Peach 'Elberta'

We live in east central Arkansas where winters and summers are extreme, with the addition of chronic cloudy heavy rain periods in April a...Read Morend especially May. I've always felt that low humidity, soils high in trace elements, and irrigation grow the best peaches after experiencing two years living in northern Utah where they had the best peaches I've ever tasted, better than Georgia peaches. To say the least, growing peaches in east central Arkansas is a challenge as peaches require clear sunny days.

Our property has a lot of tall trees, so our Elberta dwarf doesn't get a full day of sun, more like 6 hours, so that is a minus right there. Also, we are on a northeastern slope and don't get a constant breeze. Another minus. But, after 4 years we finally got some peaches on our tree this year. Previous years we only had small fruit that never matured as the fruit eventually got plum cucurlio insect worm damage and brown rot infection. Last year we saw some canker infection on the smaller stems from the brown rot, this, even after thinning somewhat.

Last year we diligently removed any curculio damaged fruit (any that had a tiny slit hole or spot of rot) and brown rot infected peaches and threw them in a 5 gallon bucket of water which eventually drowned the worms inside the fruits. Previous years I did not do this, which created a high population of curculios. I also discarded any mumified fruits. Did some reading, and decided it was time to do the hassle spraying regiment if I wanted any peaches. I don't like spraying and I don't like high maintenance fruit trees, which the peach tree is if you live in high humidity areas with plum cucurlio insects.

During full bloom I sprayed weekly with Captan mixed in water according to directions to combat brown rot. This coincided with rainy periods, so I wasn't always able to spray on time. Then when the fruits were about a half inch in width, I began spraying with insecticide to prevent curculio damage. I didn't have any Malathion, so I used Sevin liquid and also pyrethrim liguid in a sprayer. The pyrethrim has a stricter spraying schedule as not to use it more than so many times in a season and no closer than two weeks to harvest. After peaches got to be about 2 inches, I stopped spraying, which would have been around mid-June as I kept an eye on the fruit. Last year I finally got to see what a curculio looks like (smaller than I thought) and kept an sharp lookout for the insects, as you don't need to spray if they aren't around. Earlier this year, my husband cut down the wild plum trees that were on the edge of our yard as these also would get curculio damage, so we got rid of possible source of insect invasion. And, last year we removed the grass away from the rooting area of the peach, lightly hoed it careful not to hurt any roots, and applied a two inch layer of pine needle mulch going all the way out to the drip line. We've kept this mulch in place since then as we have read that curculios will drop to the ground and pupate in the soil beneath the tree.

Besides spraying, I began thinning the fruit after about 5 weeks of fruit appearing on tree. My husband was looking over my shoulder and made a noise when he saw me thinning to every six inches, so I left some closer together as he said, "Don't thin too much until you see which ones get bug damage".

It took what seemed forever for our peaches to start getting bigger than an inch across in width and finally they started growing in early-July. My husband noted that areas north of here were already harvesting peaches (southern Missouri), so what's with our tree? I told him it was because it doesn't get a full day of sun. Eventually the peaches started getting bigger by late July and that is when my husband spotted a curculio on his white pickup truck parked somewhat near the peach tree. Yikes, so I started spraying insecticide again (Sevin, switching to pyrethrim as I don't know what works better against this insect) and spraying every 4 to 7 days. I've stopped spraying as the peaches are now almost ripe and some have grown to almost 3 inches in diameter. I've noticed a freckle appearance on many of the peaches and this week learned that it is called peach scab fungus. One more problem for high humidity areas of the country. I have now realized that those lovely peaches seen in the stores must be sprayed heavily to get them to look so perfect. I've been picking some that, when lifted and gently turned, come lose from the stem. Then I place them in a closed paper bag to ripen fully. Some of these are rotting as there is a curculio worm hidden inside. I give these to the chickens. Inspite of the extra effort given to this tree, we have lost a lot of fruit to insect damage.

I will not try growing another peach tree in this neck of the woods. But I have heard of someone suggesting placing a paper lunch sack around each fruit and using a twist tie to secure it (heavily thinned fruit to make the bagging easier) and you will get delicious, beautiful peaches come harvest time. He said that the peach tree leaves need sun, not the fruit. I might try this next year.

As for pruning, something I did different last year is I top-pruned the tree after all the fruits were gone in mid-August. The tree was getting too tall and I wanted to head it back to about "lopers held over head" height. I also lightly fertilized a third time in late August. Lime was applied lightly twice this year.

This is my second peach tree to try. I've written here about Redhaven under name, Wisee and gave my sad results with it. I was ignorant about peach tree requirements, and now after two trees in two different spots of our yard, I have learned it isn't the fruit for us. As for squirrels, they too would be a problem if my husband did not thin them out.

Blooms in April in my garden ... not quite sure about harvest because the squirrels got them.

I live on the MS gulf coast where we have mild winters. I've had 2 Elberta trees for 3 years now without any peaches. I did not know when...Read More I bought them that they required some 500-700 chill hours. After our unusally cold winter this year I have peaches growing on the tree dispite the grievous wounds the trees suffered from my stupid lawn man last year (he's never getting hired back). So the Elberta will produce peaches on the upper gulf coast but they need a colder winter than normal to do so.

This variety also does well in heavy, alkaline soil.