Apricots, Peaches and Nectarines.

Apricots and peaches are stone fruit, related to plums and almonds. Nectarines are smooth peaches, or peaches are fuzzy nectarines. The flavour of tree ripened peaches, apricots and nectarines bears no resemblance to the rubbish sold in shops.

Peaches and Nectarines

Peaches and nectarines are the most widely grown stone fruit. They bear early and heavily. By growing a wide variety, you can have a three or four month supply of the fruit. Most varieties have a chilling requirement of 800-1200 hours and so are not suited to the sub-tropical or tropical areas of Australia. They are susceptible to the fungal disease, brown rot which is propagated in warm, wet weather so the best fruit is produced in areas having a dry summer. They are moderately frost susceptible, the young fruit being killed by frost.

These trees must have free draining soil. The addition of copious quantities of compost to heavy soils is essential. Where long periods of heavy rain are the norm, some sort of drainage system in the soil is essential. Lots of feeding is imperative, as they have a heavy requirement for nitrogen to give of their best.

The trees can be planted as close as 1.5 m apart, though 3 m is more usual. The close planted trees require more summer pruning to prevent the formation of a useless thicket. Peaches fruit on last year's wood. These fruiting laterals are ideally 30-40 cm long. Pruning consists of removing laterals that have already fruited and thinning the remainder to a spacing of 15-20 cm.

Fruit thinning is essential to obtain good sized fruit. Six to eight weeks following full bloom, after the normal fruit drop, the remaining fruitlets are thinned to a spacing of 15-20 cm or about 15 peaches per metre of main limb.

The fungal diseases of brown rot and peach leaf curl can take a heavy toll. Bordeaux mixture (or other copper based fungicide) sprayed at pink bud is a good preventive. (More fungal control methods). Make sure you remove any mummified fruit from the trees and dispose of them in a hot compost heap.

Nearly all peaches and nectarines are self-fertile, the exception being the peach, J.H. Hale. It needs another variety to fertilise its flowers since its own pollen is sterile.

Peach and Nectarine varieties

Variety	Matures	Skin	Flesh	Fruit Size	Stone	Bottle	Comments
Peaches
Orion	VE	Red	White	Med	Free	No	Frost sensitive.
Albatross	VE	Red	White	Med	Cling	No	Soft, good colour.
Cardinal	E	Red	Yellow	Med	Cling	No	Firm, good flavour.
Anzac	E	Red	White	Med	Free	No	Very good flavour
Beale	M	Red	White	Large	Free	No	Good flavour.
Redhaven	M	Red	Yellow	Med	Free	Yes	May need thinning
Fragar	L	Red	White	Med	Cling	No	Aromatic, high yield.
J.H. Hale	L	Red	Yellow	Large	Free	No	Fruit keeps well.
Glenalton	L	Red	Yellow	Med	Free	Yes	High yield.
Summerset	VL	Red	Yellow	Large	Free	Yes	High quality
Golden Queen	VL	Yellow	Yellow	Med	Cling	Only	Canning variety.
Nectarines
Independence	E	Red	Yellow	Med	Cling	Yes	Firm flesh, nice flowers
Sungrand	M	Red	Yellow	Med	Free	No	Large tree, thin heavily.
Flavortop	L	Red	Yellow	Large	Free	No	Excellent flavour
Goldmine	L	Red	White	Small	Free	No	Main commercial variety.
Fairlane	VL	Red	Yellow	Large	Cling	Yes	Vigorous tree.

Maturity (Dates for Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

VE=Very Early, December

E =Early, December/January

M =Midseason, January/February

L =Late, February/March

VL=Very Late, Late March

Apricots

Most of the foregoing applies to apricots, the chief differences being the greater vigour of apricot trees and that apricots bear their fruit mainly on two and three year old wood. Apricots also flower very early, so if you are in a frost prone area, choose an appropriate variety. Apricots set a lot of fruit, so thin the fruit heavily, both to ensure adequate fruit size and reduce the possibility of biennial bearing. Apricot wood is also very brittle. Limbs too heavily laden with fruit tend to break off.

Prune apricots lightly, as large cuts are prone to fungal disease. To reduce the chances of infection, prune when the weather is warm and dry. Water shoots are best cut back in summer. Remove or shorten shoots competing with the leader and thin out lateral shoots to avoid crowding. Most apricot trees are pruned as an open vase, but they could be trellised on a palmette. Trained this way against a stone or brick wall, they would be less susceptible to frost.

Apricot Varieties

Variety	Ripens	Comments
Early Oullins	Early	Large fruit, pale colour, good flavour.
Blenheim	Mid-season	Aromatic, cracks easily, fresh, drying & jam.
Trevatt	Mid-season	Ripens evenly, biennial bearing, fresh, drying & jam.
Tilton	Late	Large fruit, suits cool districts, fresh, drying & jam.
Moorpark	Late	Best flavour, ripens unevenly, biennial, fresh, drying & jam.
Morocco	Late	Dry flesh, firm, fresh, drying & jam.
Hunter	Very Late	Large, good flavour, ripens quickly, firm.

Back to Home Orchard

Back to Table of Contents

I love it! How do I pay for it?