My guess would be Indian Cling. I am really envious! I didn't get a single peach this year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sources for Indian Free Peach?

It's too early for Indian Cling, I think- is Redhaven even ripe there yet? I'm in Z6 and earliest peaches are just coming in now- we're more than two weeks from Redhaven, probably three.

Therefore, it is probably one of the new, very early varieties. Breeding has brought us redder and redder skinned peaches and this has led to red streaking in the flesh.

I suggest E-mailing a picture of the peach to Adams county nursery after making contact by phone- they might recognize it. It is not Early Star, Harrow Diamond or Desiree- three early types I grow. It is extremely red and that should help you identify it.

There are hundreds of peach varieties being sold in the U. S. today, but only a handful that are as early as yours.

Thank you guys for taking time to respond.

I had kinda leaned toward Indian initially, just because it seemed to be the only thing that would come up when I did a Google search for red fleshed peach. But then I sort of thought from what I read it would probably be a little later peach than mine were, and the pictures I saw of seemed to me a much deeper red throughout the flesh.

My largest peach was maybe a bit bigger than a tennis ball and I wondered if Indian wouldn't be bigger, they seem to advertize them as Large fruit.

The gal at Arbor Day said in her email that she was passing the information along to a co-worker to see if he/she could help in identification.

I think I will get in touch with Adams County as you've suggested HM, just to see if they can help.

This whole deal is such a bittersweet experience for me...

On the one hand I'd ordered dwarf trees and spaced them accordingly, and now I don't know what they are supposed to be size-wise, and if I've given them enough room. (There's only 12' between them trunk-to-trunk, which might have been pushing it even for dwarf...)

And on the other hand they are about the sweetest/juiciest peach I've eaten. I think it's probably been since I was a small boy that I had a peach as good. (although a few years ago some relatives made a trip to Colorado JUST to bring back flats of Colorado peaches for canning. Those were memorable!)

So I'm happy as can be on the fruit score, aside from it not being a freestone - but on the tree size I don't trust my pruning abilities enough to know if I'll be able to control them if they're on rootstock that wants to go to the clouds!

Don't worry, pruning peaches isn't rocket science and you only need to prune them back to a smaller branch when they start to crowd (as far as overcrowding is concerned- they need other pruning to keep them productive). That spacing will be fine for peaches because they respond well to aggressive pruning.

Nurseries are always calling regular peach trees dwarf because that's what customers want to hear and peaches are relatively small to begin with. Actual peach dwarfing rootstock is a more expensive provision. I prefer growing them on standard anyway, as they make a nice semi-dwarf tree with it.

If your early peach is that delicious, wait until you try a really good later ripening variety. Early peaches also tend to be smaller and are always clingstone, in my experience. You can vastly improve the size by thinning them to a single peach per 6-8".

Did you get several of the same variety? If so, you should consider growing only one of it and planting different varieties to stagger the season and harvest peaches into Sept. The value of that experience will be well worth the price of additional trees. Believe me, in a couple years one tree will provide all the peaches you can use during its season. Adams is one good source and the time to order is now.

Wow, you got peaches early, everything is behind schedule here. If things are late where you are, that could be borderline june peaches. You in southern Iowa?

Thanks for that info Hman. I only have the two, but I don't imagine I would have ever thought of that, as far as removing one and replacing with a later variety . Here I was thinking I was stuck, but as quick as these things grow I could do just that.

Ikz5ia, I'm in Mo. Valley, about 25 mi North of Omaha/Council Bluffs. Where are you at that things are so late?

I began picking cherries on 6/25 and finished up on 7/10, that's about normal for me most years. Last year with the drought my cherries were way early, I was done by 6/11.

I picked the first peach on 7/10 and wondered if it sat on the tree a day or two too long, it was so juicy. But I think I got them off at about the right time actually.

I'm feeling quite a little better after learning my spacing should be OK, and knowing the option of yanking one out in lieu of a different timed peach (Hits forehead al la V-8 commercial....)

Thanks again!!!

Around Denison, so I am not too far north of you. My cherries are a couple weeks late this year, so right now are ripening a lot , though cherry trees had poor pollination this year, so not heavy production.

I would guess that is a seedling peach, they may have used some random peach seeds for stock and you got the stock because the graft failed. The earliness indicates a seed of one of these newer early peaches. None of them are red like yours which is why I think it is a seedling. Do look for multiple trunks at the base, you may have part stock and part the variety they grafted -- very common in peach trees.

I would suggest keeping it for now, it looks like a great early peach.

