North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

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From: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Reply-To: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 06:10:57 -0400
To: ARS News subscriber <lonrom@hevanet.com>
Subject: Two Tasty New Peaches

STORY LEAD:
Two New Peach Varieties Released
___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Sharon Durham, (301) 504-1611, sdurham@ars.usda.gov
July 26, 2004
___________________________________________

Two new peach varieties, Scarletprince and Julyprince, developed by the
Agricultural Research Service, are now available to growers and nurserymen.
Budwood has been distributed to commercial nurseries for production of trees
for the southeastern United States.

Horticulturist W. R. Okie, at the ARS Southeastern Tree Nut and Fruit
Laboratory in Byron, Ga., developed the new varieties to allow growers to
have better varieties to fill the market's needs. Peach varieties are
planted to ripen at different times to extend the growing season, thus
providing a steady supply of fruit to consumers.

Scarletprince ripens in late June or early July at Byron, about the same
time as a similar peach, Redglobe, a leading variety. At maturity, the skin
surface is 90 percent bright red with an attractive yellow background color.
The flesh of this freestone fruit is yellow, with some red in the flesh if
allowed to mature on the tree. It is firm, with excellent texture and good
flavor. 

In addition to the wonderful fruit, the tree, first planted in Byron in
1987, appears to be moderately resistant to bacterial spot disease, though
not highly resistant.

Julyprince peach, first planted in Byron in 1993, ripens in early to
mid-July at Byron, about three to 10 days after Redglobe. At Byron, the
fruit develops a yellow background color early, but can be left firm on the
tree another seven to 10 days to increase size and red color. At maturity,
the surface is 70-80 percent bright red with an attractive yellow background
color. The flesh is yellow with some red coloring near the pit. Julyprince
trees are vigorous and productive and appear to be moderately resistant to
bacterial spot disease.

For both varieties, the fruit is large--almost 3 inches in diameter--and
round. The fruit is also firm and softens slowly while on the tree, allowing
it to be picked over a longer period than comparable varieties.

A limited amount of budwood is available for research purposes.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
agency.
___________________________________________

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