My peach tree

The Reliance peach is supposed to handle -25° I decided to build a shelter for it to protect it from the coldest temperature this winter.
I put a heat lamp bulb in there to add a little heat
I had one for 9-10 years and -30 killed it and the Contender peach I started to replace the old tree.
I tried two or three Contender peach, they died, they are supposed to do ok in cold climate, I think the Reliance is better

Good luck.Hope it works out for you.

Me too, fresh off the tree they are like liquid candy!
I can't hardly eat a store peach

I sure miss my peach and red plum trees from Virginia

I think that may be the variety I planted 3 of last year. I was concerned about my zone survival and I'm in 6b. I hope it worked out for you. I didn't think peaches could handle that far north. I learn something every day.

I also planted 4 pears 2 varieties. I hope they all make it. I lost some of my blue berries last year and am hoping to not lose any more plants.

Zone 6 you should be good unless temps go below -20
I'm in zone 4 , close to zone 5

I didn't know planting peach would be worth my time, but now I am more hopeful after talking to a DNR forester last week. He told me these peach varieties appear viable in Wi:

Reliance, Harrow Beauty, and Madison.

I'll have to research a source.

The trees will grow here, no problem.

Problem is the hard freezes clear into mid to late May.............and then (if the blossoms survive the freeezes) the peaches gotta survive the deer. My mother had to pick her peaches last week a bit early because the deer found them. Oh.............and if the deer don't find them the bears will. Break the limbs right off to rob the tree. Can't have nothin...............

I have a contender and saturn. Wish I had two contenders. Only problem I had was this spring was colder than usual and most of my trees didn't get pollinated well enough. Contender had 120 peaches last year and only half a dozen this year. The deer.....

I along with my neighbor have grown peaches in the southern 1/2 of WI. Trouble is they will not last. 6-8 years is the max I've seen.

If I was to try again I would plant close to the south side of the house to block all wind and the reflective heat off the house would help in winter too that is if your south side sees all day sun.
OP's mini green house would help I'd bet.

I will fence them for deer if I plant some. And I have barbed wire that I would use to help keep bear out

If you're going to fence it, do it on T-posts with insulators and a fencer. A stout whack of DC means a whole lot more to a bear than barbed wire does.

It's often hard to get electricity where the trees are, Strut.

So...T20, we gonna have any peaches?

Use a 12 volt deep cycle battery powered fence charger system.

I did that every year on my sweet corn. A 50 mile charger was hot enough to occasionally kill a raccoon or opossum.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This.

We used to fish in Ontario 20-some miles past houses or electricity or ANYTHING back this logging road. Camped in an old gravel pit. The area was slap full of bears. The one group that camped back in there set up just that around their site.............12 volt fencer on a deep-cycle battery.........and one strand 15" high. No bear problems for them !!!

I was Wondering also?

This is a white peach first yr bearing. It started from my old white peach.

If I was a tree I'd hope to be in your yard t20

If I was close to those peach trees you wouldn't need to worry about deer or bears. I would take care of those peaches and put them to good use.:) No waste.........

If that was in my yard, coons would have got them a month ago - same time they got all my apples.

I keep the coons down and my dogs kennel is 15 feet away. The smell helps keep them away also

I trap/kill anywhere between 50 and 75 coons a year off my 300 acres. Not enough

We had about ten on the tree this year, it's getting old enough to produce now

Lol, I try, this winter it didn't get as cold, I didn't shelter it, I got ten peaches I think

I hear ya! Lol

I suppose they crawl right up your peach tree, hopefully not damaging it

They tend to break them up pretty bad

That would be a bummer if they kill the tree

I'm going to try air layering a friend of mines white peach tree this Spring to clone it. The tree was planted around 1964, which makes it very old for a peach tree. It has fruit almost every year. The peaches are very large, good flavored and have little insect and no fungus problems. I and another friend have tried to root cuttings from it in the past, with rooting hormone with poor success. I got 6 cuttings from it, out of around 40, to make tiny roots once, but around 5 months later, all the cuttings died and the roots had not grown any since I checked and transplanted them months before.

