A few yrs ago a tree sapling sprang up in the veg garden which I hacked down.
It returned of course and I noticed the bark had round rings like a cherry or peach so I let it have its way to see what it might be.
Now it has blossoms for the first time which might identify it as a peach tree.
A bit on the internet says peach tree root bark puts cyanide in the ground.
Have any of you tried growing vegies near a peach tree? Did it cause any problem?
Did you grow three eyes from eating your produce? ;)
I can't see myself transplanting it now because it is probably 9 feet tall or more and is actually pinky beautiful in bloom.
Insect collectors sometimes used to use crushed laurel leaves to kill their prey because of the cyanide in them. There are loads of plants which produce secretions which damage other plantrs growing nearby, but if the cyanide is in the bark, it's more likely to discourage anything which might eat the tree.
There's even some in apple pips I'm pretty sure... :-X
The only time peaches produce significantly high levels of cyanide is when the ground is severely waterlogged.
Peaches, and other species in the Prunus genus, are extremely susceptible to soil flooding. In most cases 2-5 days of soil saturation is enough to kill a peach tree. This is partially attributed to lack of oxygen (hypoxia), but the anaerobic conditions also create a hydrolysis of cyanogenic glycosides in the roots that leads to the production of cyanide and thus a toxic environment in the rhizosphere causing the tree to expose itself to enough cyanide to commit suicide. After the tree is dead the water that caused the problem disperses any cyanide that has built up in the soil so it no longer poses a problem.
Well- wow!- thank you Baccy Man for all the info- you're a fount of knowledge as usual.
The tree chose to plant its rhizosphere toesies in a slight hill so it should not be committing suicide anytime soon from saturated soil. Probably peach borers will be the main problem we'll have. If it ever stops raining I'll post a picture of this sweet thang.
Quote from: saddad on April 15, 2009, 18:23:17
There's even some in apple pips I'm pretty sure... :-X
Caught me out once... I habitually eat the coree of an apple, and that's fine if it's an artificially ripened supermarket one, but not if it's been ripened on a tree ..... thought my heart was going to stop for a while...... if the first pip tastes like an strong almond then don't eat them ..... personal rule......
Everything goes in my juicer, pips and all. Years ago I knew someone who was a chef at the Cancer Help Centre and they always cooked using the whole fruit as the seeds contained vitamin B17, or Laetrile, which has anti-cancer properties. This is related to cyanide but you would have to eat bucketloads of the pips to do any damage. Some therapists recommend eating a few apricot kernels daily for the same reason.
We habitually eat peach seeds in a slightly different guise, since that's basically what an almond is.