Thanks @Girly and @fruitgrower . >20 brix in late June/early July is a great fruit in Bay Area weather. It’s good to know personal (and local) experience of fruit growers. Now, if only I can fast-forward 2 years and gather the performance of all your current list of fruit trees, I’m all set… 
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I don’t have a lot of experience growing nectarines in pots like @fruitnut who I took the idea from. My objective was to be able to control water by covering the pots during heavy rain events. I planted four nectarine trees (Honey Blaze, Zephyr, Arctic Star and Arctic Sweet, all on Lovell except A Star on Citation) in 25 gal fabric pots in Spring 2018. They grew well in 2018 and in 2019 they produced a dozen fruit each. The fruit tasted great and Brix was 18-25, but mostly above 20. It turned out I don’t need to cover the pots because they loose moisture pretty quickly in the heat of our summers (Highs ~90 and lows ~70F). The main downside was tree and fruit size, compared to other nectarines planted in raised beds (all my in-ground trees are planted in 4’x4’x1’ raised beds) in the same spring, the potted trees grew to half their size and produced fruit that are also about half to two thirds the size of fruits form in-ground trees. My in-ground nectarine trees typically produce fruit with brix ranging between 18-22’, absent any monsoon events in the few weeks preceding harvest, hence I decided to move all my potted nectarines to raised bed and did that in March 2020. For watering, I did water typically once a week with 1-2 gal water (no watering the last 2-3 weeks before harvest), while in-ground trees were watered once a month. No root pruning was needed since the trees stayed in pots for only two seasons.
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@Ahmad did you try cutting off the water completely and see when does the tree exhibit any signs of water stress? I’m trying that now and I’m yet to see any on my peach tree and it’s already end of June.
The watering guidelines from @fruitnut and @fruitgrower are for really hot Central Valley and Texas sun (>100F) which we don’t have (at least in June).
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Thanks @Ahmad, this is very useful info as I may have to grow some trees in containers due to running out of space…
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Yes, I tried, but you cannot do that when you get half a dozen thunderstorms with heavy rains every month in the summer. As I mentioned, some times we get lucky and it does not rain for 3-4 weeks, but that’s kind of the limit here.
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So I finally got to try my first 2 Honey Blaze nectarines. The first one in the picture was 31 brix and a bit too soft for me. However the second one was 26 brix, very clean and perfectly ripe. It was absolutely outstanding, one of the better nectarines I have tasted. It was not overly sweet and had other flavors going on. This was harvested off a large peach/nectarine tree in my front yard orchard, off a one year old graft. I see why @fruitnut and @Ahmad like these so much, it was a step above all the other Honey nectarines I have tried so far. I do believe my Honey Spring will be similar as the tiny tree grows larger. Next up, Honey Royale’s, should be ready in a few days!
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On a year where I don’t even have a single peach… sheer torture.
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Great looking fruit… I am glad for you Jon 
. I see the leaves of your tree are a little pale, does the tree need some nitrogen?
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@alan, so sorry to hear your bad news on peaches. That is rough on such a challenging year already. Hope you get a bumper crop next year, and If you are ever in Nor Cal in the summertime please stop by to say Hi and eat some peaches!
The first thing I notice is, how much I should be thinning! I’m still far off from ideal thinning
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@Ahmad, good eye, that tree could use some nitrogen and will soon after I harvest the fruit. I don’t want to affect the taste of the nectarines. I never fertilize my larger trees and they look great, although a bit water stressed by now. We have good soil here and because we are 2 miles from Folsom Lake, we are on lake water here. I also keep my trees well mulched, so that helps fertilize. The above tree is planted in a garden planter that I planted with 50/50 soil from Seirra Rock and will be re located in ground next winter. I ran out of room 3 years ago when it got planted there.
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I’ve got 3 nectarines in 15 gal pots. Harvested a few Arctic Jay which were phenomenal. Heavenly White was so-so, likely picked too early. Also have a Spice Zee. Chill hours range 300-700 per DW website. I’m in North TX 8a with 700-800 chill hrs. I’d like to plant 1-2 of these in raised bed. I could plant the lower chill hr ones in semi protected area (lee of patio with north wind protection). Or should I leave them in pots and move them into makeshift greenhouse/garage when freezes occur?
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@californicus, I did not thin this tree at all, had one drop off a week ago. It requires 1000 hours of chill according to DWN. It seems that a lot of my commercial fruits do not require as much thinning as the older style fruits. I think the farmers really hate thinning as much as I do! On most peach trees I thin at least 90% of the fruits, leaving them around 8 inches apart. It definitely affects the quality and size of the fruits.
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I only got myself to thin every 3 inches apart this season. From the fruits, it’s abundantly clear that I need to be much more aggressive next year
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@7catcmom, I am not that familiar with your area and zone. I think @fruitnut could answer this question better than me, as he is in Texas in a similar zone. If you do plant in a raised bed the only freezing you will have to worry about would be after your trees wake up and bloom. Gad you are enjoying your fruit, picking at peak ripeness is key to good fruit quality.
My sister lives in Trinidad just above Eureka where it’s too foggy to grow good peaches or nects, but she lets me know about the great ones she gets grown a few miles east of her at her farmer’s market. I haven’t visited her since my mother died 3 years ago. Mom had a place in Arcata.
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Trinidad is a great place to live and they do grow great peaches inland of there. Sorry to hear about your mom, Arcata is very nice too. A lot of great seafood up that way!
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How do you know when peach or nectarine is at peak ripeness? Mine are in Clemson bags, so cannot gauge color easily.
By feeling it. I pick mine when they start softening at the top. I usually pick a full tree load within about 10 days. Mine are in Clemson bags too.
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