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Peach variety recommendations, please

raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio

last month

I am in central Ohio, zone 6a most of the past 2 decades (past few years have been warmer, but I have had -20F once, and -10-15F multiple times since I've lived here. Plus strong April freezes, when everything is blooming. the past couple of years.

I have one Contender, a poor thing that has had all of the branches broken off on one side due to fat raccoons climbing to get at the fruit. It doesn't seem to produce very strong branches - every year there are one or more snapped. (Am I neglecting to do something to encourage more strength?)

Right now, from various sellers, I am seeing Contender, Belle of Georgia, Reliance, Curlfree, TruGold, and Red Haven at attractive prices for bare roots. I would get a dwarf, or would try to keep a standard pruned short.

My soil is clay, but I have areas that have been well amended with much improved drainage.

What varieties would you suggest, and why?

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Comments (2)

mxk3 z5b_MI
last month
last modified: last month
I have Redhaven and Elberta. I chose them because of the differing ripening times. They both have turned out to be strong trees and I get a decent fruit set for them being in the ground I think 3 years now (maybe 4), but I started with larger trees from a local nursery. I do have a terrible battle with peach leaf curl, though. I considered ordering "Avalon Pride" because it's supposedly resistant to PLC, but I held off this year because I ordered too many other new fruit trees :op

ETA: The fruit of both Redhaven and Elberta is very good -- flavorful and juicy. Elberta tends to drop when ripe, though.
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio thanked mxk3 z5b_MI
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
Original Author
last month
last modified: last month
Thank you!

The Contender produces tasty peaches - when I manage to get one before the raccoon figures out how to get past my netting. But it is so lopsided, and not easy to net, and doesn't look like it would produce new branches on the bare side if I severely pruned it.

I had peach leaf curl one year. I tried a copper based antifungal after that, that didn't seem to work. I've sprayed with 10% bleach solution after leaf drop in fall, and late winter (mid February) every year since, without a reoccurrence. However, last year I had to trash a pear due to fire blight, and living in dread that that will have spread to my apples.
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