Peaches from June to Oct in the Northeast

I already posted my extreme pleasure with Richmay, which provided excellent peaches for me around the last week of June. Now I am sampling Laruol and Victoria for the first time and the preliminary evaluation is they are quite good. I’m in Z6 southeastern NY.

Victoria is just 3 or 4 days before White Heath, the heirloom peach that Scott turned me on to. Spring started a bit late here but drought and steady sun in late summer seemed to push peaches forward further than the spring held them back so I can’t be sure Laurol and Victoria will ripen consistently but the last week has been pretty cool and they have good flavor and very good texture as they finish ripening in this more fall like weather.

For FN, the brix of a Victoria on my desk comes in at an unsatisfactory 13.5- identical to a much more acidic Indian Free I also picked today, but plenty enough sugar to make good eating. None of my summer peaches got over 15 and most were in the same range or even a point less.

Incidentally, a couple of weeks ago I was checking a small orchard I planted right on the water in Greenwich CT. I didn’t realize how much strong coastal influence would slow down the ripening process. There was a Messina there ripening with my Encore, putting the location over a week behind me in ripening. Things started budding their a few days sooner but not enough to offset the lower temps.

Makes that 28 brix Honey Royale nectarine all that more amazing. I’ll have more peaches next yr to compare to my nectarines.

My Indian Free are not ripe yet. I may have to pull them off the tree to ripen. I still can leave them on for at least 2 weeks, maybe 3. So far for me Arctic Glo was far sweeter than anything else. I didn’t do a brix reading. My highest brix was on Flavor King at 17. I had to harvest after a rain though. Arctic Glo was sweeter. I suspect about 20. I will next year test brix. Indian free isn’t even close to ripe! Yikes! One was split so i pulled it and the flesh was green. I still thought it tasted pretty good! Again though I doubt Indian Free is even going to taste as good as Arctic Glo, that one really stands out. It just works well here for once!

Thanks for the info on those peaches Alan. Always nice to get reports!

Thanks for the report Alan. I have two great late peaches, Indian Free and Heath, but I could use a “regular” peach for that time window.

The Indian Free is so beautiful, and I love the high acid, but it’s nice to have a more conventional yellow in that window. I am so happy that you steered me to Indian Free- I can’t imagine what the trendy chefs in NYC would pay for that one. If I ever get sick of growing fruit for my customers I could start growing fruit for that crowd- they’d probably pay $6 a pound without blinking for a few bushels of ripe Indian Free in early Fall to make spectacular tarts. They’d call it local, and everyone would feel comfortably smug- especially me.

The worms were in the early ripening ones.

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It is amazing, but I wouldn’t want all my stonefruit at that level. Nectarines shouldn’t taste like figs! For me, 19 for nects would probably be optimum. Unfortunately, none of my others got over 17, as I recall- but they were still the best nectarines anyone around here ever tasted.

Honeyroyale is like an entirely different fruit experience- like eating tropical fruit.

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Still, it’s nice to have the unusual, i want that one! Well all you mentioned then some! Well I have a window to score big financially this winter. Hoping I can, and maybe I can afford to live beyond paycheck to paycheck. If it pans out new property and a greenhouse is in order! Well I can dream at least!

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I agree completely- and contrast can improve both sides by keeping the palate interested. I love Honey Royale for its originality. We’ll see how it does when there’s more than a few fruit and the canopy is serving a full crop. I won’t mind if it tops out at 21.

My last Elbertas. I think I’ll have to add Indian Free to my list.



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Scott,

Have you tried Fairtime yellow peach? It’s supposed to come in very late- just ahead of Heath Cling white, I think.

I cannot say how it would do in your climate, but out West, the Zaiger peach ‘Sweet September’ is a solid yellow “regular” peach and among the latest available–about a month after ‘Last Chance’. It goes off patent in April next year.

Mrs. G. if you are only now harvesting the last of your Elbertas I doubt you can ripen anything later than Encore’s season. Elbertas here were done 2 weeks ago. I’m not even sure IF will ripen consistently here, given half the fruit is still rock hard.

Too bad, because I bet you’d love Indian Free in your kitchen.

Mrs. G47,
Your preserves are just beautiful. I still remember the smell of the kitchen when I was preparing mine. LOL! Just heavenly!. I had some peach preserves yesterday on toast and it was sooooo delicious!
Anyway, can someone tell me where can I purchase the Indian Free Peach tree from at this time? Raintree maybe? Thanks Growing Family!

I too thought Laurol and Victoria were pretty decent late peaches. This year was the first time I fruited those. They weren’t as sweet as some earlier peaches, but had lots of traditional peach flavor. Customers seemed to be happy with them. They were better than Encore. Generally Encore is a pretty good late peach, but this year they were too tart. O’henry ripens about the same time and was considerably better than Encore. Autumnstar (generally a really good late peach) wasn’t all that great this year. Better than Encore, but not quite as good as Laurol and Victoria.

From what I’ve read Victoria is about the best late peach for the Midwest. I ordered another 7 trees for next year.

Victoria produced heavily and sized the peaches just fine. Bac. spot wasn’t too bad, much worse on Laurol. When I tried Indian Free years ago, bac. spot was really bad on it, so I won’t be trying it again. The flavor was really unique and tasty though.

Here is a pic of a Victoria. As the fruit matured a little more, it put on more size.

I love the aroma of cooked peach, yumyum good :yum:

Olpea, do you mean the Encores were actually tart of just not high enough sugar? Here it doesn’t have enough acid to call tart.

I planted an O’Henry because of its reputation for high flavor, but Encore has been a workhorse here for over 15 years and crops with great reliability, producing beautiful, softball sized peaches. I hardly expect the same consistency from O’Henry, but we shall see. If it tastes better, I don’t care if it’s golf ball sized.

Its worth a try! Your Indian Free’s are still rock hard? Ugh. I have two Sanguine Tardiva that I hope will bloom next summer. Those should do well here. Its going back up into the high 60’s here next week. We do get a nice Indian Summer (hurricane and all).

Boy, I do too!

Olpea, that is one gorgeous tree! A dream come true to me. You are the best!!!

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When I see the snow on the ground in Feb. I open a jar of this jam on a weekend morning and I am right back in my orchard. Raintree sells IF. It is heavenly!

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