Good info. Thanks!

I have found peaches from the same tree can taste very different from year to year, although sometimes they are somewhat consistent year to year. Thus of the 20 varieties planted at least one year they were wonderful, but my favorites are Elberta, Redhaven and O henry.

Plant in full sun location, prune to open vase, thin fruit to one every 10" of branch, spray regularly, keep tree small so ladder is not needed, net tree, keep orchard clean, water/fertilize as needed and you will never buy store peaches again!

Hi poolecw,
Yes, garedneck is right about never buying peaches from the store once one has learned the art of growing peaches-as I totally agree with him. However, when I first started purchasing peach trees I was so naïve. I took it for granted that the big box stores sold us what would grow best in our environment here in Georgia. I later learned better by going to the UGA website-as tonytran suggested-and looking up the peach varieties that grow best in our weather and environment.(West Atlanta/Douglasville, GA) Yet, before acquiring that info, I ended up with trees with high chill requirements so I have a variety of peach trees and some of them gave (and give) a good crop every season except this last one. (Due to foul weather) However, you asked about recommending some good varieties...I have 3: Elberta, Halehaven & Redhaven. They produce beautifully in this weather and the fruit quality is "off the chain" delicious! I have about 12 peach trees and 2 varieties I have 3 each of them: The halehaven and the elberta. I love these peaches!
My fellow gardeners, please let us know of other varieties suited for this area too. There is definitely nothing better than enjoying fruit from your own trees!!!

Make sure the varieties don't overlap in terms of picking time. One mature tree will bear much more fruit than a single family can use without doing a lot of canning.

Thanks for the info everyone. I want to get at least two trees planted this fall. As of right now, I am looking that getting an Elberta and a Redglobe (possibley a Majestic as a third tree) from Ison's Nursery.

I have not been impressed at all with Elberta, except for it's growth characteristics. It is the old standard (key word, OLD) but I'm sure there are better canning varieties out there that have better taste and ripen earlier. Maybe Olpea will chime in!

Redhaven is generally very good as grown here. I sold some very nice ones this summer to a customer who said she had only tasted peaches that good once in her lifetime, purchased from a fruit stand, when she was a child.

Evidently Redhaven doesn't do as well in the NE, as reported by forum members, but here,, it is very good. There are also different strains of Redhaven.

I don't grow Elberta, but one of my neighbors does. I do grow Redskin, which is a close relative, and it is a very decent peach.

O'Henry ripens slightly later than Elberta or Redskin and is a better peach, but it is susc. to bac. spot and tends to run smaller than Redskin, but larger than Elberta.

Most of early peaches aren't as good as later varieties. I like Earlystar for a very early peach and Garnet beauty for a peach a week later, but I imagine a lot of these varieties wouldn't work in parts of GA.

I'm trialing a lot of new peaches at the farm and expect my opinions will change once these new peaches start coming in.

Carolina Gold was excellent this year. I'm not normally a big fan of peaches, but CG was melting, juicy and perfectly sweet.

Cumberland Valley Nursery (fruittreefarm.com) and Vaughn Nursery both recommend Contender and China Pearl in addition to Carolina Gold. All three have high chill requirements and should do well in your area. You can order them from either of those nurseries for super cheap.

Yes, poolecw, for a fact peach varieties perform differently in different climates and locations. The Elberta peach is not only delicious, upon ripening, it is a very large peach. I will post pics as soon as I can of the ones I harvested this summer. I know and happily accept the fact that we don't all share the same opinion about what we prefer in our fruit choices, (life would be boring if we all did) but I believe that you will not be disappointed should you purchase the Elberta peach tree. If you do your part in taking good care of it, it will not disappoint you!! LOL. And thanks everyone, I will try some of the suggestions of different peach varieties.

I've had tree ripened Georgia Elbertas when visiting there and they are much better than the ones I grow here because they ripen sooner. In southeast NY they ripen under a weaker Sept sun. I cut mine down last winter because we have varieties that are better here in its season.

