What Are You going to Order for 2016?

I (and hopefully others) would be interested in hearing what you all are planning to order this year, and - if you know- where you are going to order it from. Any insights into why you’re ordering it would also be fun (ie if you tasted it somewhere and loved it, read something great about it, its something available for the first year, etc).

I’m just starting my list but one that I’d love to hear opinions about is Carnival Peach. You can probably guess the reason…its an extremely late peach and I’d love to extend my season. I already have several early varieties. Groworganic has run out of it every year I’ve looked but so far they have it. (Don’t rush over there and buy them up b4 I do!!!) ha
BTW, it looks like FruitTreeFarm.com has no peaches at all this year!!! WOW.

Here’s the list of trees I’ve ordered for this planting season (the Anna Spath is already here):

Euro Plums:
Middleburg- Arboreum, 29c
Reine Claude de Juillet- Arboreum, 29C
Anna Spath, Rolling River, myro
Gras Romanesc- Raintree, mar
Ersinger- Raintree, mar
Leonie- Arboreum, 29c
Late Muscatelle- Arboreum, 29c
Jefferson- Trees of Antiquity, mar
Bavey Gage- Arboreum, 29c

Peach:
White Heath Cling- Sanhedrin, Nem
Carnival- Sanhedrin, Cit

Apricot:
Hesse- Arboreum, Cit
Montrose- BurntRidge
Mirsunjeli Late- Arboreum, cit

Note that I’ve left the jujubes (16 of them) out of the list, as I’ve already described them in the other thread.

I asked that same question, but it seems that nobody on here has grown it before, so I’ll give it a shot. You’re just starting? I think I’m done. At least I’m trying to convince myself that every spot is now spoken for and I shouldn’t add any more.

Several of these are things that Scott has spoken highly of (Middleburg, Hesse, White Heath, and Bavays). Others are shots in the dark, like Carnival, Gras Romanesc, Reine Claude de Juillet, and Late Muscatelle. Some, like Anna Spath, were added because I found a single encouraging mention in an online post or paper.

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Carnival rates a solid “OK” for me. Every year I’m thankful for a late peach, and every year I am reminded that I’d probably rather be eating a different type of fruit that is actually in season (like a pome, Apple, pear, etc.) By the time we get to Carnival, we’ve eaten a lot of peaches, and it follows our favorite (Indian Free). This year it seemed firmer than normal and had less flavor, I’d guess in the 10ish brix range. My wife declined to eat any, I had a few. Anyways. It’s ok. Definitely not in the same class as Gold Dust, which is on the other extreme of the ripening chart.

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That was a huge help, @Tylt33 , As noted above, Bob and I have both had a hard time finding out much about Carnival at all… I can absolutely relate to what you are saying about sort of being done with peaches by the time this one comes in. I always plant some late watermelons and whether its because I’ve already eaten so many or because watermelon is such a summertime food in my mind, I’ve never enjoyed eating a watermelon in late sept/early October. Also sounds like Carnival is a mediocre peach anyway. I don’t know if I’ll try it or not now.

But now you have me interested in Gold Dust. I don’t know much about it either other than its early. I always thought early peaches were pretty bland and I have one unknown, very early peach (here when I moved in) and it is mediocre too. So, is Gold Dust an exception to the general rule of early peaches not being that great? Thanks.

City,

Gold Dust is touted as the earliest-ripening excellent peach fully freestone. It is recommended by @scottfsmith as a Calif-bred peach that handles the humid East fairly well. I have one planted based on his recommendations. Lots of info on Gold Dust here if you search the forum.

There are other early peaches reported to do well in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic (Rich May; Springcrest; Harrow Diamond; Candor; Desiree) but Gold Dust may be the best of the earlies.

I’ve only had a few Gold Dust so far from my young tree, but it is far better than the PF1’s which are ready a week or two earlier.

That doesn’t sound encouraging. I would sub Autumn Prince if they offered it. Are there any other late peaches that you prefer? It sounds like I should try Indian Free…

Indian Free is a September-ish peach and is my favorite; a very zesty peach. I told one of my coworkers that it would be the best peach she had ever eaten, and she was highly skeptical until she tried one. They are my wife’s favorite too.

If I recall correctly, Fairtime is a bit earlier than Carnival, but is better. Fairtime is grown commercially around here, while Carnival isn’t, not sure why.

