The prettiest peaches I've ever seen are easy to grow without spraying, and great for cooking and preserving! That's the Charlotte Peach Tree! Come into my post to get to know a productive peach tree that might be a good choice for you to grow, too.
There are 3 reasons I really like the Charlotte Peach tree.
Reason 1: Charlotte Peach Trees Are Resistant to Key Diseases
Many varieties of peach trees are vulnerable to diseases. Spraying helps, but that takes time, effort, and real money. I prefer to find fruit tree varieties that do well in my local conditions. Peach leaf curl and bacterial canker are two of the most widespread and troublesome diseases.
Peach leaf curl deforms leaves, stresses the trees, and can even kill them in 2 or 3 years. You can see a peach leaf curl in my post that reviews the Oregon Curlfree Peach.
Bacterial canker is even worse! It kills flower and fruit buds in the spring. And it really saps the strength of the tree in the springtime. It can easily kill a peach tree in only 1 or 2 years. But Charlotte Peach trees are resistant to bacterial canker! There are very few peach trees resistant to canker!
Reason 2: How Charlotte Peach Trees Grow
Charlotte Peach trees can grow tall. Mine is over 12 feet, so it can put on and hold a lot of peaches!
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Charlotte Peach trees are beautiful, too. They have the pretty pink flowers of most peaches. But they really shine in the autumn! The leaves are a gorgeous orange color, so outstanding in a landscape, from late summer until the leaves drop in the early fall.
Reason 3: The Quality of the Fruit
Charlotte Peaches are beautiful peaches! Their color is so vivid and gorgeous! And they don't have much fuzz, for folks that don't care for a fuzzy peach.
But how do they taste? With Charlotte Peaches, it all depends on knowing how to pick and handle the fruit.
Tips for Picking Charlotte Peaches
Charlotte peaches ripen so differently than the Oregon Curlfree peaches. If Charlotte peaches are left on the tree until they are soft, they turn mealy and lose flavor. That's a real shame! So I think it's best to harvest Charlotte peaches when they are still hard.
I can tell Charlotte peaches are ripe enough to harvest, when I turn the fruit and it pops right off the branch. Charlotte peaches seem to hit this stage, pretty much all at the same time. That makes them efficient for processing a lot of peaches for later use, like freezing or drying.
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But how do they taste? With Charlotte Peaches, it depends on your peach-eating preferences.
Tips for Using Charlotte Peaches
When they are still hard, Charlotte peaches are an acid, tangy peach. They are great for cooking, preserving, slicing, making jam because that tartness and firmness holds up well. But only folks that like a hard, tart peach will enjoy eating them out of hand at this stage. And the skin is hard to peel off -- so different than the Oregon Curlfree peaches!
But there are some real advantages to being able to pick a lot of peaches at the same time, and when they are hard. Charlotte peaches a great peach to take to market or give to friends -- because they travel well when they are hard, and there's no refrigeration required.
In fact, they should not be put in a refrigerator. Charlotte peaches will continue to ripen off the tree. Don't put them in the refrigerator. Let them ripen on the counter.
A couple days later, they are soft at the top, at the shoulder. The peach is softer, and the flavors have gotten more complex. It's still high acid. They are so good and juicy! They are a freestone peach, so the pit comes out easily. They peel easier, too. I enjoy eating them fresh at this stage, for sure!
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If you want to watch a live taste-test review of Charlotte peaches -- hard and soft -- I posted a video on YouTube earlier this week - Charlotte Peach Tree Review
Get A Charlotte Peach Tree
I have not seen Charlotte Peach trees show up yet at all, on commonly available lists of recommended varieties put out by Cooperative Extension or Master Gardener programs. But I've been harvesting peaches off this variety for over 5 years, and I really like it as a peach for cooking and preserving. I've only seen them for sale by 2 places: One Green World in Oregon and Rolling River Nursery in California. I'm not affiliated with either place.
What Do You Think?
I hope you get a chance to try the Charlotte Peach sometime -- or enjoy whatever peach grows well in your area!
- Do you prefer peaches that are hard and tart, or soft and sweet?
- What's your favorite kind of peach?
- Do you grow any peach trees or other fruit trees?
- Have you heard of the Charlotte peach?
[1]: Bacterial Canker of Stone Fruit Cooperative Extension, Penn State University
Thanks to @old-guy-photos for the #TreeTuesday tag!
I can just say sweet sun gifts;)
No, I have never heard about Charlotte peach. I prefer our home grown peaches, pretty soft and sweet;)
That's a good term for them, @liltammy! Sweet sun gifts! :D
I've been surprised at how different the Curlfree and Charlotte peaches are, growing in pretty much the same conditions. But they each have their advantages. I like the soft and sweet ones best, too. ; )
Very informative. I like my peach soft to eat without too much hair. Where do Charlotte peaches grows best in what climate or state?
I don't know where they grow best. But I do know that they grow well here in western Oregon. And with their resistance to peach leaf curl and bacterial canker, they are worth looking at for anyplace with those problems. The information from the nurseries I mentioned shows them doing well down to zone 5. So they seem like a broadly suitable peach.
Peaches are grown here locally by few farmers in Ozarks of AR....so delicious.
That's a great area for peaches! My grandmother in the St. Louis area used to grow productive peach trees just by tossing her peach pits out in the garden with all her kitchen scraps. Some trees did better than others, but it worked pretty well over the years -- and the price was right! Enjoy your local peaches this summer! :D
Similar soil here as St. Louis, Mo and Springfield, MO area where I grew up on a dairy farm. Peaches tasted about same there and here.....delicious.
I definitely prefer the soft and sweet peaches and I am okay with peach fuzz. I love Okanagan peaches. I don't know the actual variety but the fruit is really large and usually more pastel in colour. The flesh leans to yellow more than orange and they are very soft and sweet when ripe.
