-Jerome L. Frecon
In recent years late season peaches have not been as popular because food retailers and consumers seem to feel peach season ends at Labor Day. This was not quite true in 2012 with many of our most popular late season varieties waning in supply after Labor Day.
Peach movement was great throughout the summer of 2012 as most varieties were maturing ten days to 1 week early in the August varieties. This early season maturity and good movement seemed to occur throughout the eastern US. In southern New Jersey this resulted in a few changes with many normally late maturing peaches.
- Most had very good flavor and were sold fresh;
- Many normally thought of as having a heavy drop hung on the trees until tree ripe;
- Some varieties that usually had less color due to cooler night temperatures matured on warm nights and had more color.
The question for future planning is should we be planting more late peaches again or in a more normal season will we have the same old problem moving peaches after Labor Day? Other late season varieties with average ripening dates over the ten years I have evaluated and suggest for planting are:
August Prince – A globose to slightly ovate, 60-90% crimson red over a yellowish red ground color, yellow- fleshed freestone peach ripening August 31 to September 3 or 37 days after Redhaven. The flesh is firm to very firm, melting, stringy, with very good slightly acidic flavor. The tree is very vigorous, productive, with low susceptibility to bacterial spot. This sister variety ripens very close to Flame Prince but has consistently better size and firmness.
Laurol – A very large, globose, 60-70% crimson-red with a greenish yellow ground color, yellow-fleshed, freestone peach ripening from September 1-4, approximately 38 days after Redhaven. The flesh is firm with very good flavor. The tree is vigorous and productive, with high susceptibility to bacterial spot.
Flame Prince – A medium-large, firm, 50-70% crimson red over a yellow ground color, yellow-fleshed, freestone peach ripening September 2-5, approximately 38 days after Redhaven. The flesh is firm to very firm with very good flavor. The tree is moderately vigorous, productive with medium susceptibility to bacterial spot.
Autumn Star – A large, globose to slightly ovate, 60- 80% crimson red over a yellowish green ground color, yellow-fleshed, freestone peach ripening September 4-7 approximately 41 days after Redhaven. The flesh is firm with good flavor. The tree is vigorous, and productive with low susceptibility to bacterial spot. The performance of this variety has been variable from year to year.
Big Red – A very large, 20-30% crimson red with a yellowish-green groundcolor, yellow-fleshed, freestone peach ripening from September 13-16, approximately 49 days after Redhaven. The flesh is very firm with very good quality. The tree is vigorous and moderately to lightly productive, with high susceptibility to bacterial spot. This variety is not productive every year.
I just ate my latest peach, the variety Victoria (NJ 353 cultivar). The flavor and firmness of this variety were again excellent.
