I started picking about a week ago. This is today’s harvest. Really getting going now. Brix is around 15, they were around 16 last year (I didn’t thin as much this year). It’s a little crazy. I picked this many once already. Estimate I have picked less than half so far.
27 Likes
They look amazing. How do they taste?
I have a couple of Contenders and one RedHaven peach planted. They taste great and the RedHaven is a little bit more tart than the Contender. Both are very juicy and sweet. I hate store bought peaches , they are always more mushy and woody tasting. Never very tasty even though the grocery store ones look good.
I have the PF 35-007. It is only in its 3rd greening. I was hoping to get at least one peach this year but none of the blooms took. So perhaps next year I can get a taste of one.
1 Like
The peaches are great. This variety usually runs about 3 points higher in brix than my Redhaven, acid seems higher too. I’ve started letting them sit on the counter for a couple days prior to eating. They are pretty tasty. Something to look forward to each year. Definitely my wife’s favorite variety so far.
1 Like
Only bad thing about peaches is once they are ripe you have to do something with them all. I had a lot of peaches the last two years and I made a lot of peach preserves from them. A lot of work in a short time but so delicious to eat all year long.
Glad you wife likes them so well.
My daughter likes RedHaven better and my wife likes Contender better. So now the true test will to see if one of them bends and switches their " Best Peach" label to the PF 35-007.
Your peaches look great though. Great job with them.
3 Likes
I’ve planted PF-24C and Contender here, but both winter killed. So did Reliance. Then I tried Siberian C, which died, but has resprouted to a 12" whip more than once. Still, every few years I am dumb enough to order another peach tree, in case of Global Warming, which has not happened yet in northern Wisconsin!
4 Likes
Where I am it is a hit or miss with peaches. Just about the time the blooms open up we usually always get a frost/freeze of some type. I planted these four so I would possibly get some peaches. The two years prior to this year I did about 50-60 lbs of pitted and skinned Contender peaches, about 30 lbs of RedHaven peaches. I had to weight them to make the right sugar combination for the preserves. That’s how I remembered the poundage. This year I got maybe 3 dozen peaches at most. No preserves, just peach cobbler and some fresh eating peaches.
There sued to be a peach orchard down the road from me that was owned by a fruit farm. After a while they just left all the peach trees to their won device and stopped fighting to get peaches. Eventually all the trees died and the field just sat there.
2 Likes
Mine started to ripen, too. However, the ones that dropped so far have tasted bland, very disappointig. Not sure why. I have this variety for several year so I know it tastes very good.
Last year they were bland because of wet summer. This year we had very wet spring but a decent summer ( hot and dry for the most part.
PF24 C is a late peach. I would think the heavy spring rain would not have affected it. Still not sure what causes the blandness!!!
@alan, @BobVance, @galinas, @SMC_zone6, @AJfromElmiraNY, @MES111 , how are your late peaches?
Mine just started to ripen, and somewhat bland too. Though I didn’t thin it enough. But this usually was not the problem before.
1 Like
My Indian Free are holding on tight and ripening nicely. But they’re still a few weeks away from being ready to pick.
1 Like
WOW! What pretty peaches.
I’m STILL waiting to see what a PF24C tastes like. I planted one in '16 but the blossoms have never survived (really only have had a handful of peaches off of any of my trees that I planted that year, so even though they’ve grown into decent looking peach trees structure-wise, I just don’t think they’re old enough to get it done)
I took 374 peaches off my Redhaven this year, and while they were good enough… they weren’t as good as they have been in the past. I’m saying it’s a rain thing. I thinned it well.
On the other hand, I thinned Madison only once. The peaches are I think better by a long ways than the Redhaven were. I did have a branch break under heavy fruit-load and wind
about 8-10 days before they were ready, but this tree (planted in '15) has served me up 501 peaches as of yesterday and there’s maybe 20 left on it.
Like MikeC says, once they’re ready you have to get your work gear on, because it’s go-go-go! I ran out of boxes to deliver them to people, and I’m tired of processing them.
The takeaway for me is that I need to be more diligent with thinning ALL the trees. (Seems I get it right on 2 or 3, then only half-right on the others as I get busy and tell myself “well I thinned 'em once, if I get a chance I’ll take another stab at it”)
Ya do all the things mostly right throughout the year to make a peach, then drop the ball on this VERY important element.
I will say that I am pretty darn amazed at the flavor of the Madison in spite of me!
Again Spokane; kudos on an amazing table full of picture perfect peaches! Very well done!!!
8 Likes
I don’t think it is only a matter of thinning. Some of my peaches were on the bland side as well. I thinned better than in past years (though it can always be improved). In the past, my Carolina Gold peaches were a bit small (tennis ball at most). This year, I got some which were almost Softball sized. But while the flavor was OK as always (a distinctly flavored peach), the brix on most were only about 12. This year I maxed out with an occasional 15-16 reading, but in the past my small ones sometimes hit 18+ (and rarely 20+), with 15 being pretty common.
I’m not sure if it was the weather or some other factor. Maybe I had too much foliage on the branches above the peaches? I may need to do some summer pruning to open things up. It would probably help with the brown rot, which was pretty bad this year and cost me a majority of the crop.
3 Likes
Thanks Jerry! I agree with your experience on thinning. It’s the least enjoyable part and the one I am liable to slack on.
This year’s PF24C is still pretty good for me, sweet with high acid. But overall I had only a small number of peaches per tree, only 7 PF24C and I did not thin any.
i hear you. I’ve been debating trying the siberian. now i know not to! Canada has some true z3 hardy peaches but very expensive to get them sent to the U.S. maybe eventually some company will offer them here.
I’m on Long Island with plenty of cloudy and rainy weather this year. I have a Summer Lady x Autumn Lady seedling with one peach that survived the squirrels & raccoons. It ripened yesterday and was excellent. Strong sweet and tart flavor. No brix reading. Will graft to rootstock next year and hope it turns out to be a healthy peach.
I should mention this peach was in a container and often it was wilted before I bothered to water it.
6 Likes
Well, I think I have an answer for my own question. @BobVance mentioned having to many leaves shading fruit. That made me realize that I have the opposite problem. I don’t have enough leaves to feed all the peaches I left on the tree.
This tree was attacked/weakened by borers in 2017. It has survived and produced last year. I have notice a lack of new growth since last year.
This year, I doped it with urea. It has perked up but not as much as I wanted. I thinned tons of little peaches off. Still, I think I have left too many considering the poor leaves to fruit ratio.
Of course, I just realized this after the fact. I may need to remove this tree in the near future and plant a new healthy tree.
1 Like
This is the first I heard about the Canadian peaches. I would be better not to know.
1 Like
PF must stand for Perfection!
2 Likes
Haven’t heard of a zone 3 Canadian peach. Do you have a name?
1 Like
Beautiful, big fruit, I’m so jealous! They look very clean, too. Do you have a certain spray regimen, or is being in dry eastern WA conducive to less diseases? Those look to be about tennis ball size?
I have a couple big peach trees (Contender and Blushingstar), but no fruit this year, but high hopes for next year.
1 Like