Best tasting Miniature peach

So it sounds like the Paw Paw idea is not a good idea due to the taproot. I hear there is miniature peach trees. What are the best tasting varieties?

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None so far.

What do you mean none so far? Do miniature peaches not taste good?

dwarf peaches (short internode peaches) are basically a regular peach tree with a genetic defect that breaks a gibberellic acid receptor:

in the future it should be possible to genetically modify any existing peach tree to add this defect and make a new dwarf peach tree, hopefully with similar tasting peaches. the main barrier is that nobody has perfected a technique to edit a peach genome:

my understanding of dwarf peach breeding is that it hasn’t been as intense as the breeding that’s gone into regular peach trees. one of the original dwarf peaches was brought over from china in 1939, le cooke got ahold of it and bred a few kinds, then others like zaigers have done a few, but to date there have only been tens or maybe a hundred or so varieties named and released vs. the thousands for regular peaches. and the breeding process needs to use the short internode as its first selection so that limits how much room there is to make other selections unless the breeding program includes even more plants than normal. here’s a good article from le cooke:

there are a few new kinds from zaigers released by dwn recently and I think the jury is still out on them. and I’ve never seen anyone do controlled testing of the few tens of varieties now in the current trade as far as brix and taste testing. here’s the dwn release video:

Summer Fruit Tour 2020 - YouTube snow babe, sol dorado, arctic sprite

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So I have been reading I don’t need a miniature peach tree. Honestly should I just buy a dwarf alberta and have it grow in my 22’’ pot?

yeah that’s an option although it’s rare to find peaches sold on dwarfing rootstocks other than citation. if you live on the west coast then you can look for trees in home depot or lowes in the next few weeks, grown by pacific groves. they sell some on pumiselect. I’m looking to get a couple from them once they show up in oregon (they shipped to california a week or two ago)

I saw some on fast growing trees. By the size of their Elberta and Red Haven I think they could be a dwarf.

maybe. for what fastgrowingtrees charges they should be able to answer an email and tell you exactly what rootstock they’re on, can you ask? you’ll know a lot more then

They told me it is a semi dwarf tree. Hopefully a semi dwarf peach tree will work well in pots.

yeah, that’s an unacceptable answer for trees that are $70-100+. I’d keep looking unless they can tell you the exact rootstock

When you wants to buy treees online, you may want to check that nursery’s reputation by googling Scoop on + the name of that nursery.

Here is the review, not that great considering 147 positive vs 60 negatives.

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I have bought from them before. In my experience their plants are amazing but their prices suck. I only go to fast growing trees when I can’t find it anywhere else. In this case I don’t know many other places that are well known and have good reviews that sell dwarf or semi dwarf trees.

Not sure you have seen this thread.
Genetic dwarf peaches - #12 by scottfsmith.

@Bear_with_me has experience with such type of peaches. Hope he will chime in.

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Hey @elivings1, I think some more context is going to be able to help steer you in the right direction. I believe you’re in Colorado, like myself and a few others. Is there a reason you want a container peach vs in ground?

I have a Pix Zee miniature peach in a container, mainly because it think the genetic dwarfs look cool and are manageable when to comes to frost protection. While the taste might not be as good as the non-genetic dwarfs, I was extremely thankful to have any peaches this year from my Pix Zee in that I was able to move it into the garage during our spring frosts - it tasted great to me. IMO, the best tasting fruit for our climate are the ones that produce regularly. I even ordered a few of the new Zaiger dwarfs from Bay Laurel last Fall.

I would check out the thread mamuang posted above. If you’re looking for the best tasting or highest yielding peaches then the genetic dwarfs are not going to be the best option. But if you’re looking for, IMO, a cool little container tree that you can protect and actually get peaches from each year, I’d recommend trying some out.

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I am growing in pots because I want to maintain mobile at the moment. I am trying to eventually save up enough to move into a home. I am currently a PSE at USPS and USPS pays the same no matter where you live so I plan to get a transfer and move somewhere cheaper. Yeah I am looking for a peach with high yield and very good taste. Like I mentioned above I bought a Red Haven peach and a early Elberta peach that is semi dwarf already.

I just read the entire thread. There seemed to be mixed opinions even on that thread. Bear_with_me seemed to think the genetic dwarf varieties were better than store bought but needed thinning. Others said the fruit was just ok but was not siting varieties like honey babe or elderado. Others just said that the pots would naturally dwarf it anyway so just grow a regular tree in a pot kind of like others have mentioned on this thread. When I called fast growing trees and stark bros they mentioned that I don’t need a dwarf as well.

In that case I think you’re on the right track going with standards/semi dwarfs and just keeping them in pots for the foreseeable future.

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Bear is correct that any peaches, dwarf or not, usually taste better than store bought.

Yes, a regular sized peach tree will stay dwarf in pots as their roots are confined. However, I think to get good peaches from a potted tree, you need a large pot 20” -25”. I kept my peach and nectarine trees in 15 gal pots. By year two, they are rootbound. It is also difficult to get the right potting mix that could retain enough moisture.

To top it off, the fruit produced from those potted trees were smaller in size and not as juicy or tasty compared to after I moved those trees in ground. That’s my experience.

I don’t know how challenging it will be to grow peaches in ground where your house will be. If it is not challenging, I would forget the potted peaches. Peach trees grow like weeds. Once you own a home, plant peach trees, you could get fruit as early as the second year.

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My pots I have are 22 inches so they should work according to the specifications you gave.