How to Grow and Care for Peach Trees

Have you ever eaten a fresh peach plucked straight from the tree? If so, you surely remember that sweeter-than-honey flavor as juice dribbled down your chin. While seasonal peaches purchased at the farmers market are undeniably delectable, the only other way to get that top-notch taste is to grow and pick them yourself. Read on to learn how to grow peach trees in your own backyard and care for them throughout the year.

See more: 10 Places to Go Peach Picking in the South This Summer

Choosing Which Peach Varieties to Grow

Several factors play into choosing your peach tree variety. Are you seeking the best fruit for fresh eating or preservation? Do you want an heirloom variety or something bred for pest resistance? With thousands of varieties out there, choosing which to plant is the first step.

There are a few distinctions to understand before you get started:

Melting varieties are described as having a buttery flavor and get softer as they ripen. You want to eat these before they overripen and develop mealiness. Non-melting varieties will be firmer, even when they have fully ripened.

Clingstone peaches are soft with sweet and juicy flavor notes. These are most commonly eaten fresh or used to make jams and other preserves. Freestone peaches are often larger in size and less juicy, making them better candidates for baking, canning and freezing.

Here are a few of our top peach varieties for home gardeners:

Early Harvest:

• Early Amber – Freestone with dark skin and medium firm flesh
• Gold Dust – Small-to-medium freestone with yellow flesh
• Golden Gem – Large fruit on genetic dwarf tree with renowned flavor

Mid-season Harvest:

• Arctic Supreme – Very popular large clingstone
• Bonanza II – Large, aromatic freestone on genetic dwarf tree
• Redtop – Large, firm freestone suited for canning and freezing

Late Harvest:

• Belle of Georgia – Large freestone with firm flesh
• Fairtime – Large freestone with melting texture
• Madison – Freestone with rich flavor good for canning, freezing and fresh eating

Planting Tips

Because peach trees are self-pollinating, you don’t need to plant multiple trees (unless you simply want more than one in your yard). If you haven’t decided what variety you want to grow, consider reaching out to your local extension office. They can help you narrow down your choices to what grows best in your zone.

Once you have the variety squared away, choose a spot for planting that receives full sun. Make sure to check and see how big your tree will grow. Some peach trees reach heights of more than 20 feet and spread over 15 feet wide.

Experts often recommend planting peach trees on an elevated portion of your property if possible. This is better for air circulation and drainage. Peach trees thrive in loamy soil, which means you may need to amend the area you want to plant with high-quality organic matter, such as compost, at least 2 feet deep. If you want to get very specific, aim for a soil that measures between 6.5 and 7.0 pH.

See more: 8 Fun Facts About Peaches

If you purchased a bare-root tree, soak the roots for 12 hours and plant in the winter. If you purchased a container tree, plant it in the spring.

When you’re ready to get to work, dig a hole that is a few inches deeper and twice as wide as the tree roots. Make sure there is enough room for the roots to spread out and take to their new spot. Place the tree in the ground, fill the hole halfway with soil and water it in. Once the water sinks into the ground, make sure the tree is still positioned upright, then finish filling in the hole with soil. When you’re done, water one more time and cover with mulch.

After planting, some recommend pruning the tree to about 30 inches and removing its side branches in order to jumpstart growth and yield a better crop. But be sure to look up the details on the specific variety you chose before breaking out the pruning shears.

Annual Maintenance

Peach trees need a little extra food throughout the year, so plan to fertilize the tree in springtime using about a pound of 10-10-10 fertilizer in the first year. Repeat this every spring until your tree is about 10 feet tall.

You can also prune your peach trees in the spring, aiming to ensure the trunk and all the branches have good airflow and access to sunshine in order to bear fruit.

Common Problems

Peach trees require a little more attention to detail, especially in the first year of planting. But you’ll be glad you kept a close watch when the time comes to harvest your first round of peaches.

Three common problems with peach trees are peach leaf curl, disease and pests:

Peach Leaf Curl:

This issue looks just like it sounds. The new leaves on your peach tree will begin to curl and discolor within about two weeks of budding. If they remain on the tree, they can infect your fruit and cause them to fall to the ground before they have a chance to ripen. Take preventative measures by applying a fungicide spray in the fall or early spring.

Diseases:

Bacterial canker is one of the more common diseases to strike a peach tree, causing its bark to split and lesions to appear. It can kill your tree if you don’t catch and address it quickly. Apply a high-concentration fungicide that contains copper, prune back the damaged areas and seek professionals if the cankers have spread to the trunk.

Pests:

Pests tend to love peaches just as much as we do, which can make growing your own fruit a bit of a challenge. Plum curculio is a common offender, as well as Japanese beetles and peach tree borers. There are several all-purpose fruit sprays that will help control these pests, but you can also stay on top of removing dead or rotting fruit that attracts them in the first place.

See more: How to Ripen Peaches Quickly

Harvesting

Peaches can be ready to pick early, mid-season or late season. It depends on the cultivar and your individual tree, but most are ready sometime between June and August. The color of the fruit can tell you a lot about its readiness, as well as its texture. Because tree-ripened peaches taste the best, you want to leave them on long enough to develop those deep and rich flavors but not so long that they grow overripe.

So what’s the best way to know when to harvest? A taste test.

If you find yourself needing to harvest before they can fully ripen on the tree due to weather or other circumstances beyond your control, you can pick the peaches and stash them in a paper bag to finish ripening indoors.

Once your harvest your peaches, you have a few choices. You can eat them fresh; store them in the fridge for about two weeks; preserve them through methods like canning, freezing and making jam; or cook them up in delicious peach recipes all summer long.