I currently have Reliance, Frost, Contender & Intrepid.
I am thinking about Challanger, Carolina Gold, & maybe one of the Paul Friday versions like PF 24-C or PF 19-007
The main goals are good quality fruit, good disease resistance, & standing up to or avoiding late frosts due to late blooming…
What say anyone with these, or what have you “heard?”
I have Contender peaches and a Flaming Fury peach. Even though the Flaming Fury peach ripens 40 days after Redhaven it as blooming at the same time as my other peaches.
Do you have any white peaches? Have you ever tried any of the Chinese varieties? They are very good!
I don’t have any whites or Chinese.
I’m looking to stay w/ yellows at this time. Thanks for the input.
I’ve grown all those except Frost. Those are all good choices for late bloomers.
PF19-007 ripens about the same time as Contender. Contender is the more reliable of the two.
Reliance ripens pretty close to Challenger. Reliance is going to be the more consistent producer for those two.
You may consider PF 35-007 for a late peach. I’ve found it as consistent as some of the others on your list.
For an early peach, Risingstar is one which is fairly consistent in frosty spring weather.
All that said, Reliance and Contender are the most consistent cultivars I know of for yellow peaches.
Thank you.
Did you grow the Carolina Gold as well?
Yes. It’s also fairly reliable.
In my northern PA climate, my 19-007 on K1 tastes better than Reliance, but isn’t as reliable as Reliance. The crops aren’t as heavy as Reliance, but my Reliance tree needs to be thinned hard for fruit to develop any size. If I don’t thin Reliance I’ll have problems with brown rot.
I’ve had canker and brown rot issues with PF19-007 no matter what I do, so I’ll probably remove it eventually.
I do not have 24C, but have 24-007 on Lovell. It’s my understanding 24C is supposed to be more reliable than 24-007. Of the 4 peaches I have, 24-007 is my favorite in terms of flavor, but it is temperamental. If I’m lucky I’ll have a crop every other year (1 crop in the last 4 years though). I tell myself the rare treat is worth the misery.
Frost is reliable, but not that great tasting.
Yeah, I’m leaning towards a couple more contenders, & maybe a Challenger or another Reliance…
I have one of these and this year was the first time I had peaches from it. Really nice peaches, great taste, and made some great peach preserves.
I agree with you as well about Contender being the most consistent peaches. I only have three varieties and the Contender will at least give me some peaches when the other ones won’t.
For sure. Some people on the fruit forum have said they’ve had some good luck with 24-007, but that variety was a horrible performer here.
I had several trees of it, and they practically never produced. I know another commercial grower in the area who had very little production out of 24-007.
Im adding a Sweet Joe… supposedly it ticks most of the boxes of a great peach.
Spring Snow also.
I think Indian Free also ticks most all the boxes also.
Snow Beauty im not sure if many grow it but it is supposedly a high chill… and of course DWN says its received the highest scores of all peaches tested.
How does the flavor of 24C compare to 24-007? I realize this is subject to different tastes and environments. The only reason I tolerate the hassle of 24-007 is the taste is better than any yellow peach I have had.
Try China White. Research it!
For my part, I’ve come to the conclusion for most yellow peaches there is more variability within the tree, than there is between almost all varieties.
There are a few standouts on both ends of the bell curve, but almost all peaches taste really good if they don’t receive too much water, or if they aren’t over-cropped.
I don’t view 24c or 24-007 outside the bell curve. It’s also a pretty big negative for flavor if the peach tree is over cropped. That’s very easy to do with 24c, but very hard to do with 24-007.
Also know that first ripening peaches on a tree are almost always the best (given consistent weather).
When a member asks for recommendations it is very important to mention the location where fruit is to be grown, both the region and the specifics of the orchard site (is it on a slope with good air movement or in a hollow, for instance).
Which tells you a lot about what works in KS. How varieties perform is exceedingly regional- here in NY there hasn’t been a whole lot of difference between peaches known for relative frost hardiness for me. One surprising stand-out in trees not often noted for special hardiness is TangO’s. Saturn also seems relatively hardy as does Indian Free. When I had sites with Reliance there was never a season where its crops survived when Red Haven’s didn’t. You need to know that the difference is probably only a matter of a degree or two and most killing years that knock off Red Haven will also finish off Reliance. Here, Red Haven is a higher quality peach than Reliance, which is why I no longer have it in my nursery. I’ve also removed it from the only orchard where I managed it because the client didn’t much like the peaches. I do find Contender extremely reliable and a good tasting if somewhat fuzzy peach. Its lack of red color may help in getting birds to overlook it.
Some varieties that Olpea has found to be inconsistent bearers have been very reliable for me- Coralstar comes to mind.
Well said.
I have been reading on Harko Nect which i am adding… a Canadian bred cold hardy nectarine that is somehow a favorite in Texas as well as California etc.
Sometimes its enjoyable to color outside of the lines… like why not grow Pink Lady apples bred in Australia here in WV.
Im adding Tri Lite Peach Plum as well… hope it works out for me.
I have no doubt that these things wont reach their peak potential by any stretch of the imagination… most of them will probably be my ‘maybe next year’ trees. But thats part of growing fruit here. Im working with the cards that i have been dealt the best that i can…
Nectarines are always the first here to be damaged by a late or not so late frost. They weren’t even showing any green here in late march and yet none of the yellow ones I grow produced a crop, and the hardier whites were deformed and mostly worthless due to what I assume was ovule damage caused by the 19F temp plunge in late March. Some suggest it to be thrip damage, including Cornell reps, but no signs of that pest could be seen on the fruit. I went to chatAI to get information that ovule damage can cause similar symptoms as thrips because my guts suggested it was cold related.
At any rate, perhaps I should seek out Harko again as I’ve lost my nect crop about 3 times in the last 6 years to cold. My hardier peach varieties haven’t failed m in that time. Years ago I went with the two hardiest nects but gave up on them because I didn’t have a handle on brown rot back then.
Not sure on HardiRed… i am adding it too. Nurseries say its right there with Contender as far as cold hardiness etc.
Interesting reads on this forum that Harko is a favorite of CA Z9 growers…
I also am going with Independence Nect. It has ‘frost hardy buds’ supposedly good to -15F?
I have no doubt that i will have lots of mild winters and probably some chillers… so maybe some Aces in the hole with these double duty cold hardy and heat tolerant ones.
Super interesting that they were bred for cold hardiness yet favorites for Deep South and Cali.