Heat vs. peaches

18 years ago

We're just starting to pick our Florida Prince peaches, and this year's early spring heat has improved them dramatically. I never realized they needed so much heat to sweeten up; in last year's cool spring they were terrible.

The tree drastically overbears, and despite what I considered heavy thinning I still ended up with what looks like apricots (which is just as well, as I got nuthin' on the apricot tree; maybe I should just forgo the thinning and call it that). I've heard that Florida Prince peaches can get huge, so I guess you have to mercilessly thin to at least 8" apart.

The heat wasn't so kind to the blueberries, as Oneal and Sharpblue had some wrinkled berries (still taste good though). I don't know why they call them highbush; here they have a creeping habit with half the branches laying on the ground loaded down with berries; makes them a pain to pick. Next time I'll plant them in raised beds.

I had a scare with the Fuji apple trees; an irrigation mishap left the heavy crop of green immature apples wrikled, dull, and soft. I thought the tree would drop the whole lot of them, but after heavy watering they firmed up and got shiny again. We'll see if there's any long-term damage.

Applenut

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Comments (4)

jean001
18 years ago
The usual suggestion is to thin peaches to 6 or 8 inches. I always do mine at 10 to 12 inches and still end up with more than I need.

But they are big! Juicy and sweet too.
juniorpilot
18 years ago
applenut:

Here in Burbank, CA I had the same experience with Flordaprince that you had. Last year they were inedible and this year they have great flavor.

I thin mine like jean001 says. AT LEAST 10 inches apart. When thinned like this, they get good sized. But it's not my favorite fun thing to do to thin 90% of the little fruitlets.

I have the same varieties of blueberries that you have - plus Misty and Reveille. I planted mine in 24" pots exactly according to DWN's website instructions. Works great. I put a 6' bamboo pole right in the middle of the pot and tie some of the branches to it. I also bought a little cheap pH meter. When I have the pH right, the blueberries put on vigorous upright growth with thick branches - about 1/2" to 3/4" thick. There are still some little droopy branches though - about 3/16" to 1/4". One of the posters on this forum wrote that he prunes off the little droopy branches in favor the upright thicker ones where the bigger berries occur.

I like Reveille the best. I tasted them at one of DWN's fruit tasting affairs at Cal Poly Pomona. I decided to try it despite it's advertised 600 to 800 hours of chill requirement. Fruited like a charm. Reminds me of your mantra regarding apple chill hours.

Tony
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applenut_gw
Original Author
18 years ago
Tony:

We're thinking of leaving Florida Prince as an apricot tree- it fruits better and earlier than our apricots, and then I don't have to thin! But on the other hand my wife made a cobbler yesterday and said it took forever to peel the darn things.

We have some eastern blueberries (Bluecrisp and Toro) that Gurneys sent us that are doing well. They have a much different habit- turn red and drop all the leaves in the fall- but fruit just fine. Maybe its time to test a bunch of those also...

Applenut
MrClint
18 years ago
Floridaprince put out some very tasty and nicely sized fruit for me this season. They are all picked clean now. Last year Desert Gold was the champion, but they were a bit on the mealy side this year. My next peach to ripen will be Babcock! I need some good tweeners. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Peaches