Hi all, looking for other Florida peach growers to potentially trade scions with, particularly if you’re further south. I’m in Jacksonville. I only have a couple of varieties, florda prince and tropic snow, of which the tropic snow is the only one to consistently produce fruit…In fact it’s in bloom right now…Hope it’s ok for the expected sub 30 degree temps this weekend…
Grafted tropic snow onto the flordaprince. It’s taken and is also blossoming…May try that with my other unknown peach from seed…Would like to know who else here is growing peaches in hot humid climates like this and has success and if so what varieties. Thanks.
So the sub-thirty temps came and went last week…we got back up into the high 70’s before temps dropped again to the upper 40’s low 50’s, raining off and on…May still be too soon to tell, but it looks like the freeze may not have hurt it…
Beautiful weather if not just a little unseasonably warm…Temps in the upper 70’s…The tropic snow grafts I added to the florda prince are blooming…no other blooms on that tree…This pretty much tell me the tropic snow grafts are the way to go…
Got maybe a dozen peaches from the tropic snow this year. Even after bagging the fruit, between the birds and the squirrels they got a pretty fair amount…
I will say that what I got was delicious. These are some of the sweetest peaches I’ve ever eaten, too bad they’re so small…
on the plus side, the fruit also set on the flordaprince tree that I grafted to and that fruit is just about ripened…For some reason the critters aren’t attracted to that tree…also it’s worth noting that the fruit seems to be larger…
I’m looking to add a few branches of existing trees with peach and nectarine. I’ve never grown either but did add an Arctic Star scion this year to a pluot.
These are the varieties the state recommends for both. I am in the S category for the nectarines and on the border between the south and mid-south area for the peaches.
See below.
I’m posting because there are so many more suitable varieties than this publication lists. I’d rather hear recommendations from the forum than just go by the state’s list alone.
Also as far as early, mid, and late. I assume people search for these for a staggered harvest alone? Would an early peach have less insect and disease pressure than late one? My growing season starts early March and ends early November.
I’d like to pick, say, two each of the nectarine and peach, not all in the same harvest window. Also is try not to have two that are too similar in taste if possible.
Thanks
EDIT:
Found another LA Ag publication on peaches… It was published 37 years ago. The images below come from a document I can’t even find a date for, though there was some note at the bottoms of the document that said 1914. I don’t think it is that old though.
I have a Tropic Snow (IIRC) that I planted last winter as a 5ft tall potted tree. It grew well over the last year and is about 8ft tall now. We’ve had a very warm winter so far and it still has most of of it’s leaves but I need to prune it before spring. Any tips on pruning peaches in the deep south?
I would wait till the next cold front or the end of January, whichever is first. We usually get one more dip mid to late Jan. Even if its not that heavy of a dip, it’d be better to prune when daytime temps aren’t in the mid 80s. I can see active growth on the peaches at work, so they are definitely not dormant right now. Very warm January after a pretty chilly November. Had to turn the A/C back on.
Probably. I would have pruned last week since it was pretty damn cold. Its gonna be cold again next week, at least for us. Seems like you stay warmer, even though your probably less than 30 miles from me. Should be fine to prune now regardless.
I went ahead and pruned it. Looks like we’ll get pretty cold again next week too. Lowest temp I’ve seen in forecasts is 34. It seems like areas outside of town to the west and south get a few degrees colder than the forecast and I seem to stay a few degrees warmer than the forecast.
I had an amazing crop last season, even with losing two large branches. Easily 15 lba. Once all the fruit was gone I did some heavy pruning to make the tree a bit more manageable for this year. Even with the cold snap last week I already have buds on the tree. Almost like it went into full bloom. We’re expecting a couple of hard freezes next week so I’m sure all the blooms will get knocked off.
