North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Kieran &/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>]

> The same little tree
that gave me over 50 peaches last year. Can I blame it on the rain?


Toni, I wonder if they were grafted on Prunus bessyi?  In which case they 
would have been near the end of their short lives anyway.  Maybe you should 
just scrounge around in your compost and plant some seedlings.  Plant them 
pretty close together, like maybe 3' apart, and let the cold and your taste 
buds decide which is most worthy.  The genetics on stone fruits are pretty 
simple, you should get some cold hardy seedlings, and you will know for a 
fact that they are on peach stock.  What's more, if they should be killed to 
the ground or snowline one year, they'll come back true.  If peach seedlings 
grow as fast there as here, it's theoretically possible to eat fruit in 3 
years from finishing the last delectable bite and putting the pit in the 
ground.  Theoretically I say due to borers, late freezes and especially 
curculios.  So find your little seedlings just coming up and you might have 
peaches in 2 years.  Donna