North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Richard Moyer" <ramoyer@gmail.com>]

Barabara wrote:
I am interested in exactly what varieties are doing so well at your
place.  I try my best in my Central Piedmont Virginia orchard, but the
peach trees are struggling.  One of my Carolina bell has a lot of
gummosis coming out of the tree in suspiciously straight lines evenly
spaced, and the tree is half dead.  Extension thinks it might be
bacterial, so I guess the tree is a goner.  But what varieties work for you?

 

Barbara,

A single peach tree was here in '92 when we moved in, with no label, and no other peaches we know of within about 1/4 mile.  The other isolated trees around town we pick from are unnamed as well.  Note that we do not have an orchard of peaches, or even multiple bearing trees on our land.   I wonder if part of our success is due to isolated peach trees, instead of trying to raise multiple peach trees, organically, in close proximity. 

 

Our 3 named peach trees are only 1-3 years old, with a 'Surecrop' looking good so far this year, but no ripe fruit yet.  Was out this morning thinning fruit off this tree, over 90% of it perfect fruit, but it might be more the isolation of our site than the particular cultivar. 

Michael McConkey, Edible Landscaping, has been growing peaches for years near you.  Check out his disease resistant peach recommendations at http://www.eat-it.com.  See both his online care instructions and online catalog for peaches.  Also worth asking Don Yellman which cultivars work best for him.

 

Sorry I can't give you surefire cultivar names.  All I read says that peach production is a challenge in our area, regardless of cultivar, and that accurately knowing the particular diseases and insects you face, and how to break their life cycles, is key.  Don't forget that pears (both Euro and Asian) are tree fruit that are generally regarded as much easier to grow than peaches, especially with fireblight resistant cultivars.

Richard Moyer

East Tennessee