Contender is a great peach for what it is, a peach for northern marginal growing areas. In my 7b area i might, rarely get a late frost but thats not my biggest concern with peach blossom timing. In NW Washington early spring is cold and very wet. The earlier a variety blooms, the wetter it is.
This sets the blossom buds up for all kinds of fungal and bacterial problems. Symptoms ranging from complete shoot dieback to split pit at maturity.
Contender seems to just edge into a better weather window at bloom time for us here resulting in continuous heavy crops every year.
Also, many varieties advertised as freestone by the seller may indeed fall into more of a gray area of semi freestone. For instance of the 9 varieties i grow 4 were advertised as freestone (like Redhaven).
In 30 years of growing peaches i can say that at my site the only freestone peach is Contender.
Blazingstar is close…
I “heard” Contender on Lovell is supposed to be good. I’m not sure of the growth habits, disease resistance, etc. though…
I have an “Arctic Gem” white peach that is a champ in 5b/6a. It consistently has amazing tasting fruit when my other peaches and nectarines don’t, including 50 peaches one year when we hit 24 F on May 20.
We planted a Carolina Gold a couple of years ago, so we have yet to find out about productivity and taste, but the tree has toughed out the cold so far. it it It came highly recommended for all three.
Thank you, sir.
Hey all, I’m new to growing trees and was just wondering if there were any things that I’d need to know about the contender peach tree before it arrives from Gurneys, such as how to spot disease/pests, what to do about what problem, etc.
Thanks!
Congrats on getting a great, hardy peach tree! The most important thing is to monitor for peach borers in late spring and late summer. Borers can destroy a young peach tree!
I would find a good sunny spot for it, decide on a tree structure (usually an open center for peaches), prune after planting, check periodically for borers (it’s a must - watch some videos to learn how), and enjoy the ride!
You don’t have to worry much about diseases or pests during the first two years, until the peach tree starts setting fruit. You may want to cut off a few young terminal twigs if they are affected by oriental fruit moth.
Be ready to fight squirrels once the tree starts producing fruit!