We are trying to keep our property as close to fully native as possible, with the exception of a sour cherry tree coming this fall (I couldn’t resist – my husband is despairing), and to keep any food we grow in the yard for the animals and any food we grow on the deck for us (blueberries – for them; tomatoes – for us, etc.). But after some amazing Georgia peaches this spring, I find myself oddly tempted to try growing a peach tree in a large container on the deck. Am I crazy? The folks at the nursery, who do not pretend things will be well when they won’t, said, hey, why not try it and see (I got the impression they were as curious as I was about it…). What are you all’s opinions?
Also, I’m stumbling around trying to find a variety that will handle Maryland weather (wet in the spring, dry and hot in the summer) well. It’s my understanding that it is not necessary to grow a dwarf tree, so I have been looking around – but the ones I see spoken most highly about are not the varieties listed by the UMD extension as the recommended peach trees for Maryland: https://extension.umd.edu/growit/stone-fruit-selection-and-planting
Because we’re not using pesticides or herbicides, I’d like something resistant to as much as possible (rot, leaf curl, etc.), not a magnet for stinkbugs (hate them!), and as delicious as possible. The Raritan Rose looked good, but apparently is susceptible to rot (boo!), so I’m thinking about the Red Baron?
Finally, is there a nursery you all recommend getting fruit trees from? I’d love for whatever I get to have a head start in life by arriving healthy and happy.
Hi,
Being in Western Washington,near Seattle,I won’t recommend any varieties,but a lot of those on that site look great and worth trying.
It seems like after a fruiting plant is brought in,a vacuum is made and in time,all kinds of things will try and feed.
From what I’ve read,there is more pest and disease occurrence East of the Rockies.
Something like bagging the fruit should help,as they are ripening.
If I was going to grow a Peach tree in a container,on a deck,the pot will be on a platform with wheels,so that the thing could be moved into shelter,either in a very cold Winter or away from the Spring rains.If the branches don’t get wet just before and during the leaves opening,there will be no Peach Leaf Curl.
Are there local nurseries that have any on that list? Brady
I think Scott said his peach trees do not get Peach Leave Curl. I don’t know how realistic it is to grow a fruit tree without insecticide and pesticde in your area. When I first start I had the same thought you do. Then, reality sets in.
If you are not using sprays I would strongly recommend not getting a peach tree. They are not so hard to grow with 5-6 sprays per year but are pretty much impossible in Maryland without spraying. It will look like its working for a few years and then all the bugs and diseases move in and don’t ever move out.
If you were willing to spray non-“cide” things you may have some success – use Surround (edible clay) for the bugs and Regalia (plant defense increaser) for diseases. Get a highly disease-resistant variety, in particular make sure it has bacterial spot and brown rot resistance. There are many many peach varieties so its more seeing what you can get and then looking for a disease-resistant one. Adams County Nursery is one good place to get peaches from, but for a single tree they can be expensive.
I expect you still will have significant disease/bug problems but you should be able to still get something with these two sprays I would guess. Peach leaf curl is not as big a problem, and it can be “nipped” on just one potted tree by picking off all the leaves right as they appear.
red baron didn’t do well in our locale(desert), but probably still worth the try if you’re growing it potted(potted dead trees are less painful to look at than a dead tree on your front yard). Flowers are beautiful, and fruits are pretty good. If you get it from lowe’s or home depot, you have a year’s money-back guarantee, so nothing to lose.
as with many things potted, full sun is a must, to minimize leggy growth.
unfortunately, quite likely that all peaches are stinkbug magnets.
Basically, I do Surround/sulphur/spinosad/Bt/Regalia (all in one tank) from petal fall through nickel sized fruits. I then spray on an as-needed basis, e.g. now I am in 2nd generation OFM so am back to Surround/spinosad/Bt spraying. Then in mid-summer am adding Indar for brown rot, and I also spray some Indar earlier to nip it back.
Peaches in containers are pretty simple if you have good winter protection. Not sure how they would do outside in MD… Around here i garage everything and they do fine.
Watch for borers, curculio, squirrels and peach leaf curl… I find peaches pretty easy to grow good fruit with minimal spray. To me the biggest pest of the peach is the squirrel.
In containers… In the ground it was so hit or miss because of winter kill. Plus i was growing Reliance back in the day and i wasn’t a huge fan of that variety (at least back then). I’m growing Contender (in the ground) so that should be interesting to watch if it can fruit consistently.
Borers and squirrels have been my demons… Like right now…i’ve seen almost no squirrel activity in my area yet i know they’ll start taking peaches as they get closer to being ripe.
I try to trap squirrels…PLC …that one is pretty easy…just hit the trees with copper as they start to show green in spring. Curculio seems to shy away from peaches if it has apples and plums to pound…some permethrin keeps the fruits clean. Borers have been hard to manage.
I’m not aware Indar is subject to alkaline hydrolysis in the spray tank. I’ve read not to acidify water for lime sulfur because of risk of phytotoxicity (as is the case with copper). Inorganics like copper and sulfur wouldn’t be subject to alkaline hydrolysis, so you should be good to go with either, using straight tap water.
I wouldn’t be worried if you sprayed Indar a month before removing the nets. It has a 12 hour re-entry interval.
The re-entry interval is assigned based on agricultural workers working many hours per day working in the trees in the field. Your exposure removing a net after a month would be negligible, probably undetectable.
The pre-harvest interval for apples is 14 days and zero days for stone fruit so either way you’re safe there.
Indar is pretty benign to humans, so I wouldn’t worry too much. I breathe clouds of it and am covered when I spray it. Nothing like Captan. That causic stuff burns my sinues so bad after a spray, I sometimes have trouble sleeping at night.
Thank you very much, Olpea. I looked up PHI and REI but not sure about touching material sprayed with such chemical with bare hands. As you can see, I’m a bit paranoid.
