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wardog25

Should my Florida Prince peach be flowering/leafing by now?

wardog25
11 years ago

A lot of people online say their Florida Prince blooms in February.

Mine is still looking dormant and we are approaching mid-March. Should I be concerned?

I am a bit concerned because I pruned it heavily a few weeks ago to make it a vase shape (the tree is less than 2 years old), so I'm hoping the tree comes back ok. I pruned it after the last frost, but we did have some nights in the upper 30s after the pruning.

Comments (31)

  • thetradition
    11 years ago

    Mine is only grudgingly coming out of dormancy now. Only a couple of blooms and leaves breaking out. It didn't really put out any fruit last year come to think about it. I only had one good-sized peach that a squirrel took right before it was ripe. The tree grew real good last summer, though. It gained quite a bit of size and trunk girth. No diseases or bug problems.

    My Tropic Snow on the other hand is blooming and leafing out like crazy.

    The FlordaPrince has been in ground for two winters, now. The Tropic Snow has only been in ground less than a year. I'd think the more mature tree would be doing better.

    Your pruning sounds exactly what the experts recommend (and what I did, too), so I don't think that's the problem. Maybe we just have to wait for year three with this variety?

  • bamboo_rabbit
    11 years ago

    Mine bloomed a month ago with the rest of my peaches and has quarter size peaches on it now.

  • thetradition
    11 years ago

    the Tropic Snow tree is pictured above. the FlordaPrince is shown in this message. they both get the same sun, same water, same soil, same fertilizer. why so different?

  • bamboo_rabbit
    11 years ago

    TheTradition,

    The peaches have been in just over a year, planted last December/January.

    I planted...

    1 Tropic Beauty peach
    1 UF Gold peach
    3 UF Beauty peach trees
    1 Florida Prince Peach tree
    1 UFO peach tree

    They all broke dormancy about the same time and all flowered roughly together. I just went out and looked and the Prince for me set the worst crop load. All in all though I am amazed at how fast the peach trees go. From pinky size stick to tennis ball thick in just a year.

  • thetradition
    11 years ago

    You're a little bit colder than I am. Maybe they got their chill requirements quicker than mine did?

  • wardog25
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I'm hoping that's what it is as well. I'm south of Orlando. It wasn't a very cold winter (even for central FL) aside from a few spikes

  • nel5397
    11 years ago

    Have you considered that your " Florida Prince" may be something else? I bought a Tropic Snow and realised that it isn't because it leafs out the last week in March which leads me to believe that it is a Floridaking and not a Tropic Snow which requires more chilling hours. It is not unusual for fruit trees to be mislabeled.

  • bamboo_rabbit
    11 years ago

    TheTradition,

    It is possible.

    What Nel suggested is also very possible........where did you get the tree from?

  • wardog25
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Mine was from Home Depot and we all know nothing has ever been mislabeled at Home Depot........ :)

    Regardless of which variety it is, if it hasn't gotten it's chill hours yet, I'm not sure it's going to. From the looks of it, we aren't going to have too many more nights below 45 degrees.

    I believe FloridaKing is still recommended for central Florida, is it not? In spite of its higher chill requirement?

  • jofus, ( Englewood, Fl zone 10a )
    11 years ago

    Not sure about the definition of " dormancy ", but assume thats the period just prior to the sudden flush of leaves/fruit that occurs prior to the harvest month, ( mid May - mid June hereabouts ). My Tropic Beauty has only " burst out " yesterday and this mornings rain just enhanced it a lot. Just slipped outside during a brief lull to snap the above pic, rain drops all over the camera lens.. lol.
    My tree was 4 1/2 ft tall when I planted it 2 1/2 yrs ago and is now almost 7 ft tall.
    Have had one decent harvest, ( May/June '12 ), despite the critters, but have been forced to enclose it, as best I could, in an 10 ft square string mesh, as shown. This year already, I have lost two tennis ball sized fruits to critters. One was laying on the ground under the tree, ( having fallen thru one of the mesh gaps ), and gouged wide open. The other was still attached to a limb, and still under the mesh, but had a clearly visible birds beak puncture that went deep inside.
    Last year I found a large, gray feathered bird INSIDE the mesh, laying horizontally on a branch and flapping his wings wildly, unable to escape.
    I must ask, how do you all cope with the squirrels, birds, etc that attack these luscious fruits so vehemently ? Have dealt with critters around my 6 mango trees in the past, but never saw such a banzai assault as I've witnessed on this Tropic Beauty peach tree. Any suggestions ?

    This post was edited by jofus on Tue, Mar 12, 13 at 12:02

  • thetradition
    11 years ago

    The Prince was from Home Depot as well. I'll be totally bummed if this is a mislabled peach that needs 800 chill hours or something.

    My sister gave me the Tropic Snow (she has a nursery business and ordered it from a wholesale grower for me).

    As for keeping critters out of fruit trees, your set up looks like what I try to do.

  • morningloree
    11 years ago

    Hi,
    I have a dwarf Bonfire Peach Tree which has bloomed, has a few peaches and is leafing out. Probably is doing so well because it's ornamental, the peaches are not really tasty. I would recommend this tree, it is a real beauty. White flowers with maroon centers and maroon/purple leaves. Only gets to be about 5 feet tall, has low chill hours, but again, only ornamental.

