Good call. I can check. I have a Zard apricot I am getting from him next year, and once that is in, I would have somewhere to graft it. I will check with him as the time gets closer, and assuming I can’t locate one this next year. Thanks for the idea!
Did it really drop to 14 in Arvada a couple of nights ago? Any damage?
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Sure did. Not sure yet if the buds were damaged, but based on the numbers, would say that some of the buds that had broken already would have been.
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Any of you front-rangers care to comment on apple rootstock success (or failure) stories? Would prefer less than standard (ideally self-supporting).
I’d think this information would be easier to find, given a reasonable amount of apple production in CO.
It seems we get most of the challenges here: fighting fireblight, cold, wind, drought, and wooly aphids.
I am also interested in hardy kiwi vines. Jered’s nursery had them for sale last year.
Checking in to see how everyone fared with the super wet and heavy snow, especially broken branches or trunks. I had a number of young apples that were bent full to the ground but seem unbroken. A few broken branches here and there but looks like I avoided major damage. A lot of mature trees took some damage (including the one who dumped a scaffold on my truck!)
On the bright side, as of last night, looking like only about 33 degrees for the low, so maybe that’s a positive for all the fruit on the trees.
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Things look pretty good. Woke up to a temp of 33. Wife is really hoping the peaches make it through ok. I had to shake off the trees a few times last evening, but nothing broken. Keep an eye on tonight’s temp.
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No snow here in Loveland. Just a sprinkle that already melted. The weatherman lied again. But pretty normal for here. Often Denver gets snow and we don’t. Not sure if FoCo got any.
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My Saint Theresa grapes are doing well. I want to add a green sweet grape for fresh eating. Does anyone have any suggestions for the Denver area?
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hi Folks. Hope you are enjoying this lovely fall.
I want to add two peach trees to our yard. One will be a replacement for another tree lost to borers (in a different location) and one will be a new addition. we are in denver proper (5b) and these trees will have SW exposure. We like eating peaches the most, generally freestone. We have one elberta and one redhaven and unfortunately I do not know which is which, but one makes the most delicious eating peaches ready in August and one makes peaches that are horribly grainy, ready late and fairly good cooked but not at all eating peaches. I’m trying to find two more eating peaches -medium to large fruit, ready august-ish big juicy, like most of what we think of coming from Palisade. Any suggestions on both What to get and where to get them locally?
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Codude - in my experience, it depends on if you care to know what the rootstock is. I say that mainly because I haven’t found any local vendors who have fruit trees and can tell you the root stock, and because of that, I have ordered from online sources. The good thing is that for Peach, Lovell is a common recommendation and common root stock, so chances are good you will get one.
If going local, some places to consider (South to North; I only have direct experience with a few of these):
Phelan Gardens
Holly Acres
Tree Farm
Harlequin’s Nursery
Fort Collins Nursery
Bath Gardens
As to varieties, I’m not the best to say, as my peaches are still young, but went with Contender on Guardian and Red Haven on Bailey.
Good luck in your search!
I’m Denver proper as well. I have two mature peach trees that I’ve harvested for a number of years: an Elberta and Contender. When you say that
one makes the most delicious eating peaches ready in August
is it early or late August? If it’s early, my guess is it is the Redhaven. If it’s late, there a good chance it might be the Elberta; I harvested my Elberta this year on August 27th.
First, if you ever look at some the websites from Palisade, their peaches are all over the place, from some of the earliest windows to the latest. In my opinion, the only thing that really separates Palisade from the metro area is the yearly low temperatures (7a vs 5b), which allows them to grow less cold hardy peaches, as well as the slightly less frequent spring frosts. Otherwise we have the same dry climate with hot days and cool nights; as long as you can avoid late frosts and hail, I think Denver is a great area to grow peaches.
Though it’s an early September peach, I would generally recommend Contender. This year it ripened about 14 days after Elberta, though in prior years their window is closer together. It’s a good tasting peach that has hardy blooms for our late Spring frosts. That said, I have experienced winter die back on the tips on the years we get into the minus double digits. Reliance (which I have one of, though it’s young) is probably a good bet as well, though it’s in the same general harvest window as Elberta and Contender. If you want to extend your harvest, their are some other options out there, but I don’t have an personal input. Checking out some of Olpea’s peach observations might be beneficial.
As far as where to get your next tree, I might go against the grain in my recommendation, but I would go big box - assuming you come across one that has decent nursery tags for it’s type and doesn’t look too dicey. In Denver you can go to Home Depot or Lowes and find a pretty decent Contender or Reliance for a decent price. Sure, you won’t know the rootstock, but for peaches in Colorado and don’t think it’s as big a deal as other locations (peaches in the South) or fruit types (apples, for example).
If you want a nursery experience and are willing to go on a bit of a drive, I’ve gone to and recommend Holly Acres Nursery in Elizabeth when they have their bare root trees on sale in the Winter. Looks like this year they’ll be $30 bucks each. Otherwise, if you go the tradition metro-area nursery route, a place like Nick’s Garden Center, will have you paying $~250 for a more mature 3-4 year old tree - pretty standard for a lot of metro nurseries.
Thought someone in Colorado might enjoy this website or to tour their farm https://crmpi.org/ . Im not in Colorado much.
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I planted a 5’ Contender from O’tools about 5 years ago. This year the peaches ripened the first week of September. We had about 400 peaches which was insane. They were fantastic.
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Yep, peaches are probably my favorite thing I grow. Last year was an awesome year for peaches, not a lick of hail damage which is super unusual.
I’m hoping the -15 degree weather we had didn’t do too much damage - I’m thinking it’ll probably be ok.
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You know you’ve got a problem when you’re buying trees that you know you don’t have room for…
Anyways, I wanted to give a heads up to @elivings1 and other CO members who struggle to find reasonabily priced trees in CO, without ordering online, that Home Depot’s got a very large, and quite diverse, selection of bare root trees this year - at least at the one off of Arapahoe and 25. Most were less than $30. I ended up getting a 3-in-1 sweet cherry (which ended up being a 5-in-1) for $37. For that price and selection I couldn’t help myself, even though I have no space and sweet cherry’s are probably very marginal.
Clear nursery marked tags, not the typical “Peach Tree” tag that the potted plants get in May.