Peaches are pretty much done here, only Salwey and a few Heath Cling are still on the trees. If you haven't seen one to my reports yet I tend to grow more unusual varieties: red-fleshed, honey, old varieties, etc. This year new winners include John Rivers, Nectar, Red Baron, Zin Dai Jiu Bao, Sanguine Tardeva, and Late Crawford. Plus many repeats from past years.
Gold Dust - A very good early peach, and no problem with softening on the tops like in some years. I opened up the tree to give more light to the center and it is now recovered from borers.
Clayton - Very good as usual. Very big load, probably should have thinned more. Only downside of these is they are pretty soft when ripe. But boy are they juicy!
John Rivers white nectarine - Squirrels took care of nearly all of these but I had a few and they were excellent. No rot. This guy is a keeper! It was once the most popular nectarine in California, a very old variety. Very few nectarines have been rot resistant so I am really impressed with this guy.
Zin Dai Jiu Bao - Excellent small crop off this guy. Its proving to be my best early white peach, I think it clearly surpasses Carman. None of that green color or flavor, they are white/yellow with a slight red blush when ripe. Pick and let sit a few days on the counter to soften, otherwise its too hard. Cling.
TangOs - Letting these hang really late, they are a very good peach that way. They stop becoming so chewy and become more juicy. Getting some rot on them, they are in the susceptible category. In the long run this variety is probably not worth keeping for me. Of the latest ones 2/3 rotted.
Nectar - Similar to Carman but smaller fruits; seems less greenishness in the flavor but more samples needed. Fruits are much smaller than Carman. It is very similar to John Rivers which is a parent.
Mericrest nectarine - a bit bigger than past years. I think the spotting is what is getting them so small; with a regular spray program this would probably come out full sized.
Ernies Choice - Excellent this year, huge peaches with great flavor. Looks like this tree just took awhile to get happy but its a real winner now. Incredibly productive.
Foster - Tree is not doing well and didn't get any good fruit. Stinkbug magnet as well. This has been excellent in the past but its a picky variety and the root had bad borers.
Red Baron - Only got one fully ripe peach off this one but it was truly excellent. WOW. Gotta give this guy a good spot!
St. John - rotting problems as usual but I am getting a few tastes unlike some years. Which makes me remember why I have yet to rip it out -- its very good. Still, its only worth keeping as a taste reference, its far too susceptible to everything including stinkbugs.
Sanguine Tardeva - Rotting a fair amount. Taste is really excellent. On new rootstock with more thinning they are sizing up much better, still not full sized but decent size. This is one awesome peach, very similar to and every bit as good as Indian Free.
Athena - An excellent honey peach, lots of great fruits on it. This guy is now a very strong winner on all fronts, the skin and flesh have very good texture and the honeyed taste is truly excellent. Getting rot but its a bad rot year.
Shui Mi Tao aka Honey - I think I need to wait a year or two on this one, most of the fruits dropped before they were fully ripe. The few that remained were just OK. The other honey peaches (Pallas, Athena) took several years to get going so its worth waiting on this one.
Longevity - Huge rot issues on this honey peach; Maybe its time for this guy to go, it seems to be in the extreme rot category.
Early Crawford - Coming in small but flavorful. Not quite as good as I remember them in past years at this point, they are very soft and very small. I now expect this is a seedling and not the original Early Crawford, the fruits are far too small.
Pallas - Something took most of these, and quite a few dropped as well. Got a few really good ones, it is a honey peach very similar to Athena. Ripe fruits are more green than Athena, and smaller.
Eagle Beak - All rotted yet again sigh; it is a parent of Longevity and is showing.
Carolina Gold - This year these are very good. Maybe the tree just took a bit to get going. They are similar to Ernies Choice in being a classic productive large yellow peach. Its not as sweet or flavorful as OHenry but the fruits look a lot better.
OHenry - Exxxxcelent! With the usual spots on top. Flavor similar to Red Baron but fruits larger.
Oldmixon Free - Exxcellent as usual! What a superb peach. The "Improved" version seems to be a bit earlier, like a week or so; maybe it is in fact a different variety.
Lady Nancy - Too much rot. It is very similar to Oldmixon in taste (nearly identical) but has been a lot more rot prone.
Indian Cling - The usual huge harvest of unblemished cooking peaches. The best low-input peach variety. They are not very sweet though and hard like rocks so cooking only.
Late Crawford - Very sour and flavorful. Ripens over a long period. Had a lot drop but still got a good harvest. I am now liking this guy more than Early Crawford; it took more years to get into good production but is now superior.
Indian Free - Excellent as usual. Rot not too bad.
Heath Cling - Hard cooking peach with a different flavor than other peaches. I like it for its lateness and unusual flavor. Not much for fresh eating though, too hard.
Salwey - not ripe yet.
clarkinks
Scott F SmithOriginal Author
mrsg47
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alan haigh
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Scott F SmithOriginal Author
alan haigh
appleseed70
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fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
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olpea
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Scott F SmithOriginal Author
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appleseed70
Scott F SmithOriginal Author
mrsg47
Scott F SmithOriginal Author
mrsg47
Scott F SmithOriginal Author