North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Matt Demmon <mdemmon@gmail.com>]

Alan, here in SE Michigan, we've had a very hot summer, along with
(until the last 2 weeks) above average rainfall, and lots of
surprisingly cool nights. I can't compare the first harvest of my own
peaches with any previous years, but they were great! However, the
peaches at the farmer's market, from vendors that I have bought from
for 5+ years, have been the best I've ever had. Consistently sweet,
juicy, perfectly ripe, and most important, a really intense peachy
flavor. Across all varieties, I've found this to be true, until this
week. Hasn't rained a drop in over 2 weeks, and the peaches this week,
from an unirrigated orchard were just OK. A little mealy, not as
sweet.

Not sure if that last bit means anything, but I imagine the high heat
+ plenty of rain has given us great peaches this year. Sounds like you
might be missing the rain, or humidity.

-matt
SE MI z5

On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 10:52 AM, Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com> wrote:
> Last season in southeastern (but not coastal), NY we barely had a summer,
> with June and July providing the weather of a cool, wet April and May.   In
> summary, 5 months of a wet spring with one month of summer followed by a
> warm, sunny autumn.
>
> So why would I expect peaches last year to be consistently rich and sweet?
> I didn’t and they weren’t.   In fact the early season brought peaches so
> poor they were only useful for compost.
>
> This year, however, was the absolute opposite, with an early spring followed
> by exceptionally dry, warm, and bright days from mid-May through August.  So
> I was expecting excellent quality from the peaches that survived a nasty
> late frost- in other words, a light to moderate crop with excellent quality.
>  Boy was I ever wrong!
>
> The weather’s been hot, but nothing beyond what would be normal in Georgia,
> temp-wise.  A couple days pushing 100 degrees, I guess, and consistent temps
> in the high 80’s and 90’s for the most part.   Georgia grows great tasting
> peaches in similar heat, so why have mine been mediocre, with a few
> exceptions within any given tree?
>
> I figured at least my Elbertas would be outstanding.  After all, Elberta is
> the variety that launched the entire peach industry in Georgia.  But they
> are ripening now (about 10 days early) and they are not very good with
> greenish flesh and poor sugar.
>
> I have 2 possible explanations.  One is that the frost spared peaches
> positioned beneath the canopy, where even with summer pruning, it was
> difficult to give them great exposure.  Included in that explanation is the
> possibility that I over pruned them a bit to compensate.  The other is that
> it wasn’t Georgia heat we were getting at all.  There were lots of low
> humidity days resembling the interior valleys of CA- oh and there was also
> the epidemic stink bugs.
>
> Anyway, I’ve long known that later season CA peaches have a strong tendency
> to look beautiful but taste sucky.  I assume this is the result of the very
> warm days that tend to arrive in CA peach growing country by July.  Peach
> production in that state has been pushed ever more eastward as land closer
> to the coast is developed or turned into vineyards.  This subjects the trees
> to higher and higher temps and also lower humidity.
>
> My theory is that low humidity heat has more of a tendency to cook fruit on
> the trees and damage their quality than high humidity heat- in other words,
> for peaches and other fruit, the old cliché would be changed to “it aint the
> heat, it’s the lack of humidity".
>
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