Shauna - peeping in from my lurking but most peach trees need some sort of chilling in order to set fruiting buds (unlike citrus). Plus they tend to want to be deciduous during dormancy (as opposed to citrus which is evergreen), so you may have a leafless tree for awhile, assuming it's in a chilled spot. However if you can find a low chill peach and give it enough hours of temps ~3° C - ~6° C, you should be able to get it to flower and fruit when it's time to put it back outside.

Also while many citrus come true from seed (eg., grapefruit, limes, etc), peaches generally won't and seedlings may take some time to fruit (which is why they are usually sold grafted).

If you have a garage or other space that doesn't freeze in winter (but stays cold), you could try a dwarf/patio peach in a container. It probably wouldn't do well in the house actively growing like citrus since peaches are generally temperate trees and citrus are subtropical/tropical.

Aha - I knew someone would have some info on this subject. That's exactly the type of info I was looking for. Everything I seemed to be finding was about either grafted rootstock or planting them directly outside.

Thanks, jenny.

Shauna

I've always wanted a peach tree, even did some research a while back, but the following obstacles stopped me...

Hardiness: the hardiest peach is named "Reliance" but even then it's only hardy to zone 5 (though one website did say zone 4).

Winter protection: my ginkgo tree, hardy to zone 4, suffers winter damage unless I surround with a box for winter. This might work with a peach tree, but it might not be quite enough winter protection.

I am not sure about peaches, but I read that with some fruit trees the tree itself might be hardy but the fruiting branches (example, fruiting spurs on apples) might suffer winter damage. Thus a zone 5 apple tree might grow fine in my yard, but the spurs that produce the fruit might suffer winter damage and therefore never bloom or fruit.

Pollinator: I am not sure but another tree might be required to cross pollinate? Haven't researched enough into this.

The time factor: how long do you have to wait for a peach tree to produce fruit? Hopefully there would be a variety that would fruit at a young age.

Plus, I admitted that I just didn't have the room for a tree, unless of course they have miniature ones or something.

I did find the attached article on someone who has had some success growing them in Fargo, North Dakota, USDA zone 4, so maybe there is hope. In particular he mentions a Chinese peach that seems to be hardier. It sounds like winter won't kill the tree, but damage it enough so that it doesn't fruit each year. Maybe similar to apricots on the prairies.

Here is a link that might be useful: Peach trees ND

I am growing a 'Reliance' peach in my backyar in Calgary, and I have found that it is *very* marginal. I have had it for a few years now and only had peaches once. Peaches fruit on last year's growth so you need to get the tree through the winter without die-back. In addition to being rather tender, the peach doesn't seem to have enough time to harden off properly in our climate. I have taken to bending down and tying off the new growth at the beginning of August in order to halt growth and force the new growth to harden off. This seems to work fairly well. Witholding water in August also helps.
I'd probably be better off pulling the peach out and replacing it with an apricot, but I still recall the taste of those peaches. Yum!

Wow, Kekepke, I give you credit for trying. The lengths us northerners will go to in order to have our favorite plants.

How tall is your peach tree? Does the tree itself suffer alot of winter dieback (especially since it doesn't harden off properly)?

That's another drawback about growing out of zone plants. Some don't seem to ripen their wood properly in our short fall season. You know what they say on the prairies, we go straight from summer into winter.

I had some peaches from the grocery store that were just delicious. That got me thinking, home grown fruit always tastes much better, so if the grocery store peaches are delicious, the home grown ones must be even more delicious.

Glen

kekepke, what type of apricots do you grow? I didn't know they would grow here. Do you get a decent crop every year? It might be something for me to try and find room for.

Syreeta

My peach tree isn't much larger than it was when I bought it, but it's gamely hanging on. The tree is maybe 6 feet tall after the hard pruning I had to do this spring. Dieback is a big problem.

Apricots are hardier by far than peaches, and should be good to zone 3. The problem with apricots (and peaches) is that they bloom very early in the spring, so you will have problems if your area is subject to late frosts. Brookcot and Westcott are hardy apricots that should be widely available.

Have a look at the attached link for more hardy apricots.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sprout Farms - Apricots

I have a patio peach tree...planted it in the front yard last year..as a baby..and this year it bloomed beautiful flowers..and now it has real peaches! I can't say how shocked I was, I thought it was just a flowering tree...lol...but here is my question...can I use the peaches to plant another one? If so, how do I do it..do I dry out the pits, or can i just plant one of the baby peaches..or is it just too hard to do either. Thank you for your help.

Karen

You'll need to purchase your peach trees. The issue isn't the first year puting a tree in the ground but subsequent years with hardened off wood and Spring awakening.

5 or 6 years ago I planted 3 peach pits in my garden about 4 feet apart. 2 of them grew into trees that are about 7 to 8 foot tall. They have never flowered, but I never expected them to even survive these cold Minnesota winters. I don't protect them in any way from the cold, but so far the come back to life every spring and have large green leaves. I don't know what kind of peach pits they were. I just bought peaches at the grogery store and decided to try and plant the pits. Can anyone help me to find out how to make them produce fruit.

I am no expert, but just know that I have two peach trees that have made it through one North Dakota winter. From what I have read up on peach trees is that a peach tree may survive cold winters, but their flowers can not handle the cold and die. This maybe why your trees make the winter but never flower. I would look at a more cold hardy variety. One of the two trees I have flowered last year, but I didnt get any fruit. The other one didnt flower at all.

Buds are not making it on your trees. I'd search for a Reliance or some seed from one. I'll add that i can fruit a Reliance here in my zone 4/5, with last year dropping to a low of -19F at one point and tonite coming pretty close to that.

Apricots can easily make it here. We had one when i was younger, but the spring frosts would ruin our crops quite often.

Karen,
If your tree is producing fruit, it's not necessary to buy more trees. My dad bought a peach tree, from grafted stock. The 8 or so year old tree has produced another fruit bearing tree, and several others. Some were given away at plant trades, 3 are 1-2 years old, which have been kept in pots by his renting daughters. Which, once planted in the ground, we are all faithful will fill our summer bellies!

Just leave some of the peaches on the ground, and watch out for saplings in the spring. In this zone 6 the saplings overwinter. If you put them in pots, make sure to bring them inside for the winter though.

The success of propagation depends on what root stock and branches were used for the grafted tree that you bought, but definitaly fun and worth a go!

Happy Peaching!