Olpea, Redhaven performs well here but Jonboy (a standard NJ replacement for Redhaven) has deeper orange flesh and seems to get just a tad sweeter in our climate. At a good site Redhaven, properly thinned the way I know you do it, would be the best peach many people have ever eaten.

There are so many peach varieties out there it is very hard to get a handle of the very best for your own climate. The good news is, until you try that one just slightly better, yours will be the best you or your friends have ever eaten.

"There are so many peach varieties out there it is very hard to get a handle of the very best for your own climate. The good news is, until you try that one just slightly better, yours will be the best you or your friends have ever eaten. "

That's the best (and truest) comment I've heard on this forum for a while.

Johnboy is a very good peach, but as you know ripens a tad later than Redhaven. I've grown it in my backyard, but my son tasted one (one of the few) at the farm and proclaimed it his favorite peach. It was good (from my perspective) but I think he really likes the name. He's just 16, so his opinions are still moldable (not like us old men who's opinions tend to be set in concrete).

With the cold winter the few peaches I expected never came. My trees are huge now and should produce a good crop next year. Anyway I have been buying peaches from farmer's market and nothing has appealed to me. My wife bought three from Kroger, unknown cultivar. And they are very tart, they make you pucker! And that is exactly what I love! What I'm looking for!!! At last!! A real peach! I have to have some sweet for the wife, the nectaplum should work for her. Anyway I'm waiting on Arctic Glo nectarine. Everybody says it sour as all heck. Cool!! I wanted to add to the discussion because some of you may think it's not good for your area, but it would be great for me. All this brix stuff means little if it can't make me wince. Yeah this unknown peach one got really over ripe but it's still tart, the perfect peach!

I know I'm the exception. I love just eating raw rhubarb, nothing much better than that!
Anyway one man's perfect peach is another man's dog of a fruit.

This post was edited by Drew51 on Wed, Aug 20, 14 at 6:44

Drew,

You should try Red Baron peach. Very pretty red flowers and it has that acid you are looking for. I loved the juiciness and sweet tart of the fully ripen RB.

Tony

Tony,

OK, I thought about that one, now I'm convinced. I'm really into edible landscapes. Well I actually suck at making things pretty, but having that tree would make it a lot easier. It fills all needs I have! Thanks for mentioning it. I figure in 5 or 6 years I may get good at making the landscape eye appealing, and also edible, well extremely edible.
Isn't there an orange double flowered nectarine or peach? Maybe a 2 in 1 hole with Red Baron would be very eye catching.

OK, it's Double Jewel and it has pink flowers. Wonder how that one is??

I think their all good...main reason we can let them ripen on the tree longer then stores and farmers...IMO that changes the taste and makes the peach or fruit almost like a different variety from what you may be use to tasting...

I agree on Red Baron, that peach continues to amaze me. I think its reputation actually gets hampered by its fancy flowers, who could believe an ornamental peach would taste THAT good??

My favorite peach is often what I am eating right now. Currently that would be Carolina Gold. Its very good this year. Early Crawford is usually my favorite this time of year, but it was several notches down. It had good flavor but was too small and soft/mushy.

The weather this year has been very different than usual August weather. Its usually dry and hot; this year its wet and cool. This is changing the flavors, some better some worse.

Scott

A produce stand here has been selling locally grown "Pennsylvania Peaches." The variety this past week was a large yellow freestone with 40% red skin. The standout feature was their irregular shape and irregular ripening. They were worst peaches I've ever had. The ripe parts were good, but then the unripened parts ruined it. Is there a zone 6/7 mid-August peach with this tendency, or could the weather patterns have contributed to the irregularities?

I have nectarines here that are doing that this year because of excessive early rain. At another site that got the same weather but has dawn to dusk sun the nectarines of the same varieties are fine.

That's what I'm talking about nyrockfarmer nothing like a peach off your own tree...I to bought those peaches from PA here. I found them to taste the same as you...What I did was leave them out to ripen more and they got better...not like mine but better then the day I bought them.