Yeah… weird thing is I checked the area yesterday… didn’t seem more “wet” than any other portion of my plantings. The ground isn’t squishy, soil not muddy, etc.
oh, I also looked for PTB. Dug down around the base, looked for all the tell tale signs (holes, brownish sap, etc) and couldn’t find anything. I am really beginning to wonder if by being at the “bottom” of these plantings that the nutrients are being just washed out. Kind of like being in a pot like another poster had mentioned.All the other trees have at least some dirt within a foot or so of the trunk where as this tree really has nothing but concrete block.
Sean,
Maybe that’s it. Maybe the roots are just too constricted. I once witnessed a peach tree collapse at an acquaintance. It was surrounded by concrete (driveway, retaining wall, etc.) However there was a difference. Theirs had decent vigor up to the point of collapse. Honestly, I give up on why two of your trees lack vigor. It’s going to take someone smarter than me (probably not hard to find) to figure it out.
Maybe I’ll start hitting them with some N if they don’t “wake up” pretty soon. Although I will say they do look better this year than the last 2.
I took a pic today of PF5b and PF9-007.
Here’s PF5b:
<img src=“/uploads/default/original/2X/2/2c5c27c2ebf001f673f5dd4f7911334f067d17b3.jpg” width="690"height=“414”>
Here’s PF9-007:
Both varieties didn’t set a ton of fruit, but that may give you an idea of size at this point.
I didn’t realize you wanted pics from the video until I reread your post. I would say the Redhaven peaches are about the same size as the peaches in the pics. Saturn is probably close to some of your bigger flat peaches in your photo.
Thanks for the pics. Awesome looking fruit. If you don’t mind sharing besides the Saturn, RedHaven, 5B, and 9-007 what other peaches do you grow? Do you feed them anything, or just plant and forget?
Thanks Sean.
Actually we grow about a hundred different varieties. Your question made me look at my notes and I think I counted about 107 different varieties (including nectarines) but not all of those are old enough to be fruiting.
Some varieties are just one tree, others which have been proven here are like 15 trees.
I’ve done a fair amount of soil testing and tried to get the soil nutrients in the recommended range. In doing that I’ve applied various nutrients, mainly P, K, and Zn.
After I got the soil nutrients in what appears to be the recommended range, I’ve pretty much just applied wood chips as an ongoing feeding regime.
That said, I still have some problems w/ light colored leaves w/ dark veins. I’ve done quite a few leaf analyses and tried spraying chelated minerals to correct the deficiency the lab says the leaves have. But still I’ve not been able to eliminate the “chlorisis” in the leaves.
I’ve about come to the conclusion the trees grow too fast to take up all the nutrients they need. I’ve noticed once the wood chips break down to bare soil, the trees don’t show near the amount of chlorosis. The chlorosis doesn’t seem to affect production or vigor here, but I’d prefer to see uniform dark green leaves on all the trees.
What is your earliest to ripen?
Do you expect a lot of very big fruit with a light crop on some of your trees? Is that a good/bad thing?
I’ve been watching my Sweet Bagel…while it set a ton of fruit, its been slowly shedding most of them. It is container grown, but it does seem like those donuts seem to thin themselves more so then the typical peaches.
107?!?! Dear lord!! Ok, if you could narrow it down to your top 10 in terms of producing and taste. While it would be wonderful to have one of the best tasting peaches i think it would be a waste to either have it set very poorly, or just not a hardy variety.
I see the same varieties being tossed around but most aren’t in my zone or even close.
Warmwx,
Right now it’s Rich May. I’m really not sure about this peach. Last year we had a ton of rain and cloudy weather and these peaches had no sugar. This year we’ve had a lot of rain and cloudy weather (though not as much as last year). If it’s a dud for me again this year, I’ll probably pull those trees out (ten trees). Alan has mentioned Rich May has performed well in his area.
Early peaches are just tougher to get a decent peach (size and sugar). I pulled ten PF1 out last year, after years of inconsistent quality in my home orchard. If I pull Rich May (-33) my earliest peach would then be Desiree (about -25).