Keith

They graft fairly easily. For rootstock you can order lovell or just plant a bunch of pits. They're not to fussy about rootstock like some of the apples or pears are.

I have two contender trees, they are 6yrs old. This year was a bumper crop, I had to prop up the branches they were so heavy with fruit. I’ve learned from my neighbor to mulch the ground on each tree with a bale of straw before winter. He has one tree 10 years and the tree was loaded with baseball sized peaches. This is in Southeast Minnesota.

Once again Warrior nailed it.

Thanks.

Keith

I got about a dozen this year

They say to thin out the peaches on a branch, I didn't want to, I propped some up too on an old tree

I planted my first ever peach tree tonight. My co-landowner wondered what I'm doing planting a peach tree in Wisconsin, lol. Maybe he is right, but I hope not. I explained to him how much research I put into this and that the tree I bought from Chief River Nursery is promoted for our Zone. Fingers crossed.

Sometimes it is good to take a leap on trees and give them a chance in a place that might not be the ideal location. I would never recommend planting a peach orchard where no peaches exist for miles around, but there are plenty of of trees growing in "odd" locations.

I planted 3 peach trees and 4 pears 2 varities of pear for x polinat about 3 years ago. Last year I thought we were going to get some peaches but the frost got them.. I hosted a fruit tree pruning event for the extension office and a guy from Purdue came down and taught us and several others how to prun them.

I think our peaches are the same variety as the original post.

I just put in 2 new pear, 2 plum and 2 cherry trees and a couple raspberry and blueberry bushes should be good eats

Contender too, but I had no luck with them, all three died

Solar electric fence, 230$

Had so many peaches last year, we’ll never run out of jam! Usually frost kills the blossoms. 20-25% of the time they survive. Hard to beat a fresh peach. Apricot too!

I'm actually trying to find apricot too

Blushingstar and red haven are my peaches. The red haven are canners, good for anything, and early, where the blushingstar are table peaches and are later. They don’t turn brown when cut. Light flesh that’s good fresh or for cooking.

Stark Brothers have a quality operation. I go through them.

So far my young Peach tree is thriving

I planted a Reliance peach & 2 Moorpark apricot trees last night from Chief River Nursery. Chief River always seems to have good products.

I planted many hundred apricot seeds, that I am hoping will come up soon. I am going to let some grow up and graft peaches onto others. I am hoping to make enough peach trees with them to start a you pick.

I have thousands of cherry seeds planted. Unlike most fruit trees, sour cherry seeds grow close in type to the parents. I've started transferring cherry seedling from their beds to deep tree pots. I hope to plant them in rows in the Fall.

I can barely walk right now and can get very little of what I want to done. It's been very frustrating. I would like to grow a huge number of plants this year.

Keith

Nice looking peaches west river

One reliable producer for us in Oregon is a 'Veteran' peach. I think they were developed in Michigan a long time ago but they really gained a following in Oregon because they hardly ever fail to set a good crop. The peach itself is not attractive, kind of a greenish yellow but the flesh is honey sweet with exquisite flavor. A free stone, you can grab a peach twist it in half and start eating.

If I was going to start from scratch I would also go with reliance started by university of mn.

Have you ever tried a Veteran?

No sir not to my knoweledge...Im just wanting something to survive all our spring frost and yet a sweet delicate flavor. Again BP thanks for the info...I may have to hunt one up. Or find seed

Seed wouldn't help but I see there are a lot of nurseries that still carry them. Apparently I was wrong where the variety was developed. It was in Canada.

Ive already been looking but honestly with my health I probably wouldnt live to see another bear fruit. Bettr cut my losses and stick with what Ive got. BUT...........We never know when our time is.

You can buy peach trees at TSC, Rural King and Walmart, that already have peaches on them, that will fruit next year too. When it gets hot, you can buy the trees for under $2.00 sometimes.

