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hairmetal4ever

ACN peach offerings & disease resistance

hairmetal4ever
10 years ago

Good morning. First comment is that I'm not attempting total organic growing (nothing against those who do).

However, the more disease-resistant a tree is, the better, obviously...so on that note...

I've gotten a few peach recommendations from scottfsmith & have been able to source a couple - thanks scottfsmith! This would be for an order for next spring, I missed the boat this year.

That said, I've noticed that Adams County Nursery, which is only about an hour from me in PA, sells a bunch of peach cultivars, many of which I haven't seen elsewhere. They have this 1-10 scale ranking of things like hardiness, firmness, and spot resistance, but not much on other disease resistance.

1. Which peach diseases are the biggest concern in my area (Central MD)?

2. Do any of the peach varieties ACN offers perform especially well here compared to others?

Comments (14)

  • olpea
    10 years ago

    Hairmetal,

    Scott of course is going to be your best source of info. since he lives in your area, but I'll offer a few general comments.

    For someone starting their first peach trees, it can sometimes be overwhelming when they read of all the different diseases which can attack a peach. Scab, brown rot, bacterial spot, leaf curl, rusty spot, X disease, various cankers, etc.

    Same thing for insects. Oriental fruit moth, plum curculio, green peach aphid, japanese beetle, borers, stink bugs, etc.

    However, for most backyard growers east of the continental divide, the biggest disease problems to be concerned with (if the tree is well cared for) are leaf curl and brown rot. Bacterial spot can be a problem in some areas (like here) but Scott hasn't given an indication it's a real big issue for his peaches.

    The biggest insect concerns are plum curculio, Oriental fruit moth, and borers.

    I've ordered a lot of trees from Adams County and they all seem to do pretty well (disease wise). They cater more to commercial growers and so aren't going to offer many varieties that take an extreme amount of care.

    That said, I would be leery of ordering any peaches that are highly sus. to bacterial spot since some commercial growers spray for it. As a backyard orchardist, you probably wouldn't want to.

    Scott has mentioned he likes peaches from North Carolina. Adams carries a couple peaches from their program (Winblo and Candor). Winblo has been recommended by Scott and others. Candor is an early peach and so probably doesn't taste as good. I planted a few Winblo from Adams this spring. I tried to order Candor, but Adams was already sold out at the time.

  • hairmetal4ever
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Interesting. I didnâÂÂt see Winblo on ACNâÂÂs website. Candor is there, however. Scott did find a couple places that sell the Carolina Gold he recommends as well as Winblo.

    What really seems to be more challenging are the white-fleshed varieties.

  • Scott F Smith
    10 years ago

    Olpea, bacterial spot is a big problem here, it was out of control and nearly caused me to pull up all my peaches about eight years ago. Otherwise you list the major problems. Hairmetal, I would say you mainly want to look for rot and spot resistance in a peach for the mid-atlantic. Along with flavor of course! I like the NC series because they were bred for the area, their diseases are even worse than ours.

    ACN is generally pretty good about varieties for the area so most of the things they list will work. There are a few exceptions I have seen but not many. I don't personally know much about many of their peach varieties since I mainly grow older varieties.

    Some good white peaches include Lady Nancy and Raritan Rose. And of course my favorites, the heirlooms Carman and Oldmixon Free.

    Scott

  • hairmetal4ever
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks as always, Scott!

    I've heard Raritan Rose is actually rather disease-prone, is that not true?

    I've tried to find Oldmixon Free...at one point I'd thought I found a source, but it hit a wall.

    I'd try to find some budwood, but out of the dozen or so times I've attempted grafting, I've been successful exactly once...and then my idiot neighbor killed it (this was back in Ohio when I lived there).

  • RobThomas
    10 years ago

    As far as white flesh peaches, China Pearl was highly recommended, and I added it this year (along with Contender and Carolina Gold). It is also a NC release.

    Here is a link that might be useful: China Pearl

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    10 years ago

    " As far as white flesh peaches, China Pearl was highly recommended"

    It looks good for disease and frost resistance for sure, but it's sub acid levels sound unappealing to me. I think peaches with a balance of acid and sugar are the best.
    I added Arctic Glo this year. It is a nectarine, white, good balance of acid and sugar. Also a clingstone. But I'm willing to take on the extra problems as this new cultivar has a unique taste. I plan on having a full spray regime for it for sure. The tree I got was strong and thick, and since I want it small, was a little disappointed it was so huge! I cut it down anyway, and I got lucky, it is still alive.
    Also in my area it can get wet in the spring, the summer is super dry in my micro environment. So for rootstocks I'm somewhere in-between Lovell and Citation. Loam-clay soil, wet ft possible in spring, citation would do better, but then the dry summer might put it into dormancy. So maybe Lovell would work better?
    Scott still lists Indian Free as good tasting but it does have a rot problem. I think Arctic Glo may be in this category of possible problems, but the taste is exceptional.
    I have Arctic Glo on Citation and FF Lucky 13 on Lovell. We will see which does better. I do have Indian Free on Citation too. Adams carries Arctic Glo on Lovell.
    I may be in a struggle I won't win, but taste is driving me.
    I too though want to find Oldmixon Free. This may solve my problem, a good tasting white, and disease resistant. If you find it, and after you order it, let us all know where! Please! I need though to experiment myself, so seeing if I can keep prone trees OK, and what rootstock works best for me etc. I need a few years to figure it all out. MI is the 6th largest peach producer, and probably a lot of people overlook this, so I do live in a decent area to grow peaches. It is no where near as humid as down south or even east or west of us. In 1998 I guess it was a bad year down south, and we were number 3 leading producer that year.

  • fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
    10 years ago

    Drew:

    Have you tasted Arctic Glo that you grew or something you bought? I've fruited it both in TX and CA. It's too sour for me so it might fit right into your wheelhouse.

    This post was edited by fruitnut on Thu, Apr 25, 13 at 15:44

  • olpea
    10 years ago

    "Interesting. I didnâÂÂt see Winblo on ACNâÂÂs website."

    They had Winblo available for this spring, but I don't think they ever put it on the Website. I think they sometimes have a few more varieties available than they show on their Website. Email and ask for an inventory list for spring 2014 availability. It not only tells you what varieties they have available, but also how many of each.

  • bob_z6
    10 years ago

    You may be able to get Old Mixon Free at Tierra Madre Farms. I got one this spring and it was a well branched, good-sized tree (5/8", 13 branches). But, you've missed the season with them. You may want to email them to check (maybe reserve one?), as I'm not sure they will bud all the varieties each year. They have quite a few on their collection page, but I don't think they sold more than 6-8 types this year. They list several others which Scott has recommended (Rio Oso Gem, Pallas, Blood Indian Cling, and Gold Dust).

    Here is a link that might be useful: Tierra Madre Farm

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    10 years ago

    "Have you tasted Arctic Glo that you grew or something you bought? "

    Yes, a local grower has them. I do like sour, too many currants in my diet, and I often go foraging for wild fruit and mushrooms. I grew up eating wild fruit. Tasting these and some Flamin Fury examples is what inspired me to grow peaches. I was only growing berry bushes. Many astringent types! Much easier to grow, and I will still grow them and add more! So yeah everybody has different tastes and why it is hard to recommend anything. Sometimes sweet fruits taste bad to me, but sometimes they taste good. Overall I may like China Pearl. I have not tasted that one! I had a few Flamin' Fury peaches and thought they were really good. I know the early variety is not good, but like 7, 8 and 13 tasted really good to me! I can't say if they were sweet or not? All I know is I liked them a lot. Reminded me of the way peaches tasted when I was a kid. I do like sweet cherries a lot, but also tart cherries are great too! An exception as I never tasted a cherry I thought was too sweet except overipe ones. I grow Glacier and White Gold. Both grow well here. I'm trying and may get Romeo a high brix tart cherry, again that sugar/acid thing which is really where it is at for me.
    Looking for Juliet and Cupid!

    The problem with peaches is their are too many good varieties argh! And too many to try, holy moly with the old types and new types, man a lot of peaches out there!
    I really have little experience growing or even tasting them, so take my statements for what they are, a limited experience, I just know all of these seem to blow away anything in the grocery store! Sometimes they do get good fruit, but many times they have crap! I have yet to ever taste a good raspberry from the store!

    This post was edited by Drew51 on Thu, Apr 25, 13 at 23:30

  • Scott F Smith
    10 years ago

    Hairmetal, I never noticed any disease issues on my Raritan Rose. The main problem I had is it would go mealy some years.

    Drew, I agree there are far too many peaches. Its also hard to tell the descriptions apart, its either white or yellow and subacid or sour and thats about all thats ever mentioned. But, home-grown peaches are nearly always better than the store version so its hard to go too far wrong.

    Hey check out the link below, its a list produced by NJ folks only a month ago. Search for "very good flavor" or "excellent flavor" and those will be some better tasting varieties. They also do a good job of mentioning spot resistance.

    Scott

    Here is a link that might be useful: NJ yellow peach varieties list

  • hairmetal4ever
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks! I'll check it out later. My work computer's filter won't let me access your link!

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    10 years ago

    Thanks Scott ,Harvestman and Olpea, for all the advice. Thanks for the links too. I see Lucky 13 and Arctic Glo both make the good cultivar list on the NJ document (cultivars I have) if Glo is too sour for you Arctic Jay I think is sweeter, but still has the acid/sugar balance. Makes the NJ list too, and has won the DWN test tastes in the past. I was going to get that one, but I never tasted it, then I read a couple blogs, and in both blogs the bloggers both preferred Glo over Jay. And having tasted it, and the fact it is proven to grow here, offered by Adams (I got mine from bay laurel), it looked like a good choice for me.
    Right now I want to add Winblo and Old Mixon, if I can talk the wife into it. It will crowd the yard, but I have room.
    I want to save a spot for the Pluerry interspecific, just because it is just so weird and will make a good conversation tree. A peach/plum/nectarine/apricot/cherry tree.

  • eboone_gw
    10 years ago

    Bringing up a slightly old topic... I have a 23 y old Raritan Rose white peach, with incredible sweet flavor at ripeness. Only problem has been some brown rot, worse in wetter seasons. I am a few hrs drive NW in SW Pa. Tree is getting old and gonna have to replace it next spring

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