Right now I'm leaning towards getting a 4 in 1 peach for my small yard. However, I'm a bit worried about the size of the tree at maturity (10 to 12 feet high). The ideal height would be approx 8 feet so it doesn't shade the garden that would be just north of it. How easy is it to keep a fruit tree within a certain size?
I think who it was was One Green World, who about 15 years ago carried a peach Flavorella, which was the best answer to your question because it was intermediate but much bigger than the ultra dwarf types. But it didn't last. Back then I had one too and one bad weather system infected the whole thing very fast so for small there is nothing good out there yet.
I'm back to the idea of my 8 foot tall krymsk-1 trees which seem to be very spreading and mostly the centers need removal. At any time there are better peaches or apricots then they have now I'm ready to go!
bburan, if you google on the words "backyard orchard culture" thin pick the Dave Wilson nursery link, there is a good discussion that might help you. One precaution is their method is developed in California, where there is much more sun snd heat, compared to here.
http://www.davewilson.com/home.....rd-culture
The hardest thing here in the Pacific Northwest with peaches is peach leaf curl disease. Resistant varieties are sold on the Raintree Nursery and One Green World Nursery websites. My best luck with minimal peach leaf curl so far is the variety Charlotte. Indian Free did not have much disease, but didnt bear a peach in 8 years, even with hand pollination. Oregon Curl Free had minimal curl, and had good peaches, but died of canker. I have Q18 / Siletz, growing nicely with minimal or no curl, but it's only 2 years old so havent tasted the fruit yet. The peack x plum hybrid Trilite also had bad peach leaf curl.
You can spray for the disease but I dont.
Other than Indian Free, most peaches dont need a pollinizing variety.
I forget if Raintree has a disease resistant multigraft. That woukd be a way to try several varieties.
DanielW said
One precaution is their method is developed in California, where there is much more sun snd heat, compared to here..
Which in the article "year three" is where pruning practices will differ here. For example too much crowding verses espalier styling, our only choices limit us to never crowd over the lower branches as shown in the adjacent image to year three. Being that here shaded portions will become all the source points of disease. So to me that would be the only variance to consider adapting to peach is aiming for espalier and less worry about intense sun damage to lower limbs etc.
Really good post Daniel, and really great link hitting it all on the head!
Rooney, thank you for the compliment!
I agree, the shorter, cooler, less sunny summer here makes the DaveWilson method of backyard orchard culture less viable in Pacific Northwest. I have used some of the ideas in my yard, that is keeping the trees smaller and making use of summer pruning. I try to keep the center of my trees open, but not always tied to that method
I think a multigraft would be as good as their idea of planting more trees in one hole, although that would sell fewer trees. The multigraft would cost less than several trees, if the right varieties are available on the tree.
Remember on peaches that the more cuts you make, the more you open the tree to disease. Disease is the bane of peach trees. On an espalier, you cut very frequently.
An alternative is to grow seedling trees like I do. They grow naturally out of our compost. I make very few cuts and only prune in dry weather. Observations have shown that non-grafted trees get less disease and live longer than grafted trees. I got lots of healthy peaches on my tree last year. As I said, compost tea kills the diseases. I use one for bacterial diseases, and one for fungal diseases. Free peach trees are a good deal if you get good peaches. I did last year.
John S
PDX OR
John, the other thing I like about growing seedling trees is that if the seeds are taken from locally adapted trees, then maybe the seedlings will be locally adapted too. Buying - which is what I do 90% of the time - means they are often grown elsewhere, from trees that were locally adapted to far different climates. For some trees, that doesn't matter. For others, it means a lot of frustration and wasted effort and $$$.
Idyllwild
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
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