North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Mark Angermayer" <hangermayer@isp.com>]

Bill wrote:

 Mark, this is the first year I've had any peaches, but this doesn't
> describe my Reliance peach at all. (Then again, there's been a lot on
> the list about misnamed fruit trees, hasn't there?) I got the tree from
> Stark Bros. in 2006, and it set on a ton of fruit this year. I had to
> thin it heavily. But the remaining fruit were really big,... and
> absolutely wonderful! I was just delighted at how they turned out.

Hi Bill,

It could be my tree is mislabeled.  Let me give you a bit more of a
description so as to be able to determine if we're talking about the same
variety tree.  I got this Reliance from Burnt Ridge, planted spring 2006.
My Reliance was also loaded with blossoms (non-showy).  It bloomed later
than all my other varieties (about a week later than most).  I thinned it
hard after petal fall and thinned some more a few weeks later, as I did
other varieties.  Like yours, mine also ripened before Redhaven, about a
week before.  Except for one other variety, it was the smallest peach.  It
probably averaged 2.25", where most of the other peaches averaged 2.75".  It
had very poor color (I'm trying to remember here, I think it only had about
25% red on the skin).  It was affected by bacterial spot pretty bad,
although not so bad it had skin cracks.  It did tend to hold its fruit well
(few drops) but as I said, it got soft (and mushy) quick on the tree.
Taste, obviously, is the most subjective part, so this will be the hardest
part to compare, but I thought its defect was it wasn't sweet enough.  Even
left on the tree till soft, it wasn't sweet enough.  Like I mentioned in
another post, low acid peaches are too sweet with not enough peach flavor.
Well, Reliance had enough peach flavor, but wasn't sweet enough (kind of on
the other end of the spectrum).   Texture is a pretty big deal to me, so
it's possible Reliance slightly stringy texture gave me a worse impression
of the peach than it deserved.  I gave some to extended family and neighbors
and they also noticed it was a bit stringy.  My mother-in-law said it
reminded her of the old time canning peaches.  One other thing, like other
peaches, I didn't eat a Reliance with the skin on it, so I don't know how it
would taste with the skin.  I generally don't like eating the fuzz.  It's
that texture thing you know.

Mark
KS