Peaches have been grown in the area commercially for decades, there is currently a peach orchard at the top of New Era Hill, south of Oregon City. Fairly new trees.

Of course most commercial operations use various sprays to prevent disease.

Of the 63 sources in the 2014 Tri-County farms Farm Stand Guide, 28 list peaches! Perhaps some are not from city trees, but trucked in.

The few I see around the neighborhood never set much fruit. I think you would have to quiz one or more of the farmers to get some of the basic tricks.

Home garden pears and plums are the most reliable around here, followed by apples. Cherries are hit and miss, apricots seldom fruit.

So is it the diseases that people have problems with or do the trees just not get enough heat to produce quality fruit? I don't mind spraying for leaf curl or whatever.

The other question. Will some varieties grow better than others? I see people recommending certain leaf curl resistant varieties. Are there varieties that will do better than others, other than the leaf curl and disease resistance?

There is plenty of heat in Portland for peaches, but not always enough winter cold (chill hours). Wet springs are the biggest problem--that is why most commercial fruit is done east of the mountains. I don't know the answers to your questions, you would have to search out people that do this with continued success. A lone home garden peach tree is not likely to produce much fruit without a lot of extra care.

Try contacting the Home Orchard Society, they have orchards above Oregon City at the community college.

I have a PF lucky 13 peach which is 4 years old. This year has lot of fruits. The leaves have PLC but not severe. It will not bother the fruit.

People raise Frost Peaches up here in Bellingham, WA. Have to spray with copper in dormancy for PLC.

'Frost' peach was bred for this area - has both a low chill and heat factor so tolerates the mild PNW climates. And is leaf curl resistant - can contract mild cases when young but outgrows it. Very productive and great tasting fruit.

I bought a house in Beaverton last fall. I'm planting as many fruit trees as a can cram in. It already had a large non grafted seedling peach tree and then I planted a red gold nectarine and an improved Elberta peach. I want to plant a few more varieties. I'm planning to cut my seedling peach tree down to 2' and graft like 3 varieties on. I'm thinking about varieties like WSU Q-1-8, frost, Indian free, Oregon PLC resistant. Are there any other varieties I should add to my list?

Any nectarines that will do better than others?

Don't cram too tightly, unless everything is on dwarfing rootstocks. Fruit trees need sun and space to be productive.

I have a Red Haven dwarf which gets very bad PLC but it does get a crop of wonderful peaches. This year there is a lot of fruit set. I wish I had planted one close to the barn and espaliered it. I am not able to get protection from our early spring rains -- one year I tried with plastic and it just got whipped around with the wind and knocked the little peaches off. I don't care if it just has 6 peaches a year -- they are the most amazing fruit picked warm from the tree and eaten with juice dripping down my chin.

That's good to hear. I was thinking about building a roof over my dwarf peach tree for the winter. It had some pretty nasty PLC when it leafed out but has lots of new growth on it now. Since it was planted this year, I thinned all but 1 peach off of it. I'm waiting pretty anxiously to sample it. I'll get a couple boxes off of my seedling peach tree but they are were pretty terrible. Super bland, small, and clingstone. I'm hoping they will be a little better this year, through thinning and fertilizer. I'll probably lop it off next year and graft on. Its nice to hear that peaches are doable with a little TLC.

Proven peach varieties include, in order of ripening: Springcrest, Gemfree, Early Redhaven, Harbelle, Sunhaven, Redhaven, Harken, Redtop, July Elberta, Fairhaven, Canadian Harmony, Earlihale, Suncrest, Loring, Glohaven, Veteran, Biscoe and Improved Elberta

Here is a link that might be useful: These peaches do best in Willamette Valley says OSU extension

Would those varieties be better than the ones i mentioned before? "Oregon leaf curl resistant, frost, wsu1-18, or Indian free?"

I bought a frost and a wsu1-18 yesterday. I also accidentally bought a reliance peach. I picked out the two peach trees and a shiro and a satsuma plum and the reliance got loaded up by mistake as well. Anyone know anything about this variety?

Again, the people most likely in the Portland area to know these specifics are the Home Orchard Society. They may still have a quarterly publication; and keep an eye out for their All About Fruit show in the fall.

I have one peach tree. The variety is "Oregon Curl Free". It does live up to its name. It is quite a lengthy job thinning out all the fruits that it sets. It is not, however, free from Bacterial Canker and Brown Rot, but after 10 years it is still going. It doesn't look all that great but it produces a load of fruit each year. What more could I want from a peach tree that I don't spray at all.

I've been growing a Fairhaven peach tree espaliered against my house for the past 20 years. It is protected against the early spring rain so usually only has a few leaves with PLC which I cut off and garbage. It usually produces around 50 pounds of fruit every year. The only problem I have is that I need to hand pollinate it as it blooms before the mason bees or any other pollinators are out. I use a soft paint brush and go from flower to flower, brushing the pollen from one to another. Does anyone else have to do this to espaliered peach trees to get fruit?