Sources for Peach trees on Guardian rootstock?

General Fruit Growing
#1

I’m splitting this sub-topic out from this thread on peach tree deaths in which I was advised to try Guardian rootstock:

Does anyone have sources or nurseries that sell peaches on Guardian rootstock?

In the thread above, someone suggested I try Vaughn Nursery which has tons of trees on Guardian, but not the ones I’m looking for. http://vaughnnursery.com/peach/

I was hoping to find Rich May and Gold Dust on Guardian but haven’t been able to find a source. Both of those trees produced amazing peaches for me, and I wanted to replace them, but I’m wondering if I can get the same results on different varieties? Here’s the list from Vaughn that are on Guardian and are from the first half of the season.

Early Flavorich
Flavorich
Gulfking**
Carored
Crimson Lady
VN-D#1
Gulfcrimson***
Goldprince
Elle Grande
Junegold
Rubyprince
Summerprince
Coronet N
Juneprince
Gala
Maytime
Redhaven

How do any of those compare to Rich May and Gold Dust? I’m not married to those varieties, I’ve just had great tasting fruit from them (when they were alive!) so I was going to replant, but if I can get great tasting early fruit on any of the above varieties, I’ll change it up.

Thanks!
Bart

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#2

Why are you limiting yourself to just the very early varieties, which are
mostly cling? IMHO the better varieties ripen after Redhaven and are
free stone.

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#3

I have some mid and late season varieties that are still doing well. I’m just trying to replace my early season trees that have died.

(The thread above was about my mysterious peach tree deaths of Rich May, Gold Dust and Sugar Giant)

#4

I believe folks have said on previous threads that Flavorich and Rich May are different names for the same variety.

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#5

Flavorich aka Rich May, is somewhat of unique tasting peach. It has quite a lot of acid, but can produce a good amount of sugar to, delivering a very intense flavor. Too many times my Rich May trees didn’t get adequate sunlight because they ripened with cloudy/rainy weather. Plus the production was pretty shy, so I removed them. But I know of no early variety peach which tastes quite like it.

Gold Dust is different, in my experience. It’s a fairly unremarkable (though good) peach. In that window, I’d recommend Risingstar or Glenglo. Redhaven ripens a couple weeks later, but has been a good variety for me.

Juneprince has been a complete dud for me, as has GaLa. In good sites they may do fine, but at my site they didn’t produce much.

I believe Cumberland Valley also sells some peaches on Guardian, so you might check with them. I don’t think they have a Website, so you’ll have to call to get a catalog.

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#6

Thanks Palmer and Olpea!!! I had no idea that the same peach could have different names.

#7

Same for my location in central NC. Here, Redhaven is the beginning of the really good freestone peaches, even if it is sometimes rated as semi-freestone. I grow also Rich May, Carored, Rubyprince, Gala and a few other early peaches too. Every early clingstone, homegrown peach is a lot better than no homegrown peaches, but my mid season peaches like Winblo, Contenter, Fire Prince produce a lot of excellent quality peaches. Its normal for folks to drive more than 30 minutes in order to buy these peaches.

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