Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Peaches
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Planting
For the best fruit production, peach trees should be planted in an area that receives full sun all day long. The morning sun is especially crucial because it helps to dry morning dew off the fruit and keeps it from rotting. Be sure to avoid planting in low areas, too, as cold air and frost can more easily settle there and affect the quality of your peaches.
Choose a site with well-drained, moderately fertile soil. Peach trees won’t do well in areas where the soil is compacted or remains constantly wet. Soil pH should be on the slightly-acidic side, between 6 and 6.5.
When to Plant Peach Trees
- Peach trees should be planted while they are dormant—typically in late winter or early spring (depending on climate).
- In regions where the ground freezes during winter, hold off on planting until the soil has thawed and the ground is no longer waterlogged from snowmelt or heavy spring rains.
- It’s best to plant the trees the same day that you get them (if possible) to reduce stress on the seedling or sapling. Potted trees can tolerate not being planted for a little while, but bare-root trees should be planted as soon as possible.
- Select a tree that is about 1 year old and has a healthy root system. Older trees tend not to be as productive or vigorous overall.
How to Plant Peach Trees
- Dig a hole that is a few inches deeper and wider than the spread of the roots. Set the tree on top of a small mound of soil in the middle of the hole. Be sure to spread the roots away from the trunk without excessively bending them.
- For container-grown trees, remove the plant from its pot and remove any circling roots by laying the root ball on its side and using clean shears to cut through the offending roots. (Keep root pruning to a minimum, overall.)
- For grafted trees, position the inside of the curve of the graft union away from the sun when planting.
- Tip: Especially for dwarf or semi-dwarf grafted trees, the graft union must be 2 to 3 inches above the soil surface. If it’s any lower, the grafted tree (called the scion) may start to put out its own roots and grow into a standard-size tree.
- Do not fertilize at the time of planting.
- If you are planting standard-size trees, space them 15 to 20 feet apart. Space dwarf trees 10 to 12 feet apart.
- Most types of peach trees are self-fertile, so planting one tree is all that’s needed for fruit production.
Check out our video to learn more about how to plant a bare–rooted fruit tree.
An Alternative Planting Method
If your circumstances are suitable, you might want to try a technique practiced in England. It involves planting a peach tree—ideally a dwarf variety—on the south side of the home (or other structure), directly under the eaves. Over time, the gardener prunes and trains the peach tree to espalier in a fan shape against or very near to the wall of the house.
Plastic sheeting is attached to the eaves and draped to cover but not touch the tree, similar to a lean-to tent. This keeps the tree dry in winter, and the tree enjoys the warmth of the sun—directly and reflected off the house—year-round. The plastic should be opened or lifted during bloom time to welcome pollinating insects and on hot, sunny days to ventilate the tree and prevent foliage burn.
- ‘Redhaven’, which is the standard and most popular choice. These peaches are medium-size, but can be small if the tree is not properly thinned. Its skin is tough and firm and red in color.
- ‘Reliance’, which is a hardy variety. It produces small and soft fruits.
- ‘Harmony’ (‘Canadian Harmony’), which is winter hardy and moderately resistant to bacterial leaf spot. It produces medium to large fruit and freezes well.
- Some zone favorites are:
| Zone | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Variety | Hale | Madison | Saturn | Contender | Frost | Topaz | Florida Beauty |
Harvesting
- Peaches are harvested when they are fully ripe from late June through July and August.
- With peaches, it’s especially important to harvest at the RIGHT time.
- Though this timing depends on what type of peach variety, you can generally go by the color of the fruit. When peaches are fully ripe, the ground color of the fruit changes from green to completely yellow. No green should be left on the fruit. They should come off the tree with only a slight twist. The fruits found on the top and outside of the tree usually ripen first.
- Be careful when picking your peaches because some varieties bruise very easily.
- Tip: Peaches ripen faster in a closed paper bag at room temperature.
How to Store Peaches
- You can store peaches in the refrigerator in a plastic bag. They should keep for about 5 days.
- You can also make use of fresh peaches by making peach jam or peach butter.
- Peaches can also be canned or frozen for storage.
Catherine Boeckmann
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I may have made a mistake on the tree age, 5-6' at planting 10+ years ago. Tree now 20' (dwarf Alberta). Suspect typical West Texas red Clay-y soil was level and covered with 6-8" of top soil. Tree did have a black substance develop last year from first branches to crown (3'), treated with antifungal. Also had sap balls at first branches. Both conditions are now gone. Fertilized with tree and shrub (?ratio) at drip line last year and lawn is treated 3 times a year with southwest formulation (added iron and sulfur). Neighbor tree gets no fertilizers and no water except rainfall and has more greener, abundant leaves and more blooms. There is a concrete ring around the tree containing lava rock (away from crown 6-8"s) and 4-5"s deep. The peach tree that produced was in a different area. When I say tree produced earlier it had good blooming but freeze prevented fruit development. Will test soil if you still think it is necessary. I have Bradford pears in front yard which have a problem with pale green leaves also. The older had abundant blooms but the smaller (newer) is very slow growing. Both have been treated with foliage and drip line iron last year, no improvement. Thank you for your advice.
