Rare Peach Tree

jakfruit etiquette says...
Try this organisation, I just found out about it, but might be a start.
http://www.heritagefruitssociety.org.au/index.html

jakfruit etiquette says...
It sounds like an old variety, not weather or sun. Old fruit growing books from the 60's + 70's,Stonefruit nursery catalogs, Burnley college library, South Aust Rare Fruit society might be ways to find out more ?

jakfruit etiquette says...
This is from the SA RF society
http://www.rarefruit-sa.org.au/Varieties.htm#Peach

Boris Spasky says...
Only similar peach may be Italian Red Cling(very very late).

Boris Spasky says...
The same reason nearly 10% of total number of trees in Australia or ~ 750,000 peach trees are being ripped up and burnt around Shepparton.

Jason says...
True enough, it's a waste of time buying grafted peach trees, all we are doing is reducing the gene pool further.

All seedling peach trees produce great fruit, there are no bad gene left. So you are far better off planting seeds from a fruit you like. At least then it's genetics are not lost for future generations and to the totally honest the current commercial varieties are sub par compared to almost any seedling that was around in the 1970s

Jason says...
3 months in a zip bag in moss in the fridge works for just about all prunus. On the other hand cracking them open and planting the kernel in a warm pot works excellent for apricots and probably works on peaches too. But the fridge is fail proof

Jason says...
Nah not for those seeds, it can help with cuttings.

Juneli says...
I think the peach is called "Black Boy" here in Australia and New Zealand.If anyone has any seeds of his variety I would love to buy them from you.

amanda says...
It likely not called black boy peach in Aust due to the racial overtones....just as we now call black boys (Xanthorrhoea) - grass trees instead...?

(from Wiki: "Some people now consider this name to be offensive, or at least belonging to the past, preferring instead grasstree."

Mike says...
Grasstrees' name does sound like a yellow South American bird alright.

Jason says...
MJH, you would have been eating the fruit Flemings sell as "Pleach" and New Zealanders call Blackboy. It looks identical to that one and is common in Victoria. It tastes different to a real Peach, Somme people seem to really like it. I don't think its as good as a legit peach myself but its much more disease proof.

BenW says...
Most years I get pretty severe defoliation here. I just can't seem to get the spraying right... Those rare crops of exquisite fruit keep my trying though :)

I've worked out my soil is pretty calcium / potash deficient. Ammending that will help but I doubt it will fix it completely.

I have been to the budding days at Werribee mansion looking for resistant varieties, (they have 30+ to bud, usually). Apparently leaf curl isn't an issue for the guys growing on the dryer basalt plains down there though, so they don't have much advice on that front.

Bulleen art and garden also had one called 'no bubble no trouble' which is supposedly immune to leaf curl. No word on the taste, but how bad can a tree ripened peach be?...

I'm wondering whether a little bit of that grafted onto the more susceptible varieties I have would help them recover in the bad years. Might be worth a try.

MJH says...
Fabulous - thanks so much BenW. I really appreciate you posting, and will certainly make the trip.
Cheers.

Jason says...
BenW I literally can only JUST grow regular peaches, due to extreme leaf curl the trees are always half dead. I have next to no leaf curl on pleach/blackboy type hybrids though. Big difference between them for sure.

port says...
I'm afraid there is a lot of bad advice about on leaf curl. iF YOU LOOK AT REASEARCH ARTICLES IT IS VITALLY IMPORTANT TO TIME THE SPRAYS CORRECTLY. The most important spray is when the buds begin to unfurl a little and expose the fungus. And yes Bordeaux is good if you make it up yourself.

