OT trees

Couple of questions for peach tree growers IN COLD CLIMATE!! N.W WISC. My son ordered 2 different peach trees fron Gurneys.#1. is a Reliance peach, #2is a Contender peach tree. ON my way to the Vets in superior, we saw a peach tree with great looking fruit,right off hwy2.but didnt get out of the vehicle to get a close look, otherwise I would have snitched(borrowed) a peach and left a tip pined on the tree.lol Gonna try a couple of peach trees here and hope they make it. Suggestions on where to plant,ie, Full Sun? We are in SANDY SOIL. And I Mean SANDY. How to start em successfully. I Know you fellows would know(GROWERS)how to get em started right. Would appreciate GOOD INFORMATION.
Might be worth a peach pie LOL. Thanks in advance. LOU & VICTOR

lou, i'm not a professional tree grower, but i planted quite a few fruit trees along my waterways. the gurney trees are probably bare root, some are "rocket root" trees. soak the roots for 24 hours in a pan of water to get moisture in the root system before planting. mix some good potting soil and composted cow manure with your soil when planting. i use root starter mixed with water as soon as i get the trees in the ground. pick up some orchard spray from your local garden center and follow the directions thru the season regarding spraying. the orchard spray has an insecticide as well as a fungicide in it. i use it on my apple, cherry, plum, peach and pear trees. if you have japanese beetle problems, you will need to keep the trees sprayed with liquid sevin thru the height of the beetle season as they will strip the tree bare in a day or so.

You're about 4 zones N. of me, but some things are universal; if these are bare root......dig a hole large enough that you can get down into it with both feet; as the soil is placed around the tree, 'walk' it down (air left around the roots is a killer). They need to be in the sun and where there is good air flow, i.e., not in the bottom of a small valley.

Thanks for the information glenster!!Does your area sustain -25o? Not so much trouble with beetles but do Have a problem with the *&^%$ grey squirrels stealing apples off the tree fruit just when it starts to get any size. Yep I KNOW. a 22 rimfire and a pan for frying em would take care of that problem, buTTTTTTTTT the war department(wife) would hang my credentials on the garage door if I even mentioned that!! Seemes we spray em for them varments to chip the fruit and leave it on the ground to ROT. What little success we have is wraping rags loosely around the tree base, saturated with cayene pepper tobasco sauce and Murphys soap. Local nurserys said peach trees up this way wouldnt work out due to the cold weather.Not sure if Lake Superior temperature helps the tree up in superior or not. Sure the new ones wil be bare rooted. AGAIN THANKS . LOU &* VICTOR

That Information we didn't know. Thanks.Will do.
LOU & VICTOR

Minus 25F ?? Your nursery is correct. Much too cold for peach most likely but you may luck out anyways. The others are correct. Dig a hole big enough to work in some compost. Do not plant too deep! Also spread out roots in the hole. Alot of tree pruning info is available on the internet when it gets big enough. Also, if it should flower this year or next or even teh following year, do not let it fruit (if you see any small fruit set flick them off)...you want the energy these first few years to go towards establishing a healthy root system and tree over all. Also, you want to train a central leader or even "Y" form (see pruning info on internet). Good luck!!

when I worked for a landscaper we ALWAYS put peat moss in the hole we dug for the root ball. In many places it probably wasn't needed, but in sandy soil I expect it would help it a lot in getting established, and make it so that you don't need to water it 24-7.

Lou,

It bowls me over that you can grow peach trees up there. I realize that different varieties of trees can withstand different environments, but it still amazes me.

I live in Middle Tennessee about 40 miles south of Nashville. I get peaches off my trees about about every third year! Every year my peach trees blossom beautifully, and then nearly every year, we have a late frost that nips the blossoms and we don't get any fruit.

I've tried covering the trees with tarps to help protect them when I know it is going to be cold, but I've never had any success doing so.

Good luck with your trees.

Tom in TN

If you are talking hiway 2 right next to lake Superior, the climate actually gets tempered by the lake. Not a lot but enough that some trees and plants that usually would not grow will survive, vineyards do especially well as do the apples obviously.

Good luck. I tried Reliance peaches and it wound up being a waste of time and money. Trees were short lived, they constantly tried to let their root stock take over the tree-top, and what little fruit we got - tasted lousy. We get temps down to 30 below F once in awhile. Can't say I've heard of Contender, but I haven't been keeping up with the latest. I got over my "fruit phase" when I was buying all kinds of Siberian-rated fruit trees. None panned out.

Funny thing is, there's an old farm near me that has several very old fruit trees. An ancient Pound Sweet apple tree and a peach tree that does very well. Nobody seems to know what the heck it is though. If I was more talented, I'd try to clone it. The farm IS by a large pond though, and perhaps the water buffers the temp-extremes a bit.

I've found over time that it's hard to beat varieties of trees found locally. Just not always easy to get. I found that especially true with rhubarb and blueberries. We've got tons of both on our old farm land. Probably been here for 150-200 years. Many times I've bought rhubarb from nurseries to plant in other parts of my properties, and none has ever done as well as our native varities. Same with 9 out of 10 types of low-bush blueberries I've tried.

I've planted a lot of peach trees in the last 75years and never got many peaches. Every thing that moves and breathes likes peaches. Peach trees don’t bloom because the weather is warm but they have a built-in temperature controlled clock. As soon as they undergo the proper number of chilling hours below 40 deg, they bloom. Different varieties have a different number of chill hours. Varieties that have a high number of chill hours work in the north, lower hours in the south. Unfortunately the trees are more precise than the weather so they frequently reach the required chill hours before the last frost or they don’t receive enough chill hours and don’t bloom. Peach trees don’t like wet feet. They must have good drainage. Your sand should work well. Use the soil that you took out of the hole to put back in. There is less likelihood of water standing around the roots if you do this. Put your mulch and nutrients on top of the ground not in the hole. Plant it a couple of inches higher than it was in the nursery. That gives a little room for settling. Better high than low. Run water in around the roots to force out the air when you plant.

And remember this poem while you plant.
I've always liked it.



The man who plants a tree
Must first prepare
The fruitful earth
By moving duff or sod,
And cherish in his heart
A silent prayer
For he is working
Hand in hand with God.
It is a sacred task,
To plant a tree,
That always should be done
On bended knee.

The artisans may strive
For years to raise
A structure reaching
To the vaulted sky,
That well deserves
The everlasting praise
And words of wonderment
From passersby,
But he, the humble man
Who plants a tree,
Is fashioning
His nation's destiny.


Richard J. Dorer