For those who have Julyprince, what are your opinions on this variety?
What strength copper?
The older spray schedule from NCSU shows: 1] copper (Kocide 2000, 3000, Cuprofix Ultra 40D) – 4-8 pounds/acre
Copper is probably more expensive than Ziram but the label suggests that it is safer for the applicator.
Ziram is Danger but Bravo is Caution and so is Kocide 3000
Arrivo fra qualche mesetto! 
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I’ve grown Flavorich (aka Rich May) as have others. Most people like the peach. Our experience is that it’s a very nice tasting peach, most of the time. In some years with cloudy springs, the peaches can be tart. We got rid of our Flavorich because of inconsistent production here.
And what is more productive that ripens in its very early season? It’s there more than a week earlier than Harrow Diamond or Desiree and gets higher brix than either. Maybe partially because it tends to be small and never seems to over bear.
It is one of my most important varieties of fruit because it’s the only thing I grow besides cherries that gets ripe before July.
I understand how it may not be worth growing commercially, but most here are looking to grow what they eat.
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It is somewhat unique in how early it ripens. It ripened about 2 weeks earlier than Harrow diamond here.
We used to grow a lot of peaches before Harrow Diamond, but we eventually pulled out anything before Harrow Diamond and Earlystar. The quality was just too inconsistent. If it was a particularly wet spring, the quality of those really early peaches seemed to suffer terribly. We pretty much solved that problem by getting rid of anything which ripened before -21.
I know you are fond of Rich May, but I wouldn’t recommend it for home growers with limited space. Most home growers only have space for a few peach trees, so I would recommend something more consistent, even if it was later.
Rich May could be a very good peach, but some years, it was really pretty terrible, flavorwise. Some years most of the peaches could be so tart, as to be sour (especially the second picking). We had some peaches so sour, we didn’t sell them.
If I grew peaches just for my family, I would recommend Risingstar(which ripens -14) ten to one over Rich May. It produces very consistently, with consistently sweeter flavor, here in my climate. As an added bonus, Risingstar will give a homegrower more peaches, if space is limited.
If space is unlimited (or the homeowner is just using his/her yard to grow grass, and doesn’t care to grow grass) then I could see planting a Rich May or two. It has obvious benefit of extending the season by a couple weeks, and the flavor is a bit unique.
Once a peach tree is in full production most home growers have a lot more fruit than they need from a single variety tree and most of the peach trees in my nursery have at least two varieties, the original on 2 scaffolds and the 2nd variety is the 3rd. Flavor May is ideal to graft on one scaffold for peaches to eat fresh only… it’s a cling and not the best for culinary use.
In my climate, in all the different seasons I’ve harvested Flavor May it has been superior to all varieties until Red Haven season, but a shier cropper, for the most part. Last year they were as good as peaches get at one site and with good size. They were a step better than the very good ones on my two trees and with better yield. A full crop. And our spring was wet, but it was sunny enough in the 2 weeks leading up to its ripeness.
We talk about the difference in performance in region but fruit trees are mysterious to me in how some sites inexplicably produce higher quality fruit. Some times I can figure out the reason… sandier soil or better sun, obviously, but sometimes not.
Biggest problem with early Peaches here is their failure to produce a crop - too often.
Rich May, Ruby Prince and Carrored tasted great but were not dependable.
Gala is and a lot more dependable and about a week before Redhaven.
Gala is not a high chill hour peach but it’s still pretty reliable here.
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@Olpea that’s really helpful to know. I had really been focusing on PLC resistant varieties only based on one of my books - written by a coastal tree grower. I hadn’t even really considered frost tolerant varieties like Contender, and late frost is likely the biggest issue in my high desert climate.
When you note that a variety has a nice tree form (like Redhaven, Risingstar, Harrow Diamond) or a poor tree form (I think you mentioned this for Contender in 2020), what characteristics are you typically describing? I’m picturing a peach tree with poor form being excessively open and spreading, lacking upright vigor. But I’m curious if that’s what you mean?
Actually, its the opposite. We want trees open and spreading so that they fill in their allotted space quickly and all pruning, thinning and picking can be done from the ground.
Peach trees with poor growth habit (i.e. poor form) tend to grow straight up. All peach trees want to grow up, but trees with poor form really want to grow straight up. This causes some problems for orchardists who have a “pedestrian” orchard.
First young “poor form” trees don’t put out a lot of lateral growth, so the tree must be pruned much more heavily to cut down all the vertical growth and what is left is a much smaller percentage of the tree after pruning. Then the tree grows straight up again, then more pruning off the vertical stuff, rinse and repeat, etc. This ends up delaying production by a year (sometimes more). Home orchardists can mitigate this problem some by tying shoots more horizontal, but a commercial grower doesn’t have time to do that.
Once the tree is mature, it’s still a bit of a battle (though not as much). A poor form tree will still put most of it’s growth upright. For these trees many times one is forced to keep upright shoots, because there are too few more horizontal fruiting shoots. Upright shoots will fruit, but they want to shade the tree more than horizontal shoots, and grow much taller and more vigorous. They have to be completely cut back after they are done fruiting, or cut back to a messy hat rack.
A peach tree with a nice growth habit (like Redhaven) will put a lot of growth more horizontal. This not only makes the tree easy to get into production quickly, it makes it easier to maintain a mature tree.
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Ahh I see, I’m glad I asked! Thanks for explaining. Do you have any notes on your experience with the growth habit of Baby Crawford compared to Contender for that window?
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Baby Crawford is without doubt substantially better on tree form, but not has reliable as Contender.
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Ive searched this forum and seems not many if anyone grows Harvester Peach. Every review i see is very good on social media… ripens late June and freestone. Not much info on the internet either. Its for sale at my local rural king for a fair price…im going to give it a try.
Typing Harvester in the search function gets you results of ‘harvest’ which tons of folks use as wording.
I may try it sometime. It’s a popular peach in parts of the south. It was developed by Louisiana State University a long time ago. The only reason I haven’t tried it is that it’s chill requirement is 750 hrs. Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just that for its harvest window (+8) there are other peaches with a lot more chill hour requirement.
In my climate more chill hours = later bloom.
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according to vaughn its +21 and other than challenger looks like one of the first freestones that i recognize.
https://vaughnnursery.com/peach/
I need to quit collecting peaches…
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Vaughn is one of the very few nurseries left which base their ripening times on Elberta. Elberta used to be a widely grown commercial peach (developed around 1880, as I recall). But it’s pretty much dead as a commercial peach anymore. I think Vaughn still uses Elberta as a ripening standard more out of tradition than practical value. Also, if you read Vaughn’s chart carefully, they list Harvester as -21, not +21. They list Redhaven as -28 (Elberta). That would make Harvester about a week after Redhaven, which is consistent with other charts I’ve seen.
Redhaven is still the most widely planted peach cultivar in the U.S., so pretty much everyone else bases ripening times on Redhaven.
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I did a search on Harvester a while back, and the best I got was the Clemson trial (Harvester season).
Im prob not going to fool with it this year… the ones at my Rural King are in full bloom right now and have been the past week or so.
Here is another mention of it… from LSU …seemed to be a very poor performer during that trial.
Bloom date is first week of March which reflects the trees at my RK. Harvest date is first week of June.
https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1857&context=agexp
I have one. It’s not top tier, but it is a good reliable peach in early august. I like it.
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