The description is always described as PF5D Big. It’s supposed to produce 2-3/4" fruit, whereas PF5b is described as a medium sized peach (although I always got good size on PF5b peaches).
Clark,
I think it’s possible Gurney’s (or whoever they contract for growing (I know Starks has done some contract growing for them)) might have a mislabeled scion tree and has sent out a mislabeled variety for a long time. I’ve read once about a patented mislabeled apple rootstock which was propagated all throughout the U.S. (One very observant apple grower discovered it.)
I’m not afraid to be wrong here, but I just don’t see how your Reliance could ripen so early compared to two other known varieties. The peach you describe is really about a -21 peach or even earlier (very early peach).
It would be interesting to me if you could post a pic of the blooms and leaf glands of the Reliance this spring (The flowers should be showy and the leaf glands globose.)
PF 1’s cold hardiness is not as good as Autumn Star and PF 24C. It does not taste as good, either.
You may be better off changing it to Contender or even Red Haven. I like Winblo and Ernie’s Choice but I know you are concern about bud hardiness. It is really more about the timing of when an arctic blast arrives that matters the most.
Thanks Mamuang for the recommendations. I have PF 24C planted but I am likely at least one year out on fruit. How is 24C bloom hardiness for you? I have Contender planted and it has been good so far. I also have Red Haven planted but the tree did not grow my first year. I fertilized it heavy last year and got some growth so maybe next year I will get fruit.
Looking through some of the literature that Olpea shared the links to I found that Golden Jubilee is supposed to be cold hardy - anyone grow? Starkbros sells this variety. Also got a Gurney catalog in the mail yesterday and it shows TruGold advertised better than Contender - anyone tried TruGold?
Looking at the cold hardiness list from Rutgers they put Reliance, Veteran and Sunapee at the top for cold hardiness. Anyone have an experience with Sunapee? A quick google search turned up nothing.
Volume 9 Number 4 Article 6 Pages: 58-58
Year 1954 Month 12
Title: The Sunapee Peach
Authors: A.F. Yeager and E.M. Meader
A new hardy, yellow, freestone variety of peach named Sunapee has just been introduced by the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station. Sunapee resulted from a cross between Oriole and a hardy, white-fleshed peach from Europe. Oriole, the female parent, has consistently been the hardiest variety grown in southern New Hampshire. The pollen parent was a selected, hardy seedling grown by the United States Department of Agriculture at Glendale, Maryland from seed collected in the northern Caucasus (P .1. No.1 04315).
Just throwing this out there in case it is helpful: Bob Purvis sells a bunch of scions for stone fruit, and being in Idaho, they are all hardy to very hardy. Maybe graft a bunch of scions to the existing tree and see which ones perform best?
I am new here but have spent hours reading the discussions from the past. I am starting a direct market orchard in Vermont along Lake Champlain in a zone 5a-b (USDA always had this area a 5a and the rest of the valley 4b but when they updated they moved the valley to 5a and didn’t increase this area by the lake, which is why I say 5a-b). I know it is extremely marginal and I need to focus on cold hardiness. There are a couple of orchards near by that have successful u-pick peaches consistently, they both said they had no peaches 2 of the last 12 years. I am looking to plant 3 acres of peaches, some plums (3/4 ac) and sweet cherries trained UFO (1/2 ac).
Here are the peaches I am looking at. Any advice, comments or recommendations would be very appreciated.
A few others I am considering but aren’t on the list mostly because I am having trouble finding a source at a reasonable price or they overlap with other cultivars.
PF-5b
Earlystar
Frost
Eden
China Pearl
Madison
Elberta
Autumnprince
Surecrop is an interesting peach - my first years crop were not good. My early peaches this year did not taste good due to 5 inches of rain close to harvest time - except for Surecrop. It has a unique almost skanky taste that grows on you as does the texture. I do not thank it would be my favorite but I would definitely grow it again. I grow PF 8 and PF 13 - I am not impressed. Intrepid does not set well but the peaches are beautiful and taste good. Encore was not a good variety - tree stunted, peaches had no taste. I have not grown PF1 but is bashed on here for being tasteless Desiree is not perfect but the peaches taste good if picked prior to ripening on the tree and I think is in the same window - it produces some peaches every year.
I am interested in surecrop because of its hardiness. I think I will include some but not a lot. Good info on PF 8 and 13. It is funny how spin and rumor overrides some of these varieties despite growers experience. I have only heard good things about Encore, but thanks for the critical info. Desiree is one I could try but am leaning more towards earlistar at this point.
