I have a handful of 2-3 year old peach trees. As of right now Madison, Veteran, Redhaven and MacKay all have healthy looking flower buds showing a little color. They seemed to have survived up unitl now. I have a 4 in 1 peach from Raintree with curl resistant varieties that probably aren’t known to be as bud hardy and they are all dried and brown. Unfortunately we are supposed to get below 20 degrees Saturday, but for future reference I think those older varieties offer the best shot against normal cold issues.
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If you have time I’m sure everyone would like to see your “like” list. What do you think of Blushingstar which some nurseries market as a zone 4 peach?
Thanks, Mark.
Do you know which nurseries carry Glenglo?
ACN does/did, sold out for the season, and I assume since it is coming off patent next year, we might see more nurseries carrying this variety.
Thanks, Moley.
Olpea, do you have pf19-007? If so any thoughts?
Mike,
In 2014, we had gone through a bad winter, where it got down to about -10F here at the house. The farm tends to run a little colder, so I don’t know the actual temps there. Many places around reported -12, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it got that cold at the farm.
I recorded all bloom on all my varieties that spring (poor bloom, good bloom, etc.) I wanted some idea how well the varieties did for me in a cold winter. I have Blushingstar as a poor bloom that year.
This year we only got down to 0F, so it wasn’t a test winter here. It’s certainly been a test spring. We got down to 24F w/ lots of frost on 3-25. Most of the trees were in full bloom, and lots had already lost their petals. I wanted to write fruit survival information down in case everything else gets frosted off this weekend, or early next week. I evaluated cropping potential somewhat subjectively. Based upon how many shoots had no viable flowers (the petals have all fallen, so I’m calling peaches in the shuck flowers) and a rough estimation of how many viable flowers are on the shoots w/ flowers on them. If I felt like a certain size tree had the potential to carry and size 300 peaches to maturity, and it currently looked like (after thinning) it would have 150 viable flowers (if I thinned it, which of course I’m not), then I wrote down that tree had 50% of it’s cropping potential.
In my notes from yesterday, Blushingstar had 60% of it’s cropping potential, which isn’t bad for a year like this. Still, Blushingstar isn’t on my “like” list. My criteria for that list would generally be a decent bloom, after the severe winter of 2014, and a decent bloom survival after our 3-25 freeze a couple weeks ago, and not a bac. spot magnet (after our very wet year last year). It also has to taste decent. Not by the highest standards of forum members here, but still decent. Lastly, it can’t be super small (like Early Crawford). That’s an excellent peach, but if peaches are too small they won’t sell. Blushingstar didn’t perform well in a test winter here, and had some issues w/ bac. spot last year.
Here is my list. Keep in mind this is not like Scott’s annual evaluation list. His list pretty much evaluates flavor and brown rot. My list is really more of a commercial perspective on reliable cropping. I really don’t grow that many exotic varieties like Scott and Fruitnut (although I have a few). I don’t really have big issues w/ rot and scab because I spray for them, so rot and scab susc. doesn’t come into play in this list.
Also I didn’t include many patented varieties. I prefer to graft most of my own stuff, if possible. It’s cheaper, and it’s getting increasingly hard to get what you want from nurseries anyway. Some varieties couldn’t meet all the criteria, but it’s the best option for that window. Some are newer and didn’t go through the test winter. I tried to note any exceptions to my six criteria (decent bloom after test winter, no bac. spot, decent bloom survival after test spring, tastes decent, not super small, non-patented). In order of ripening:
-Harrow Diamond (too young for test winter, but fairly winter hardy from reports)
-Candor (This one is a bit too early to put on here, as it wasn’t old enough to evaluate the test winter, and it hasn’t this will be the first year it fruits, if it doesn’t get zapped by the coming cold, so I don’t know the fruit quality). I put it on here, because there really isn’t much else which has performed well in this window.)
-Early Redhaven (This performs much better than it’s cousin Garnet Beauty (also a Redhaven sport). The fruit was also slightly better quality last year.)
Glenglo (This has zero bac. spot and performed well in the test spring so far this year, but my notes show it faired poorly after the test winter of 2014. Still it’s better than anything I’ve tried for this window. Comes off patent in Feb. of next year.)
-Nectafest Nect (This nect had no bac. spot (on the leaves) last year which is unusual for a nect. It wasn’t old enough to evaluate it on the test winter. This would be the first year it fruits. I’d like to have a peach for this window, but haven’t found one reliable.)
-Saturn donut (like to have a yellow peach for this window, but none reliable so far) Still people seemed to love this peach last year.)
-Redhaven (I will probably never get rid of this peach. There is nothing better (commercially) in this window, imo. There is a Starfire right next to some of these Redhavens. The difference is stark. Redhavens are loaded w/ viable blooms, while Starfire has at best 10% of it’s cropping potential.)
-John Boy (Great peach, but poor bloom after test winter).
-Ernies Choice (See John Boy).