If you can handle brown rot, Arctic Star is basically peerless (IMO) for the season (early). I’m having major brown rot issues with it though, unfortunately. It’s a nectarine, not a peach, I’ve gotten it up to 26+ brix, and fruitnut has taken it well beyond that.

Now we’re talking real fruit!!! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

If you like Indian Free try Arctic Glo nectarine, it’s better IMHO. Same nice acid sugar balance, probably with a higher brix, much like Arctic Star except it has the acid too. Ripens in August. Zaiger’s nectarines seem to be exceptional all around. If you like acid-sugar or low acid, they seem to be the best as far as taste goes. My Glo is young as are my trees. I spray too, so really have no idea if I will have a brown rot problem? I can tell you in a few years. My Arctic Glo is 3rd leaf with no rot so far.

Well, thanks to the conversation above I can reply to my own topic by saying “I will be adding Gold Dust to my 2016 order list”. I do recall hearing quite a bit about it here…sometimes I just don’t the best memory with so many similar fruit names. The good news is I already have a few of the other mentioned varieties: 2 Indian Free, and 1 Fairtime, so the argument could be made that I have enough late season (define enough!!!). I also have an arctic fantasy nectarine- wonder if its akin to Arctic Glo or Arctic Star? This is why I sometimes get a bit confused/forgetful- so many similar names!

Iirc, fruitnut or one of the other pros noted that the Zaiger “Arctic” and “Honey” series are pretty much uniformly great.

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Yes but Arctic Glo and Arctic Jay have some acid, Glo more so. All others are low acid. But yeah both series appear to be awesome.

I haven’t heard of Arctic Fantasy. So don’t know if it’s Zaiger’s. I won’t give all the Arctic series a 9 or 10. Arctic Glo is too acid in my setup which concentrates both sugars and acid. In TN that probably won’t be an issue. Rot and such would be big issues.

FYI, my arctic fantasy actually comes from Willis, and they say its very similar to Goldmine, and that it is a red nectarine. I’ve read that nectarines may be quite hard to grow here, so I guess I’ll find out! Thanks.

I am headed in the other direction at this point, with around 30 varieties slated for removal or already removed. Keep in mind I planted many trees at 3’ apart and many have multiple grafts on them, so its partly that I am making room for the neighboring varieties that are better. Here is my “list” as it were, of what I am removing. I added one jujube and may get a few more, and I also may get a Victoria to give me some really late peaches.

Mirabelle de Metz (only good for jam, rots too much)
Reine des Mirabelles (never fruiting; may keep one more year)
Purple Gage (never fruiting)
Moissac (very small and stringy, there are better Gages)
Beauty (watery, rots)
Flavor Supreme (no fruit)
Shiro (decent plum but need to make room for better ones)

Rovada (rots etc)
Nicole

Williams Pride (watercores; would keep anyway if I was using more early apples)
Beverly Hills
Sierra Beauty
Belmont (nothing special)
Ellison’s Orange (too early)
Garden Royal (decent but mealy too fast)
Holstein (bad watercore, low production)
Roxbury Russet (never fruiting, in shade)
Bramley (ditto)
Canada Red (early apple, not eating them)
Calvin Rouge d’Automne mislabeled
Myers Royal Limbertwig - replace with Black Limbertwig?
Golden Russet - replace with American Golden Russet?
Yoinashi - rotted badly one year, and not as good as others
Ya Li (was tiny anyway)
Dana Hovey (FB on base had spread all over)
Coscia (was cramping neighbor trees to the extreme; its an early pear, not so interested in them due to rots)

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Scott, when you say remove, do you dig up the trees or prune them back for grafting? If you dug them up I’d buy all of your mirabelles!

They are too old to dig up, they are 14 years old. I find anything more than 5 years old gets impossible to dig up. I generally cut them off at the ground. Some of the above I am going to topwork on to, but most will turn into stumps.

Please take pictures! This is incredible.

on-order for 2016:

  • Canadian Tehranivee and Vandalay Cherry on Gi3
    (This is crazy for east coast z7b! They will be containerized on dolly, hopefully I can beat the rain :smile: )
  • Romance series cherry Romeo and Juliet

Any comments and suggestions are welcomed.

Nothing on order yet. Getting a few persimmons tomorrow…does that count?

Might order a pawpaw or two to round out the pawpaw patch down yonder (30’ from my garage, haha). Looking at Mango and NC-1.

Some grafting to do, but mostly focusing on what I have for the season!