Markmelb says...
try the Yates liquid copper - i think yu will thank me - ive tried mixing my own over the years nearly killing the tree that took a few years to recover from the lime and copper mix i used - did black tea too useless - yes timing is correct just b4 bud burst - i do 4 sprays now and on the ground too with last on bud burst

Markmelb says...
wow Jason - thats a big leak - I wish I had the room to experiment like you with peach varieties - I planted 2 seedling American PawPaws today i grew from seed last year that have already started to bud up - only a foot tall but I known they are slow - had some reasonable roots too which is good - I planted behind a cherry for summer shade till they mature a bit - a bacon I tried was delish and the lamb hass are still a couple months to go - :)

Linton says...
Indian Blood Peach.

Could you please tell me if the Indian Blood Peach trees available from BAAG are grafted. I'm assuming they are, and how big are they and how long do you think they will take before they produce fruit. Thanks.

Jason says...
I'll look at mine later Mark to see how they are but they definitely won't be ripe before September. Never have been in the last 14 crops. I'll get a picture. Fuerte is later again. December or so.

BenW says...
Is anyone 100% certain blackboy = indian blood? Internet sources are telling me different things about this one.

@Linton, I think I got the pick of the ones at BAAG. In it's pot it is 2M tall, with 3 nicely spaced branches. A bit upright but I can weight them down a little. And yes, grafted.

Plenty of fruiting wood on it, so maybe a few fruit this year which I really should pick off. I would be surprised if it doesn't have a small crop next year.

I have one branch with a bad crotch angle that should come off if you want some scion. I've had more luck with whip and tounge grafts in winter than summer budding for peaches, no matter what the books tell me :)

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

BenW says...
Some sources indicate that Indian blood is a derivative of Pêche de Vigne, rather than a hybrid (would reference but I can't find it tonight). I note that Yalca nursery have moved it from the inter specific to the peach category this year in their catalogue.

And there are a few peach plum hybrids

http://www.davewilson.com/product-information/product/spice-zee-nectaplum-interspecific-nectarine
http://davewilson.com/product-information/product/tri-lite-peach-plum-interspecific-peach
http://davewilson.com/product-information/product/bella-gold-peacotum-interspecific-apricot

The peach/apricot and apricot/plum hybrids could be pretty tasty I think :)

BenW says...
It's label shows Prunus Persica, not interspecific.

Jason seems to have the most experience actually growing them though... I'm just relying on the interwebs.

I'll reserve judgement until I've had mine in the ground a few years :)

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1	Picture: 2

VF says...
No doubt some boffin will rediscover the peach, and with the large amount of anthocyanins present, announce that it's a new super food.

Bern says...
BenW
Was your tree growing potted or was it a bare rooted tree they (BAAG) potted up this season, there is a big difference as the tree would need a big prune if it was bare rooted before planting out

Bern says...
That's an impressive No, is that individual trees or varieties, I have a keen interest in peaches 11P & 4N any chance of a list? may be able to swap some grafts etc in the future.

Bern says...
Hi BenW just been into facebook and it appears you may have responded to Lois L
(my wife A/C),
I spoken to Richard on grafting day at Werribee & have list from there site.
My trees are older varieties & all about the taste, I had some budding success at Boonie Doon on my son trees.
I will try to graft some peaches as you seem to have had success with them.

Tomcatt777 says...
Lilian if you read this I have an Abiacuto peach in my yard, I got the budwood from rare fruit society SA meeting in 2012 and grafted it onto one of my peach trees, the graft is now a nice branch which will flower this coming spring and fruit should ripen in Feb 2016, have heard they are delicious so looking forward to that.
I have extensive experience at grafting and all my trees are multi graft especially my citrus trees, is there a FB page I can join to help anyone with any grafting tips and advice?
Adrian.

Peter T says...
Hi Lillian,

You may have got this information by now, but just incase..

A widely grown clingstone peach with a sunset of red/yellow in the centre is the Pullar Peach - widely grown in the Goulburn Valley and canned - hence in volumes that would be large enough for Woolworths in the 1970s. It became superseded in the 1980s when breeders could remove the redish pigments that did not look good when canned. You can get Pullar trees in some peach nurseries. Hope this helps.

Adrian says...
Are you still around Lilian?
I live in Adelaide and grow a range of peaches.