What follows is a long post about my favorite peach tree.
Well, ten years ago I planted many dozens of peach trees that I started from seeds here in upstate SC. Today, maybe 25 are still around (I have goats…). Of those 25, only one is making good fruit, and this year is even more impressive since most peach growers around here lost half their crop to very late frosts. Now granted, this tree is in a much more prime location than most of the others (they’re in pasture grass or food forest settings where they have a little competition). This one is beside my gravel driveway in excellent soil with no grass pressure and no other trees for over 50 ft. This is its second time fruiting since it started 3 years ago and this year it had close to 100 peaches. About 25-30% of the peaches had bird bites and/or a worm inside, but other than that there was zero sign of pests, fungus, bacteria, etc. This peach is mostly free stone with only around 20% of the fruit sticking to the pit; if sliced down the suture and twisted then one side comes totally free. Most of the peaches were perfect, many were Jumbo sized, many were large, and maybe 25% were medium sized, but all of them tasted amazing. They’re unbelievably juicy, almost too juicy, like it’s annoying trying to eat them because there’s juice running all down your hands, wrists, mouth, etc. The skin has a lovely red and orange tint, but the flesh is rather light colored, not white but hardly yellow. They all ripened between about June 25th and today. All I’ve ever done to this tree are yearly prunings, though I may or may not take an occasional whiz in its vicinity. It started to drop young fruits about a month ago when we were in a somewhat significant drought but I laid a dripping hose beside it overnight a couple times and it didn’t drop a single one ever again. Pictured here is a day’s harvest. There is a standard large egg and a cherry tomato shown for size reference; some were close to softball size. I should have a few scion available for trade this winter if anyone wants to trial it.
Those were large peaches!! They sound very interesting. Congrats.
I will be interested in trading the scionwood with you this winter. Please keep me on your list.
Congrats @AfterEdenAgroEcology
It’s so nice to see people growing fruit from seed who were lucky enough to grow a great new variety. Were the seeds from store bought peaches, or did you collect them from other local known varieties?
I’d love to trial some scions! Please add me to the trade list as well.
The size is impressive! I have gotten great taste from seedlings but never with big fruits.
I use a lot of seedling rootstocks that were volunteers in my orchard, and am trying to let at least one limb of the stock grow out if I can… to see what I will get!
The seeds I gathered came from lots of different experimental varieties at Musser Fruit Research Farm in Seneca, SC. If you contact them and arrange a tour or ask for seeds then they’ll sometimes let you wander through the orchards for seeds from fallen fruits, or they’ll collect a few for you, especially if you’re a SC taxpayer 
They have incredible varieties and many different hybrids. It’s a tragedy that hundreds of thousands of seeds lay waste under the trees every single year then get RoundUp’d in the spring…
Me too, may I be added to the list? Thank you and wow, I’d love to grow a peach that isn’t completely frustrating in the mid-west w/o spray.
Ditto on the cutting request list! Please let me know if you need anything in return.
Alrighty, I’m just going to go in order of who has requested scion wood. I believe I’ll have enough for everyone who has asked so far. I’d love to trade for Asian persimmon seeds, good American persimmon scion wood, seeds from a really good mulberry cultivar, or seed hazelnuts from good cultivars. If trading is no good then just pay for the shipping and we’ll call it even.
I can get good (wild unnamed) american persimmon wood, and possibly some from my Prok. It’s probably a year away though (only 2.5 ft tall so far).
The wild wood produces ping pong sized fruits with a definite butterscotch note at full ripeness.
Deal! Butterscotch is my favorite sweet flavor!