  • L_in_FL
    11 years ago

    I have a Red Baron peach (250-300 chill hours) and it has not leafed out. Also, my Royal Lee cherry has not leafed out (Minnie Royal has). I have a 4-in-1 low chill pear tree, and only two types of pears have broken bud.

    The weather has been so weird, with a warm January and first half of February, then several cold fronts since then (frost is possible again tonight!). I am *hoping* that it's just the crazy weather, and when we get some consistent warmth, the rest of the fruit trees will join the party.

  • slopfrog
    11 years ago

    Definitely they are acting weird. Last year my tropic snow EXPLODED in new growth and flowers (which actually happened at Thanksgiving, it went dormant in September and then awoke in late November!) this year it's waking up slowly, one branch at a time.

    My fig tree on the other hand hasn't woken up at all. The wood is still green but it's been months and months. I've never seen it dormant so long.

  • L_in_FL
    11 years ago

    My Royal Lee cherry and Red Baron peach are still dormant. Kind of worried about them, but I don't know what I can do other than wait for consistent warm nights and hope that wakes them up. They will actually get a few more chill hours this week - the next 4 nights are going to be below 45! That's just way too cool for the last week in March.

  • wardog25
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    It's actually kind of comforting that this is commonplace.

    I've been doing a bit of research, and some methods of calculating chill hours say that if the temp is high enough, the time counts as "negative" chill hours. So here in central FL when we hit 90 degrees, it was so much negative, it was basically causing some trees not to bloom this year. Because the rest of the cool temps weren't enough to overcome that.

    I noticed an ornamental tree in my front yard came out of dormancy, but never flowered, only had leaves. I'm wondering if that is what my FloridaPrince peach tree will eventually do. Not a big deal for me with such a young tree, but very annoying to some people I'm sure.

  • L_in_FL
    11 years ago

    Exactly. My cherry trees are young; I didn't expect a crop from them anyway. But I was really looking forward to peaches - my peach tree is big enough to bear lots of them.

    I can only wait and hope.

  • morningloree
    11 years ago

    Here is a picture of Bonfire Peach Tree, it was taken about 3 weeks ago, now leafing out with purple leaves.

  • postlethwait
    11 years ago

    I have a Tropic Beauty that has been in the ground almost 2 years. Last year it bloomed like crazy and I got about 9-12 small, really small peaches. This year with all the warm weather it is sending out leaves but not one bloom. I believe the warm winter we had really messed it up. I'll just wait another year and see if it does better.

  • thetradition
    10 years ago

    It is now April and the FlordaPrince still isn't really doing anything. I have two small peaches and a couple of flowers. Some leafing, but still only a few sprigs. This week is supposed to be warm and rainy. Hopefully, that will jumpstart things.

    I have about a dozen fruits on the Tropic Snow ranging from the size of a quarter to the size of a raquetball. It's covered with bird netting. Lost two peaches doing that.

    Last year's score: Critters - 1 peach; Me - 0 peaches.

    This year's score (so far): Bird Net - 2 peaches; Critters - 0 peaches; Me - 0 peaches.

  • alh_in_fl
    10 years ago

    I have two FlordaSun peach trees and I'm in Alachua County. I planted them in January of 2012. They did not break dormancy until mid-April last year. Several people on this forum told me they were likely goners, but that happily was not the case. The trees did not bloom last year but I didn't expect much since they were new.

    So far this year the trees are still dormant. Given what happened last year, I'm not concerned yet.

    These peaches are supposed to require 300 chill hours, and they've had well over that, but it was the same last year even though we had an early spring-- they got their chill hours earlier in the winter.

  • wardog25
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    My floridaprince is still dormant. No leaves, no blossoms, nothing.

    It doesn't look like dead wood, though, so I think it's just biding its time. Hopefully the leaves show up soon. I don't care about blossoms this year.

  • TampaBull
    10 years ago

    My peach trees are still dormant as well.

    My apple trees are just starting to break, and my plum trees already have ripening fruit.

    I'm hoping the peaches will finally wake up soon.

    The local Dover weather station has it marked as experiencing 298 cumulative chill hours for this past winter, so it should be enough.

  • thonotorose
    10 years ago

    Kinda late to the party, but my Fl Prince or king from HD also has yet to leaf out or bloom.

  • L_in_FL
    10 years ago

    The Royal Lee Cherry has opened a few buds, and the rest are swelling. No blooms, as expected. I think it will bud out quickly from this point.

    The Red Baron peach has opened a couple of blossoms just over the past few days. It has no leaves yet...but definite bud swell and green tips here and there. I am not sure yet if it will "pop" out or straggle out of dormancy. I am crossing my fingers for "pop", so there will be enough blooms out at once for pollination.

  • wardog25
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    At long last, my floridaprince is starting to leaf out. No blooms, but I was expecting that at this point.

  • thetradition
    10 years ago

    Mine, too. The difference between yesterday and today is stunning. I guess the rain finally made it pop.

  • TampaBull
    10 years ago

    Woohoo!

    My Sun Red nectarine and Flordawon peach trees have their first leaves emerging!

    Now waiting for my Floridabelle to wake up.

  • TampaBull
    10 years ago

    Just noticed the first leaves emerging from my Floridabelle today, the last one to wake up.

  • maria1349
    9 years ago

    We have grown Florida Grande peach for 3 years now with only last years winter producing 3 peaches that tasted really bad(acidic). Great care and regular feeding and watering.Do you forum members thinks its not worth it? Tree is over 15 tall and never pruned also was bought grafted.