Indeed, its very frustrating. Over the years the orchard has been a lesson in anger management amongst other things. One time I got so angry at the squirrels I screamed and threw a pickaxe as high and far as I could. Whadda ya know, the neighbor was walking by on the street right then… oops. At least the pickaxe fell far short of the street. After that and some other incidents I just breathe deeply and move on. Can’t get too angry.
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Sadly you have more on the ground on that one tree than I have on 8 trees combined!!
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I hear you. I usually do not swear ( not in English). Seeing squirrels in my orchard made me so mad. I screamed at them so loud, the neighbors were scared ( but not the squirrels) .
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Might be a good idea to learn Klingon to cuss in
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You mean the “Serenity Now” Method? You know that will end in failure!
I understand your angst. I haven’t had any tree fruit stolen yet as my trees haven’t bore yet, but that hasn’t stopped the deer from trying to destroy them. That’s why they’re all behind circular fencing.
My anger management has been pretty poor when I’ve seen damage done to my trees and gardens. Usually it’s a profanity laced tirade directed at deer that are long gone. Something like, “you effers have hundreds of acres of forest and greenery to graze on and you have to destroy my stuff??” Thankfully my neighbors are far enough away not to hear my outbursts.
Mark,
I am at a large supermarket called Wegman’s. They are selling “local peaches”. I asked the staff what was the varieties. He said “yellow peaches”. He could tell me which farm thosepeaches cane from but could not tell a variety.
Then, I walked pass “black plums” and “ nectarines”.
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Hi Scott please show pictures of your red peaches please, mrsg❤️
With 8 peach trees it won’t be long till you’re there.
Even after all these years, my wife can’t stand to walk in our backyard with only about 30 peach trees still there. Lots of fruit on the ground we don’t have time to pick up and discard. Still drives her crazy.
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Came home from Wegman’s and picked my Foster peach. It came off easily. Right picking time. Thanks, @scottfsmith
It is a large peach. It could be a combination of being the only peach on that branch and lot of rain we had recently. I let it sit and settled for a day. Will try it tomorrow.
By the way, if you can put Clemson bags on your peaches efficiently, I strongly recommend you use them for those who don’t want to spray a lot. I am not adept at securing those bags to peaches. However, every peach that I successfully secured in a Clemson bag looks so clean. See this Foster peach for an example I will try harder to bag my peaches next year.
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Here is Indian Cling on top, the left small one is the tail end of the Sanguine Tardive crop, and the right one is the Sanguine Chateauneuf.
The Indian Cling are great peaches for tarts, they really hold their shape. But they are too hard for many other purposes including fresh eating. I might try drying some this year.
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Thanks Scott, the Sanguine Tardive looks so juicy, and the Chateauneuf looks similar but much larger. The Tardive peaches I have seen are pure red, much different from yours. There must be other varieties of Tardive. I was really expecting to see red peaches. Thank you so much for showing these two special varieties. I would cook with either of them in a minute!
I’ve only harvested them one season, and they softened fine for me- Actually, years ago, Tom Burford gave me a slice of one at Monticello during a NAFEX meeting in Charlotsville and I was very pleased with it as a fresh eating peach then also. Hmmm, interesting.
Mine are still a ways from ripe. I thought I had lost the tree because it came out of dormancy so feebly but eventually looked fine- just less vigorous then such a young tree should be. I thinned heavy to reduce stress, but there is still a pretty good crop. Last year the crop was destroyed by OFM, the first time that’s happened to me with any peach. Not gonna happen this year.
It was interesting that none of the wood from that tree took as grafts- the only variety that did any where near that bad. Probably related to the staggered emergence.
Ate the Foster peach today. The bottom had some bruises, not sure what the cause. Forgot to take a poc.
The flesh was juicy and sweet. Brix was 14. It may have been higher, had we had so much rain until last week. It tasted “peachy” according to my hubby.
Glad I have the graft.
I got it from ARS a long time ago, back when it was easy to get things from them. I think Arboreum also sometimes sells trees. The ARS one was called Sanguine Tardeva but I think thats the same as what Arboreum calls Sanguine Tardive (the French vs Italian version of “late”). Several people including myself have wood if you want to trade this winter.
@alan, I also like Indian Cling fresh but my family is not a big fan of them fresh. The brix also is always low which puts them more in the cooking category. I measured the one I cut up above and it was 11. I decided to dry some, they are in the dryer now.
@mamuang, 14 is low for Foster. I didn’t measure brix this year but its usually more like 16-18.
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Does anyone else notice that Baby Crawford has bitterness in the skin? I’m pretty sure I have the correct variety based on color and size. Flesh is good but the skin is my only bitter peach. Any causes?
Nice looking red peaches, I have struggled with Indian Free for 8 years now rarely getting fruits to ripen. I think its brown rot that gets them every year, that and the dried fruit beetles. I have ripened some and really like the flavor. This spring my tree died and I would like to try another red peach. How is Black Boy and what others do you recommend? I will plant in a different spot as may have had the brown rot in the soil there where IF was. Any thoughts on de Vigne? If I could only grow 2, what ones should i try? Thanks, and great report!
Scott the really deep red pêche de vigne can be bitter as well. They are used as a pickle!
Scott,
This year, the monsoon last month really put a dent on many of my fruit that ripened for the past few weeks. My Gold Dust tasted like dust with a lot of water in it.
PF 24 C has started to dropped fruit this several days. They tasted bland. Brix was 10 or below. So, when Foster peach got brix up to 14, I was thrilled.
Glad that you said it would be sweeter. Hopefully we will have a drier August next year.
I found Black Boy similar to Indian Free, it tasted very good but was highly prone to rot. It also ripens at a similar time. The texture can be a bit more mealy. My overall favorite red-fleshed peaches now are the Sanguine Tardive and Sanguine Chateauneuf. I just planted Peche de Vigne this spring so no fruits on it yet.
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