Keith

Peaches bear on last years wood. By third leaf you should be able to get a dozen peaches or more.

I've grown Peaches, they typically will last 3-5 years then die. Might get one crop from them.
A waste of time in WI if you ask me.
Only way they might work out is planted close to a dark colored house on the south side.

Peaches are dying from the moment you plant them. I used to think that the spray recommendations for peaches was over the top. After having grown two acres of peaches and nectarines for a couple of decades I came to the conclusion that they are understated. If you aren't willing or able to spray peach trees at least 8-10 times in a calendar year better resign yourself to the fact that your facing an uphill battle. I eventually took out my orchard for those reasons.

However no fool like an old one....just planted 60 peach trees this fall (after 15 years of no peaches) and am picking up another 50 trees next week. Veteran, Suncrest, Contender and O' Henry.

Carl, who do you buy your peach trees and other plants from?

Keith

Wholesale outlets. Eugene wholesale Nursery this fall and another large commercial nursery in Wenatchee, Washington (Van Wells) for the O Henry's.. Minimum order is 50 trees. Eugene Wholesale just went out of business and I was lucky to get trees from them.

Thanks Carl. What's the name of the nursery in Wenatchee? My brother and his family have a house there.

Keith

Van Wells.

Thanks Carl. I found their website and requested a catalog.

Keith

I'm headed there on May 2nd to pick up 50 O' Henry's. Can I stay at your brother's place?

I can't give permission for him, but I'll ask if you really want me to.

They have a cabin on the lake in Wenatchee, that they fixed up and added on to. They also have a large vacation house they had built in Packwood, that my brother wants to fully retire to. He wants to plant an orchard there. I've been encouraging him to do it sooner rather than later. Their main home is near Chehalis.

Keith

Solar fencer

After trying fruit bearing size Contender trees for two seasons outdoors(tree came with a one year replacement) we went to a dwarf Contender planted in a container that we move into a three season porch from outside deck to temper the winter lows. Going on third season and getting fruit each season(dozen to two full size peaches - SO GOOD). More effort than if they could survive in the orchard but they are delicious. It does bloom very early so we hand pollinate it(self fertile) which seems to be working as we have to thin the maturing fruit as they seem to develop in groups of three's.

I knew a guy that had about 50 dwarf mini peach trees. They were only about 4ft tall but did set heavily every year.

Supposedly the Reliance ones are supposed to be hardy enough for Wi. I surely won't make any guarantees on that, but I did a ton of research before ever deciding to plant my 3 peach trees.
Update: I just looked at 1 of my orders this year & 1 of the 3 is actually a Contender peach. Arbor Day seems to claim the Contender should work for me, whereas Chief River Nursery talks up the Reliance.

I have one of each I have got peaches from both them but never the same year this will be the 7th year so hopefully I can get fruit from both it’s hard to say which one better for my area there were mixed thoughts 7 years ago when I bought these two that’s why I got one of each lol it seems these are about the only two or best options in my area

Just thought maybe I would share this anecdote on fruit growing:

About 30 years ago I went to look at a cider press at a guy's place about 10 miles away. I was amazed to see a two full sized orange trees with a heavy crop of full sized green oranges (nearly ripe) that October. He had them on the south side of a garage and had framework for a greenhouse built up over them but the plastic was only deployed during bad cold spells. It was doubled with a 4" spacing between. The old guy told me that when he first moved here he had asked about growing oranges to county extension and they scoffed at him saying it couldn't be done in our climate. We're on the 45th parallel zone 7a. Being Swedish I guess he had to prove them wrong.

Moral of the story is if you really want to grow peaches you probably can if you work at it enough.

That's interesting. I wonder how those oranges tasted?
Ol dad

Yup, my first dwarf peach made it 9-10 years, two -30 temp winters killed it.
Now I think if I provide a shelter when it's colder than -20 I can stop most of the winter damage
I tried the contender all three died, the Reliance is the one I have the best luck with, I have two of them

I wonder if it's just a ~couple cold days that do them in or if takes a lingering cold snap