Topic: Donut or Chinese Flat peaches

[genlistlass]

I've never grown fruit trees before but I desperately want to grow a Chinese Flat peach. I first tasted them in Australia a few years ago and am delighted they are now available here in UK.

Will I be able to grow them from stones or will they need to be tweeked in some manner?

I've read they are frost hardy but if I hoy everything else outta my greenhouse I can put it in there in a BIG pot????


Gen in Northumberland where the sun is SHINING!

[jennym]

I grow peaches in pots, but close to the house, outside, in Essex. Reckon you should be ok in a greenhouse, not sure how cold Northumberland gets.
Growing from a stone might give reasonable fruit, then again it might not and you'd have to wait 4 or 5 years to find out. You could end up with a bad fruit and a huge tree.
To guarantee the fruit you want and also that the tree is not going to grow into a giant, you'd need to buy a tree on dwarfing rootstock from a reputable nursery.
Places like Keepers and Deacons have the variety Saturn for sale, there are probably others.

[genlistlass]

Thank you Jenny. I think I'll go for the tree option plus having a go with stones. Reads have the Saturne type ready in September, not too long to wait.

I wonder how long I'll have to wait till it fruits, years?


As for how cold it gets in Northumberland, well we are on the same latitude as Moscow   :D


Gen in NBL, where the central heating has just clicked on as its 8C outside and its blummin' August!

[jennym]

If you buy a peach tree, it will probably be 1 or 2 years old, the nursery will tell you.  They start bearing fruit from about 4 years old in total, and the fruit is produced on fresh shoots that have grown in the previous year. So you'd have to wait a couple of years for a nursery grown tree, and aboput 4 - 5 years for a stone grown tree.

[tugboat]

I think you need to be aware that a tree grown from a stone will almost certainly not produce the same fruit as it needs to be asexual reproduction i.e. the tree will need to be a grafted tree as all trees are that are sold in garden centres and nurseries.There is also no guarantee that a stone grown tree will produce a pleasant fruit,but you never know you might lucky

[Jeannine]

I got peaches In Hull outside, the tree was in a huge pot which we wintered in the greenhouse, it did quite well , it wasn't the Cinderella coach peach though.Ilike those too, we get them very cheap and locally grown here so my peach growing days are over.XX Jeannne

[genlistlass]

Yes, thought I needed grafted stock, like roses.

Long time to wait for peaches, will I outlast the tree LOL

Gen in NGL

[Vinlander]

The flat peach may be hardy in the narrowest sense but I wouldn't risk it unprotected in our wet winters - I lost one and I've lost several 'patio peaches' in exactly the same way and I suspect the problem is cold water in the delicate nooks and crannies.

The entire peach family comes from the central eastern regions of Asia where the winters are cold but very dry.

I think it's accepted that peaches, nectarines and apricots arrived via the Med with its warm but wet winters before being moved north.

Most of this movement was done by seed, very very little (and very much more recently) by scion or budwood, even less by moving trees!

This means the seedlings that survived to bear fruit (and were selected to have their own offspring sent West and North) were better adapted than the vast majority that didn't (because they would have preferred to stay in China).

I don't know where the latest strains of flat and dwarf peaches came from but there's a strong possibility that they short-circuited the slow selection process and arrived as budwood from somewhere with frosty but dry winters - like northern California.

If there are any flat peaches that have grown outdoors in the Med for centuries then I'd be a bit happier including them in a breeding programme to add hardiness.

I'd be interested in knowing if the traditional flat peaches of the French Riviera are grown without glass(?).

The good news is that there is an even better reason for keeping rain off peaches until Spring - it is an 100% effective way to stop leaf curl.

A lot of people seem to think covering is just an alternative to using fungicides, with a similar (poor) success rate - it isn't - it gives total and absolute control.

Cheers.

[admjh1]

Vinlander I have peaches on the plot and always end up with peachcurl and no fruit. It totaly cleared itself this year, I am interested with your last comment when you said about covering till spring. Can you give me more info please, as I would really love to get peaches or even "a" peach
many thanks

[Vinlander]

"Non-chemical control

Where peaches are grown trained against a fence or wall, a rain shelter of plastic sheeting is very effective at preventing infection. It should cover the top of the tree and the front to within 30cm (12in) of the ground, but with the ends open to allow access for pollinating insects. It should be erected from January to mid-May. Keeping the emerging shoots dry in this way prevents infection and also gives useful frost protection. It is used successfully every year in the Wisley Model Fruit Garden."

This is from the RHS site: http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=232 There's a nice picture.

Covering until mid-May is a counsel of perfection (and remember the RHS is nationwide and peaches aren't restricted to the south).

Some people say December to April - which will certainly prevent most of the problem and if you are lucky with the rain you will get full control.

The best help I saw was in the Brogdale newsletter which unfortunately doesn't exist any more and the back issues don't seem to have made it onto the internet.

Apparently the effects of covers weren't really believed until someone at the RHS (I think) noticed that a peach inside a greenhouse had made an escape bid through a vent. The branch that got spring rain on it got covered in leaf curl while there was absolutely no curl on the rest of the tree.

It was known that total cover gave total control (that's why the tree hadn't been sprayed) but nobody realised the problem was so local and they were surprised there was absolutely no spread.

I have a peach and a nectarine growing on a fence so it's pretty easy.

One of the Brogdale articles described a cover from 6'x4' acrylic sheet bent to a quarter-round profile, fitted to the wall in early Winter and removed in late Spring to be paired up with another making a useful half-round cloche 6' x3' x3' for the rest of the season. If raised up to leave a gap they are nearly as useful at keeping blight off tomatoes (provided the wind doesn't blow along them).

They look good and let you see the blossom in all its glory.

I have tried some variations and it works well even when the tree grows to the point where you have to raise the cover quite a bit. I find that a metre gap works almost as well as a foot and a tiny bit of leaf curl on the lowest twigs isn't worth worrying about. I also occasionally get a tiny bit from drips through the fence - no problem.

Protecting a bush tree is much harder but 90% of the damage seems to be before full leaf - so you could experiment with covers that don't let full light through - the tree won't care until the leaves are out.

A pal of mine is going to experiment with one of those big white builders' bags nailed to 4 poles round his tree.

The tree won't mind being bundled up while its leaves aren't out and a few leaks will be 100x better than the total soaking it will get otherwise.

Cheers.