TCM

Congrats.

Tony

CityMan. They look great. You should be proud. Peaches are not the easiest fruit to grow. Bill

I forgot to ask which variety peach was that small one on the back side.

Yes, you did it! Those look like tasty peaches to me. Good job.

Where are you located?

Very Nice!!

Wonderful! Congratulations and enjoy that first bite!

Very cool, it's always nice to set goals and meet them. Gardening, growing stuff, even in failure is fun for me. I figure I need to kill a lot of plants before I become good at it! At gardening, not killing. They do call it gardening not harvesting.
Fruit trees are one of the hardest, so congrats!
I like to grow some easy things like brambles to keep my spirits up! That way I at least get a harvest. All my peach fruit buds died in this cold winter here, so nothing this year.

It's so rewarding to get feedback from fellow growers. As you know, most non-fruit growers just don't get the big deal in producing something they THINK you can buy at the grocery every day. Several of you who have responded have been especially helpful to me and others, so thanks again.
H-man, I live in middle Tennessee. I suspect you may have noticed that its early for peaches here. In fact, all my other trees seem weeks behind, and a local commercial orchard also only has golf-ball sized peaches. The next big question is what kind of peach tree this is to produce so early....and I only wish I knew!!! It was my first tree and I bought it at a farmers market labeled only as "peach". While I'd never buy today without knowing the species, but I'm glad I did. I picked my first peach this year on June 7, and for middle Tennessee that is crazy early. I'm going to try to make some clones of this tree via air layering and/or grafting onto good rootstock....if I can!

Cityman, you will never forget your first bite!!!! Next year you'll want many more! They look great. Congrats! Mrs. G

Nice job Cityman. Those peaches have very little fuzz. They almost look like nectarines.

Let us know how they taste, especially the small yellow one :-)

The guy at the farmers market might be just growing trees from seed. That might be why he just labeled them peach. Can you see a graft at the bottom of the trunk? If not you have a more special peach to you especially if they taste great! I would think if someone took the time to graft it they would have kept it tagged with the variety unless they got mixed up and he was confused. Maybe if you go to the market again you might be able to ask him about it. congratulations on your fruits of labor.

I am tempted to mention some of the names that have been most helpful to me, but I fear I'd leave some out so I'll just say that most of my strongest support-system/ advisors have now posted on this thread, and I want you all to know how much I appreciate your help. In spite of me having asked some really uninformed questions over the years, not one time has anyone on here made me feel dumb. I honestly feel that this forum not only has incredibly knowledgeable experts, but the fact that you are all so willing to give your time and help beginners like me gives this site a true feeling of community and even friendship. This is the most supportive (as proven by this thread) and informative forum I have ever found on any topic, and I'm sure that I'm not alone in feeling grateful for that expertise and support.
Sadly, I've tried several times over the last 3.5 years to find the guy I bought my tree from, but have failed to do so. I suspect you may be right, Johnnysapples, this may just be a lucky tree grown from a seed. I remember that the pots looked reused and mismatched, and he was mostly selling produce and just had a few trees-all of which would seem to indicate he was not really into growing/selling trees. I also have to wonder if he grew these particular trees (whether from seed or other methods) because it was so unusual in terms of being such an early producer. Again, this tree isn't just a few days, but rather several WEEKS earlier than every other peach tree I've ever seen in this area. I showed it to the owner of the one (semi) professional orchard in my area and he was blown away by my having a ripe peach so early.
If any of you would like a cutting from this tree, I'd be happy to give it to you- its the least I could do to give something back. The only charge might be for you to start one for me too, because my grafting skills are just awful based on my efforts this spring! But I do think this might be a really special, freakishly early peach tree.?.?

The Cityman,

Congrats. Nice job.

The feeling of being proud and happy when I pick my home-grown fruit does not go away. I feel it every year.

Your peach is sure very early. My earliest peach is PF-1. It's still only about thumb-size.

