Boyer Nurseries still has trees

It’s been a long time since I’ve ordered anything from this PA nursery.

A friend was looking for peach trees for his commercial peach orchard. Apparently Boyer has quite a lot left. They sell both retail and commercially.

Apparently they have some varieties I’ve wanted to try. They have PF Legacy (a late Paul Friday peach) Sweet Star (a relatively new supposedly high brix Stellar variety peach) Slappy, and many others.

Slappy is an old peach. I remember a small commercial grower of another fruit forum spoke highly of Slappy.

I couldn’t find much about Slappy on the internet, but wanted to try it because I’ve heard some good things about it.

Here’s some comments on the net:

“this is an antique variety and was at one time a very popular canner. I have canned them, they are very good but if you look at this peach cross eyed it will bruise.”

" the Slappy peach which is a fairly well known variety of good eating quality but poor shipping characteristics"

“Its companion was a Slappy peach, a huge juicy bomb that I enjoyed hurling into the chicken pens to watch frenetic chicken pecking its delectable flesh.”

Here’s an old comment by our own @scottfsmith from an old Nafex post:

“Slappy is a very late canning peach, another similar peach is Salwey. I have that one along with Heath Cling and Indian Cling - all four are hard-fleshed late canning/drying/picking peaches. I’m not sure why these peaches died out, they are superior culinary peaches. I guess the fresh eating varieties took over.”

Scott, I’m wondering about your old comment? It seems contrary to some comments that Slappy bruises easily and a good quality eating peach? Any thoughts?

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Was your friend calling or in person? I have to be up there, can go early if they have something I want. I know they had two or three kinds of aronia at the end of November, but no Nero. I would like to have peaches that i don’t have to graft myself.

He called. He said the folks were very nice and were anxious to sell him trees. He said they had 10,000 in inventory.

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You can send them an email, and they’ll send you their inventory. They do indeed have a lot of peaches in stock.

Some places like AC Nursery sold out fast for whatever reason. AC had quite a few newer ones from Rutgers’ breeding program listed that weren’t in stock even in the fall.

I ordered my first time from Mehrabyan Nursery in NY. Trees arrived yesterday… all big and burly and clean with nice roots. Im happy.

will check out Boyer.

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Just read their catalog…nice. From page 15… i never thought to hang bags…good idea

Milorganite® is a useful tool
in repelling deer from grazing
on fruit trees and ornamental
plantings. The odor of
Milorganite® (an organic
nitrogen fertilizer) keeps deer
away. Hang a small bag in
each tree, or spread around
plantings to deter deer.

I never grew Salwey. My guess is I had assumed that because it was a canning peach like the other three it would also be hard-fleshed, all the old canning peaches I knew were hard-fleshed. Sounds like I was wrong.

One thing about the Internet is stupidity is forever enshrined :upside_down_face:

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Then I’m in deep trouble. :cowboy_hat_face:

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Thank you. I forgot why I wrote off getting peaches from them aside from my usual, but looking at their catalog online I remember. I only want 2, maybe 3 varieties they show, and I got 1, 2 in scion. I did check AC Nursery, as was said, they sold out early. And when I went to Mehrabyan Nursery, they were sold out of all but 1. @krismoriah what did you get? I may order, you sound happy.

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From them i got a couple of each Mount Royal Plum, Harrow Delight Pear, Harrow Sweet Pear, GoldRush Apple and Grimes Golden Apple. All look to be around 2 yo or more. Grafts are perfect. Roots are nice and thick. That all sounds good until you have to dig the hole…lol. Lots of good emails with tracking and thank you letters and all that jazz. Totally satisfied.

In comparison Vaughn was alot cheaper… I bought some of my peach trees from there. However the trees looked to be 1yo and the grafts stuck out like a sore thumb… no emails, gotta order by phone… they shipped by FedEx ground (hate them)… but they were super nice on the phone. I have no doubt the trees will grow and im happy with what i got for what i paid.

I have been using the Milorganite bags for a number of years. They seem to work well for me. They need to be replaced every 3-4 months. Due to rain and the such. I normally do not change them over the winter, the deer do not seem to bother my trees during winter only when the leaves start to come out and during the summer. Mostly during the spring time, young leaves.

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Which bags do you have? I thought about making my own bags out of a handkerchief sized rags… im open to something cheap and easier.

I need to hang some on my blackberry trellises as well in a field that is not near the house.

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I bought the pre-made Miloganite bags from Boyer. It was faster and easier than trying to make them myself.

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thank you…

I think i might check out these muslin bags from michaels first to see if they could handle it.

https://www.michaels.com/celebrate-it--occasions--muslin-favor-bag--12-pack/10217739.html

It may be somewhat cheaper to do it that way: using muslin bags and buying a big bag of Milorganite. It is just VERY messy to handle the milorganite and get the bags tied up. To me it is worth the extra price to have them already made up. The pre-made bags have string on the top of the bag I use to tie to the tree branches. Saves me time and aggravation from trying to make them up and then figure out how to tie them up.
Good luck with your research.

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one more question- you said you dont mess with the milorganite inside…so for you the effects last indefinately? I was thinking with the rain etc that the effects wouldnt last very long. I know its the odor of sewage that keeps the deer away…just didnt know how long the ‘scent’ lasts…

No sorry for my confusing answer. What I meant is that is a sort of granular powder. Like a freeze dried coffee size granular pellets, if you know what that size is. It would just sort of a mess to try filling and putting the powder into the bags, in my opinion and for me to do. If they are already filled it is easier, for me, to just take them out of the shipping box ( they are placed in a thick plastic bag inside the box as well) and use them on my trees. I have had a few open up at the top of the cloth bag and the granular material is inside the plastic bag or box. It is just sort of messy to deal with. The smell is what keeps the deer away. So having the bags contained as much as possible when they are stored is a plus for me. Having a big big of the milorganite would be harder for me to keep wrapped up and not smelling up my basement. I hope that explains my answer better. Sorry for the confusion.

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yes sir. I have bags of milorganite and i top dress my small plants with it… It saved alot last year from the deer.

I will likely cut the top off a pop bottle and pour it in the bags that way… i just didnt know how long the ‘effect’ lasted. I would hate to feel safe and after a few rains the effect was gone… good to know that they last a long while.

The milorganite , in bags, usually lasts about 3 months give or take a few weeks. It all depends on how much rain you get. I think the rain washes the smell off the particles. It usually lasts longer in the summer time for me. I end up putting bags on about three times a year.
Good idea using a pop bottle to fill them.

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