-Glohaven (poor bloom after test winter)
-Some random mislabeled peach
-Contender
-Julyprince (Too young to evaluate on test winter)
-Madison
-Cresthaven (poor bloom after test winter, and some bac. spot)
-Redskin
-Encore (had poor flavor last year)
-Laurol (some bac. spot)
PF35-007 (patented and too young to go through test winter)
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Here is the 0z (last night) for the gFs/nam and whatever the avn is (probably some offshoot of the gfs)…lows for Sat
Hard to read, but for me it pops out 22F in every case…
Just got the info on freeze protection on Apples and Peaches from NC State. Just had a 28 degree night with 25 predicted for Saturday
I will not try the suggestion on Apples since I sprayed Apogee with strep for fireblght control last week, but I’m going to give the Kocide 3000 a try on the peaches.
The following Promalin information was sent from J.D. Obermiller with the NCSU Res. Ser.
Promalin for frost/freeze rescue.
The rate is 1pint per 100 gallons. 100 - 150 gpa sprayed within 24-48 hours post freeze.
Label has 24 hrs, but our results in 2012 and 2014 had equal results up to 48, and
even good numbers out to 96 hours. That was good news since it’s so hard for most
growers to spray everything in a day.
Another frost injury protection material you may want to try is Kocide 3000. In 2015
some local peach blocks showed good results using Kocide 3000. Orchard temperatures dropped to 20 deg. Adjacent blocks without Kocide had very little fruit. It was used 24 hrs. prior to frost at 2lbs./ac. The following information comes from the Kocide MSDS.
FROST INJURY PROTECTION
BACTERIAL ICE NUCLEATION INHIBITOR
Application of KOCIDE® 3000 made to all crops listed on this label at rates and stages of growth indicated on this label, at least
24 hours prior to anticipated frost conditions, will afford control of ice nucleating bacteria (Pseudomonas syringae
,
Erwinia
herbicola and
Pseudomonas fluorescens) and may therefore provide some protection against light frost. Not recommended
for those geographical areas where weather conditions favor severe frost.
Sincerely, Marvin
–
–
Thanks Blueberry,
I wish I’d have know it was that effective a few weeks ago. I’m going to try to locate some today. I had no idea it was that effective. I had read the label, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard it being used to great effectiveness.
I found this on the Kocide 3000 lable
FROST INJURY PROTECTION
BACTERIAL ICE NUCLEATION INHIBITOR
Application of KOCIDE® 3000 made to all crops listed on this label at rates and stages of growth indicated on this label, at least 24 hours prior to anticipated frost conditions, will afford control of ice nucleating bacteria (Pseudomonas syringae, Erwinia herbicola, and Pseudomonas fluorescens) and may therefore provide some protection against light frost. Not recommended for those geographical areas where weather conditions favor severe frost
Thanks Ray.
The reason I hadn’t tried it is because the label says “light” frosts. For some reason I interpreted that to mean it offered only very marginal protection (like if the frost only thinned the crop anyway). Evidently it sounds like they may have understated the performance.
I’d love to know at what stage of floral bud development Obermiller used it w/ such success. Obermiller doesn’t say.
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I have my Feed & Seed store guy checking with Clemson right
now to find out about these two products. There is a generic form
of Kocide that’s much cheaper that he sells. It’s basically a copper fungicide.I told I him I had been using KDL, and it’s been working for me so far. I’ll let you know what he finds out. He’s in the peach ridge country part of SC and sells to many commercial growers, so he’ll know the real low down. .
Thanks so much Ray. I’d like to hear some other growers experience w/ this.
Badge is the equivalent of what my local guy sells. I don’t know if that’s considered the generic or not.
DO trees (ones pushing new growth) even do anything when the outside temps are 40F? I’ve been moving my trees outside and like yesterday it was upper 30Fs all day…is it even worthwhile? Sat is suppose to be 43F…today probably no better. I would imagine soil temps are the same as air temps.
It’s the lows you have to worry about. The rest doesn’t really matter.
I have Kocide 3000 and Promalin and I am wondering if these products will provided the same kind of frost/freeze protection for my peaches and plums that are at or past shuck split.
Chris
I posted the exact email that I received, so that’s all I know. Wish I knew more!
I’m at shuck split on my peaches also and I believe its too late. My peaches did much better than expected last year during bloom at 23 degrees, but it looks like they could not handle the 29 at shuck split. We are headed for 25 on Saturday
The Promalin is only for apples
Olpea(Mark)
Just heard back from my Seed & Feed guy. He doesn’t sell a generic
version of Kocide. What he sells is an anti-transpirant product called
Mico Shield. It’s supposed to provide an extra 2 degrees of frost protection.
He talked with Dr. Powell Smith (Clemson) who did similar studies with
Kocide, while he was at U of Georgia. He only tested it before frost and
not afterward, and never heard of it being applied after the fact. He never
told my guy, what the results were. I have a call into him now.
FWIW, Titan Farms is the biggest peach grower in SC, with 5000 acres.
If I were you, I’d try to contact them and talk shop. We’re expecting a freeze, upper 20’s-lower 30’s saturday night, so I’m sure they’re taking precautions. I’ll try to get you a phone number.
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Titan Farms, Ridge Spring SC (803) 685-5193
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