Peach seeds!

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

We have a fairly new (2 years?) peach tree (not grown from seed, though). Last year it had just a few blossoms (no fruit).

I am wondering if anyone knows if -29 will kill the tree? It is a Reliance peach. Or would that just kill this years buds, and I'll have another chance next year? I would love to grow my own peaches here (even just a few fruits!).

I had a couple of the Reliance peach trees at my last property. they are hardy enough to zone 4 and around 800 chill hours (minimum # cold hours under 45 deg F before it blooms). i've found Reliance to be somewhat unreliable for producing for me, but i'm relatively new to fruit tree keeping. my 1st year they showed about 80 peaches would be on each tree and then gradually dropped most of the little fuzzy things on the ground before they started to develop. that year i had probably 15 peaches, i tried one but they got thrown to the chickens since they were small and tough even after they fell off the tree when they were 'ripe'. a couple years in a row it was doing this and i didn't know it was a variety prone to peach leaf curl, they both got it and produced poorly for me.

Do you have more than 1 tree on your property? even though peaches are mostly self pollinating, you should have more than 1 tree close to the other to help pollinate. check out Contender, Challenger, China Pearl (white) and Intrepid, they are all listed as good to grow in zone 4.

when we moved over to this property i researched heavily and decided to look into other peaches that produced well here. there's a pick your own farm just a few miles north of me that has tons of different types so i decided if they had some i liked i would try and grow those since they proved they could survive here too! so far i decided to get Belle of Georgia (i'm watching this since it was a sapling i bought online), Red Haven, Elberta, Bailey (usually a rootstock peach), White Lady, and 1 other i can't remember at the moment.

 

[buckabucka]

Thanks for all the replies! I didn't know it helped to have other peach trees nearby to pollinate. Perhaps I'll try another variety this spring.
It sounds like, at least from catalog descriptions, that the tree might be okay. I guess time will tell.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

oh, i nearly forgot, you are close to FedCo and could get some trees from them! they are just south of you in Waterville! Check what they have on their website for locally grown peach and other fruit trees. they want you to order by January 17th to get any discounts, final order deadline is March 7th. pre-order trees can be picked up this year on Friday and Saturday, April 25-26, May 2-3rd they are open to the public. www.FedCoSeeds.com

if you're looking to graft other fruit trees this would be a good supplier of both rootstock and scions. however, peach trees can be difficult to graft or find the supplies to do them and FedCo does not carry those supplies-just the live trees.

 

[buckabucka]

Thanks, yes, we get all our seed from Fedco and got our other peach tree there. I'll have to see what other hardy varieties they offer.

 

[seedcorn]

My dad could start them from seed. His son? No.

I can't get apple seeds to germinate either. I've planted seeds only, whole apples-nothing. How did Johny Apple Seed do it? We even have festivals here named after him.

 

[thistlebloom]

It looks like Reliance is supposed to be hardy in zone 4, and for zone 4, the low temp range is "-30 to -25" or there about. So theoretically, it would probably be hardy. But with the wind chill expected, don't count on it being hardy.
Maybe the snow and ice cover will protect the plants. I hope.

I don't think the wind chill temperature affects plants. The wind will only chill an inanimate object to the air temperature faster.