Dont you spray for plc? I cant imagine trying to grow peaches in the northwest without spraying
There are no 2 distinct types of fruit lovers but the closest thing to that is the categories of lovers of straight sweet and lovers of a balance that leans towards high sugar merged with high acid.
I have noticed that more southern countries and regions of countries tend to like less acid with their sugar. Granted this is an entirely unscientific survey, but what I’m saying is that traditional English apples wouldn’t sell well in Spain- Danish pastries have less sugar than Italian ones and in the U. S. the southern version of ice tea and lemonaid makes me gag from all the sugar.
Nectarines tend to have a lot of acid compared to peaches. They also tend to have more sugar. For some the flavor is too intense and the acid distracts from the affect of a mouthful of sweet.
There has been a trend towards breeding varieties of peaches and even nectarines that are very low acid and are sold with the suggestion that this is a desirable trait.
It is only so for some of us.
Alan:
I like both, high sugar with and without the acid. But the low acid types are only good with high flavor and that only seems to come when the brix is on the high end. Many pluots and sweet cherries are down in my preferences because they are very high sugar but lack acid or flavor.
Strangely I haven’t liked many/some high acid nectarines because they aren’t balanced. Too much acid. I’m trying more of those to see if I can find balanced ones. It could be that my conditions favor too much acid or maybe my taste buds are to fault.
With low acid nectarine/peach there are high flavor ones. But no one else has expressed my exact sentiments on their flavor profile. Arctic Star is a good example. Almost universal praise but not much explanation of why. I think they have superb flavor at 24+ brix. Much better than 25-34 brix sweet cherries.
Fruitnut, you are exploring a frontier of very high brix fruit under your plastic, so there is no way to evaluate how your favorite varieties might perform under my conditions without growing them myself. If I ever find myself in Texas during harvest season I will make a pilgrimage to your shrine if you will have me.
I like to wait until Adams or Scott has tried a variety in the east coast before attempting to grow them anyway, so I’ve yet to attempt some of your favorite varieties. There is so much to try that I already know can perform well in this climate.
Jimmy, I don’t spray.
I tried copper sprays with no benefit at all. There are no organic sprays that I know to help with PLC. Oil sprays do not help. Neem does not help.
I am keeping my yard friendly for beneficial insects. I have beehives and in the current time, bees are declining. It’s not certain but there is thought it is at least in part related to our agricultural practices, including environmental toxins. I don’t use any fungicides, bactericides, insecticides. I am also undergoing chemotherapy and I would rather not add more carcinogens to the environment - not wanting to put others through that. Not here to start a debate on the topic, that’s just me.
Last year, my 2-year-old Oregon-curl-free peach was almost without any PLC. My Indian Free (or cling?), 4 years old, also without PLC. This year I added Q-1-8, sold for the same reason. We’ll see. They are still small, blooming now. Charlotte did have PLC but I read it becomes more tolerant with age.
That makes sense. i chose all plc resistant varieties at first. Have all the ones you mentioned plus a frost. Since i also have a couple that arent plc resistant, i sprayed this winter with daconil and dormant oil. I have since decided not to worry about plc, since i dont mind spraying when they are dormant and the daconil is supposed to be really effective. I refuse to spray anything when there is fruit set though. Im hopeful it eliminates yhe plc, because last year a couple of them had it horribly
Some of us WOULD like the more acid fruits but just can’t eat them. I’m cursed in that for some unknown reason, acidic fruits give me instant sores in my mouth. So regardless of my own gastronomical tastes, I can only eat low acid fruits. That means no citrus, few nectarines, etc… unless I have some highly alkaline soy milk or calcium carbonate on hand to wash them down with. But since super-sweet fruits are the ticket for me, I like the ones with some extra aromatic or perfume-like quality to make up for the lack of zing.
Yes, I know a woman who can only eat Yellow Delicious of all common varieties because here stomach can’t handle much acid.
Sores on the mouth is an interesting response- have you ever asked a doctor about it? I wonder if it is at all common.
Interesting, but I also sympathize. So sorry you can’t enjoy some of my favorite fruits.
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Lizzy (and Alan) not that uncommon, believe it or not. My MIL cannot eat pineapple without getting canker sores (mouth ulcers). Very painful ones. We know they are auto-immune in nature, but the jury is still out as to what the exact cause is. Triggers for canker sores can be many things, one of which are acidic fruits. Also trauma (cutting your mouth, say, on a sharp tortilla chip), spicy foods, stress (or stress plus another trigger) are all known to trigger canker sores. Possibly B-12 deficiency, and certain diseases like Crohn’s and Celiac disease (both auto-immune diseases). The doc can prescribe topical pain relieving medications, but not much else you can do but avoid the triggers.
Patty S. (RN)
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Patty, that sounds about right, because I can’t eat crusty sourdough bread for the same reason–it cuts up my mouth and then I get sores 
Lizzy:
Find some of the good low acid nectarines. DWN Arctic series are mostly low acid and excellent.
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Hah, that was just what I was going to recommend to Lizzy, fruitnut 
I would recommend Arctic Star for exceptional taste and vigor. Another very low acid and good tasting stone fruit is Stark Donut, if you don’t live in a high humidity area. Sweet cherries also shouldn’t bother you. Also Dapple Dandy and Flavor Grenade pluots are super sweet and low acid.
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It’s funny, but in plums and pluots I don’t look for acid- pretty much the sweeter the better. I harvested my second crop of Flavor Grenade pluots last season and they were wonderful, (so says my palate). I’ve never tasted a plum with some crispness (most don’t get the sugar up at this point) and that is the time FG tastes best to me. If you want it soft you can set it at room temp for a couple of days but to me it then seems ordinary.
Now I’m looking for other pluots that do well in the northeast without hand pollination.
Mulberry for me. I know I am odd, but fully riped mulberry is so sweet and juice , no pit to spit out. Such a easy cared tree which has very few disease, no spray is needed, just plant it and harvest it in a few years. Not like peaches and other stone fruit, you have to do spring, fall spray, this goes with grapes too. One year you get fruits , next year you may not… Mulberry is much reliable than any of other fruit trees, and the fruit is way easy to eat and delicious. Just don’t look at the mirror after you eat mulberries 
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IL847 what mulberry do you grow?
I have Illinois Everbearing. The tree is about 5 years old, bought as bare root from Raintree. Moved it 2 1/2 years ago to my new place 30 miles away. It’s great - wonderful delicious tasting fruit. Last year I used netting to keep birds off. This year it may be too big for that.
It was nice, had a few berries the first year. Getting at least a taste the first year is exciting.
The best Illinois E. mulberries I’ve tasted come from a tree that I transplanted bare root when it was about 3" diameter and quite a hefty tree.
Over 5 years later it has not transformed into a typically vigorous IE because of relative neglect after transplanting and a lot of big tree root competition.
The leaves on it look like the ones in your photo- less than luxuriantly green. The fruit is sweeter than on more vigorous IE trees I manage, although the fruit is always sweet. The runted tree produces higher brix fruit.
My Il E has been disappointing. I bought it as a trap crop, and it pretty much has done nothing. It puts on a couple huge berries a year but has grown hardly any. In fairness, I put it in an opening of my fencerow, but it has plenty of room and light. I should go find some sprouts of the native red mulberries around here, which typically grow fast and heartily produce nice fruit.