What is ripe now where you are?

Fall Raspberries are starting, Blackberries ripen daily, Sour cherries are gone, my Elberta's are getting large but are totally green and hard as a rock. No plums yet, Nuttin' honey! This peach comes the closest to being ripe except for two 'Pristine' apples. (one deformed the other perfect). There are local peaches in the farmers market, but they don't seem to know or care about the varieties. Mrs. G

OK, so you are about even with me if the Pristine are ripe. Redhaven is starting to ripen up so if Earli-treat is earlier than RH it is probably something else, unless it's a shady location.

H-man, so many thanks for your help! (by the way, my term 'sport' referred to non- prof. orchardists); Full sun. Mrs. G PS right now it is more sour than sweet.

Unlike my Elberta's, when these medium sized (but good sized) peaches just get really soft. They are beginning to get very fragrant, but they also go from hard to soft quickly. Mrs. G

For me, Elberta is a Sept. peach.

I know they are not Elberta's I didn't say that. I think its a Redhaven. It is a 'melting' peach.

I didn't say you thought it was Elberta, I was just saying when mine ripens in case that one is not true to label also.

Red Havens are ripening now and when fully ripened are free stone as you probably know. They can have streaks of red in the flesh, but so can many other peaches, but RH is probably the most widely propagated peach in this country- certainly is amongst those that ripens at this time.

They are capable of being very high quality and getting big size although I had one on my property that never got the sugar up although they were big (maybe too big) beautiful peaches. One out of three on top of the tree was delicious. I couldn't make it work so I cut it down.

Nope, not freestone. I'm just stuck with a lousy peach tree. I guess I'll make jam this year, then pull out the chain saw! Mrs. G

Next spring cut it off at 3' high and bark graft 5-6 scions around that. If even one takes you will get a new tree very fast. I can give you some exotic ones to try if you want, I now have half a dozen Chinese peaches and so far all have been winners. Speaking of that, my Honey Peach is going to be giving me fruits in a week or two.

Scott

Scott to the rescue!!!! Fabulous. My Honey Peach had twenty fruit and all dropped. Next year for me on that one! Would love your exotics. Thanks so much! Mrs. G

Scott you should know that the tree, whatever it is, is on 'dwarf' rootstock. The trunk is only about a foot from the soil and has low branches that are very strong. Should I just save the three strong branches and graft onto those?

Does my picture illustrate what a 'seedling' peach looks like? If so, it might help other peach lovers out there who buy a 'bad, mislabeled' tree. Who said this was easy. After all of the waiting, it gets you down. Mrs. G