Peaches: low chill vs leaf curl resistant
I want to get a peach tree, and not sure if disease resistant varieries (700 hours) are a better fit than low chill varieties (300 hours), since I'm guarantee to get peach leaf curl. And for spraying, what works best in terms of results vs. toxicity: copper, lime sulfur, dormant oil, ?
The following thread was started by Dan on November 17, 2009 at 2:19 pm PST
D...I am not sure there is a correlation between chill hours and leaf curl resistance. I live in So Cal (Ventura Co)....and have learned a few things about peaches. The "Pride" varieties are all good, and have genuine low chill qualities. The "Eva's Pride" is definately a great tasting peach (my favorite). I would recommend that. It is critical to dormant spray (to runoff) with some type of lime/sulphur or copper. There are others on this site that swear by the "natural"....tea oil, etc.
The above followup was added by Ed of Somis on November 17, 2009 at 3:12 pm PST.
I would chose varieties for fruit qualty and chill requirement. You can manage (notice I didnt say prevent) the leaf curl.
3 dormant sprays with lime/sulphur or copper, then spray with Serinade and or dilute strength copper periodically after the buds open.
Good luck,
Jeff
The above followup was added by Jeff (Woodland) on November 17, 2009 at 4:59 pm PST.
Many peaches I have tried had some curl issues, most not severe. Choose for fruit quality.
Many low chill, and especially early ripening varieties, such as May Pride tend to flower in warm spells, here as early as January in some years. Cool weather follows, and then growth of the fruit is stunted. You might do well to focus on varieties which ripen at the peak of the season.
The above followup was added by pitangadiego on November 17, 2009 at 5:59 pm PST.
Dan, I am the one who did the research and tried the Tea Tree oil, I get 99.9 % control, with few exceptions. Nectarines tend to get curl worse and more easily, so some times on worse years for Curl, a little will show up on some varieties.
But for peaches here, but I am mostly drier, I m normally don't have it. I add 1/2 ounce of Tea Tree oil to each gallon of premixed Volks winter dormant spray formula, and spray prior to pink bud. And the most I get even on bad years is a few red pea size bubbles here and there, for an entire tree.
Best to apply a couple weeks before pink bud, though I have done it with pink a few pink buds showing and seem ok.
But a late spray might affect apricot blooms when pink or partially open, but not sure yet, it might just be the Volks oil, and not the Tea Tree oil.
I was experimenting and using common natural things around my home and yard to control curl, without much success. Then I figured, if Tea Tree Oil works so good for my body, for fungus and bacterial infections, why not my plants, so tried it, and it worked. It came from a plant, so why not use it on a plant, was my perspective.
David
The above followup was added by David Johnson, Waterford CA, zone 14 on November 18, 2009 at 0:55 am PST.
Living in El Cerrito (very similar climate), and having trialed several dozen peaches, I'd suggest that there is something of equal importance to chill hours, and certainly more important than curl resistance. That is picking a selection that will produce good fruit in a region with low summer heat. Many peaches will fruit here, but not all will reliably produce fruit that is worth eating. You can increase sweetness/brix/good flavor by planting in a location to maximize heat (all-day sun, against a south wall, etc). Generally, your odds of getting good fruit are better with a white-fruited variety than with a yellow-fruited variety. Generally, nectarines are more prone to brown rot in our humid/coastal/foggy climate than peaches, but controlling brown rot is about as big an issue as controlling leaf curl. As others have noted, leaf curl is controllable on most (but not all) selections with applications of fungicides (I'd suggest lime-sulfur works well and is relatively benign).
Generally, honey-type white peaches are a good bet, including new varieties just out of the Santa Clara CRFG breeding project. For a widely available peach that does well in Berkeley, I'd recommend Stark Saturn aka Donut. If you're not already a member, I'd suggest joining the Golden Gate chapter of the CRFG. Cheers.
The above followup was added by Tom A. on November 18, 2009 at 2:29 pm PST.
Tom A has a similar clmite to where I live but I can't even imagine not having a peach ripen perfectly. It must be the few days of extreme heat we get once in a while that does the trick because I've never heard anyone ever mention peach fruit not ripening well untill I read about the californian experience on the cloudforest. It's a bit interesting anyway since I have a huuuuuuge trouble to get a Fig to ripen before Winter but peaches are all over months and months before that
The above followup was added by Jason on November 22, 2009 at 3:48 am PST.
Jason
If we get lucky and have unusually warm weather when they're ripening, it helps the peaches tremendously. So does growing them somewhere that traps heat (eg, espaliered on a south-facing wall). Many yellow peaches need more heat to ripen well than white peaches, although that's a gross oversimplification. Particularly, I learned from Andy Mariani that peaches with J.H.Hale in their parentage have lousy flavor in low-heat conditions, and that certainly was true for me. Honey type peaches (white, low-acid, slight bitter almond flavor) seem to need the least heat to ripen, and they ripen to near perfection for me.
Like you, getting fall-crop figs to ripen before winter is kind of a lost cause most years. Breba crop figs (eg, Desert King) do better, but generally most summers aren't warm enough for them to make great fruit for me. They'll fruit, and they'll be edible, but pretty inferior to warmer-climate fruit.
Stay tuned for some sapote news from Shawn H. You'll be interested in what he'll have to say about your old favorite Pike!
The above followup was added by Tom A. on November 23, 2009 at 10:14 am PST.
Nothing wrong with the old Pike! so long as you pick it when its cold in the dead of Winter!:).
The weird thing about Figs, is that I have about 5 varieties (common ones) that don't ripen yet in town by the sea where it's much cooler my friend ripens the main crop of Figs months before Winter. I asked him how come? he said because he has an old time local variety thats been here over 120 years and it's a very early one. He gave me cuttings but they are still small. In fact there are alot of old trees that ripen perfectly before Winter, I guess they are all the same variety
The above followup was added by Jaosn on November 24, 2009 at 10:53 pm PST.