Something that may have nothing at all to do with the issue is hours of sunlight. We get 17 and a half hours sun up to sun down in mid summer.
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i bet thats the reason right there. what growing zone you in? I’m 3b/4a and haven’t seen anyone try peaches here. i doubt they would be hardy enough although there are z4 rated peaches… we get 16hrs. of daylight here in late june.
6(a)
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Sun does help. Ventura has lots of low clouds in summer. I’m 30 N latitude and get 14.5 hrs. That’s plenty. Sun does help. It warms things up and aids photosynthesis. 80F and sun is better than 80F and clouds. You’ll get better peaches with more sun.
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I’m at 46 degrees 23 minutes, and usually quite sunny.
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Yes, most summer days here 3 miles from the coast in Ventura have no sun (coastal fog and overcast) until the afternoon, and many days, the overcast never clears. Sun or heat, or both, probably contribute, so I think I need to focus on finding varieties that do better in my peach unfriendly climate.
Focusing on later varieties, like fruitnut suggested, makes a lot of sense. They ripen when there is more sun and heat, and they are consistently better than the early ripening ones. I don’t know of any that ripen as late as September in my climate, but I’d love to find some. A challenge is that they also have to be low chill, since we get very little chill (typically 100-300 chill hours, depending on the year). The latest variety I know of with that low a chill requirement is August Pride (300 chill hours). But I’m all ears if anyone knows of other late ones with low chill requirements.
Or I could just stick to cherimoya and bananas, which do great here! But I get just enough really tasty peaches at this time of year to keep me from getting rid of my multi-grafted peach tree.
Thanks again for all the helpful responses.
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Check out Burchell Nursery in Oakdale, CA. It offers a bunch of late nectarines. Their trees are expensive if buy direct.
Burchell supplies fruit trees to Costco. I got two 5 ft tall Burchess nectarine trees for $25, each, a very good deal. They are not peaches but they can be better than peaches.
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wow! never knew PEI was that warm.
Once the ocean warms up, it warms the rest too. In spring, wind right off the ice delays peach bloom till after frost time, and in winter, moderates the cold. Still, weather is changeable, depending on wind direction.
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Thanks for mentioning Burchell. I wasn’t aware of them. They do have lots of late nectarines and peaches, but not many seem to be low chill. But I need to spend some more time looking at their varieties.
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My first year for Harrow Diamond, and most were mealy. None of the others have been so far.The trees struggled with wet conditions the first half of the season, but they started to recover by the beginning of July. Maybe it was too late for this early peach? Also, despite a warmer summer than the previous two, there have been a few cold nights below 50F.
On a positive note, you can’t even tell they were mealy when used in peach cobbler.
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A lack of heat this year caused my first tomatoes to be mealy by the time they were vine ripe. The first fruits set the third week of June and were not pink until the first week of August. We will get decent daytime temperatures, just to have it drop down into the mid/high 50s every night.
I am being careful to select trees that flower later, set fruit in cold weather, and are only ripening during the optimum heat period here in Puget Sound region. I am beginning to think that European plums are the best bet for my climate, but I am trying Frost, Nanaimo, and maybe Q-1-8 peaches next season.
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I’m harvesting Early Elbertas here in Texas where we’ve had 4 solid weeks of rain. Many are mealy, which I attribute to too much rain right before harvest and too much ripening on the tree. This week it cleared up and got hot, so the last few days the fruit has been superb.
Too much water right before harvest = mealy peaches.
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