Scott

I haven't noticed anything like multiple trunks Scott, but I'll have a closer examination after a bit. Your guess on seedling sounds good to me!

But I like it a lot so far, just from the limited amount we got this year. So I will keep at least one, but I do like the advice Hman gave about pulling one out and going in with a later maturing variety to stretch out the peach harvest.

I just got this reply from The Arbor Day Foundation, and like I said I'm Peach Tree ignorant, but I'm not totally sure I'm buying in...

Here's their email

"There are a number of factors that might affect fruit production. The issues described in your email do not suggest true to name issue, but rather timing issues, lingering drought effects or possibly maturity issues.

The first comment I have is it is still about a month or two early for harvest.

The belle of Georgia has a red cheek to it (meaning that is will be yellow with some red. The Flesh is described as freestone (meaning the pit separates easily) white with a red tinge. The Belle of Georgia also will begin to drop peaches when they are ripe (typically mid-August through mid-September for zone 5-6)."

The Golden Jubilee has a yellow skin with a blush of red. Flesh should be yellow is also a free stone. Matures a bit earlier than the Belle of Georgia (early August).

As this is the first year that the tree has produced any fruit, so it may be a bit off. Although the tree has produced fruit, it is not fully mature and should not be judge by itâÂÂs first crop. The fruit will be better in subsequent years."

My advice would be as this is so early to perhaps wait until next year and see how the trees produce, keeping in mind that we already have free replacements scheduled for fall.
.............

So, not a lot to go on really I didn't think.

But I did take Hman's advice and sent an email to Adams County so maybe they'll have an idea too.

I don't think nurseries use random seedlings much anymore for peach rootstocks. Almost always bear a name like Nemagard or Bailey.

Also, the odds of it being from such an early peach seems unlikely to me even if it was a random seedling rootstock, although it's certainly a possibility. Just look for the graft union- on peaches they are pretty obvious for a long time.

Mislabeled peach trees are extremely common- especially from nurseries that don't cater to commercial growers and don't have a paint ID system where there is a color code painted on each tree. .

I just wanted to do a follow-up post, kind of as a shout-out to Adams County Nursery.

I took Hman's advice and contacted them in hopes that they might be willing to try and help me identify what my peach trees are.

I had two or three emails back and forth with them, here's an excerpt from one:

"The catalog is on the way. I checked in with a couple people here and we havenâÂÂt come up with anything early where the skin bleeds so heavily into the flesh. IâÂÂm checking in with another grower thatâÂÂs seen a lot of varieties over the years and I want to check with one other person. Will be back in touch sometime next week.

Have a nice weekend"

In the end they were unable to identify my trees, but I was so impressed with their willingness to go the extra mile, when they hadn't sold me the trees nor gotten a red cent from me.

She's sending me a catalog and I WILL buy something from Adams County Nursery. What a great experience!

Jerry

I was just browsing thru some nursery sites and found a peach that might match this red mystery peach pretty closely. Look at the third listing down on this page of 'The Greenery Nursery' - Earlitreat. It looks to be very early, and though the description says 'yellow flesh' there is clearly a lot of red in the picture. In case anyone else is interested in a similar variety.
Also see same peach, same picture on the Bay Laurel website

This post was edited by eboone on Fri, Jul 26, 13 at 16:52

I think that peach is from a Manon tree which I dissed in a recent post but changed my mind when I ate one completely ripe. It is so sweet and luscious that it won me over. It is low acid and super sweet with melting flesh with fully red flesh deep into the meat to go with its dark red skin. Ripens about 3 weeks ahead of Red Haven, I think.

Thanks for that info eboone, I think that's a pretty close description. My peaches look like they want to be yellow fleshed, but the red skin apparently is what bleeds so much into the flesh.

In looking at the picture of that Earlitreat, I just don't know if the flesh on mine would ever allow a clean slice like that. Maybe I left mine on the tree too long, but I didn't think so. They were hard to the touch even when dark red, then when I could barely feel some give I started picking them.

Maybe if I picked them earlier I could slice them though, but the way they were, they weren't firm flesh at all.

They talk about low chill hours, I wonder how that affects things. I mean if I have a low chill variety (I want to say they indicated Earlitreat required 350-450) and I imagine we get a lot more than that here in Iowa.

Anybody know what impact that will have, or maybe it won't so long as we have at least 450....

Thanks!

