Hey Everyone!
I’m looking to add a different variety of peach to my fledgling backyard orchard that will give us fruit later in the summer (the current peach trees are supposed to rippen May-June). I’ve narrowed it down to Kaweah vs Red Baron but have no clue which to choose. I’m a fan of very juicy, sweet, yellow peaches that have a good amount of acidity. Overly sweet fruit doesn’t do it for me, though.
Your thoughts? I’m in USDA 8b if you have other recommendations. Thanks!
never had kaweah but red baron peach is pretty good and the flowers are beautiful!
What state? Arid or humid climate?
Kaweah is claimed as a taste-test winner in Calif.
Red Baron has been around longer and has proven to be growable back East-- getting good reviews.
When people talk about Red Baron,they usually mention the ornamental qualities first – double red blossoms – which are indeed unique. It was developed primarily for the ornamental blooms by Armstrong. It’s probably a middle of the road peach in terms of quality, i.e. not exceptional. I do have Red Baron. It’s the only peach I have. I’m in San Diego County. I haven’t had any problems with it. No curl, no aphids, no spots. Kaweah will give you slightly larger peaches than Red Baron, if that matters to you.
Red Baron is a fantastic peach flavor-wise. I went to a peach tasting at Andy Mariani’s orchard expecting it would be a completely average peach and it was one of the best few peaches at the tasting to of 50+ varieties - none was appreciably better. It also tastes excellent for me in Maryland. The blossoms are also nice but thats just gravy. The main downside I have had is the fruits have been on the small size for me. But my rootstock had borers pretty bad and is only now recovering.
I haven’t tasted kaweah. In northeast San Diego I grow Eva’s Pride and Red Baron and prefer the peaches from Eva but it is older by a year. The flowers on the Baron are stunning though!
Both of these peaches are awesome! The flowers on the red barron are definitely better though. In my area they ripen at different times, red barron is first and is more delicate than kaweah, bruising more, as kaweah is more hardy. In my opinion kaweah is better tasting by a single notch, but red barron is a staple of ornamental gardening. You cant go wrong with either! Good luck!
I have a red baron, but this will be the 3rd season in the ground so the first to really fruit. They nursery employee told me it was his favorite peach, but mainly because he likes his peaches firm not soft. I just wen with his advice.
I’ve done Andy’s tasting as well and determined that those types of tastings aren’t of value to judge fruits by. There is no way to get all 50 stonefruit varieties at peak ripeness at the same time for a tasting. Some are over, some under, some just right. After the tasting I bought some fruit from his orchard. His Flavor King were huge but watered down. I got to taste his FK with forum member Bleeding Dirts FK’s on the same day. Bleeding dirts were 1/3 the size but 3x the flavor!
Tasting fruit isn’t of value to judge taste? Cmon!
Generally I agree with the point you are making though, most of the varieties will not be at peak ripeness. But, its not hard to judge ripeness from the texture and rule out the varieties that are over or under. If you taste 50 varieties and three are awesome, those three are probably truly awesome. Red Baron was one of my three. Another was Dixon Cling. I tried that peach out in my orchard and it had great flavor but it was too rubbery in my orchard for some reason. I don’t remember the third, I think it was one I was already growing.
it is pretty good here, and the flesh is quite firm even when very ripe
a huge problem in our locale. Never heard of fireblight or brown rot here, but borers seem to be the number one pest of apples and peaches.
below was a pretty red baron which only lasted a couple years.
That’s interesting, Andy over waters his fruit. I guess that’s what happens when selling by the lb. However based on his reputation I would have expected better.
Sorry about that. I’m in Central Texas, just north of Austin w/ ~34" of rain per year.
Thanks, everyone. It sounds like the Red Baron is a firm peach. I actually prefer softer ones. Does anyone know about the firmness of the Kaweah?
That is not red barron peach. Red barron has red double blossoms, not pink. Also red barron is not a firm peach. It is however delicious!
You will love red barron if you like a soft peach. They really are not soft though just not firm. Both peaches are delicious!
I agree, I don’t recall it as being super firm like e.g. Dixon or O’Henry.
I can’t tell for sure on whether thats a Red Baron in the picture.
@fruitgrower, I agree that does not look like Red Baron. I was going to reply to @jujubemulberry with the same observation. The blossoms in his picture are not dark red-pink enough and don’t look like doubles, but the picture isn’t close enough to really make out the shape of the flowers. According to raf the tree is dead, so in the end it doesn’t matter I suppose.
the flowers were actually darker than that, but couldn’t find other pictures on my old pc. Got them from lowe’s so not really sure, but the fruits were good. Also deprived them of water so perhaps that may have been influential.
This is red Barron, it has red blossoms. Yours apear pink but they are double and beautiful too, just pink .
