty?
Thanks,
Richard
Yes. I have quite a few Garnet Beauty that I planted before I had a chance to really evaluate these things side by side in the same window. But I doubt I would plant anymore Garnet Beauty, even as they need replaced.
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