Peach blossom

Just showing off!





They are supposed to be self fertile and last year it was left to own and set about a dozen (delicious) peaches and I'm wondering if it would be beneficial to aid pollenation with an artist's brush. Anyone got experience?

 

Snap!
Ours sets a lot of fruit too but we've found that we have to thin it in order to stop the peaches going mouldy. We had four or five bigish ones last year and several small ones. This year I'm going to thin the fruit to no more than about eight.

 

Nice one Dave! Well worth growing just for the blossom but the gorgeous smell of ripe peaches in a greenhouse is something else. Much better than the apologies you can play cricket with that come from supermarkets.

 

Definitly worth hand pollenating frogesque, I even go over my outdoor one with a brush on a dry sunny day when the blossoms out, (not out yet though)

 

Interesting the difference in opinions and experience.
Ours is now in its 4th year. It lives in a big pot and over winters in the GH (now moved into the new polytunnel)and gets moved outside late April/early May. I give it a mist spray early morning and evening most days and have never had any problems with fruit setting. In fact our biggest problem has been too many fruits on it.
We were far too greedy the first year and only got one edible peach and have since then thinned them more and more each year. It may be different down south, but due to the dampness up here the peaches tend to go mouldy if they are too close together.

I'm really surprised that down in 'The Garden of England' your peach isn't in bloom yet Pete. I thought that you would be at least a month ahead of us.

[ 04. April 2006, 11:19 PM: Message edited by: Dave W ]

 

Its on a cold windy allotment, its just showing pink today, one reason I have to hand pollenate is because the insects dont really like the exposed position, and the east winds have been particulary bad this year.
The fruit usually ripens late august-early sept.
Variety is Peregrine.

 

Dave W,
it's the mist spray you give it that moves the pollen, hence so many fruits.
It's an easier way to self pollenate than using the brush method :D

 

I use it (mist spray) on the GH toms too Rossco though don't know if it is really essential.

Pete - we can get really horrible cold winds ripping down the Tay valley, but luckily despite being the highest garden in the village we have a walled garden and it makes quite a difference regarding micro-climates. I can't say what species our peach is, but it is nice and compact and doesn't seem to put on much growth each year.

 

Mine reached 15ft a couple of years ago, so I cut it back hard, its now making a comeback. :D

 

The only reply to a 15 foot peach Pete is "Gosh. We should be so lucky".

 

Dave, I think your one looks like a dwarf variety, whereas frogesque's looks more like the normal types.

 

You're right Pete. Mine's abnormal!
Just as well too as I move it outside during the summer months an in during winter and as it stands its a bit of a squeeze getting it through the GH door. I don't want it to get much bigger or I'll have to plant it outside and I think our cold Springs would zapp the blossom.

 

Your cold springs? ours isn't too warm up to now either.
Do you know, I've had over the years some quite hardish frosts on the blossom and its never caused a failure, unlike apples that are a few weeks later, which have been damaged.

 

After going over the blossom with a paintbrush yesterday I found a bumblebee in there today - they are much better at it than I am :D

The one I photographed is at least 30 years old going by the rings on old bits of trunk that have been cut off at ground level. There's no sign of it budded onto rootstock so it's possible it was grown from a stone. It grows directly in the earth inside the greenhouse so needs a bit of lopping occasionally. There's a large vine in there too about the same age. I think they are relatively hardy, they both came through the last two winters that I know of with no heat at all.

I did a vine propagation (layering) last year which is now showing leaf bud so I'm going to try some softwood cuttings on the peach later this year.

 

What size is the GH Frogesque? It sounds like you must have one like the Crystal Palace.

You need a lang spoon to sup wi' a Fifer