They were sublime this year! Soft, sweet and melting candy.
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Do you have arctic jay? Is there tangible difference in the taste? I find arctic jay to be too sweet when fully ripe.
I have both; Arctic Star has more/superior flavor than AJ. Arctic Star and Zephyr are my top two white nectarines.
@MrClint they seem small, is that the usual size for you? How old is your tree? Mine was potted, so my fruits were small, kind of the same size like yours. I moved the tree to the ground this year, hopefully bigger and more fruits.
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No ‘Arctic Jay’ here.
I’m not sure how to answer regarding size. Big fruit isn’t one of my goals, and it isn’t small like a typical apricot either. And well, I don’t really want to brag about the size of my hands. 
I stopped keeping track of the age of my trees, this one is about 10 years old or so. It’s on nemaguard roots, so it’s a fairly vigorous tree.
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How about fruit load; too much? Or did you thin well?
Ahmad, I have 6 trees of Arctic Star, 2 on nemaguard, 1on guardian, 2 on peach tree seedlings and 1 on chickasaw plum rootstock. Arctic Star will yield large superior fruit if thinned aggressively. I normally thin to 7-8" between fruits. However the fruit on chickasaw roots is smaller and has somewhat drier texture, I prefer this eating quality.
I finished all my Arctic Stars about 2 weeks ago, a full month ahead of previous years.
This year they were phenomenal.
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@jaypeedee Six trees! Arctic Star must be your best fruit… I love it, and thought I would have two trees of it (I have one and half, the half just grafted this year). What are your top ten fruits?
I thin pretty aggressively to put less stress on my trees, and to distribute the fruit load. Thinning out all smaller fruit is not what I’m after. Again, large/small are relative terms. Large fruit size is not a desirable trait for me. I grow fruit primarily for fresh eating, my preference is not to make a meal of it. My ‘August Pride’ peach puts out huge fruit regardless of how much thinning I do or don’t do. Hope that clarifies!
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I don’t have a top ten, I do have a top three being,1 Arctic Star (reliable, productive, early and has been disease free)2 Honey Kist and 3 Spicezee. Everythig else is rated on yearly basis. To say Arctic Star is my favorite fruit, let me say that it will be the very last tree I’ll remove.
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Do you grow Raspberry Red nectarine?
AS is an early variety. It is bound to be smaller, relatively speaking.
No, I haven’t tried that one. I do grow Arctic Star, Arctic Glo, Arctic Jay, Honey Kist, Spicezee Nectar Plum, Fantasia, Smooth Zest One, Smooth Zest Two, Mericrest and something called Sam’s Best that I got from Fruitwood Nursery ( white flesh that taste somewhat like AS but free and smaller stone). I also have about 8 grafts from various supermarket seeds.
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Well thinning will make them larger for sure. So it’s probably what size the fruit is. Yeah I thin heavy too and the goal is better fruit, and less stress on the tree. If you ever seen a stressed tree the next year, you will thin always!
You must have big hands! Here is the same size fruit in my hands
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Do you have a lot of nectarine fruit this year? My Red Raspberry has just a few…and i have some other nectarines on some other trees but have no idea what variety. Total i probably only have a dozen nectarines…and that will only feed a few squirrels 
Lots of growth though on the trees with no fruit.
Man, you’re all really hung up on size aren’t you? I’m not going to measure my finger span or bring out calipers. LOL. I kid, I kid, sorta. 
Yes, if you thin all the smaller, less mature fruit you will have larger fruit overall. Water heavily and you’ll get even bigger fruit, if that’s what you’re after. Fruit lower on the tree tends to be smaller as well on a number of different varieties. My ‘AS’ puts out all different sizes, as do most of my trees. 
Now, when it come to loquats, I need at least ‘Big JIm’ size or it’s hardly worth the effort.
I haven’t posted here in a long time, I like how scrappy you all have become. Makes for fun banter.
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I installed one of those motion sensing rainbird sprinklers and it has really done a nice job of keeping birds and squirrels at bay. Good times!
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I only have a few as we had flooding here last year. One tree died, and another was injured badly. Both were nectarines. I have a few from grafts on Indian Free peach which is loaded with peaches. The tree seems to like it here. no wet feet problems.
LOL! Those were nectaplums and they run big. Pretty good too! Looks like Star is a little better. I had a graft going from scion Ahmad sent me. But last year we had flooding and the tree with the graft died. I got more, but then another one of my trees started declining.
from last years floods, but this year! It looks like a dry year so I’m hoping to revive it. Needless to say grafting to it was pointless, vigor was so low. I lost Old Mixon Free too. It was a grafted scaffold. This year on another peach I added it back and it took. But I had a bunch of wood I couldn’t use. I need now to wait till my trees are replaced or fixed before I graft more. So I’ll be asking for more scion next year. Not much though.
I’m looking for a good yellow nectarine too.
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What is the growth habit of the Arctic star tree? Is it spreading or upright?
It’s just like any other peach/nectarine I’ve grown, upright.
In my first year clumsily trying grafting, I had both of my Arctic Star nectarine grafts take.
I only got about a foot or two of growth from them, but they put on some fat buds so I’m curious to see if they include flower buds for next year.
Grafted onto an unnamed pluot or plumcot.
It’s the only nectarine I tried grafting. So nice to see there are some who pick it as a winner taste wise.
I’m picking up some Lovell rootstock this winter…eventually I’d like to have a tree with 2-3 each peach, nectarine, and interspecific varieties… And a few plums to boot.
While reading what others are growing and have tried, ultimately for my location and microclimate I need to see what works here for me.
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