You may have already answered this question, so apologies if I overlooked your answer. But, could you please provide information on which rootstock you prefer for your location and why?
I am testing BY520, Nemaguard, Lovell, and Bailey. I have not really seen a difference so far.
I have the following varieties: RisingStar, PF EightBall, BlazingStar, StarFire, CoralStar, Intrepid, and PF 19-007.
My StarFire on Lovell from Grandpa’s Orchard Nursery and my PF Eightball on Nemaguard from Cummins Nursery are the healthiest performers so far.
I only use Neem Oil, Copper, Sulfur, Soap, a Onion/Garlic solution, baking soda solution, and Diatomaceous earth for treatment different times of the year. (Edit -I forgot to include that I also use Tumeric powder solution).
The oil is only used when temperatures are below 80F, and the copper only when the bees are not active in the winter season. So far so good, but I would also appreciate recommendations/suggestions regarding treatments.
Thank you, for your time and consideration.
-Daniel
I think rootstock makes less of a difference for peach unless you’re fighting a specific problem
I have alkaline soil so I have some I bought on Krymsk 86 which is supposed to do better. But recently, I have started copying Olpea and growing pits and grafting to them.
It’s humid in summer where I am and there would be zero chance of growing peaches organically. I think in Georgia you may have a similar problem but I don’t know for sure.
If you look in the guides section you can find an organic and synthetic spray guide. I think though that Scott, who wrote the organic one, does spray synthetics on stone fruit now.
I use the synthetic one that alan wrote but have to spray a bit more than he describes but not too much more.
Yes as @benthegirl points out it’s hard to grow peaches organically in hot and humid weather. I tried and thought things were going great for four years and then brown rot showed up and decimated things. I tried for another six years and then gave up. It’s not like I wasn’t getting any fruit, I would get about a third to half the harvest. But I had to use them immediately or they would rot a few days after picking.
My spray schedule is here:
There are organic options in there as well as synthetic disease control options. I don’t use wide spectrum bug killers, those I think you can generally avoid.
Oh and I also don’t think rootstocks matter much on peaches. Some people don’t like citation but it’s been OK for me. About half of my stocks I grew from pits (well, they grew themselves, they just showed up one spring). I pick the more vigorous ones.
As Scott points out, I’ve not noticed a lot of difference between rootstocks. The exception would be peaches on plum hybrid rootstocks. I’ve not had particularly good luck with peaches on plum hybrid rootstocks. Maybe it just gets too dry some years here, I don’t know.
I see you are from Georgia. Some parts of the Southeast can have problems with Peach Tree Short Life (PTSL). For that reason, I might try to avoid Nemaguard, if I lived there. Guardian is a solid rootstock for the Southeast, and much more resistant to PTSL.
Guardian has impressed me in southeast Virginia since being planted in spring 2024. The five trees I planted on Bailey are poorly looking in comparison.
In 2025 I planted 2 trees of Guardian in an old peach orchard as an experiment to how well they do over the next few years. I am out of new ground for peaches so I will need to pull up old trees and replant at some point.