Here’s what Wikipedia says about Saturn peaches. They have been around a while and have their origins in China. Sure is an interesting looking fruit.
A few folks on here, like @Olpea have grown them. I think he’s said due to their shape they may be more susceptible to disease.
TangOS and BuenOS are a newer variety of donuts, there’s two varieties of each. There is also a Galaxy flat peach.
donuts shaped peach is way older than that. In China, regular shaped peach tasted way better and is bigger and juicier so donut shaped peach was not popular till recent years
The label does not mention it. Yeah I was hoping to extend the protection a bit. Probably a waste of sticker but what the heck, my jug may last 50 years!
Subdood,
I can’t remember if I said that. If so it’s been a long time ago. A lot of other people have said that.
It was discussed by me and others a couple years ago I think, but a consensus was never reached.
I come down on the side that shape doesn’t matter when it comes to rot susceptibility.
The thought has been that the saucer peach holds water in the dimple where the peach is attached to the shoot.
The main reason I don’t think that matters is because I’ve seen flat peaches of every orientation rot on the tree, even peaches affixed sideways on the shoot, so there are no cavities for the water to rest in. I’ve also noticed some genetic differences in rot susc. with flat peaches.
People have complained about rot with the Saturn donut peach, but that’s been one of the more rot resistant peaches.
Tangos has been one of the worst to rot for me. Tangos II hasn’t been that great either.
When using Strep. you need to spray blooms every 2-3 days and after rain, there should be no need for a sticker. It’s a pain in the neck if your not a commercial grower.
A spraying of 50/50 white vinegar and water seems to help slow the spread of Fireblight for me, as well as staying on top of aphids.
Your season doesn’t have consistent rain, but mine does and Saturn is a rotter as much as TangO’s here, so I’m inclined to believe that shape is part of the issue. TangO’s is just more prone to skin discoloration here. You mentioned that saucer peaches often don’t produce viable seed- I’ve seen a possible connection between early season ovary damage and rot that begins from the fractured seed- so maybe that’s another part of it. If you look at all the saucer peaches as a collection, the tendency to being harder to protect form rot is pretty clear and saucer peaches are defined by their shape.
Do you use just regular canning type strength vinegar strength ( 5% acidity) varieties to do your 50/50 mix?
Not all the flat peaches are rotters, I grew Galaxy, a big Saturn, and it was more or less average on the rot front. It wasn’t nearly as tasty as Saturn or I would have kept it. For now I have given up on the flat peaches, I didn’t find one that was both tasty and reliably producing.
Yes, just plain old 5% white vinegar. The vinegar may burn the leaves, but it helps stop (or at least slow) the blight. Thanks Bill @Auburn for telling me about it.
Scott,
Did you notice that Galaxy was especially unproductive? I’ve got a couple trees newer trees and they didn’t produce this year or last. They seem to be the very first to bloom, by far. And based upon what I’m seeing this year, our winter low of -9F completely iced all the fruit buds on this variety.
It’s looking like they just signed their death warrant.
I originally presented the theory here or more likely at GW that the shape of the donut encouraged rot, and it was based on observations of Saturn before TangO. However it could just be a coincidence. Saturn is also very wet and has a kind of thin skin.
TangO’s, when well grown here, is an exceptionally good and unusual peach- when I provide samples of it customers always want a tree of their own. Last year was the first where it didn’t bring a crop even though it set plenty of fruit. Black and brown rot couldn’t be controlled. Usually its problems are mostly cosmetic.
Even though the peach is not as substantial as the round ones it needs to be thinned to the same spacing to achieve best quality. The ones I see in stores are tiny compared to what I grow.
Galaxy always produced well for me. I now remember the main problem was that it had “rubbery” flesh. It would also soften in spots.
TangOs generally sets well here. It’s worse for me on the rot front than almost any other peach. Sometimes the skin has issues which are cosmetic. Other times they rot. Last year probably a third of them rotted, with a regular spray program. Other peaches had virtually no rot.
I’ve only been cropping them for 5 years and will need another 5 to really know the peach, but a lot of small commercial growers around here are making money growing them from what I can see. Like you said in an earlier post- they sweeten while still firm. I like soft luscious peaches, but a little crispness is a nice change during peach season- they are even edible while still rubber.
Any zone 7ers plant their new trees yet? I received my shipment from Cummon’s on Saturday night and they are still wrapped up in my garage.
I am planning to perform a few bark grafts in the coming weeks (pecan, persimmon, pear). I feel high temps are one of the big causes of failures here in the Deep South. I’ve heard of lightly wrapping the scion and actual graft with foil to prevent excessive temps. I use parafilm, tape and plastic as a sealant for all my field grafts. I was thinking of painting the sealed scion and graft union with white latex paint in order to lower temps. Does anyone foresee any issues with this? Yes, the graft union will be sealed from any possible paint that may leak in.
I am in zone 7A - My Cummins trees came on Thursday and went in the ground on Saturday. 5 pear trees. I have been planting trees for the last month - some nurseries are shipping early this year. Firm believer that bareroot trees should go in the ground next day after receiving them. They would have gone in the ground Friday but I was traveling …
My pear trees looked good, good roots but to me Cummins trees are always small. There #1 pear would not be a number 1 at the other nurseries I deal with. I do like Cummins selection …
Thanks,
I wish I could have got them in sooner but it did not happen. I’m going to do it tomorrow morning. (I took the day off work!)
This will be my 4th year of fruiting the Saturn Peach. Las year I got 24 Tangos for the first fruiting.
Brown rot has not yet found my orchard so I may have to eat my words in the future.
My major problem was not damaging them as I pick them and not the rot. Any suggestions for a better method or harvesting without stripping/ripping the skin at the stem
Mike
When I placed my order I had asked to have the order shipped first week of April. But I just called the nursery the other day and asked them to ship now. I’m expecting it to be here by Friday. I should dig my holes and get ready. Maybe Thursday when it’s a bit warmer.