I have plums that are low chill but it doesn't seem to make a difference when they bloom. They bloom earlier than the Euro plums but not significantly: Elephant Heart (500 or fewer) and Satsuma (300). They are both hardy enough to handle Colorado winters. They won't pop out of dormancy when they've hit their minimum. Coons stole the few that I would have had last year:(

It would seem that your mystery peach can handle Iowa winters. It sounds like you have a cling-stone peach rather than a free-stone.

Wow, is my post invisible? I'm telling you that the peach in your photo is a dead ringer for Manon. I should have taken a photo for you (0nly had a few as it's a nursery tree). I've never seen another peach that looked like this. Ask the folks at Adams and I'm sure they will concur. Same appearance and same approximate ripening date.

Do you know what it means for a peach to be low acid? It is a very specific taste and if it applies to your peach that would be the absolute clincher, IMO.

Manon peaches do not look like they want to be a yellow, however. The flesh runs from pure red to heavy red streaks to white and it is the reddest fleshed peach I've ever grown. I don't grow Indian Cling.

Thanks for that chill intel Milehigh (BTW, tell your aunt I got 30 gallons of cherries off my Early Richmond tree this year!!!)

Hman; Sorry about that, when I read your post on Manon I thought you were making a response to eboone (kinda like saying that the Earlitreat he was talking about was from a Manon tree. Shows what I know about peaches huh...)

I looked up Manon on the Adams County site and it shows a July 22 maturity date. Mine were done around the 10th, but that probably doesn't mean a lot, could be location or even first year thing I guess.

But I do think mine would be considered a yellow flesh and probably not white. I think it shows a little if you scroll to the pictures at the top you can maybe see some yellow in there.

I confess I do not know what it means for a peach to be low acid though.

Thanks!!!

You are right. I was concentrating on the peach in the tree- the flesh does look like a yellow, for sure. I don't know how I got in in my head it was a white.

This is an interesting mystery. The peach is so distinctive and most likely a modern variety, given its solid red color that I would think you could track down its identity.

I think that peach is from a Manon tree

I too though you were saying that Earlitreat was a descendant of Manon.

Here's the dilemma I see: If the Arbor Day Foundation only sells Belle of Georgia, Elberta, Golden Jubilee, and Hale-Haven, then you most likely have one of these or a rootstock. Now I don't know where they get their trees from, but if they actually propagate their own trees your tree most likely is a Golden Jubilee.

GOLDEN JUBILEE - A popular freestone peach for home canning and local markets. A large yellow peach, blushed with red. Light yellow, firm, melting flesh. Medium chilling requirement. Ripens in early to mid-July. (Mid-season/self-fertile). From www.pacificgroves.com.

I doubt GJ is either that red (inside or out) or that lightly fuzzed. Those traits are earmarks of very modern breading (except red flesh, although I'm also seeing more and more of that). I've seen early peaches from CA in recent years that actually look quite a bit like the picture, but I don't remember how much red was in the interior. I would investigate CA nurseries.

Hman,

I have found descriptions of Golden Jubilee saying it ripens mid July and Mid August. That's a huge discrepancy, especially since peach ripeness is usually monitored so closely. The picture on Dave Wilson looks nothing like what Iowajer has, that's for sure.

I have been looking at DW's page and Zee Diamond looks similar and is early also. Frankly the description of Zee Diamond matches what Iowajer has. "Large, very firm, yellow clingstone. Very productive tree. Mid-June harvest in Central CA. Excellent flavor with a good balance of acid and sugar. 800 hours.

I love a good mystery but this one is over my head! Iowajer, Maybe you should contact Arbor Day and ask them where they get their trees from. If it's Dave Wilson then send them a picture and they might be able to help.

I believe that a nursery that sells the variety will be able to identify it and that it is probably a commercially propagated tree in CA- or at least quite possibly.

My mind turns more slowly these days, but I swear that a CA variety probably harvested around late May there looks an awful lot like it. This is not from memory, but deduction as I don't buy peaches once my blueberries begin cranking in late June.

As I said, for some reason I had it in my head it was a white so I didn't make the connection until I shook that particular bug out of my brain.

Well this has intrigued me quite a bit and if a peach tree survives in Iowa it will survive in Colorado.

I did get a Harrow Diamond from Cummins this spring but I don't believe it is as early as what the Zee Diamond would be. I kept my PF-1 because I am hoping it will get better as it matures. The PF-1 was ripe on July 1st here last year.

Iowajer, does the description and the photo of Zee Diamond match what you have? (except for the zone, of course)

Here is a link that might be useful: Zee Diamond Peach

I have searched, and searched until I'm blue in the face and I'm at a loss.

I actually came close on a couple... I thought. I looked at Eva's Pride and the pictures looked close but...