I have a 6-7 year old Alberta Peach that has started to drop its leaves. The leaves are not as green as I think they should be and then turn yellow and fall. They have no black spots and no curling. This started last year. I sprayed twice with a disease spray. There was a ring developed around the tree about 18 inches from the trunk due to the lawn care taker edging. I have filled this with new soil and made sure the water can drain away from the trunk. The soil is an 8" layer of top soil over a very clayie West Texas soil. When I purchased the house 16 years ago there was a peach tree that produced very well. There was top soil added after this tree was planted leaving a well around it (previous owners). Since I watered the lawn for better grass growth it caused the tree to die from the water standing around it. The new tree I planted has the crown above the soil level. It produced a couple of years after I planted it. However, freezes have taken the last two years. This year it had a few blooms and I noticed a couple of small peaches. The tree next door has much thicker and greener leaves and no care, was even topped a couple years ago. Can you help me with the leaf drop. I know the freeze in February was before budding so shouldn't have been a problem. Thank you for any help.
Hi, Darrel: Thank you for such an extensive description of your situation! It sounds like you have a handle on the watering situation, which is not to. Even though your new tree is high in the ground, it is still basically sitting on a pan of clay, which will keep water around. But to us the key here is “it produced [for] a couple of years.” If you don’t have/can’t see any disease/pests and if there is not too much water, then this tells us that your soil may have become deficient, particularly in nitrogen and/or potassium. So get a soil test kit from your local home or garden supply store or your USDA county extension and test both at the base of the tree and about 4 feet out. If necessary, amend the soil slowly and carefully to bring it to what your peach needs (do online research on this). If your soil is OK, then it is still a water issue and deeper drainage solutions may be necessary. Remember that while unlikely, it is possible that the top of your clay-y subsoil layer is not horizontal. You could actually be watering a surface that is even with or sloping away from the tree, but at the same time the clay layer underneath could be sloping toward the tree. Complicated, but the key thing is that it did well once, so let’s hope that it’s the soil. Thanks for asking and good luck!
We live in Katy,TX. We have a Red Baron peach tree that we planted about five years ago. It usually blooms early March and by late March early April it is full of leaves. This year it looks that it is still in dormancy until today, March 28. We had below freezing temperature for two days during the winter. When rubbing the outer bark of the small branches there is a geen layer inside. The buds seem dry, but when rubbing them out there is a green layer too. Do you think the tree is still alive and may grow some leaves later. THank you very much.
Hi, George: Wow — we know somebody in Katy named George! Listen, it sounds as though your tree still has a chance, especially if you don’t see black or brown dead tissue. The buds are supposed to protect the green flower parts underneath, so hopefully this is exactly what they’ve done. Thanks for asking and good luck!
I live in south central Texas. We planted our first peach tree a couple of months ago. It's about six feet tall, had a bunch of flowers already and is growing fruit. Is it good for young trees this size to be producing fruit this soon? Do we leave the fruit or should we remove them? And would they be edible if we let the fruit mature?
Did you ever get an answer to this question? We live in San Antonio and just planted our first fruit (peach) tree. It’s only about 5’ tall, but it has two ping pong sized fruit on it. Not sure if they’ll make it or not.
Help...pink colored gelatin like zap coming of the bark of my Georgia peach tree I've spray it with some gardeners bug spray but now apearse tobe dead.the branches seam tobe dry, dead and crunchy. I am located in Austin Texas. Any suggestions or idea of what could i do! Thank you.
Hi, Wendy, Rather than hazard a guess at this, we suggest you look for here “gumming” (the sap) on this page http://plantdiseasehandbook.tamu.edu/food-crops/fruit-crops/peach-apricot-and-nectarine/; it’s a more complicated matter than we can answer briefly here. BTW, that’s the Texas A&M site right there in Austin; you may be able to contact folks there who will know much better what’s going on with your peach tree. Click on “contact” here: http://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/ Coop extension services are wonderfully helpful!
Several causes are suggested and you may have a better idea of what exactly is wrong with your tree as you read this and look at the tree closely. We hope this helps. Good luck!
i have a dead Fl peach tree, 4' and now i have about 10 branches growing straight up from the roots, there about 10" tall, around the dead stick...do i leave them alone or is it baby trees . I don't want to kill it again. it will choce itself when it gets larger... what should i do.
