White Peach recommendations for SoCal
The following thread was started by Rodney Cerritos, CA on February 06, 2010 at 3:15 pm PST
R....keep in mind you MUST have a low chill peach. There are a few....but the Babcock is a very juicy and delicious peach that will do great for you. It is not a good "shipper"...meaning it bruises easily, and does not keep long in the frig.
The above followup was added by Ed of Somis on February 06, 2010 at 3:57 pm PST.
I bought one last year and kept it in a large pot because I didn't know where I wanted to plant it.
It gave me about a dozen fruit the first year. Small but sweet.
The above followup was added by tammy on February 06, 2010 at 6:48 pm PST.
My favorite white fleshed peach is snow beauty, it's delicious and far more flavorful than babock, although I have both and like them both.
The above followup was added by Axel on February 06, 2010 at 8:38 pm PST.
R....while I am sure the Snow Beauty is as wonderful as Axel says....you said you live in Long Beach. Snow Beauty requires way more winter cold than you will ever have. Trees of Antiquity or Dave Wilson nursery are good sources online for winter chill requirements. goodluck
The above followup was added by Ed of Somis on February 07, 2010 at 7:24 am PST.
Tropic Snow is a little less chill than Babcock and tastes better.
The above followup was added by Mark Lee on February 07, 2010 at 8:29 am PST.
We had a dwarf Babcock that did very well here in Chino Hills. We are not as low chill as LB, but it might work there.
It was a great producer and the fruit also ripened very well even if picked a bit early. That helped spread out the harvest and to get a few more from the birds.
One of the few problems that we had with it was that it would set so many fruit that it would break branches if not thinned - even with moderate/heavy pruning. We learned that if we could hold out some of the thinning just long enough we could actually get decent fruit when picked early and make room for the rest to fully ripen.
We eventually lost that tree due to the tree being shaded by a larger tree on a nearby city easement, but I do miss it.
I haven't tried others so I'm sure there might be better tasting varieties, but it was an excellent flavor and very juicy.
The above followup was added by Ted Allen on February 07, 2010 at 8:48 am PST.
Rodney,
I grew up in Long Beach, and still visit family there. The city is large,with the Chill hours varying greatly between the mild coast, and 5 or more miles inland where it is a bit more chilly. How far are you from the coast?
Low chill peaches- from San Diego chapter CRFG pdf file online:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:P54XPCaDAZ4J:www.crfgsandiego.org/Documents/LOW%2520CHILL%2520PEACHES.pdf+white+low+chill+peaches&hl=en&gl=us&sig=AHIEtbS5RFx6FnU947F3kS5xWF4bqMRRlQ
Low Chill White Peaches-
Australian Saucer 300-500
Babcock (white) 250-300 hrs
Champaign 300-500 hrs
Donut (Stark Saturn, white Peento type) 400-500 hrs
Four-star Daily News 250-400 hrs
Springtime 250-350 hrs
Strawberry Free 350--450 hrs
Tropic Snow 100-200 hrs
I have tasted some of these. . . all pretty similar
How about some white nectarines (from another SD CRFG pdf)?:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Benwhr37ydMJ:www.crfgsandiego.org/Documents/LOW%2520CHILL%2520NECTARINES.pdf+low+chill+nectarines+san+diego+crfg&hl=en&gl=us&sig=AHIEtbRi54mGJrzFcZ3D60Xlz7xGn5DEDg
Arctic Star 300 hrs
Arctic Glow 300-400 hrs
Goldmine 150-300 hrs
Snow Queen (fantastic flavor) 250-300
I really like Snow Queen, prone to cracking, though.
JV
The above followup was added by John Valenzuela on February 07, 2010 at 11:19 am PST.
I live in Cerritos, close to North Long Beach
The above followup was added by Rodney Cerritos, CA on February 07, 2010 at 11:32 am PST.
according to the data collected about 5 miles away from you at El Dorado Park, see:
http://fruitsandnuts.ucdavis.edu/chillcalc/chillstationdata.cfm
The above followup was added by John Valenzuela on February 07, 2010 at 12:16 am PST.
http://fruitsandnuts.ucdavis.edu/chillcalc/chilldatachoose.cfm?Station=174&type=chill
click on
'Historical accumulations 11/01 through 2/29'
and
'RETRIEVE DATA'
scroll down to
2/28 (the last day of record for each year)
to see annual accumulated chill hours since '03-'04
Click on to the little green
'show prior years'
to see another few years data, back to 00-'01
Though microclimates make a lot of difference, just another point of reference.
The above followup was added by John Valenzuela on February 07, 2010 at 12:26 am PST.
Depending on your microclimate, you may have very little chill (especially if you plan near a southeast facing wall or other heat-reflecting area of your property.) I live near the coast in San Diego, and the only trees that fruit well for me in our mild coastal winters are ones that are VERY low chill (100-200 hrs). Even low chill (up to 150-300) didn't fruit well...sometimes only a handful of fruit. Trees that require any more, like 300 hours, don't fruit at all here and have a lot of blind wood. The only peach tree that was a great producer for me was Floridaprince, although it is not a white peach. You might try Tropic Snow which is 150-200 hours. Even my Goldmine nectarine which requires 150-300 hours only fruits well only in colder years. Good luck!
The above followup was added by kristenb on February 09, 2010 at 10:14 am PST.