So far the only nectarine i can get to grow here in Kansas has the silly name of yum yum from henry fields/gurneys. Its an embarresing thing when a grown man tells other grown men he is growing a yum yum we all sound much less intelligent when discussing them. Got to hand it to gurneys its a great nectarine but like their tickled pink grapes and flat wonderful peaches the name needs some work. Its blooming now on March 29th which is typically not a good thing. Lets see what happens.
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@clarkinks,
It never ceases to amaze me that Kansas, Nebraska, zone 5, have fruit trees that bloom two weeks before my zone 6. It happens every year.
I agree about the silly name. Wowza grape is another name I can’t stand.
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How many varieties did you try? If I were you, I would plant a few trees of different varieties that do not bloom particularly early hoping that I’d get a crop some years, if not a little one every year. I think you have the land, so you won’t be sacrificing precious spots that are better planted with sure-to-crop fruit trees.
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Yes ive tried half a dozen kinds and all died over winter besides yum yum.
That sounds strange (many nectarine varieties are pretty cold hardy), is it because of cold snaps after they wake up?
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Im suspicious it could be related to the rootstocks. The rootstocks tree farms use may not be cold hardy enough. Im not sure i know of any other nectarines in my area though many have tried to grow them. @Olpea do you grow nectarines?
Which rootstocks did your dead trees have? Lovell is pretty cold hardy and provides for vigorous trees.
I have a Yum Yum too! My first bloom of the season occurred today on my Yum Yum. 
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I used to grow quite a few. I slowly pulled them all out. I pulled my last one out last fall. It was the best tasting nectarine I grew, called Nectafest.
I didn’t pull them out because they died, or really even productivity (although Nectafest was a finicky producer some years). I pulled them out because it was hard to get a good looking nectarine most of the time, and they didn’t sell well for me.
Their skin being smooth, they showed every blemish. Insects were also more attracted to them because they didn’t have any of that annoying fuzz.
One nectarine which produced like crazy for me was Hardired. I had one tree of it and it always set a ton of fruit.
As a whole, I never found nectarines more winter tender than peaches, but like peaches, there were some varieties more winter tender and some varieties which produced better than others.
I’ve found the one thing which weakens peaches and nects is if the soil is the least bit too wet. Peaches/nects have to have excellent soil drainage or they don’t do well.
A raised planting is the only way to ensure this in my area. It’s strange because some peach trees will seem to do fine, but a peach tree just 20 feet away would languish, or just up and die. I finally solved all those water problems by planting all my peaches in some sort of raised planting. Of course the other thing which can kill a peach tree suddenly is borers.
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Did you like Silvergem more or Nectafest more? How do they compare? I remember you praised Silvergem.
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Since I have abominable drainage, I ordered my nects on Citation. So far not dead yet, but early times.
Turns out they may be the first to bloom this spring. Glad I got the copper on last week.
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Silvergem was a very good tasting nectarine, but it was a white nect. I preferred the yellow fleshed Nectafest for taste. Silvergem was more productive though.
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Lois,
I never liked Citation. For poor drainage I’ve found the easiest remedy is to build a raised planting. I’ve found in my soils about 15 five gallon buckets of dirt is high enough. I plant the peaches in my backyard at the grass level, then put 15 buckets of dirt around them. They do fine.
At the farm, I have peaches planted on the top of big terraces, but they don’t do any better than the ones at the house.
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