We have been harvesting for a week now...I do believe I am an expert at picking the perfect tropical peach. They are much firmer than GA peaches. A perfectly ripe peach is completely red, no yellow...and very, very slightly wrinkled. It will be melt in your mouth delicious. The less than perfect ones are a bit tart, a bit crunchy, like an apple...but still very good. They are good for cooking.

thanks. i'll give it another week or so to soften up.

There'll be some give to a gentle squeeze, and they'll have a smell that compels you to eat them.

Gary

Mine are the same way. I wait until they are yellow/red but still hard, then pick and wife puts in a brown paper bag in the kitchen. They ripen off the tree in about 3-4 days.

Otherwise I lose them to the possums, raccoons and fruit rats that come over at night from the next door golf course. For some reason the critters leave them alone until they are ripe on the tree. Maybe they are smarter than we think.

Is this a new peach for Z 9 - 10 ? how much chill-time does it need ? this last winter was colder than usual could that be why they are fruiting ? I'd love to try it but am hesitant becaouse of the chill-time needed, unless this is a new variety for Z 9-10... I don't have a lot of room left in the yard.... thanks for any information on this variety, sally

150 chill hours, been around for some years, works in 10a.

Smell the Peaches, to tell if they are ready. A ripe Peach has that rich, "peachy" odor. My trees are loaded this year. even though I thinned them, they are in danger of breaking branches. I'm going to have to freeze a bunch, or bake pies tomorrow. This has been a great year for stone fruits!

Saldut, there are many low chill fruit trees that do well in zone 9-10. Check out Bay Laurel nursery, or Just fruits and Exptics. Bay Laurel has a whole page of fruit trees/vines/shrubs that do well at under 200 chill hours.

Peaches, Nectarines and Apples are easy, and produce very quickly. Plums, Pears, Persimmons, are rather slow.

Lisa

I am also enjoying a wonderful harvest this year. I keep thinking I should have thinned more but it was soooooo hard.

I just detroyed my infected white marsh grapefruit tree (sadly) and replaced it with a tropical beauty peach (3 gal, 6 to 7 feet tall). Can anyone please provide any insight on the care and feeding?

Thanks gcmastiffs, I'll check out those Nurseries, also in July my DIL & I plan on going to the Tropical Fruit Tasting at Jene's Nursery here in St Pete.... she carries all kinds of fruit trees and that week-end in July she cuts the fruit in bites and lays them out on tables for tasting.... I'm planning on getting a Loquat, a Peach, Avocado, and maybe something else for my back-yard.... I had the huge trees there topped and now the sun gets in there and I have all kinds of plans now ...... sally

i bought a tropical peach tree late last year from home depot just a cheap experiment and I am excited to read that May is harvest time! many of the leaves have dropped and I can see little buds which will hopefully turn into tasty peaches....

Will I need to thin out the peaches?

As you can see its a very small tree. And will be living in a container for its life.

I'm excited! If all fails, it was a cheap experiment - at least it is still alive! Hopefully I will get some little fruits out of it this year!

Thanks

Here is a link that might be useful: click here to see my tropical peach home depot tree and the little buds :)

Apartmentfarmer,

I believe that your tree is still a bit too young to produce fruit. It probably will have to grow at least to 5 or 6 foot to produce fruit. A tree that small just doesn't have the strength. The trees that I've bought from nursery's that are purchased as "fruiting size", they always are 6 to 7 foot or more tall with approximately one inch caliper trunk. I think you will need to upgrade to at least a ten to fifteen gallon pot for the roots to gather enough nutrients for fruiting. It is hard for me to determine the size of the pot you have it in by looking at the pictures. The fruiting trees I've seen locally in pots usually are planted in half barrels for reliable fruit production. I grow my fruit trees in the ground so I'm no expert on the matter. Maybe somebody else can chime in with better suggestions.

Lou

Thanks for the feedback Lou,

Thats a bummer - I had high (perhaps unrealistic) hopes for homegrown peaches this year!

The pot really isn't that big....nor is the tree! Pot is perhaps 15in across. Have to check when I get home. The tree is a grafted tree from a fruiting branch I believe but I'm new to this so I'm not entirely sure if that makes a difference without more research.

I will post updates :)

My small tree started flowering! Looks so pretty! I can't imagine them turning into fruits...we will see! Meanwhile, they're so pretty to look at...

I read you can pull the remaining leaves off to trigger new growth? is that true? I live in San diego and although most of the leaves dropped, some still remain on the end of each branch.

Thanks

Here is a link that might be useful: See my flowering home depot tree here :)

Wincitang, I dont mean to burst your bubble buttttttttt your little peach tree is coming up for air and begging you to save it from drowning. It needs a much larger container with a good potting medium, take the pups off of it, and put the hose away. That plant is 2 yrs away at least before you let it set fruit. Good luck to you what ever your decision.
Plant em if you got em.
Sam

Hmmmm....I guess I should practice some patience.
But there is a joy of picking your own fruit from your own tree! Hopefully all the flowers will drop without fruiting so I wont have to make the decision to remove the fruit myself :)

Do you think I am supposed to prune the tree too?

Here is a link that might be useful: My blog