Wow, a mystery peach that bears that early. If it doesn't taste as good as peaches get in your area it's because of the variety- generally you pay a price for very early varieties in the quality of the peach. Not enough time to develop full richness and sugar. But to have tree ripened peaches when no one in your area has any is a huge plus. Congrats.

So how do they taste?

Cousinfloyd and harvestman, the questions about taste are great ones I should have thought to address. It pains me very much to admit this, but I must confess that they are not the best peaches I've ever tasted, so H-man may be right (again) about early peaches. Don't get me wrong, they are very good and 1,000 times better than store bought, but just not as sweet as some I've had. I still wouldn't take the world for this tree and its freakishly early harvest, but I do wish it were sweeter.

Those types of peaches are great for cooking.

Congrats on your success. I've often thought that if I moved it would be to Tennessee or Kentucky.

I second your applaud for the people here. If it weren't for the folks here I would have purchased 4 full sized apple trees and quit there, although my life would have been a great deal simpler.

With regard to the taste of your early peach, I have to admit that I had the same experience the last time my peaches produced (4 years ago). My tongue remembered the taste of a fully ripened, still warm from the sun, O'Henry, and was very disappointed with the PF-1. I think the only way to be really happy with the early peaches is to compare them to what is available at the grocery stores at the same time. Logic over emotions, I guess.

Milehighgirl, your description of that great O'Henry peach was so vivid AND familiar that it literally made me smile thinking of the last incredible peach I had....which was off a tree AND ALSO still warm from the sun! I have several other peach varieties bearing for the first time this year and I can only hope one of them is as good as what you and I remember! BTW....I could relate to your temptation to throw in the towel, even though I don't face nearly the challenges that you do. But I hope you don't. I've read a lot of your posts over time and you clearly are very knowledgeable, so don't give up! After investing so much time and money, it would be a shame to stop now, and one of these days you'll pick your own version of that warm O'Henry peach!

I don't think my PF1 peaches beat the grocery store last year. If you buy premium (expensive) peaches from from the store, they can sometimes be pretty good. They are also from CA, where it is much later in the season, with better varieties ripening.

The Tomcot apricots on the other hand (which were ripe at the same time), blew away anything I could find in the store. I just checked my notes and the brix wasn't even close: PF1 was around 9, while Tomcot was 16. I only had a handful of each last year, but I've got a lot more (of both) on my trees this year. But, from what I've read online, I don't expect my relative evaluation to change that much, so I've started grafting Contender, Harko (nectarine), Harrow Diamond, and Ruston Red onto the PF1.

Since everyone seems to agree that early peaches are not that great tasting (something I didn't know before), I'm very curious to know if the opposite is true: Are late peaches generally among the best tasting varieties? Based on some of the explanations given above for why early peaches aren't the best (lack of time for flavor to develop, not enough time for sugar content to get high, etc) it would seem logical.?.?.

I've planted a few late varieties (Encore and PF Big George), so I hope to find out soon. The 2 Carolina Gold I had in late August last year (vs early July for PF1) were very good. Both peaked at 17-18 brix and were very good. But that was with only 2 on a reasonably large tree. I've got a lot more this year.

Regarding the late peaches, I do believe the later are the best. I don't have personal growing experience but I have bought an awful lot of Colorado grown peaches from the Western slope. O'Henry is outstanding, but Summer Lady and Ryan's Sun are really good too. Ryan's Sun is about the latest we will ever get in Colorado. The Western slope is prime peach growing territory. It has hot days, cool nights, low humidity, and it's the only place in Colorado in zone 6. It's not immune to those late frosts, however, but they heat the place up when the temps dip.

I have been canning peaches for quite a few years now. Year before last it was 72 quarts. Last year, however, the peaches were so few that they were charging $50.00 a box. I sure hope this year is better.

My mouth is watering now. Maybe I'll sneak into the pantry and get one of those very last quarts right now:)

And thank you for your encouragement. I really needed it,