I do expect a lot of big fruit on some varieties. Most varieties got bloom thinned from the frost, so the remaining fruit probably have a very large cell count. It’s generally a good thing, except for early varieties and flat peaches. The early varieties are more prone to split pit when the peaches are too big. I’ve seen that before, where you have a light crop anyway, then the split pits (which you can’t sell) take more away.
Flat peaches want to split at the calyx end. When they grow too fast, it makes it worse. Those splits typically heal over, but it doesn’t make for a very pretty or saleable peach. Later round peaches don’t typically have these issues.
I agree. I’ve gotten to where I thin donuts last, because they seem to shed so much fruit on their own here. That said, they generally set a good amount of fruit.
Sweet Bagel is my very last peach. I’m not sure if I will keep this one. It is very prone to bac. spot here. It’s hard to get a decent looking fruit. We have high bac. spot pressure here.
Well, there are a lot of non-standout peaches, so it’s a bit hard to put a list together. It’s not that non-standout peaches taste bad, its just that they don’t stand out.
Let me offer some of my favorite peaches based on various characteristics. Some of these peaches I don’t have a lot of experience with, so I reserve the right to retract my submissions. I also have others coming on, which may replace some of the ones I like in the following list. Also, I only list peaches I’ve fruited and tasted. For example, I’m pretty excited about Julyprince. The foliage and fruit look good, but I haven’t tasted the fruit yet, so it’s not on the list.
Silvergem Nect. (-15) Wonderful tasting white nect. Fairly resistant to bac. spot so far.
Flat Wonderful (-14). Good backyard (or front yard) peach. Easy to grow and very ornamental.
Glenglo (-11). Very nice clean large peach.
Saturn (-4). Very sweet white peach. Some people mention this flat peach is prone to rot, but I didn’t see any last year w/ constant rain. I do have a fairly rigorous fungicide program. I’ve just harvested this peach one year, but was impressed enough to make quite a few copies of this tree.
Redhaven (0). One of the most grower friendly peaches out there. Heavy producer of nice sized fruit. Beautiful color. Nice flavor here, unless it rains very heavily the last two weeks of ripening (which doesn’t happen too often here).
TangOs II (+8). Another outstanding tasting white flat peach. In contrast to Saturn, this is a non-melting peach.
Contender (+21). I debated whether to put it on this list. It’s nothing outstanding in flavor (although a very decent peach) but it is very reliable. I’m thinking of making more copies of this peach. It’s produced when we’ve had a cold winter, or frosty spring.
PF24c (+24). See Contender.
Madison (+26). Another very reliable producer. It doesn’t color well at all, but has a decent flavor.
Redskin (+28). See Madison.
PF35-007 (+40). Another reliable producer, which grows big fruit. Again decent flavor.
Olpea. Do you grow Indian Free and if so does it perform well in your climate?
Speed,
I’ve grown it before, but it was a mecca for bac. spot here. It also cracked for me.
It does have a really unique flavor. I would recommend it for people who already have several yellow and white peaches, and want more diversity in flavor, and haven’t seen much bac. spot pressure.
Indian Free also is highly prone to rot, and does not size up well. I still grow it for the unique flavor, and its also in a very late window where there are few peach varieties. I expect there will eventually be some better red-fleshed peaches as interest in them grows, but they are not here yet…
I expect Saturn requires a vigorous disease spray program for people not in California. It was one of my most highly prone to rot varieties.
We are enjoying Rich May peaches now for the 1st time, the 1st fruit to pick of the season. Our Rich May is 4 years old but I lost the prior 2 years crops to spring freezes. I find Rich May to be a nice peachy tasting and juicy peach but not particularly sweet. We have had plenty of sunshine in the last month but I guess not enough to get the sugar level up. We have family in town for my daughter’s high school graduation and it nice to offer them some fresh fruit right off the tree this time of year.
I am so jealous. They look great!!!
Your peaches are beautiful Chris! I bet you could make some awesome jam!
I put down my first borer spray. MSU weekly updates said that they are active.
What borers do you have there?
Annie, the first peaches of the year can’t go into jam! They MUST be eaten fresh (and also used to impress others that you actually can grow fruit). Too much time, effort, hope, and luck go into those first ripe fruit to enjoy them any way except for fresh.
The jam making is for a little later when there is an (over)abundance and your initial yearnings have been satisfied.