Florida and southern Peach Growers

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.

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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…

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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…

The tropic snow itself is in full bloom and already starting to push new growth…

Going to check the local nurseries this week to see whether I can find any other peach trees that are in bloom…

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This tree is going to be loaded with peaches…The tropic snow peaches are small to begin with so it will need a heavy thinning…

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When you see that style in the middle… green up… peaches are coming…

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I’ve got plenty of that going on…look at the size of the fruit already…

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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…

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South Louisiana zone 9a here.

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.
Screenshot_20230926-180527~2

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