I'm glad you get some good peaches. I like the soft, sweet ones best, too, like the Curlfree. Here's to lots of Okanagan peaches this summer! Some regions are so great for growing fruit. The Okanagan must be the British Columbia powerhouse for fruit. And so many other crops, too.
Yes, it is. A lots of wonderful wine too. But it is a small region and we drink most of it ourselves. LOL.
haha -- keep it local! :D
But, there is one important question that you forgot to specifically address!
How are these hard peaches in peach cobbler? Do you wait for them to soften before baking? Or bake right away?
And a second question, how much cold do they need?
Winters here rarely get to freezing, or barely touch it. So, i have seen peach trees die because of ... some kind of disease that is normally taken care of by the winter.
When Charlotte peaches are still hard, they make great peaches for cooking. Because that tartness and firmness holds up well. So hard peaches for the cobbler, at least in my kitchen, lol.
That last question is a real mystery. I have searched and searched. Nobody seems to know, not even the nurseries that sell it, or folks in Cooperative Extension units. I've been trying to get information from peach specialists at the USDA National Germplasm Repository for Stone Fruits, but I haven't gotten a response yet. I'll let you know what I find out! Some peaches need a lot of chill hours to do well. It sounds like you need a peach that responds to low chill hours. Cold weather is useful! : )
hey! It hailed here, this winter.... once.
Do you blanch the skins off your peaches?
I hope you foraged some hail for future Hailstorm Highballs! :D With the Charlotte I do blanch them. It sure makes getting the peels off a lot easier!
I think I'll have to get me a few of those. Thank you!
Between the Curlfree and Charlotte, I've finally been able to grow peaches, easily, here in Oregon's Willamette Valley. I've got some seedling peaches, too, but they are so hit and miss from one year to the next, due to disease. But Curlfree and Charlotte have been so trouble-free and productive. Finding the right variety for a region is a big help!
After viewing the photo, I wanted to eat them. Mmmm
Look forward to the summer! I hope you can have lots of peaches then! :D
thanks. I hope
Beautiful peaches on the tree! I like the orange color of the leaves, too! It’s great to know another kind of peach, interesting information! Thanks so much for sharing! ;)
p.s. I myself prefer peaches that are soft and sweet. ;)
That's the way I like my peaches, too. I've been surprised at how different these 2 kinds of peaches are. It takes getting to know each variety to appreciate their strong points. And the disease resistance is really helpful!
Ah! I absolutely agree with you, it's great to know each variety to appreciate their strong points. ;)
I love a soft sweet peach but not squishy soft as they feel mushy :)
I'm with you on the peach preferences!
Post useful ,, the tree can grow in the country of Indonesia, because in Indonesia there are only 2 monsin that is, the rainy and hot season,,?
There are some varieties of peaches that do OK in warm places. But even they need some cool weather -- at least 100 hours of temperatures less than 7 degrees C (45 F). Do you get that much cool weather in your area?
In our area there is no cool cuca ,, due to the location of our country on the equator, so the weather is rather hot, the average temperature is 30 ° C.
Peaches are my favorite! I haven't had them in a long time because I have one child that can't tolerate stone fruits right now. But your photos made my mouth water! Beautiful!
I've run into a few folks that cannot tolerate peaches. One fellow became sensitive to them as an adult. And still craves them. I brought ripe peaches to a meeting and he had to have one -- knowing what it would do. He got hives so fast and his lips swelled up bad. But he was happy with his choice, because it was such a delicious peach! I'm glad he didn't do that for a tasteless store-bought peach!
So envious of people who can grow and eat freshly picked peaches!
I'm so glad I found some varieties that do well in our cold, wet springs - without a lot of care. Otherwise, I wouldn't have any peaches at all. I say, throw peach pits out in some good compost and see what happens! My grandmother grew all her peaches that way, in Missouri.
I have thought about buying a coupe of cherry trees. Cherries right now are so expensive in Michigan. Its crazy
And Michigan is Cherry country, at least over by Lake Michigan. They must be selling them to folks out of state! Cherries are worth growing! The more disease resistant the better. I have an Early Burlat for early cherries, a Lapins for a late crop. And I've got a Montmorency sour cherry and lots of wild Pin Cherries. But my favorite that I grow is Danube. It's a cross between a sweet cherry and a sour cherry. The flavor is so great. Tart and sweet at the same time. A great cherry! I'm excited for you and your future cherry crop! :D
Hi @haphazard-hstead, are you still okay for coming on the Alternative Lifestyle Show on Friday? Have you got my messages on Discord and SteemChat?
Hi @pennsif! Yes, I'm still on for Friday. I haven't been online much this past week. I'll check Discord for your messages.
That's great. Chat with you soon to finalise the details.
Oooooh those peaches look delicious @haphazard-hstead We had plenty of them when our children were young and my pantry was always full of bottles fruit. These pictures bring back many happy memories of orchids in New Zealand.
All I see is pies... ice cream... juice... yeah, all I see is that! 😅
Awesome post. I see why @natureofbeing is following you. I found you from her blog page. She's so nice. Been in communication with her since around September of last year.
This post reminds me of the peach tree my mother planted in our front yard when I was about 10 years old growing up in Albany NY. The thing always had canker and curl! I'm surprised it produced any peaches at all, but each year we had a few. Too bad it wasn't a Charlotte she planted.
Yes those are some beautiful peaches you have indeed. How long have you been homesteading for?
Oregon seems like a great place to be. I've been traveling the world for 11 of the last 15 years living out of a backpack, but I'm yet to visit Oregon. I'm thinking I'm due for a US road trip, in search of the best peaches in the country! That may bring me right to your door step! lol
Up-voted and following. Have a great day! -Dan