Thing is my pits were real light colored and not all that big either. Most peach pits I see in the pictures are darker and bigger I think.

The thing on Zee Diamond (as well as most others that seem close) is they are described as being "Large and very firm" whereas my peaches were not really large, and were not firm at all. (Although they may get larger once I have a more mature tree, and I learn how to prune and thin...)

But mine seemed the opposite of firm. In fact, I would cut completely around the peach from blossom end to stem end down to the pit and try to twist them apart real quickly so as to not mutilate them. Sometimes that worked, others not so much.

I want to say they are more like a semi-freestone maybe.

And again, I don't think they were over ripe, they didn't actually pull off the tree that easy, and I damaged one getting it off.

I actually like the idea of seeing if the Arbor Day Foundation would tell me where they get their trees. But I felt like I was talking to entry level people and I just have no confidence in what they tell me at this point. (I might be being hard on them too, but they didn't seem to have a clue before)

Wish I knew more about that Desiree too. I mean, pictures of flesh and all that. Hman noted that variety earlier too, but I think he didn't think they were that close.

Desiree is not nearly so red and I don't think so early. I'm picking them now in SE NY. Nice peach though.

If the trees are grown in CA under commercial conditions they will be somewhat different than yours and they will always pick them firm. The question for the commercial grower is, do they have enough sugar to harvest and modern varieties are generally bred to have enough sugar while still quite firm to be reasonably tasty. So a "firm" peach can become soft, luscious and sweeter if completely tree ripened at home.

The peaches I've seen in the store that look like yours are actually rather small as most very early peaches tend to be. Size descriptions probably factor in this expectation. I never see large peaches from CA early. Remember that CA is at least a month ahead of you. If you know of any growers near you, find out exactly when first Red Havens ripens this year and write down the date. If you know how many days between ripeness of your variety and RH it will greatly narrow your search. It should be reasonably close to sequencing in CA. There's probably only a few common commercial varieties that will fall in this window.

Well I drove up to a local fruit farm today, and after showing the owner my peach pictures and telling him how early they were harvested, etc., he didn't have any good ideas on what it could be.

He did say that they used to have 5 acres of peach trees, but that now they only have ten trees in total. He said Reliance was supposed to be hardy enough for here, but in the long run they didn't pan out.

I'm going to keep poking around some, but given your comments on CA commercial growers always harvesting somewhat firm, that may answer why the picture of Earlitreat showed a fairly nice slice, when I just could not imagine slicing mine that way.

I think eboone may have just nailed it when he said Earlitreat might match my mystery peach pretty close.

When I read up on Earlitreat, it's considered a very early peach with a harvest date between May 3 - May 18 in Fresno CA.

It also shows the lowest hardiness zone I've found on a CA peach, showing zones 6 - 9.

Average size is shown as 2 5/16" - 2 3/4"

And the picture Dave Wilson (And The Greenery, and Bay Laurel) all use with the cut peach shows a very light pit, which would also track with what I have.

Although the description says firm, I'm banking on that being for commercial growers like you noted, a bit early harvesting, but for a backyard guy like me, maybe not so much.

Next year I if I get a crop I will pick some in various stages of development just to see how they change every few days, and in particular if I can get one to slice like the pictures they use, instead of having a juicy mess like my pictures.

But I'll still keep poking around some just in case.

"Although the description says firm, I'm banking on that being for commercial growers like you noted, a bit early harvesting, but for a backyard guy like me, maybe not so much. "

I'd agree. Most peaches will get very soft at some point on the ripening curve. For the peaches I grow, it seems like the early varieties get softer faster than a lot of the later ones. If the peach is ripe enough for the skin color to bleed in the flesh, the peach is going to be soft (even if the peach variety is considered firm).

You're probably on the right track in identifying the peach as some CA variety. It's extremely early to ripen the second week in July in Iowa this year. Based upon what we had ripening at that time, your peach would have a ripening date before -30 Redhaven. Not very many peaches ripen that early and even less with that much color. I agree it fits the bill of a newer peach variety.

I am assuming that since the photos of the sliced Earlitreat are not showing the pit fully that Earlitreat is a cling stone, but I didn't find any data. It would seem that Earlitreat does match the description if it is a cling stone.

Iowajer, did your trees survive one Iowa winter or two?

I think I'd like to try growing that variety here. As a tree ripe peach it might be really good as an extra early. Hmmm, what are the ethics of buying a misidentified tree that might be patented and sending out some wood for someone to graft?

Well, if you don't know what it is how can you be faulted?

