Does anyone have thoughts on any big difference between PF 9A-007 peach and Redhaven?
I made a late spring impulse purchase of PF 9A-007 from Stark and it died immediately. As far as I can tell Stark is not offering again this year so I probably will eat the loss and order the 9A-007 from another source.
I know @Olpea has both and has written favorably about 9A-007. Does anyone have it in their yard.
Any difference in hardiness?
Is 9A-007 reliability freestone? The years I had Redhaven here it was quite clingy and I was annoyed about that. Taste was good though.
As you mention, I have posted favorable comments about 9a-007. It’s become my favorite peach for the window about 5 days prior to Redhaven.
Some websites list it ripening with Redhaven. While there is considerable overlap, it really starts ripening about 5 days prior to Redhaven here.
It’s actually a little more clingy than Redhaven, but many years it’s completely free. Redhaven is always freestone here.
One trick to getting a peach off the pit if it’s a little clingy is not to twist the peach off, like you normally would with a peach completely freestone. Instead, take a knife with a somewhat wide blade (at least an inch wide) cut along the suture all the way around the peach (like you would a normal freestone peach). Then instead of trying to twist the peach off, take the knife and use it to pry the peach apart along the suture. Just a little twist of the knife will generally do it. If cutting them in half and prying them apart won’t do it, try the same quartering them and prying.
This won’t work for peaches which are fully cling, but works well if they are somewhat clingy, soft, and ready to eat.
As mentioned, you may already do this, but I mention it because I had a customer this summer who has bought peaches to can/freeze from me for a lot of years. This summer she got some early peaches which were clingy. She called me up frustrated because she was mangling them trying to get them off the pit. I told her to open them up by twisting the knife and she’d never heard of it. It worked for her. She was happy as pie after that.
Thanks @olpea. I didn’t know about the knife twisting trick.
The earlier ripening of 9A-007 is possibly a plus as this is about the last week of July here in IA with Redhaven being the first week of August. That is before the first good apples (Zestar and Wm’s Pride).
I think I will get 9A-007, then. I can always find Redhaven scions here or a tree at a box store.
I picked my first PF 9A-007 peaches yesterday. They are quite good for being small. I didn’t thin enough early enough when we had OKish rain/soil moisture and I don’t think they sized up really well.
PF 9A-007 seems to be freestone for me (this year).
Looks like my guess at last week of July was pretty good. And yes, likely 5 days before Redhaven as I have picked Redhaven about Aug 5-7 in years past when I had a tree.
I also really like that these seem to be a modern variety with a single pass picking.
FWIW, my Early Redhaven is roughly 2 weeks earlier than Redhaven. Otherwise it is very similar. So I start picking Early Redhaven in the 3rd-4th week of July and Redhaven in the 1st week of August.