Yes a true cling, I hope to get scion this winter. I do need a cling or two for cooking. Mrsg likes to cook, so thought it might work better. I think she was looking for seeds at one time, so knows what it is. You’re right though, not a good substitute for fresh eating!
When I first heard of Indian Free, the blogger mentioned Arctic Glo. Then i found some at a farmer’s market. I thought it was pretty good, but man mine was much better. It was picked way too early at the market. Also to note is that Ed Laivo who used to be the spokesman for DWN before Spellman says his favorite white fleshed fruit is Arctic Glo. I think he works for Four Winds now. Indian Free is white fleshed and I know Arctic Glo would be a great substitute for Indian Free, I have not tasted a fully ripe Indian Free, but have tasted one almost ripe from my tree that was knocked off. I would say Arctic Glo is better, a lot better. Of course taste is extremely subjective.
Something to note too is both Indian Free and Arctic Glo had the most fruit buds that survived up to -16F. Spice Zee had 6 fruit. Flavor King had 5 Pf Lucky 13 had 17 fruit as did Arctic Glo and Indian Free. On 3rd leaf trees. Arctic Glo outgrew all of them this summer. It is a very vigorous tree.
Mine came from Grandpa’s nursery on Lovell. Adams has it too.
What I’m looking for a good reliable traditional yellow peach and nectarine and I’ll be all set. Any suggestions welcome! Must have excellent traditional taste.
Scott, for the heck of it I ordered an Indian Free today, because I just can’t live without it. All of my peaches ripened. And it looks as if my Elbertas ripen the same time as IF. Its worth a try?
Mine are starting to size and color up, I think they will make it! Next week looks good weather wise, so i will check them about a week from this coming Thursday.
My tree was cut knee high. It’s a little thing!
Caged to keep animals out, i want these!
My Indian Free finally bit the dust. It was mauled by a deer prior to me fencing my property. It struggled for a year; then staged a valiant comeback, but eventually succumbed to canker, girdling, and windthrow.
The Lovell rootstock under it has grown back, but the IF scion is dead.
IF ripens well after Elberta. For example see the Dave Wilson poster:
It doesn’t have IF on it but IF is around Fairtime I think. Its well after my O’Henry. I doubt if either IF or Black Boy will ripen for you. For sanguine peaches I would go with Sanguine (Tardeva, Pilat, de Chateauneuf), all three of those should ripen in time for you.
Mrsg, well you have it, so try it! Develop scaffolds and such, and if it does not ripen top work it. I highly suggest Arctic Glo, and you won’t want IF. Also you can remove unripe peaches and use cloth or paper bag, they will ripen that way.
A tunnel would be awesome, and yes, I think the blog is from an island in Washington state. I’m an islander myself, so always like to hear about different islands.
I think mine will ripen and I’m in zone 5b/6a, so not sure why it would not ripen in your area?
I’ve considered Autumnprince, but figured I couldn’t ripen it here. I can’t imagine it would where you are. Here, Elberta ripens toward the end of Sept, which would put Autumn Prince well into Oct. Plus I’ve read Autumnprince is later than +30 Elberta.
In the release linked, Dr. Okie (the breeder) indicates Autumnprince is 6 to 7 weeks after Elberta.
There seems to be a lot of confusion on the Web about this peach. Many references seem to confuse Autumnprince with Augustprince. Augustprince is the earlier peach, Autumnprince is the very very late one.
I’d like to try Augustprince, but am waiting to hear from someone’s experience with Autumnprince (with a similar season as my area) before I give it a try.
From what I’ve read, Elberta is +28 days from Redhaven, which is supposed to be around Aug 1st, per ACN (whose season probably isn’t that far from either of ours). Hopefully I’ll find out in a year or two from my Elberta.
This article says:
“Many growers have planted Flameprince
in this season as a replacement for Encore. While
the color and firmness is better than Encore I continue
to have too many 2 ½ inch fruit. As you can see in the
picture of Flame Prince in the bulk bin many of the fruit
are 2 ¾ inches and larger. A variety ripening shortly
after Flameprince is Autumn Prince. I think both the red
color and fruit size is better on Autumn Prince.”
If parsed carefully, that says that (in terms of ripening date) Encore= Flame Prince, Autumn Prince is slightly later than both. Only “shortly after” Encore (first half of September for me) isn’t what I’m looking for, as I’d like some October peaches. I’m not sure if it will always ripen, but it’s worth a try.
But, Fruit Tree Farms puts Autumn Prince at Elberta+30, right near the end of September. 6-7 weeks sounds even better in that it would be mid-Oct. So, I suppose this just underscores what you mentioned about the confusion surrounding this peach.
I don’t think I have room for more than 2 of these late season peaches (I’ve already got plans to add 14 jujube’s and 9 euro plums, so there is only so much space I can free up ). So I’m currently leaning toward Heath Cling and Carnival- I can get both in a single order from DWN. I’ve seen (and tasted) Heath from Alan’s tree, so I feel good about that one. I’d love to hear from anyone who has tried growing Carnival.
That article you referenced by Jerry Frecon is one of the ones where they confused Augustprince with Autumnprince. It was probably just a typo. Augustprince (not Autumnprince) ripens close to Flameprince.
I’ve read the full release notes on Autumnprince before, and Autumnprince is a very very late peach according the the breeder.
Redhaven ripens about the 3rd week in July here (on average), which puts Elberta at about the third week in August. Another 6 or 7 weeks on top of that for Autumnprince would put it at the end of Oct. or into Nov. for me, which is too late.
Alan,
When Scott and I have discussed common varieties we grow, we’ve noticed the same thing. Almost every year my peach varieties start out ripening before some of the same varieties he has, but then he catches up and passes me, so by the end of the season his varieties are ripening before mine. I think my season is longer than you guys back east though. Last night was our first frost (to kill the tomatoes). It didn’t kill all of them, but tonight’s predicted frost should finish them off. That’s pretty normal for here. Our first killing frost is around Halloween, and our first bloom on peaches is averages around April 1st. A growing season of about 6 months.
Wouldn’t Aug W3 + 6.5W = 1.5W in Aug + 4W in Sept + 1 W in Oct put it around the end of the 1st week of October? That seems like a perfect time to me- about a week after I picked some nice Heath Clings at Alan’s orchard. It may not make it every year, but that sounds like a good one for the period. I saw the some Clemson data on it that listed it at 14-15 brix during the two years I found it. No certainty that it would get that high up here (in colder weather, shorter season, etc), but it seems like an interesting chance.
This year was earlier, but we normally get a frost within a couple days of Halloween too. But you definitely start the season earlier than us. Last year, my first peach (White River) was on 4/19. I’m not sure what it was this year, but I have some nice pics of NJF16 in full bloom on 5/1.
). So I’m currently leaning toward Heath Cling and Carnival- I can get both in a single order from DWN. I’ve seen (and tasted) Heath from Alan’s tree, so I feel good about that one. I’d love to hear from anyone who has tried growing Carnival.