Besides, the seller only had Belle of Georgia or Golden Jubilee, right? :)

Olpea: I'd not actually realized things were that behind until Ikz5ia noted in his post that he was behind, and then yesterday the local fruit farm guy said he was 2 weeks behind too. It's interesting that you said early varieties tend to start getting soft quicker than later varieties, because I was checking my fruit daily and it seemed to go from rock hard to where I could just barely get movement when I checked firmness so I began taking them off the tree at that point.

But interestingly, I had wanted my daughter and her kids to have a taste so I kept back 3 or 4 on the kitchen counter. It was like 4 or 5 days after I pulled them off the tree before they were able to get over here, and yet the peaches seemed about like they were when I took them off the tree. The ones fresh off the tree were soft and juicy, and the ones on the counter were almost identical days later. So I like that.

Milehigh; Both these trees were planted in 2011 as what was described as 2-4' trees by The Arbor Day Foundation. If I recall they were like straight sticks about 2-3' with little or no branches. So to answer your question they've seen winter weather in '11 & 12.

I've seen it noted as cling in a few places, but this is probably the most definitive, it's an excerpt on the pit description from Free Patents Online. This section I'm pasting is only regarding the pit characteristics...

Type.--Clingstone.

Size.--Medium. Average length 11/4". Average width 1". Average thickness 1/2".

Form.--Obovate.

Base.--Usually straight varies from round to straight.

Apex.--Cuspidate.

Surface.--Irregularly furrowed toward apex, pitted toward base.

Ridges.--Rounded.

Sides.--Mostly equal, varies from equal to unequal.

Tendency to split.--Very slight.

Color.--Light tan to light brown (4-B-5) to (4-C-5).

I don't know if I can put the link on here. I mean I know how to, but am unsure if it's okay to according to site rules. But it has some really good information on parentage, and all the tree and fruit characteristics, etc. It's a Chris Zaiger developed CA peach and I'm sure anyone on here with just a little more peach tree knowledge than I would get a whole lot more from the details they cover on that site than I did.

Hman; I'm clueless on the process, but with a little hand-holding I'll gladly accommodate............

Iowajer,

What I meant by early varieties soften faster is that on the tree they seem to soften faster. It seems like they just move pretty quickly. One day there won't be much of anything and the next they'll be a bunch on the tree ready to pick. If your peaches sat on the counter for 5 days with essentially no change, they were picked too early.

In 100 degree weather all peaches move pretty quick, but with reasonable temperatures it seems like early varieties move a bit quicker than later ones. I'm sure there are lots of exceptions. One that comes to my mind is Allstar. It ripens +13 and gets very soft very quickly.

Re: Clingstone. I think it's safe to say any peaches that are as early as your peach are going to be clingstone, regardless whether the description says so or not.

Some catalogs will claim various early varieties are semi-cling but I'm not sure how reliable that information is (I'm still waiting for a "peer reviewed" catalog :-) Our freestone season doesn't truly start till about a week before Redhaven, with the variety Harken.

Olpea; What you describe is just exactly what happened on mine. I was checking every day and they just seemed hard as a rock when I'd gently squeeze them, then all of a sudden one day there was slight give when I squeezed. That's when I picked them, and then when I got into one it was so juicy I couldn't believe it. I cannot imagine they were picked too early (Now I had read where some peaches are supposed to be picked when they start to drop, but with only 13 to my name I was not fixing to allow that!!!)

They didn't come off super easy, and on one or two just my gentle rocking them back and forth to get them off the tree tore the skin and they were leaking pretty good. (And I made a mental note to learn how to harvest peaches better going forward...)

But that easy damage made me initially think I'd left them on too long. But if I'd have picked them even a day earlier they would have felt hard as a rock.

So anyway, I can't explain why those I left on the counter in the house for 4-5 days held up, but they did. And they did even with my handling them almost every day too. I'd pick them up and smell them, or just look at them close. (You know, just admiring them!!!)

And they did this in contrast to store bought peaches my wife brought home. They seemed hard when she brought them home and within 3 days a couple of them had flat brusied spots that were leaking.

On those peaches we were holding onto for our daughter to taste, my wife did note that the skins took on a duller look is about all, but the texture and taste were about identical to the ones we ate on day one.

Anyway, now that all my people have had a chance to taste this wonder, I will not be risking the 4-5 day counter thing again!!

I don't know what you have but the fact that you like it, it is doing well in your area and it is red on the outside and really rather red fleshed means it should be popular. Too bad it is clingstone, but heck you can't have everything.