Subdood,
We did bad this year on peaches. It was much worse than I had originally thought. A lot of fruit ended up dropping off. Part of the problem was that because there were such thin crops, the fruit got really big really fast. Then we had some big wind storms (I have no wind break for the orchard. Good for air drainage, but bad for storms) and some of the trees were so light on fruit, they whipped in the wind so hard, it whipped off more fruit. Generally we don’t lose much green fruit, but this year was different.
Some varieties had full crops, but many others were completely blank.
We’ve had some very big peaches this year, especially on some of the lightly loaded trees. 1/2 lb. peaches and up are the norm. We’ve sold lots of peaches weighing 3/4 pound on the bigger sized varieties. That part is fun, to hear all the “Wow, these are huge.”
The pic you mention is a little misleading on the color. Baby Crawford really doesn’t color that dark. They really have only a lightly colored blush.